Yeah, that’s the real problem in America today—the way the gays have managed to completely silence Christians. Can you even recall the last time you heard a peep out of an American Christian? Remember how the gays drove Mike Huckabee from public life? Whatever happened to Rick Warren anyway?

Sigh.

Go and watch the video, marvel at the awesome power of the gay rights lobby, and then take their “Family Values Survey.” (Please note: hating and fearing gay people is the only value the Christians behind this survey are interested in.) Unfortunately there’s not a “who gives a fuck?” option for the first question (“Do you believe the Bible condemns homosexuality as sin?”), so just vote “undecided.” And to this woman…

e3cc/1234366785-usedtobegay.jpg

…I’d like to say this: the gays are perfectly willing to tolerate your story—”tolerate” meaning “put up with” not “be delighted by”—it’s your haircut that we can’t abide. You can be an ex-lesbian without having to have your hair done by the same woman who frosts the cakes down at the IGA. Thanks to Slog tipper Sean.

292 replies on “Shhhhhh… We’re Silencing Christians…”

  2. @99: California, like many states, makes publicly available all donors to political campaigns. It’s not a gay thing. Don’t be such a stupid fucking moron. As for equal rights, please explain why, as a legally married person, I have to pay thousands of dollars extra in federal income taxes each year simply because the federal government says I’m not really married.

  3. @99

    For one thing, you’re comparing systematic oppression and abuse of gays vs. sending mean emails to Prop. 8 supporters. You’re correct that neither is right, but whining about big bad gays calling you big bad names makes you look like a big fucking baby.

    For another — I’m not gay, but I have no problem calling you out for being a bigot. You’re not being “targeted” by The Homosexuals, you’re being taunted by Progressive People Who Oppose Bigotry (Sexual Orientation Unspecified).

  5. @104
    My point being — orientation is irrelevant here, Deandrae‘s dreaded The Homosexuals! with their Agenda! ain’t the only ones who think she’s an idiot. That’s an equal-opportunity* conclusion.

    *not that, according to Deandrae, The Homosexuals should be allowed equal opportunities.

  7. @95, you masturbatory-obsessed cretin:

    MARRIAGE is a social mechanism developed over time to enforce MONOGAMOUS BEHAVIOR in homo sapiens. @79’s ridiculous assertion that “Mother Nature invented it (marriage)”, aside from being laughable on its face, mistakes the man-made social institution (marriage) for the behavior characteristic found in nature (monogamy), hence my excoriation of their argument, which should be self-evident to even the most thick-headed numbskull, given the fact that no other species in nature that practices monogamistic behavior also has developed a social institution anything remotely akin to what humans call marriage.

    So, if you have a problem with the semantics of the argument, you’d be well advised to place blame where it squarely belongs – on the muddled thinking of the poster to whom I responded.

    Idiot.

  8. You know, there are still many really loud Christians here at the University of New Mexico. Can this silencing extend a bit further please!?

  9. @105

    But mostly
    My point being
    that I’m not gay.

    That’s right,
    you heard me…
    I’m NOT gay.

    (not that there’s anything WRONG with that…)

    but I’m n-o-t gay.

    happy.

    but not gay.

    not.

    gay.

  11. The problem with Speechless is that it exploits the feeling of entitlement that some Christians have in this country. They have had their minds filled by James Dobson and company with the idea that America is their country and the rest of us are here by their will and pleasure.

    That idea of entitlement makes them susceptible to any anecdote or lie that comes down the pike about them being silenced. We have seen this so many times with the religious right taking incidents and manipulating them to claim that lgbts are out to get Christians. A perfect example is the Ocean Grove Pavilion. The religious right claimed that the church who owned this pavilion was “forced” to allow gays to have marriage ceremonies there. However the true story was that the church was getting tax breaks for the pavilion and a requirement of those tax breaks was that the facility should be open to all.

    The program that was to air is filled with half truths like this. If I were a Christian, I would be less worried about being “silenced by lgbts” and more worried about the untruths put out by those who claim to also be Christians.

  12. 107
    Your making that up, aren’t you.
    An obviously pulled-out-of-the-ass gay boy version of marriage.

    Marriage was invented so men could keep their wimmin away from other men.

    Men. And Women.
    See how that works?

