What Does it Take?

Recently, it seems that more and more people in the world of the Christian Right are either coming out gracefully as homosexuals or being outed by their actions. Two prominent contemporary Christian artists, Jennifer Knapp and Ray Boltz both come to mind as those who have announced their sexual orientation in the media. They both have said that they can both trace their homosexuality from a young age and that they have made peace with their Maker regarding this. 

Others within the Christian right have been outed by their actions and most were quickly rejected by their church. Among these include Lonnie Frisbee, Roy Clements, Ted Haggard, Paul Crouch, Paul Barnes, and Lonnie Latham. Most prominently in this company are John Paulk, (former leader/chairman of Focus on the Family's Love Won Out conference and Exodus International North America), as well as George Rekers, (founding member of the Family Research Council and board member of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality). It is fair to say that all these men came out of the closet kicking and screaming and many swear to this day that this is untrue although evidence suggests differently. 

I include this list to say this....How many "outings" does it take before the Christian Right considers the possibility that MAYBE, just MAYBE people are born gay? 

Another list that if compiled would be miles long and much more humbling, is the number of gay's who have finally taken their own lives after being tormented, judged, and rejected. There is a reason that the suicide rates among our young gay population is significantly higher. Research shows that as many as 30 percent of the completed suicides among our youth each year is completed by a gay or lesbian. That number does not include attempted suicides. Gay youth are 2 to 3 times more likely to attempt suicide and completed suicide is the number one reason for death among this group.

So again I ask....How many gays and lesbians must take their own lives out of desperation and brokenness as a result of the rejection our society brings down upon them before we will consider the possibility that homosexuals are simply born that way?

I am astounded at the thinking among the Christian Right. They will take the word of a self-proclaimed healer who touches a "sick" individual on the head knocking them to the ground to believe that he is anointed by God to heal, but will not accept the clear evidence that is before them. They would rather hundreds upon hundreds of homosexuals die by their own hand than to consider the possibility that they have misinterpreted scripture. 

So one last time I ask and I hope someone out there will answer me....

"What does it take?"

Hypocrisy and the Holiness Code

A few years ago, in response to a conservative talk show host's condemnation of homosexuality using the holiness code that is Leviticus 18, an individual wrote the following letter. Although humorous, it makes it clear how hypocritical it is to pick and choose what laws you are going to follow. If you follow one, you must follow them all.

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be abomination. End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them.
 
1. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing smell for the Lord — Leviticus 1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am not allowed to have contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness — Leviticus 15:19-24. The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.

4. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

5. I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states she should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill her myself?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish and molluscs (shrimp, lobster, scallops, mussels, oysters, etc) is an abomination — Leviticus 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

7. Leviticus 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair cut, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by the bible, in Leviticus 19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Leviticus 11:6-9 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves? If I have played football in the past, must my hands be amputated?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Leviticus 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of threads (cotton and polyester blend). He also tends to curse a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town to stone them? — Leviticus 24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? Leviticus 20:14

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your devoted fan, Jim

TO: "Lord Save us from your Followers" I say "AMEN"

 

Recently, I had the opportunity to view the documentary "Lord Save Us from your Followers". It was created and produced by an evangelical christian. He wanted the christian community to be able to see themselves from the secular point of view. 

One of the most fascinating moments was when he conducted an experiment in the form of a game show similar to Family Feud. On one side was a group of evangelical/conservative Christians, and on the other a group of non-Christians/secularists. In order to win, each group must be able to think like the other group. What he found out with four separate families/groups, was that the secular group could think like a Christian, but the Christians could not think like a secularist. In other words, the Christians had little ability to move outside their own world and glimpse into the perspectives of people of other faiths or no faith at all. 

That explains a lot. I ask myself all the time how any Christian could intentionally hurt another and claim that they are in the right based upon their bible. My perspective of that is from the point of view of a homosexual who has been driven to attempt suicide by the condemnation of the church. Unfortunately, this is an all too common perspective. I like to tell myself that if Christians knew how many homosexuals they had driven to take their own lives by trying to "save" them, they would change their ways and repent. However, I'm not holding my breath. Until they can relearn the ability of empathy instead of right-fighting, it will never stop. 

