This is an oldie, but worth bringing up, I think.
The December 2004 issue of Christianity Today published this exgay smear against Christians.
Hiding behind the name “Anonymous,” and safe from analysis and accountability to those whom he judges, the writer refers to all gay-tolerant churches as a single entity and says they all “cheated” him and “lied” to him.
According to Anonymous:
- homosexuality — not unsafe sex — causes AIDS and STDs;
- affirming churches caused his addiction to online pornography and tempted him to betray his wife
Anonymous says, “I admit my responsibility for believing them (the lies)” — but in fact he does not. He lies about the causes of STDs; lies about the differing positions of tolerant Christian churches toward marriage and divorce; blames affirming churches for his wife’s antigay embarrassment about his struggle; and his idea of a “Christian” pastor is someone who dismisses gay children of God as though they were cancerous.
Anonymous concludes:
we can respond like Jesus would, with grace and truth: “Come unto me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
Very true, Jesus would respond like that — but what Anonymous describes in his antigay church is neither grace nor rest — but rather:
- a flight from responsibility
- a blame game of vague accusations against all tolerant Christian individuals
- a dispirited prison of spousal and self-embarrassment.
Anonymous’s I-am-a-victim mantra is an embarrassment, all right — to true Christians.
Are you really backlogged to last December?
Shhh….. 🙂
I promise not to publish much else that’s old.
Mike:
I really don’t get why you think Jesus was such a swell guy. Sure, he said some nice things, but he also is reported to have said this:
“Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.” (Matt. 12:31)
So, this “loving” Jesus is going to send blasphemers, which I would take to mean atheists like myself, to eternal damnation. Nice guy.
Liberal Christians are just as bad as the fundamentalists in cherry picking bible verses to suit their purposes.
Mike F.
Here’s my take on that: the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to guide to a greater truth and fulfilling life. Blaspheming would be perverting that direction.
For example, if Jesus said “love your neighbor”, it would be expected that the Holy Spirit would guide you to love your neighbor. If however, you stood at a pulpit and preached “Take away for neighbor’s health insurance, bar him from hospital visitation, and don’t let him bury his dead” then that would be in direct conflict with both the teachings of Jesus and the direction of the Spirit. If one went further and said “God directed me to tell you this” then it would be blasphemy and not forgivable. God doesn’t take kindly to be quoted as a justification for doing evil.
I happen to be a Christian (I try to understand and follow the teaching of Christ, not the preachers) but considering how the message of Jesus Christ is being currently presented/distorted I’m not surprised at all about the growth of secularism and/or atheism.