Page 164 - Push Back

poor and the needy.

A few years later I was speaking to an elder at a church I attended in Georgia. He was a man I
admired much for his sincere faith. He told me of an experience he had while serving as a deacon
at the First Baptist Church in the town nearby. The church had collected a significant sum of
money in their bank accounts, and it was assigned to the deacons to decide what to do with the
money. The church did not need any new buildings. It was not growing in numbers. The building
itself was in very good repair, having had significant work done on it just a few years earlier.

This Christian man whom I respected suggested that the deacons use the money to help the needy
in their town. The other deacons balked at this suggestion. They considered this money to be the
“church’s money.” They argued that it should be spent on the church. After discussing the matter,
the majority of the deacons voted to use the money to remodel the sanctuary, when there was no
actual need to do so.

Whether men and women recognize the fact, this is where homosexuality first takes root. The
first manifestation of homosexuality is selfishness, attended by an absence of concern for others.
Some years back in a post to the Parables Blog I shared that homosexuality is a physical
manifestation of self love. It is man in love with his own image.

Narcissus by Caravaggio

The Bible states:

Philippians 2:3-8
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard
one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal
interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in
Christ Yahshua, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a
thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in
the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming
obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Yahshua said, “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” The