  13. Tyler (and the other Trolls) are Ted Haggards and Larry Craigs. He’s got his wife and kiddies for window dressing and sucks cock on the side. Of course he’s against gay marriage. He’d have to face the truth about what a cowardly hypocrite he really is.

    p.s. Marriage was invented so women could be bought and sold as property. I’m sure all you good “silent” Christians would love to return to making all the uppity women chatel, but wakey wakey assholes! That ain’t gonna happen! Unless you marry one of those dimwitted Duggar-spawned Quiverfull women. But not many wenches are looking to sign up for that shit. Neither are men with dicks (you know you don’t have one). Real men and real women want an equal partnership with an equal partner (male or female). The rest of us know your gay/female/non-white bigotry comes from your self-esteem issues (caused by your tiny dick and your sense of white male superiority).

  14. @ 103

    I’m sorry Lola you have the right to give out all the cookies you want but you don’t have the right to blacklist people who disagree with you and then go around saying you’re the victim of discrimination.

  15. See, guys? Marriage is between one man and one woman. I read that on a bumper sticker, so it must be true! And that must be the only possible form of human sexuality out there: a monogamous relationship between one man and one woman. Everything else is too complicated for me to comprehend; therefore, it must be unnatural. Nevermind all that history and all those biological studies and facts suggesting that heterosexual, monogamous relationships have NEVER been the only valid form of human sexuality; my dipshit priest said otherwise once, and I’m going to believe him because I’m too stupid to differentiate between a valid argument and an ignorant homophobic rant.

    Also, Tyler, when it comes to civil rights, the majority’s desires are irrelevant. If you’re so patriotic, you should already know that the Bill of Rights’ ENTIRE PURPOSE is to dictate what the majority can never do to the minority. For instance, forcing people to live by a particular religion’s beliefs is one of the great ten big no-no’s, no matter how many people belong to that religion. If 99.99% of the country suddenly converts to Islam tomorrow, you should not be forced to face Mecca and pray 3 times a day. While the majority of the country is supposedly Christian, gays should not be forced to pretend that they’re straight. Laws that violate this part of the constitution are supposed to be challenged and overturned; it’s the entire reason we have a constitution.

    And the only way that anyone can possibly think that homosexuality is a choice is if they are a closet case. Think about it. Their lives would be so much better if they’d realize that there’s nothing wrong with their gay side; it’s their conflicted, closeted, homophobic side that needs to be stomped out.

  16. No @107, marriage was invented so that men could pass down the wealth and status they’d accumulated in a patrilineal succession, ensuring that the men maintained perpetual control over it. And of course, whatever religious authority happened to be dominant in a culture made sure they got a cut of the proceeds in exchange for legitimizing the deal.

    Sexual exclusivity is only one function of marriage, and from a purely historical perspective, not even close to the most significant: transfer of wealth and property, assignment of hereditary rights and titles, establishment and perpetuation of patrilineal bloodlines (just to cite a few obvious examples), have traditionally held much more importance in upholding the popularity of the institution than has the notion that males needed marriage in order to fend off potential sexual competitors – that particular aspect of social relations having always been more effectively handled with a sword than with a wedding ring.

    Marriage has never been a terribly effective mechanism for “keeping wimmin away from other men”, as the number of cases of adultery in this country alone should make abundantly clear. In fact, if one is being completely objective, one would have to conclude this specific function of the institution has been an abysmal failure – if it weren’t the case, roughly half of all marriages (in this country at least) wouldn’t end up in divorce, now would they?

  17. Deandrae-

    How many times does it need to be said? That list was not garnered by some sort of gay big-brother intelligence agency. EVERY contributor to EVERY campaign is put on a list, and citizens have a right to view every single list. After that, what with this being a democracy and all, they’re free to refuse to shop at the store whose owners helped legally end their marriage. So you want homophobes to have the option of donating secretly? Speaking of “special rights”…

    What a bunch of whiny pussies you homophobes are. Sorry; “scrotums.” You have no problem forcing your religious values upon others in ways that do real harm to countless lives, but then you cry your chickenshit throats hoarse when you, through entirely legal means, end up having to own up to it.

  18. 102@

    1- The publishing of such lists have been almost exclusively advertised on solely websites that cater to homosexuals.