Another noticeable lesson from the documentary is that America see's God in a much more favorable light than they see his followers. Thanks to the radical right and many evangelical Christians, the church is often considered a place of judgment and condemnation, of hate and snobbishness. The word "God" on the other hand, brings to mind words like "love".  

I find this terribly sad. It is in fact, one of the reasons if I am asked if I am a Christian, I will answer "no". I know that if my instinct, having grown up in the church and have spent 8 years as a pastor's wife, automatically have nothing but negative thoughts when the word is mentioned, than how much more so those who have not seen any of the good things of God? "Christian" has become a dirty word, and "church" a scary place. I avoid any business that claims to be "Christian" oriented because I have learned to expect just the opposite of  "Christ-like". 

The good thing is, this trend is starting to change. This documentary is proof of that. There are Christians who are capable of thinking outside the box, of showing empathy. The traditional church continues to fight this change, however, progressive churches are pressing forward. I even see it happening here in the Bible Belt, which surprises me the most.

It is terribly difficult for me not to scream to the religious right  "STOP scaring people away from God!!"

I suppose it is one of my greatest frustrations. It defies common sense to try to bring people to a God who hates them for who they are, yet that is the message that prevails. 

But it is people like the gentleman who made this documentary and the progressive Christians who show that one must live the love of God, that will change this message. I look forward to that day and I hope to be a part of it.

Karma Stings the Evil

They say Karma is a bitch

and revenge is the Lord's

ain't got no problem with that

'cause they're both in one accord.

Now I don't mean to be cruel

it ain't what I'm all about

but when Karma stings the evil

I wanna stand up and shout.

Gotta admit its mighty nice

when the haters feel the hate

reap the fruit of their labor

and with destiny have their date.

You will sow what you reap

in those words make no mistake

sow love and it will return

but beware in sowin' hate.

God is a Big Boy and can take care of Himself

There is a Christian song that reads "there's room at the cross for you,...though many may come, there is still room for one, there's room at the cross for you."

As wonderful and open as the author intended it, the point of Christianity is that you MUST come to the cross in order to be allowed Heaven. Meaning that there are millions upon millions of people of other religions and faiths who, because of this, must be doomed to hell. I have a real problem believing God is like that. 

Today, Franklin Graham, minister, and son of Billy Graham, one of the greatest men of faith to have ever lived (in my humble opinion), really drew a line between Christianity and other faiths. He has stated in the past that Islam is an evil religion and for that was "dis-invited" from a National Day of Prayer event. Today, Graham told Newsmax,   

"We certainly love the Muslim people. But that is not the faith of this country. And that is not the religion that built this nation. The people of the Christian faith and the Jewish faith are the ones who built America, and it is not Islam."

He also seriously disrespected Hinduism, stating,

   

"No elephant with 100 arms can do anything for me. None of their 9,000 gods is going to lead me to salvation. We are fooling ourselves if we think we can have some big kumbaya service and all hold hands and it's all going to get better in this world. It's not going to get better."

Is he serious? First the original religion of this country was the one practiced by the Native Americans. That only changed when the white "Christians" sailed the ocean blue and whipped out the native population. The founding fathers' intention was to establish a country where there was absolutely NO government establishment of religion because they were tired of being ordered what they should believe.

Secondly, insulting other religions is not the way to win people to your own faith. I'm sorry, but the story of Jonah surviving 3 days inside the gastric juices of a whale at the whim of a bully God is just as ridiculous as believing in a God symbolized by an "elephant with 100 arms". It is a symbol, a parable, an example. It is man's attempt to understand the workings of a God whose essence is far beyond what we can comprehend. 

It is BECAUSE God is so big and so amazing that I have a hard time believing that he confines "himself" to ONE faith. The only proof most faiths have that they are the only way to Heaven, is because they say they are. The same can be said of Christianity. The accepted books of the Bible were determined by men through the centuries. Even the great Martin Luther attempted to change the accepted books by removing Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation. The issue of Jesus' divinity was up for debate until the first Council of Nicea when it was put up to a VOTE (a vote!) whether or not Jesus was God's literal son or a figurative son as the other "sons of God" mentioned in scripture. It was not even considered by many early Christians to even think of Jesus as anything other than a great prophet. 

