Daniel:   Scaughdt, I believe that from cover to cover the Bible is a love letter written to all of us from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit … And I believe they are all on the same page … God reveals to us in Genesis that His design was for Adam to have a woman as a helper; someone with equal dignity who he would love and protect … And yet Adam was cowardly, in that he simply sat back and watched as Eve succumbed to temptation … Satan must be snickering even now, because he is still effectively using the same temptation in today’s culture … Indeed, God said that Adam and Eve did go forth and multiply, bearing children that were born in sin and shaped by inequity.  (alluding to Exodus 20:5, Exodus 34:7, Numbers 14:18 &/or Deuteronomy 5:9)

 

Here is the truth:  All of us have the proclivity to be self-occupied, and all of us have indulged in sexual immorality.  We just do it in different ways … Jesus saves us from our sin and that is why we desperately need him.  We need him now and we will always need him … He is our advocate to the Father.   I can agree that Jesus speaks to us about judging others … When we do we are subject to the same measure that we use against them … I also think that silence can be good and bad.  It is good, in that we don’t give the devil cracks to slip in so that he can steal, kill, and destroy – and it is bad when we don’t stand tall in the gap … “Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (quoting Proverbs 4:23)

 

 

Scaughdt:    Dear Dan – if you truly believe that “from cover to cover the Bible is a love letter written to all of us from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”, then why are you are you refusing to read that whole letter? …  If you truly believe that the entire Bible is a lover letter from God, then why are you obviously ignoring Matthew 5:48? … and why are you disregarding John 5:22? … and why are you looking away from 1 John 4:18? … and why are you refusing to acknowledge Luke 6:36? … and why are you downplaying Matthew 18:21-22? … and why are you dismissing Mark 12:31? … And what about Matthew 18:3 – the verse that demands you abandon your Biblical arrogance and become “humble as a child” in your dealings with all the homosexuals (and all the other cultural “enemies”) in your life?

 

Dear Dan – if you truly believe that the entire Bible is one large love letter from Adonai, why have you almost completely ignored the thousands of verses of Scripture that I have already provided you in this thread alone?  Indeed, if you truly believe that the entire Bible is one large letter from YHWH, then why won’t you adopt – or even at least recognize – The Way of Christ that I am offering; a way of reading the Scriptures that is both equally available & equally valid – a way that completely erases all of the literally hundreds of blatant Biblical contradictions that your personal interpretation happens to entrench?
And, to bring us back to the primary point at hand – if you truly believe that the entire Bible is one long love letter from God, then why are you clinging to a mere handful of condemnatory laws in Leviticus (along with a mere handful of homophobic writings from Paul) to condemn the world’s homosexuals to an eternity of torment?  That is not only not very Loving of you, my Friend – and it isn’t very biblical of you either!

Dear Dan – in closing, allow me to call to your attention to the fact that it is the first two words of your last comment (“I believe”) that are by far the most important.  You see, none of us can ever know with any certainty whether or not our own biblical interpretations are the true interpretations – or the best interpretations – or even the better interpretations.  I can’t say so with any certainty – and neither can you … Indeed, that is why it’s call FAITH, my Friend.  And in truth, no one on Earth ever has (or ever will) fully & objectively comprehend the full mystery of God or the vast depths of Scripture.  And for you & yours to claim otherwise is the epitome of arrogance; an arrogance that ironically (and sadly) will continue to keep you from entering Jesus’ Kingdom of Heaven in this lifetime (see Matthew 18:3) …
As such, here’s an idea:  Why don’t you hold on to your Paulinist beliefs about Salvation in the hereafter, profess openly that Jesus is your only Lord & Savior, and then put that “merit badge” aside and get out there and live the humble, selfless, actively serving & unconditionally caring Way of Christ while you still can?   That way you could potentially enter both Heavens – Paul’s after you die, and Jesus’ right Here&Now!  Admittedly this is almost impossible to do (for one, you will have to dramatically tone down your arrogance and stop proselytizing a hypocritical intolerance of others – homosexuals included), and yet it is possible.   In fact, I personally know a Methodist minister in California (who happens to be gay, and who is both one of the finest men and one of the best preachers I know) who seems to be doing so to this very day … And if he can do it, so can you!
 

P.S.   You noted as well that, “God reveals to us in Genesis that His design was for Adam to have a woman as a helper”, which makes it highly likely that you are unaware of the fact that the actual Hebrew in Genesis 2:18 has God wanting Adam to have a male “helper” (the ancient Hebrew is the masculine word ezer, Strong’s #5828)… What do you make of that, my Friend?  It is God’s actual, untainted Word, after all … Hmmmmm

 

P.P.S.  Finally, you openly admit that “all of us have indulged in sexual immorality. We just do it in different ways” … Aside form the fact that “Jesus saving us from our sins” is Paul’s theology and not The Way of Jesus Christ (see Mark 10:18, John 5:41, John 7:16, John 13:34-35, John 14:20-23, John 15:8-12 et al), if you are correct then it still means that homosexuals who are devout Christians (like Oliver Clyde Allen) have been saved by Jesus as well, and that you therefore should & indeed would go here one of them preach if he or she was a pastor who invited you to do so … right?

 

Filed under: Burnishing Bigotry by Scaughdt