Restored Hope Network coordinator Anne Paulk posted the following to Facebook overnight:
I am always amazed at the people this topic attracts to our page. Some people who do not believe in God are drawn to come to our page to call names of those of us who do.
Paulk was reacting to Christians who politely disagreed with some extreme statements by RHN.
RHN wasn’t being heckled or harassed, as far as XGW can determine; its extremism was being disagreed with. And when you dare to disagree with RHN, even politely, you get deleted.
It’s a bit unsettling to see RHN equate itself with God, and to require belief in it as a condition of faith in God.
And it’s kinda disturbing to see RHN uttering verbose false piety and self-flattery to drown out critics of its theological extremism.
It’s even more concerning that, in responding to civil commenters while deleting them, RHN creates the impression that it is talking to ghosts — or to schizophrenic voices in its own mind. Does RHN see the irony in its narcissistic self-dialogue?
And it can be downright annoying to see Paulk — who was never a lesbian, and who describes her current lifestyle the way normal people describe bisexuality — claiming (for the umpteenth time in 20-plus years) about how she has “left the old way of homosexuality” which she never lived, and which thankfully most gay folks haven’t lived either.
What’s most alarming, though, is RHN’s tendency to summon godlike magical power to silence and destroy anyone who questions the organization’s factually inconsistent, Biblically deficient, deeply insecure, and unorthodox brand of “orthodoxy. ”
People of real Christian faith don’t fear civil criticism. They don’t shout pieties like clanging cymbals. They don’t stomp out discussion about God’s grace. They don’t undermine Christian communities that think differently. And they don’t crave opportunities to enforce religious laws that they themselves violate without remorse.
By equating belief in God with belief in itself, the organization exhibits a lack of faith — in God, and in people of good will.
I was among those that were banned from RHN’s Facebook. Although my comments were questioning and a bit snarky, I really was hoping that RHN would clarify their message — after all, why else to post to Facebook and invite comments. Instead RHN evaded my question and instead questioned my faith (“..do you have a personal relationship with Christ Jesus?”).
RHN’s response was bizarre, but interesting. I then asked if declaring a “personal relationship with Christ Jesus” was required to correctly interpret RHN’s message and if the American Family Association’s reporter failed to meet that apparent requirement.
Oddly still is the identity of whoever is running RHN’s Facebook identity. Is Anne Paulk really running RHN’s Facebook page? Whoever posts on RHN’s behalf writes in the first-person, “I …”, as if speaking for the organization, but then quotes Anne Paulk in the third-person. It’s very confusing (well, as confusing as RHN’s message).
These people are nutz. I mean seriously, religious-mania crazy. Its a cult that is self-reinforcing the members’ delusions of being uniquely connected to their sky fairy. These people are beyond reasoning with, their whole world is bound up in this tight little box and they cannot envision any kind of life outside it. Their is no use reasoning with them, totally pointless. I feel sorry for their kids. I feel no pity for them, only their victims.
“I feel sorry for their kids. I feel no pity for them, only their victims.”
Sometime their kids pay the ultimate price as victims: In 2009 Catherine and Herbert Schaible of Philadelphia were sentenced to probation for allowing a son to die because their brand of Christian religion required them to rely on faith in god rather than doctors. The terms of probation required them to take their other children to a doctor if they became sick. This year (2013) they allowed another son to die, and are now facing murder charges. They have seven remaining children. I guess if you’re willing to allow your children to die so needlessly, you want to make sure you have plenty of spares.
https://articles.philly.com/2013-05-24/news/39478443_1_catherine-schaible-herbert-schaible-murder-charges
Male homosexual intercourse was an abomination for the ancient Israelites. Abomination, while synonymous with unholy, does not equate to sinful. There are no laws against modern homosexual monogamous relationships, especially when anal sex is not present. What you should be doing is ignoring lesbians and asking homosexual men if they participate in anal sex. All other claims are biblically unfounded.