It is amazing to me to think that Jesus, who, (as we were taught) knew he was the Son of God, would not take the time to write down his own Gospel. Why be so cryptic? Why do we have to guess which book is divinely inspired and which is not? Why are the gospels as found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library not included? Is it because they do not assume that Jesus was God made flesh?

With all this said, I am not an enemy of God, nor am I an atheist. Far from it. I absolutely believe there is a God. However, I refuse to limit God and demand that "he" only speak to me. I will not tell "him" who he is allowed to speak to or speak through. I will not act like a spoiled child who demands that only Daddy love me, and not my brothers and sisters. I will let God be God. I will leave it up to him. I will trust him to lead people to him in his way and in his time. Just as I trust my human father and mother to make good decisions in relation to me, so too, do I trust him. I do not have to be his defender. 

He is a big God, and I will respect that. 

God's Letter to the Church of the Bible Thumpers

My Children,

First let me say that I appreciate the fact that you are trying to do the right thing. I know you go to church and pray, and for that I say thank you.

There are a few things however that I need to discuss with you.

Do you remember when you decided to take your girlfriend to meet your parents? What did you tell your parents about your beloved? Did you tell them the negative things, like she didn't know how to cook or had dropped out of college? No, you told them how beautiful and smart and caring she was. You wanted to make a good first impression. You were so in love with your beloved that you could scream how great she was from the roof tops. You wanted everyone back home to meet her.

What if you had just told them the negative things? Do you think they would invite her for a visit? Do you think Uncle Charles and Cousin Mary would come to supper just to meet the one who would soon be a new member of the family? No. They would shy away from her. They would find excuses to miss supper.

Well, I am your beloved and this is what you are doing to me. Everyone is running away from me like I have a contagious disease. You think you have me all figured out, and for some reason, you find it necessary to tell everyone what a mean and heartless God I am.

I keep hearing you talk in church about how you want to bring everyone to God because I am so wonderful, yet you tell everyone who is different from you, that they are so wrong that I hate them and they are going to hell. Who died and made you God?

Also, I'm really tired of the line "love the sinner, hate the sin". In your simple black or white, all or nothing mentality, this is just not possible. You are too simple minded to be capable of this. You say, "I love the gay man, but I just hate his sin of homosexuality". Well if you love him so much, don't be afraid to hug him if he needs it, or to let him be a part of your church without you trying to make him feel like dirt. You say you love the poor and the widows. Than why is all my tithe money going to pay for new fancy choir robes instead of food for those in need? Why does you church building get bigger while your capacity for kindness gets smaller?

I have to tell you, you can come to church as often as you want and talk as loud as you want about being my child and loving me, but if you spend the rest of your week judging everyone else and being a jerk, do you really think they are going to believe you? You are spending so much time telling everyone else to do the right thing, that you forget to do it yourself.

Excuse me Mr. and Ms. Bible Thumper--do you recall the book that you bash over everyone's conscious, telling you to take the log out of your own eye before you even think about telling your brother about the splinter in his eye? Well, I've got news for you. That's a life-long job. You are going to be pulling and tugging at that log the rest of your life. You will never be perfect as long as you are human. Never.

So, I'll make you a deal. The day you become Mr. and Ms. Perfect, you can become Mr. and Ms Bible Thumper. Until then, please shut up.

Go ahead and act like a jerk if you want to. I gave you free will. If it makes you feel better about yourself putting everyone else down instead of examining yourself, have at it. But whatever you do, leave my name out of it. Thanks to you, the word Christian or religious means hateful and judgmental to a lot of people. Gee, thanks, that helps me out a lot.

One more thing before I go. I know you think that you've got me figured out. You think that just because you read your Bible or studied the world's religions, that you are an expert at figuring out who I am or what I am all about. Well, you haven't got a clue.

You guys can't even figure out that fighting over land or religions or what ever excuse you can come up with is just as childish as two kids fighting over a toy when there are hundreds of toys surrounding them. If you can't figure that out, how can I expect you to understand me?

