Page 685 … offending the offensive
Next you claim that, “[the] presentation of biblical truth should never be offensive in and of itself, but the Word of God will often cause offense to those who choose to reject it” … Lucy, this statement is nothing more than a subtly repugnant form of backhanded victim-blaming; a weak cop-out designed to somehow excuse you for being flagrantly offensive to gays & transgenders (who God also created, by the way). My dear Friend, surely you will admit that it is not the African’s fault when he or she is offended by racism – and that it is not the woman’s fault when she becomes offended by sexism – and that it is not the Jew’s fault for becoming offened by anti-semitc bigotry. And thus, surely you must also see that it is most certainly not the homosexual’s fault for being offended by homophobic prejudice either!
You then go on to state that, “if we speak the words of the Bible you call us bigots or hypocrites” … Lucy, this is absolutely NOT SO! I repeat to you & yours once again: I do not think that you or Bart (or Diana, or Dan) are bigots per se (otherwise, what would be the use in speaking with you about your prejudices in the hopes that you might awaken and release them?), and yet you most ercatinly are all reflecting beliefs that are bigoted … Similarly, I do not think that you or Bart or Diana or Dan are hypocrites per se (otherwise, what would be the use of explaining to you so clearly that you are acting as such?), and yet you most certainly are all making judgments of others’ sins that are patently hypocritical.
In short then, it is not that you are “speaking the words of the Bible” that makes you appear bigoted & hypocritical, my Friend – it is the particular words of the Bible (specifically the bigoted, condemnatory portions of the Old Testament that Jesus clearly came to amend) that you are choosing to speak that do so. If you would simply dismiss the primitively outdated words of the Old Testament (the ones that Jesus also openly dismissed) and the weak-willed words of Paul that directly contradict the teachings of Christ, and if you would also simply set aside the blatant blasphemies of Revelation that portray Jesus in such an unflattering and undivine light, then you would be left with the The Word of God – The Word of Jesus’ all-Loving Father – The Word within the words, so to speak. And then – if you were to choose to follow that Way and speak the verses that harmonize with it, you wouldn’t sound like a bigot or a hypocrite at all!
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