Compare Christ

The Christian:

In Wednesday’s Blanco County News, Pastor J.D. Link called his readers ”to vote for candidates that best represent Biblical views of righteousness and morality.” 

Among Pastor Link’s rhetorical questions, he asks

• “How hard is it to read the Bible and find out what God says is right and wrong; then find out what candidate most agrees with what God says; and then take a few moments to mark a ballot for that candidate?”

One of his deepest concerns:

• “Marriage should be kept a sacred institution ordained by God, and not perverted and cheapened by those that demand ‘equality’.”

This is an interesting argument.  Pastor Link attributes the pervision and cheapening to all who demand equality, not simply those who wish to possess and exercise a certain right afforded others.

Taking Pastor Link at his word, let us explore “the Bible and find out what God says is right and wrong” concerning the demand for equal rights.

The Christ and the Bible:

On one hand, the Bible was used by both slavery’s defenders and abolitionists during the 19th century.  Though slavery is woven into the fabric of the lives that populate the Bible, there is silence on its righteousness. 

Elsewhere, though, the demand for equality is explicit.

• ” ‘When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him.  The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 19:33-34)
• “Have we not all one Father?  Did not one God create us?  Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?” (Malachi 2:10)
• “Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.  At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: ‘He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.’” (2 Corinthians 8: 13-15)
• “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

Contrary to Pastor Link’s claim, it would be a perversion and cheapening of the Bible to oppose equal rights.

By Pastor Link’s standard, the “righteous” vote is cast for the candidate who supports equality, as is demanded within the Bible.

Finally, while Pastor Link cleverly cites Ecclesiastes 10:2 (“The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left”), actually reading the Bible’s commentary on equality leads us to retort with the subsequent line:

• “Even as he walks along the road,
         the fool lacks sense
         and shows everyone how stupid he is.” (Ecclesiastes 10:3) 

The Christian:

Bishop Mark Hanson contributed a video to the “It Gets Better” series, which can be viewed here.  Transcript available here.

Bishop Hanson, in part, says:

• “I’ve listened with pain and shock to reports of young people taking their lives because they’ve been bullied and tormented for being different, for being gay or perceived to be gay, for being the people God created them to be.”
• Sometimes the words of my Christian brothers and sisters have hurt you. And I also know that our silence causes you pain. 
• You are a beloved child of God. Your life carries the dignity and the beauty of God’s creation. God has called you by name and claimed you forever. There’s a place for you in this world and in this church.

Bishop Hanson closes with Romans 8:38: 

• “For I’m convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

But wait – Bishop Hanson must be some sort of twisted liberal, pushing his agenda.  Right? 

The Christ and the Bible:

• “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

Right…but…

• “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:13)

Oh?

• “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12)

Huh.

• “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.” (1 Timothy 4:4-5)

Thank you, Bishop Hanson. 

I like your Christian.  He is so like your Christ.

The Christians:

After Uganda’s Rolling Stone (no relation to the US version) published a list of the nation’s “top gays” with the comment “hang them,” Ugandan Parliament member David Bahati told CNN he felt “confident” that legislation imposing the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” would soon become law.

David Bahati, a purported member of the evangelical group known as The Fellowship, earlier proclaimed his desire “to kill every last gay person.”  In this way, he could stop the “lure” of homosexuality through American and European ipods and cellphones.

Bahati, you may recall, was disinvited from the White House Prayer Breakfast.

What did the publisher of Uganda’s Rolling Stone believe would come of his publication? 

• “We thought, by publishing that story, the police would investigate them, prosecute them, and hang them.”

-Giles Muhame

 The Christ and the Bible:

So, you want to commit genocide, but you’re not sure where to look in the Bible to justify it?  That’s a tough nut to crack, Mr. Bahati and Mr. Muhame.  

 On one hand, there are instances in the Old Testament of large-scale killing.  Most clearly,

• “When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city.  They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.” (Joshua 6: 20-21)
• “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt.  Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” (1 Samuel 15:2-3)

On the other hand, you run into the whole

• “You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13)

And then Jesus, giving a hat-tip to the Big Ten,

• “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’” (Matthew 5:21)

And there’s the whole pesky peace business:

• “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” (John 14:27)

In the Book of James, perhaps we find a distinction between the murders of a “just war” and what Mr. Bahati and Mr. Muhame desire:

• “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you…You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.” (James 5:1,6)

Conclusion:  Turns out the Bible does not support the genocide of gays, no matter how many ipods or cellphones are brought into your country.  Rats.

You may find better luck justifying a genocide with this group, though you’ll have to read very, very selectively.

The Christians:

Clint McCance, resigning vice-president of the Midland School District in Pleasant Plains, Arkansas, recently expressed the following:

• “the only way im wearin it [purple] for them is if they all commit suicide”
• “I like that fags cant procreate. I also enjoy the fact that they often give each other aids and die.”
• “I would disown my kids they were gay. They will not be welcome at my home or in my vicinity. I will absolutely run them off. Of course my kids will know better. My kids will have solid christian beliefs.”

Supporting Mr. McCance, Pastor Harry Craig, of Pleasant Plains Full Gospel Church, reads the minds of the LGBT community and God:

• “thinking they’re all right, and [God is] going to let them think that and go to hell for believing what they’re doing is right”

Read the CNN article here.

The Christ and the Bible:

First, J.C. is not “on record” regarding homosexuality. 

But with regard to Mr. McCance’s wish that the bullied are driven to suicide, afflicted with disease, and cast out, Jesus is fairly clear:

• “‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25:40)

On disowning one’s children, which Mr. McCance is proud to consider an option: 

• “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” (Matthew 19:14)

And, of course,

• “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  (John 13:34-35)

We should also recall Romans:

• “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”  (Romans 12:10)

That Mr. McCance’s worldview – gays should be disowned, contract AIDS, and die either from disease or suicide, which should then be celebrated - actually squares with ”strong Christian beliefs” is, to put it simply, “bat shit crazy.”

Regarding Pastor Craig’s delightfully bizarre logic (he knows that God knows what one – or a collective whole – thinks, will let those think it, as a sort of divine trap),

• “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:11)

Amen.