You know, I'm a big guy and can take care of myself. I don't need your help. You are not my defenders, but I am yours. I want to protect you from hurt and pain and to bless you, but I'm a bit busy cleaning up the mess of broken hearts and destroyed lives you have caused in my name.

So, would you please STOP?? Its not your job to break people down so you can shove the love of God down their throats. Do you think that would have worked with your parents? "Hi Mom and Dad, Maria is a bit of a complainer, and she was fired from her last job because she stole all the pens and paperclips and she was kicked out of college for getting in a bar fight, but, gee I really want you to like her."

Do you see my point? I want you to bring people to me and let me take care of the rest. Not everyone will like me or accept me, but that's not your problem. I am the one who knows the heart of man, and right now, yours could use some work. You work on YOU being the kind of person YOU should be.

Maybe you are a bit out of practice because you've been on your soapbox so long instead of on your knees, so let me give you a hint on how to become a person I am proud to call my child.

Practice kindness. Even if you don't feel like it, do it anyway. It doesn't have to be a big deal. Simple things are all I am asking for. Smile at someone. Say, "I hope you have a good day" to the lady at the checkout counter. If you meet someone, and in your heart you start to judge them, shake their hand and talk to them. Don't walk the other way, or cross the street to get away from them.

I told you the secret to being the best godly kid you can be, but I think you missed it. "Do unto others as you have them do unto you". In other words, treat people the way you would want to be treated. If you start to act in a situation and you know you would never want someone to treat you that way, then do the opposite of what you planned. If you wanted to yell at them, hug them. In time, your heart will soften and only then I can work with it.

Until you can make those changes, do me a favor and don't try to take me home to meet your mom, dad, brothers, cousins, friends.... ANYBODY. Don't claim you are a christian, or even mention my name. Because as long as I am associated with you, I will never reach those who need to know me. I will never get to show them that I am a God of love. I will never be able to show them the way. They will keep their hearts closed and run the other way and never feel my blessings or my mercy.

Then how will you feel? Will it feel good to be "right" then? Will it matter that you never missed a church service or read your bible every day? Will it make a difference that you fought for all the causes that you thought mattered, while pushing away everyone that mattered to ME?

Maybe you will never understand, until the day you finally face me. Then, you can see for yourself the hurt in my eyes, the tears streaming down my face, the broken heart that wanted to reach out to all those people you hurt. Then you will know that it was you who pushed them away.

I hope you can live with that.

Dad

Big Butch's Letter to The Family Research Council :-)

Dear Family Research Council, 

I recently went to your website to get an update on a recent important matter regarding homosexuality, but couldn't find the news article. I found several regarding Officer Dan Choi, a gay military officer is fighting for this right to serve his country, showing horrible contempt for the law by doing so, as well as a discussion on a gay man in Texas who filed for divorce from his partner whom he "married" in Maine, only going to show that gays can't have long lasting relationships.

I searched your website as well as your blog, clicking on all the subjects, from family, marriage, even miscellaneous. And, although I did find that men could avoid aids if they would just have sex with women, I couldn't find an article on one of your co-founders George Rekers. In fact, I couldn't find mention of him anywhere. 

As you know, it was reported recently that he vacationed with a male prostitute from Rentboy.com. I realize that he had hired the dashing young man to carry his luggage, and I was hoping to get his telephone number to see if I could hire him to do the same for me on my upcoming vacation. I have a bad back you see and its so hard to carry all the bible tracts and literature I take with me to Europe. 

I checked on Rentboy to see if I could find the "luggage carrier" sextion (I'm sorry section), but couldn't locate it either. I was also hoping to schedule a gathering of these boys in order to witness to them about the dangers of a homosexual lifestyle. I know Dr. Rekers attempted to do the same for this poor soul on his vacation, and I would like to do the same. He is such a good example. I'm sure we could arrange some private prayer sessions to help them find their way. (Nothing like a few minutes on bended knee to restore our soul). 

Anyway, if you could send me the link to that article, I would be grateful. Or better yet, please give my email to George during your next board meeting and have him get back to me. I would greatly appreciate it.

Until then, I will be praying for this young boy, and others like him as I have their photos near my bed so that I may fall asleep thinking of their souls. 

Sincerely,

Big Butch