can.of.soup, my friend in Christ, asks me the following
Oh also, I had a friend just tell me that there are like.. I guess in their words, gother branches of christianityh, so Ifm confused on that. Like really confused 😅 although I believe what youfre telling me to be true and at least to my knowledge right now, the only truth. It doesnft make sense for god to be all loving and then hate on gay people, like Ifve seen some Christianfs say. My friend said that Sheol is specifically in the Old Testament. I hope this doesnft offend!! Ifm just really confused
My reply is as such
Thank you for your kind words and support my friend. Ifve been helping my sister for days straight these past few days, so I havenft had time to answer your question until now. Ifve been putting together this reply on and off as a nice break while helping my family through this situation.
By gother branches of Christianityh I think theyfre referring to denominations. There are Catholic Christians, Protestant Christians, Orthodox Christians. Someonefs title doesnft matter really for salvation. As long as someone, anyone, has faith alone in Jesus Christ then they are saved permanently saved. And eventually, all people will gain salvation through this way. That person could call themselves a Roman Catholic or an Eastern Orthodox. For me my denomination isc Christian, simply put. Christian is Christian, whether theyfre from Rome or somewhere East.
In terms of Christians who hate gay people, the Bible gives us no basis to hate anyone. Period. Christians must love all people. Gay people, straight people, etc, theyfre all people here!
1 John 4:20 If anyone says, gI love God,h and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
Proverbs 26:24-26 Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart; when he speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart; though his hatred be covered with deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
Herefs an interesting article from the Christian Universalist Association, which Ifm a member of, that talks about a particularly cruel hater of gay people who claims to be gChristianh. (Warning, a gay hate slur appears in the below article, though for the purpose of example of what to avoid. I do not endorse anyone saying anything hateful to anybody).
https://christianuniversalist.org/resources/articles/fred-phelps-gay-rights-activist/
Your friend is correct when they say that the word Sheol specifically appears in the Old Testament, since itfs a Hebrew word. However, the concept is carried over to the New Testament as Hades.
Psalm 16:10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your Holy One see corruption.
to Sheol,
לִשְׁא֑וֹל (liš·fō·wl)
Preposition-l | Noun - common singular
Strong's 7585: Underworld (place to which people descend at death)
https://www.biblehub.com/hebrew/strongs_7585.htm
Since Hebrew and Greek are different languages, the word itself had to change, though itfs still referring to the same concept.
Acts 2:27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.
These Psalm 16:10 and Acts 2:27 are exactly the same except for the word! Sheol (Hebrew) = Hades (Greek). Itfs like how I say gHelloh in English and gBonjourh in French. Same meaning.
Hades,
ᾅÂÅË (hadēn)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 86: Hades, the unseen world. Properly, unseen, i.e. 'Hades' or the place of departed souls.
The unseen world, the underworld, the place of departed souls, the place people descend to after death, itfs the exact same location, theyfre different words due to being different languages.
I personally prefer using the term gSheolh as opposed to gHadesh since a lot of people confuse Hades for Hell, which itfs not. We know that Hades is essentially the same as Sheol, and Sheol is not Hell, therefore Hades is not Hell. The term gHellh does not appear in the Bible at all. No Hebrew, or Greek person ever even said the word gHellh!
Thank you for your questions my friend, I very much enjoy conversing with you! The Lord of Hostfs blessings to you <3
[My post commentary here, to summarize, whether a person is a homosexual or a heterosexual, they will be saved by becoming believers in Jesus Christ. God has made all of us uniquely and with love my friends. For a heterosexual to be saved, all they need to do is to have faith alone in Christ Jesus. For a homosexual to be saved, all they need to do is to have faith alone in Christ Jesus. Itfs the same for both of them. Our Lord Jesus Christ has love for both of them! And this goes for all people, all of those in the LGBT+ community are loved by God my friend, and I bless them all with happiness, peace and joy through the Holy Spirit inside of me. So that they all will have the Holy Ghost inside of them too, eventually they will, just like my friend can.of.soup who is truly a gay teenager, who I love as the Lord loves. They are gay and they believed in Jesus Christ and they were saved. For a straight person to be saved, it would be the exact same steps my friends! The Bible tells us to love others, and as we know from 1 Corinthians 13:8 Love never fails! So this love that we have for others, through the Lord, will succeed, because we have Our Father protecting us, He keeps us safe. Even for those who do not believe, the Lord still loves them, and eventually, they will be convinced to believe in Christ and be saved]
[2 Cor. 5:19, 20 "God was in Christ reconciling THE WORLD to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: be reconciled to God."]