    2- You’re a not married, Federal law is quite clear on which unions are recognized in order to qualify for tax exemptions. You made the decision to renounce those benefits by entering a civil union with a member of your same gender. Therefor you’re not being denied any rights you’re choosing to deny them to yourself by electing to enter in a union that’s not recognized on the federal level. It’s called freedom of choice.

  20. @118. Jesus. Are you a fucking retard? Every single campaign contribution to a candidate or a ballot initiative is public record. Right now, I could look up anybody’s contribution, either for or against Prop 8. I could look up anyone who donated to George W. and boycott their businesses.

    The fact that these lists exist does not mean that anybody is being persecuted. And the fact that anybody chooses not to give money to people who donated for Prop 8 does not mean that anybody is being persecuted. Hell, if it does, I’m an equal opportunity persecutor, since I would look up who donated to any ballot initiative that promoted discrimination based on sex, race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, etc., etc., and not spend my money there.

    I try to take the high road in the gay marriage debate most of the time, but sometimes people are so fucking dumb I can’t stand it.

  22. Deandre, you must have the anti-Proposition 8 folks mixed up with the American Family Association when they boycotted Ford, McDonalds, Disney, etc.

  23. I know this is off topic, but there seems to be two of us posting as kim. Posts 95, 101, and 106 aren’t mine, so I’m changing my name to avoid confusion.

    Best wishes.
    k

  25. So I planned to watch Speechless … but it’s an hour long (WTF? An HOUR!?!). It’s ok though, I live in Texas so there’s probably no rhetoric in this video I haven’t heard before.

  27. I FIND THATIN MOST HETERO PEOPLE JUST DONT GET GAY PEOPLE .
    AND ALOT OF THEM JUST HATE FOR THE SAKE OF US BEING DIFFERENT .
    AND MOST OF THEM CLAIM TO BE SO RELIGIOUS , HELLO “HATE IS NOT A FAMILY VALUE ”
    I WANDER DOES THE BIBLE SAY IN IT TO HATE GAY PEOPLE ?
    AND ALOT OF THEM TRY TO USE THE BIBLE AS A WEAPON AGAINST US STILL ! I THINK HALF ITS CONTENTS ARE MADE-UP B*LLSHIT , ANYWAY !
    IT IS REALLY SAD TO THINK THAT PEOPLE THAT CALL THEMSELVES “MEN & WOMENS ” CONTRIBUTE TO KILLING THIER OWN KIDS , BY MAKING THEM SO UNCOMFORTABLE IN THIER OWN SKIN, IF THEY TELL THIER PARENTS THEY ARE GAY . AND IN SOME CASES COMMIT SUICIDE !
    WAKE UP PEOPLE …

  29. “You’re a not married, Federal law is quite clear on which unions are recognized in order to qualify for tax exemptions. You made the decision to renounce those benefits by entering a civil union with a member of your same gender.”

    The power to create and dissolve marriages is not a power granted to the federal government by the U.S. constitution — that’s a power reserved to each state. States are permitted to refuse to recognize each other’s marriages under some circumstances, but if a state says two people are married, the federal government lacks any power to say otherwise. That portion of DOMA is clearly unconstitutional, and I’m surprised a state like Massachusetts hasn’t taken legal steps to stop the feds from usurping the state’s power.

  31. 129
    If Mass does that it will start the ball rolling on amending the Federal Constitution to ban gay marriage.
    Smart folks know Civil Union with the same benefits as marriage is the way to handle it.
    Militant Homosexual Pricks are in a pissing contest with the Religious Right and are determined to get the word ‘marriage’ just to stick it to the right.
    Obama won’t be happy to see the culture wars heat up that way.
    The right will fight to the death over the word ‘marriage’ and it will energize a lot of people who wouldn’t otherwise get involved and will alienate a lot of people who otherwise are supportive of gay rights.
    Liberal California voters rejected gay marriage twice; that should be a hint to the halfway clever.
    Sure a judge or eventual win at the ballot will grant gay marriage there but in most of America it isn’t even close.
    Many states have amended their state Constitutions to ban gay marriage and also to ban civil union and also to not recognize even civil union from other states; and passed those amendments with 80% of the vote.
    Those folks will go livid at liberal states attempts to force their Federal dollars to support gay ‘marriage’.

