Page 218 … Jesus & sin
Next, you claim that Jesus was sinlessly Divine, even though A) he himself rejected any claim to personal Divinity (see Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18, John 5:22, John 5:30, John 5:41, John 7:16, John 8:26-28, John 8:42, John 8:54, John 12:49, John 13:3, John 14:28 et al), … B) the Bible itself refutes this claim distinctly (see John 8:40, Acts 2:22, Acts 17:31, 1 Timothy 2:5 et al), … and C) Jesus showed several times in the Bible that he actually did not always reflect the sinless, selfless LOVE of his Father – that yes, albeit rarely, Jesus sinned as well (see Matthew 7:26-29, Matthew 18:15-17, Matthew 17:17, Mark 3:5, Luke 9:41, Luke 22:42 etc) …
And this is actually the real majesty of Jesus’ message – namely, that we are not to cop-out to our own judgments & our own bigotries & our own fears merely because “Jesus was perfect and we can never be like Jesus”, but rather that we can live as true Children of God precisely because Jesus was not perfect, and yet chose to live almost perfectly anyway – again, just like we all can!!! (see Hebrews 4:15)
And then you claim that Jesus proved he was sinless because he rose from the dead … Well, aside from the fact that this is not a Biblical fact (merely a possibly correct biblical theory), even if Jesus did rise from the dead in no way proves that he was sinless … Or do you have a logical argument or a Scripture verse that says otherwise? And besides, the issue in this particular conversation is not whether or not Jesus was sinless, but rather whether or not Oliver Clyde Allen is sinning by preaching the Word of God as a gay man – something the Bible never once condemns or labels as sinful. So my dear Friend, since there is now no doubt that he is most certainly not sinning by merely being true to his homosexual nature, and therefore that he is also most certainly not sinning while preaching from the pulpit, why wouldn’t you accept his invitation to go and listen to him preach the Word of God?
(Oliver Clyde Allen III is an author, a human rights advocate, and the presiding Bishop of the United Progressive Pentecostal Fellowship of Churches. He is the Senior Pastor and founder of the internationally known Vision Church of Atlanta, and is also the Executive Director of The Vision Community Foundation Inc., a non-profit organization created to address socioeconomic and health gaps in the greater Atlanta community – and an organization that annually feeds over 20,000 families through its “Community In Action” program, that annually shelters over 2000 women and children in its local shelters program, and that regularly provides clothing and toys for local homeless children.)
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