This is a comment and reply between myself, and a blogger at his Evangelical web site. What he chose to respond to, ignore and misleads, speaks volumes to the character of the religious extremist. I will return to this post soon with more detailed comments, for now I’ve underlined his statements that are, as the title asks, arrogance, ignorance, lies or all three. This could be a response from any religious extremist, different names same story.
Web site: http://eric-lockhart.blogspot.com/2012/04/response-im-christian-unless-youre-gay.html#comment-form
My comment:
It’s no surprise, that Christian Homosexuals (who prefer to be called gay, btw) don’t comprehend the same ideas that Christian heterosexuals do when reading the Bible. There are hundreds of Bible versions in the world, many different translations. A Bible translated from the original text to English by two separate men, both with basically the same values, will produce two different Bibles. Translations are not exact, far from it, they depend on understanding history and what the culture was at the time of the original writing. Even the most fare man can’t help having his personal biases creep in, and not even be aware of it. A good example is the word Homosexual, the Christian community use it, as if it’s in the Bible, the word didn’t exist when the scripts of the Bible were written. Someone took it upon themselves, to make certain words or statements mean homosexual.
Now, I believe most Christians are not hateful people, but from the view of a young child, who has just come to the realization that what they are feeling makes them homosexual, they don’t see the 99% of good people, what they see, what is on the fringes of everything they look at to try to understand what they are, is that 1% of vile nasty people claiming to be Christian. Holding signs saying God Hates Fags, or Homosexuality is the same as bestiality (Presidential candidate Santorum’s claim.) This is what they see. They see good Christians not paying attention, oblivious to what these images do to a young person’s self image and worth. It seems to be only after a Christian that has a child or sibling come out, do they look up and are immediately sickened by what they see, now looking from the perspective of the people they love.
My Mother was Christian and her values she took from the teachings of Jesus. She lived the life she felt Jesus wanted her to live. I found out not long before she died, that the reason she hadn’t remarried, after my Father left her for another woman, was because Jesus didn’t recognize the divorce. But, when Colorado changed their constitution to allow discrimination of gay people, Making laws that cities had passed outlawing discrimination against gay people invalid. She was outrages that people would do that to their neighbor, not because they were sinners and we shouldn’t judge them, but because they were your neighbor. When I hear a Christian say “the Bible says Homosexuality is a sin, but I’m not going to judge” what I hear is judging. What you’re saying is “You’re a sinner, but because I’m Christian, I won’t point it out”
The beauty of the words from Jesus Christ, if you read the Bible and you believe it says don’t be a homosexual, then don’t be one. If the gay Christian reads the bible and they believes it says they should be true to themselves and find a true love and make a life together in marriage, that is exactly what they should do.
One last thing. I have a couple of friends who on the weekend smoke, quite a bit of pot, one day I referred to them as pot heads. They were offended, I didn’t ask why or insist the term was correct, I never used the term again because I cared about them, when you care about someone, you put them first. The religious extremist have software that changes gay to homosexual. We know this because at times an article they have put out has a “Dr Linda Gay” that becomes “Dr Linda Homosexual” throughout the article. They do this because the word Homosexual is cold and clinical, it describes someone as a sexual orientation as opposed to a person with a family, friends and a life. It is a way to demonize people.
His reply:
I am not going to call homosexuals “gay” because, frankly, I don’t like that they hijacked the word. Gay used to, in common verbiage, mean “happy”. Now, no one can be happy unless they are involved in a same sex relationship? Clever tactic by the homosexual community, but not one I will contribute to. (I realize that even in 1637 it had a secondary meaning of being addicted to pleasures and dissipation – which again is not just restricted to same sex relationships).
Not going to even touch the Christian Homosexual comment, as that is for a post of its own. We disagree in our understanding of Scripture. At least, in your implications. The words may very a bit, the meaning does not. For argument sake, let’s say you are correct, and the word “homosexual” did not exist – so what? You’re not implying it is a new act are you? Surely, the greater argument is that it has always existed. So they called it by a different name. Again, meaning is the same.
I am not in favor of signs that says God hates Fags. I would say these people most likely do not have a good grasp on theology/doctrine – the same I would say for those who switch their positions do their experiences or emotions, or the same of those around them. Santorum has a category confusion. They are different, but they are the same in that they are sexual sins. My number one desire as a Christian is not that a child, or any person, feel great about who they are – but see how awesome God is. Then, they will truly know their worth and know happiness. I suspect on this, we will not agree.
Sorry to hear about your mother passing. I respect and agree with her views on divorce/remarriage. And even if I did not, I respect that she lived by what she believed. Actually what I am saying is: they are sinners, and because I am a Christian, I am not going to condemn them, but am going to point out and warn them so they can escape the condemnation of God that they have brought on themselves (John 3:16-18, Romans 1:18-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
You cannot just make Jesus’ words say what you want them to. Nor can I. They must be understood in the context of which they were said – rather we like them or not. Again, if God is who the Bible claims He is, this world is not about our happiness first and foremost – though, if it is true, we will find happiness, true happiness, in Him and in doing what He commands.
I have stated why I will not use the term “gay”. How does the word “gay” express that someone has a family, friends and a life more than the word “homosexual”. So calling me “heterosexual” demonizes me? What about “Caucasion” that just makes me an ethnicity? pothead – someone who smokes marijuana habitually (found at freedictionary.com) The term is accurately and correctly used by you – if they don’t like it, stop doing it. I’m not going to not call a drunk a drunk just because he doesn’t like the term. Stop doing the action. I just am not sure about the consistency nor validity of the argument.
Obviously, we disagree, but thanks for your post. And the tone/manner in which you posted it.