  33. 1. The bible can’t possibly condemn homosexuality, since it was written by cultures that had no concept of sexual orientation and viewed marriage as the aqcuisition of females for the sake of reproducing and expanding a man’s estate.

    2. I grew up in Minnesota, raised as a weekly churchgoing, confirmed Lutheran. NOT ONCE in my time living there, in all the hundreds of sermons I had to sit through in dozens of churches, did I EVER hear a sermon condemning gays. Two or three times, I heard sermons defending them and their full rights, and one of the biggest churches in our state had a married-to-her-partner, openly lesbian lead pastor. I’m not talking about some fringe Christians how are tentatively supportive of gays, I’m talking about the leading Christian religion in a state that, while it’s pretty economically liberal, is only moderately so in terms of social policies and opinions. In my experience, MOST Christians are pro-gay!

    I don’t blame non-Christians for getting the idea that Christians are intolerant, fascist morons, but I am getting SO sick of these assholes going around proclaiming that they, alone, represent THE voice of Christianity, and that all who support gay rights are standing against EVERY Christian church. It’s just not true.

  34. Has anyone else started receiving their newsletter? It appears networks are refusing to air their hour long Silencing the Christians video. They are frustrated so they are polling their readers as to why. Number one reason thought to be behind network refusal, fear of wrath and backlash from the Homosexual community. On a bright note, they have a link for sex advice. Watch our Dan Savage.

  35. The thing is, you can say all you want, do all you want, but the fact is that, you’re acting and talking out of ignorance, Dan Savage. Yes, there maybe Christians who hate and are afraid of gay people, but there are also ones that treat them like everyone else. The issue as far as I am concerned is the act of homosexuality and not the homosexuals themselves.

    Homosexualism is a sin like stealing, lying, killing, fornication and all the other offences you are familiar with. The thing is that human beings always want to do what they like and that is why you can’t bear to listen to a God that opposes most of the bad things you get yourselves involved in.

    If you think that you’re silencing Christians, think again. I am a Christian and you and no one will ever be able to silence me because my God will protect me.

    And please, can you stop insulting God or Jesus Christ? Tell your fans that too. It’s best you do not talk about someone you do not know and are not interested to know, okay? Whether you like it or not, God controls the air that you breathe. With a snap of his finger, you can lose the wonderful life he has given to you.

    You are a great columnist, the least you can do is respect the God who gave you your talent.

  36. re: getting along better (#1)…I don’t want to get along with you. You signature says enough for me. Please be aware that the BIBLE IS the FINAL WORD for many people.

  38. @ 135,

    Do you mean homogenitalism when you say homosexualism? If you do then your right, homogenital behavior is listed as a sin, but homosexuality is not. There is no word in either ancient Greek or Hebrew for homosexuality, just homogenital and the words used in conjunction with it condemn homogenital behavior between heterosexuals. The word homosexual first appeared in the Bible in 1946, there are no words for homosexual or homosexuality in either ancient Greek or Hebrew. I know this is a hot topic, and I appreciate your love for the Lord and his word, but in doing so remember Jesus himself said nothing for or against homosexual (loving relationships between same sex adults) nor did he address homogenital behavior. In fact, when Jesus addressed the centurion in Luke 7:1-10 and Mark 8:5-13 there was opportunity to do so. If you know the story then you can remember that the centurian comes to Jesus pleading for his beloved, highly valued, young servant, but in Greek the words to describe the servent were highly valued, catamite, and slave. Roman officers traveld with catamites, young men who were their sexual partners. Jesus didn’t condemn the centurian for his relationship, but holds the centurians faith up as an example. Jesus healed the young man, and that is the least we can take from the interaction. Compassion is the way to love as we are commanded to love, not hell fire and damnation. Thus, we have no record of Jesus saying anything positive or negative about either homosexuality or homogential behaviors, so we have to rely on the Holy Spirit to illuminate things for us in 2009. What appears important is to cherish not the just the words of Christ but also his silence. What has become a big deal to the church today, might just be a diversion. God loves us no matter what our sexual orientation is, so maybe we shouldn’t make it such a hot topic.

    Best wishes.

  39. I appreciate your comments Kim. But the thing is, I’m using “homosexualism” because that’s the word that people are familiar with. I’m not using it because it’s in the Bible. Of course, I know the word is not in the Bible. The Bible describes the act but does not use the word. The word was formed by human beings.

    I do not hate anybody not even gay people (I don’t even like to call people gay, but that’s the only way people understand what you’re talking about). The only thing I’m not in support of is the “sexual” relationship between people of the same sex which is against God’s doctrines. I know it’s not easy to be in their situation because what their experiencing has to do with their emotions or feelings. But still they have a “choice” to surmount what the feel and then feel the way God meant them to feel.

    Their feelings aren’t genetic. No matter how you look at it, I am absolutely sure that something in their environment is the cause of what they are feeling. The devil is real and will use anything or anybody to distort God’s creation. But no, “some”(not all) of them won’t accept it and won’t even try to find out why they feel the way they do.

    I’m also appalled my the insulting comments on Jesus Christ. It just has to stop. Most of the people insulting him, don’t even know enough about him. They just hear things and conclude without carrying out their own research. Always remeber that there will definitely be people who preach the word of God in the wrong way without knowing it. There is a heaven and a hell, but God wants all of us to go to heaven. Hell was made for devil and his angels. People who end up going to hell, are people who hear the word of God and stubbornly refuse to adhere to it. God is love and loves everyone, that’s why he gives us many chances to repent. But some people just don’t get enough. God is not a fool.

    Please, remember that Jesus Christ and God are one. They say and believe the same thing. They encourage love for one another but also urge us to live according to their statutes and ordinances. Thus, we definitely should love one another but that doesn’t mean that we have to close our eyes when we see what is wrong and pretend it’s not happening.

  40. Hey Truth,

    Thanks for writing back I appreciate it. I also appreciate why you choose to use the term homosexualism. We share many points in common, and some we do not. Those we don’t I’ll try to explain, just so you know where I’m coming from. In the end I believe we will have to agree to disagree.

    I believe that God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit are three in one. I also believe that the word of God is without error, I don’t believe we humans are without error. We are fully capable of translating scripture inaccuratetly, even when we have the most sincere intentions. Even the apostles Peter and Paul had to be corrected. History is also on my side, I hope you will agree that in the past scripture has been misused to support slavery, aparthied, and Nazism. So, I come to the scriptures with humility, I’m there to learn and understand. This subject has been a long journey for me, with much prayer and study. It’s a journey I’m still on. It’s God I trust to keep me on the path and as it is written in the book of Jude; “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore.” So, I am writing to you as a person of sincere faith to another follower of Christ. I do not toss scripture cavalierly aside.

    I am not a literalist. In saying so, I mean I don’t read scripture with a literal (just the words on the page)approach. I approach scripture historically, linguistically, anthropologically, and in context to the written receiver. I believe this to be important inorder to truly understand scripture, it does not make it any less a miracle or treasure to me. Here is an analogy. Say you and I just met, and I am new to this country and I am just learning English. Where I grew up I didn’t have any exposure to English culture. You and I are talking and you tell me the friend you are going to introduce me to, John, is a bit out in left field. Being new to English I am not going to understand the cultural refrence to “left field”. I am going to think your friend John is standing on the left side of the field, and depending how grumpy I am, I may be irked because I know what the actual words “out”, “in”, “left”, and “field” mean. That is just, a lame, way of trying to express the need for cultural context when reading scripture and why we need to know the linguistic, historical, and athropological background.

    Here is where we differ my friend (this goes back to my previous post), using ancient Greek and Hebrew and looking at the culture of both the ancient Greek and Hebrews (historically and anthropologically) the Bible does not condemn homosexuality or the homosexual sex. Linguisticaly, historically, and anthropologically it condemns homogeniality (in both the Old and the New testament) between heterosexuals, rape, pederasty, and the use of sex as a form of temple worship to pagan gods. I am sure you will agree that all of the above are indeed sexual sins. The second thing we disagree on is what you term “choice”. I do not believe any human has a choice in regard to our sexual orientaion. The American Medical Association, etc. agree with me. So, because of the above I can not in good faith before the Lord suggest that gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people choose to live a celibate life.

    Lastly, I don’t like to here God made fun of. I find it hurtful, but I also have great compassion. Dan Savage and others who share his sexual orientation have been called abominations. They have suffered greatly at the hands of some Christians, not all but some very vocal ones: Dobson, Fallwell, Robertson, Warren, etc. Many of them spent years praying and begging God to change their sexual orientations. Those prayers went unanswered, I believe because God gave them their orientations as a gift. Many of them have been thrown out by their church families and their families of origin. Some have even lost their jobs because of their sexual orientation. They have many, many reasons to be both hurt and angry. I believe God understands why they hurt and why they lash out, and why many loose faith. This is why I love them, they are my neighbors. We are called to love those who are not like us and to love them as ourselves.

    Thank you so much for reading this. I do appreciate your heart and your writing me.

    God bless you.

  41. I must say, you are a really humble and nice person and I’m pleased to meet you, Kim!

    Okay, let me clarify myself more. Firstly, “homosexuality” (the word is used specifically in 1 Corinthians) is actually in the Bible (Pardon my mistake above). Please, take a look at Leviticus 18:22 and then 1 Corinthians 6:9. I do not think it refers to heterosexuals alone but to everyone of us. After all, God made us to be heterosexuals all along- a man with a woman and vice versa.

    He gave the first man he created a woman and not a man. All the people whom God blessed, married only people of the opposite sex. He strongly condemns homosexuality as an abomination.

    Just read the passages above carefully and I hope you’ll understand. Please, I also want you to understand that I’m not here to argue, condemn or judge people. I’m only here so that we can learn from each other and know the truth.

  42. I almost forgot. When I meant “choice”, I didn’t mean people choosing how they should be made. Yes, God makes us the way He wants or deems fit. What I meant is that, when a person realizes that he is doing something that is against the word of God, he has the choice to either repent or continue dwelling in iniquity. God has given us the choice to choose between right and wrong. So, those who believe they’re gay, have the choice to say “I’m going to pray to God and ask Him to help be the right way (heterosexual) in which he planned that I would be all along” and then such a person will start working towards having a changed life with God by His side. That’s what I meant.

  43. 142, which god? Zeus? Apollo? Thor? Odin? Aphrodite? Tyr? Marduk?
    Over the millenia, humans have conjured up thousands of “gods” – there’s no more evidence to support the existence of the one YOU choose to bow down to than there is for any of these others!
    APOLLO had male lovers – maybe he’s a better god than yours! At least the pagans didnt kill people for having different religious beliefs than theirs!
    Christianity has an extremely bloody and violent history – thus christians today are in NO POSITION to dictate to others how they should behave!
    The people who ran the Spanish Inquistion were pious devout people who spent hours in prayer – and evidently, god told them heretics should be tortured and then burned alive! The cathar wars in Medieval France, hundreds of thousands of people accused of “witchcraft” and burned alive by people who took a verse of the Bible literally, the virtual extermination of the native people of this continent – christianity has a LONG list of crimes at its door! Even the holocaust is an outgrowth of centuries of christian antisemitism in Europe!
    Christians being persecuted today? Laughable! What conservative fundamentalists call persecution is simply people NOT AGREEING with them!

  44. Ray, if you read my other comments above, you’ll definitely see where I mentioned that certain Christians go about preaching the word of God the wrong way. They talk about all the bad things that will happen to a sinner and forget all about the love God has to give. God hates nobody. He just wants us to live a good life, a life free of sin, a pure life free of the evil and filthiness of sin, a life according to His own doctrines. These christains try to dictate to people how they should live. Actually, they are supposed to share God’s word with people and help them understand and come to terms with it. It is always a person’s choice to follow God or not. You are either for God or for Satan. You can’t denounce God and belong to no one. You must definitely belong to either one. That’s the choice we all have to make.

    The God I worship is called the “I Am Who I Am”. He has so many other names like “Yahweh, Alpha and Omega, Elshaddai, Lion of Judea, Lily of the Valley, etc. If you want to know more about Him, you can always buy a Bible and read it. That’s how you’ll know Him and not depend on what others tell you.

    Please, remember, not all christians are the same! Don’t judge all christians by the works of just a few.

  45. Mr. Truth:

    I grew up in a conservative Christian family. My dad is a professor at a Christian college. For years I believed fervently in the Bible as the inerrant Word of God, and saw as my desperate life mission the need to spread God’s truth to all people in the world, to save them from the fires of hell that surely awaited them. I viewed myself as a warrior, fighting God’s fight in a battle between the forces of absolute Good and the forces of absolute Evil.

    But gradually, I came to question things. Why is the Bible inerrant, when it was assembled by committee hundreds of years after Jesus lived, and when not a single word of the New Testament was written by an eyewitness to the events they record? Could not human error and political maneuvering have influenced the Bible we have today? And how does God allow for salvation for those who live their entire lives without coming into contact with Christianity? Has he created millions of people throughout history just to condemn them to hell, giving them no chance for salvation? And hell — how can God dispense eternal punishment for a finite life lived in sin? I came to realize that this is not a God of mercy. This is not a God I could believe in. If this was the way God treated His creation, I would rather go to hell than bow down for Him.

    But I don’t think that God is really God. That is a jealous, tribal God of human creation, made up to manipulate people. Just look at how successful it’s been! It has been an ideology that has motivated the crusades and centuries of colonialism in the name of spreading the Gospel. It has certainly been successful at promoting itself, but at what cost? No, Christianity does not have an exclusive lock on truth.

    When Jesus said in the book of John, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father but through me”, truer words have never been spoken. But who is this Jesus? Is he a Jewish preacher who said some nice things? Is he the literal fleshly son of God who came to earth only once and will one day return in a vengeful fury? No, he is neither of those things. The eternal, real Jesus – the Jesus that was Word with God from the beginning – is the eternal soul of those who seek him, who sacrifice their egos and earthly nature for something higher.

    In this sense, Jesus is always with everyone. Everyone who has ever lived, anywhere in the world, has been introduced to him. This is a Jesus who has many faces (as you say, many names). God takes many forms (I would say, every form), and the one that you follow need not be the one that everyone follows.

    Since you cannot know the mind of God any better than any of the rest of us can, a real follower of Jesus would mind his own relationship with God, and allow others to walk with Jesus in the way they know Him. Your way is not the only way.

  46. @141,

    I believe you might be missing the point. The word “homosexuality” is not in the Bible, as the Bible wasn’t originally written in English.

    1st Corinthians employs two different Greek words that have commonly been translated as “homosexuality.” One is “malakee/malakoi,” which literally means “soft.” It was used elsewhere in the Bible to describe a person who is morally weak, not homosexual.

    The other word is “arsenokeeteh,” which is an ambiguous compound word possibly coined by Paul. No one is quite certain what it means: it could refer to male prostitution, gay sex, masturbation, etc.

    The word “paiderasste” is the Greek word referring to male homosexuality. It is no where in the Bible. Had Paul wished to condemn homosexuality, one assumes he’d use the word for it.

    As far as Leviticus goes, wearing mixed fibers is also serious offense. Some people would agree polyester is an abomination, but simple cotton blends, too?

    Generally, Old Testament law isn’t taken as the final word. For example, according to OT law, a virgin who is raped is to be married to her rapist. That doesn’t seem to garner a lot of support or enthusiasm these days. Is that wrong?

  47. First, I’d like to thank Kim in Portland and T K for the scholarly and rational posts. [I had to look up the word homogenitalism, however, and I’m not sure how that would be more sinful than, say, heterogenitalism.]

    “The Truth” (a rather arrogant handle, I would say) wrote “I’m using “homosexualism” because that’s the word that people are familiar with.”

    Really? I have honestly never heard that word before. I always thought the word was homosexuality. Silly me. From now on, I’ll refer to Christianity as Christianism.

    The same poster wrote: “Homosexualism is a sin like stealing, lying, killing, fornication and all the other offences you are familiar with. The thing is that human beings always want to do what they like and that is why you can’t bear to listen to a God that opposes most of the bad things you get yourselves involved in.”

    Regarding sentence 1: Stealing, lying, killing, and adultery are all mentioned in the 10 Commandments. You know, the original Top 10 list. The important stuff. Nowhere is homosexuality mentioned in the 10 Commandments. If it were such a major sin, don’t you think it would be?

    And shouldn’t this be an argument for making gay marriage legal so that those poor souls can stop committing adultery?

    As for the second sentence, remember this?

    Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Luke 6:37.

    All too often forgotten by those who practice Christianism and other religions, who go on judging those who are different just because it makes them feel superior.

  48. 147
    You know, when you start doodling on slog in the middle of the night because you can’t sleep it is easy to make a jackass out of yourself.

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