WOULD JESUS ATTEND A GAY WEDDING??? Part 1

Find a Mirror

Now, before anyone starts jumping to the conclusion they know what I'm going to say, just hold your water for a minute.   Let me get some things out of the way before I get into what I hope is some meaty stuff.


The first question we should seek to answer is, "Did God create homosexuality?"   Seems like a no brainer, and on some levels it absolutely is a no brainer.   There is never a positive statement in the Bible about homosexuality.  And the text is always simple and straight forward.  When pro-gay theologians start doing linguistic acrobatics it's a sure sign the truth will be emptied from the Scriptures.   No matter how pro-gay theology looks or sounds it is bad theology.  Actually the main reason pro-gay theology is so bad is the fact that pro-gay theologians are attempting to change how people approach the Scriptures.  If the Scriptures are in fact God breathed, then how will convincing you or me change anything?  If God's mind hasn't changed about the sinfulness of homosexuality, then  If I'm for pro-gay theology I haven't convinced God to change His thinking about what He said.  Pro-gay theologians cast  God into their own image and likeness, and they're trying to get every believer to jump on board.   The problem is if they can't actually change God then the god they've created for themselves is really not God at all.

"Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many."

Matthew 24:4-5

Pro-gay theology isn't about changing God it is about living in  fantasy and the attempted deception of God's people who've put their faith in Jesus and the word God's Spirit breathed.   They are creating a messiah for themselves to replace the one and only Son of God.  The problem is their messiah is powerless, paper thin, and if you've seen the painting  of gay Jesus hanging on a cross with a huge erect phallus, you'd see first hand how shallow and empty pro-gay theology is.  I don't know anything about the size of Jesus', but I can tell you that a body having  received as much  abuse and torture, as Jesus endured,  isn't going to be able to produce an erection.  The shear volume of blood loss Jesus had to endure didn't allow for much of any bodily functions.   A man crucified wasn't going to get any wood on the front of him,  because of the wood nailed to the back of him.  The ridiculous gay Jesus should be enough to cause anyone to walk away from pro-gay theology.   Instead, of course, pro-gay theologians are gaining followers and supporters for gay marriage.

The problem with gay marriage is that like the gay Jesus, sporting a silly cartoon ding dong, there is no substance to, well, there's no substance to gay anything really.   When God created marriage He did so for His own purposes.   In the New Testament we are told that marriage is a reflection of Jesus Christ's relationship with His Church.  Would Jesus attend a gay wedding?   Honestly we might just as well ask,  "Would Jesus attend the wedding of  Bugs Bunny to Elmer Fudd?"   The truth simply is not there to be had.  God hasn't changed, He hasn't  changed what He has said.   Gay marriage isn't any more marriage than artichoke marriage is real marriage.   Would Jesus have dinner with Batman?  Would Jesus be for or against the genetic mutations of the Wolverine and Magneto? Is Jesus "Team Edward" or "Team Jake?"  If it cannot stand up to what the true God has to say, then it's no more important than who builds hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place.  Christians please stop letting the world frame how we are approach moral issues.  Please stop overreacting to worldly empty foolishness and start acting out of Kingdom truth and mandate.  Stop piling onto debates and do what is right according to what Jesus was called to come and accomplish by Father God.

Honestly, when will we Christians ever learn what God says and believe God?   And don't think I'm just speaking to you.  I too struggle to keep my focus on what is true and important.   Let's remember what Jesus teaches:

"Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."

Matthew 28:18

Of course it's a bit harder to believe what Jesus said 2000 years ago than it is to believe what is right in front of our eyes.  Gay marriage certainly seems a pretty solid property, and it's becoming more and more solid looking all the time.   This is the real problem for Christians today what 'seems' and what is God's reality.   The problem for us Christ followers is we keep approaching the world around us with the same kind of worldly reactions they give to us.  We want to march, we want to scream with frustration and shake some sense into our government leaders.  We want to Bible thump and eat Chick-fi-a  until chicken sandwiches pop out our ears!  But only Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth.  We're gonna have to put the chicken down, and take up the truth of God.  We're going to have to quit allowing the world to dictate to us what is important and worthy of the call and time we've been given.  And we're going to have to stop thumping our Bibles and start obeying what Jesus tells us to do.  In Christianity believing is doing and doing starts with humble sacrifice not a call to political action!  Jesus exercises all authority, but He does so in keeping with the work Father has called Him to do.   Jesus said that He always did what He saw the Father doing.   When Christ followers decide to do what God wants done, the way God wants it done then we'll see the power of God displayed in front of us.   In Christ we can say, "What is gay marriage compared to the world defeating authority and Satan crushing power of Christ?"

So now you know...Jesus would most definitely attend a gay wedding!

TO BE CONTINUED...

WOULD JESUS ATTEND A GAY WEDDING??? Part 2

After looking at what I wrote I realized I didn't really explain how it is that I know God doesn't create homosexuality.   The fact is people aren't born either gay or straight.  We understand what God told the first human couple, "Be fruitful and multiply..."  Most of the time we call God's command procreation.  The world which rejects God's perspective may simply use, "The Sex Drive," but even atheist biologists know that humans have, not merely a sex drive, but a drive to propagate the species.
If you want to understand how biology sets us up for sexual expression we need look no further than how biology sets us up to learn and speak language.  Genes dictate that we may develop spoken language, but our genes cannot dictate the language we will learn.   Our genes set the stage for us to learn language, but the actual development of spoken language is far too complex for genes to dictate.   For us to develop spoken language it takes interaction with other humans who can already speak.


Biology allows us to develop sexuality, but like language can never dictate how we will express that sexuality.   Sexuality develops from our interactions in the family and extra-family social environments.   When relationships breakdown healthy development of sexuality breaks down.  The proper question is not  "Are people born gay?"     The proper question to ask is, "How is the Procreative Drive overcome so a person becomes gay?"   If you want to find the culprit behind homosexuality and every other from of sexual deviance, start shaking the family tree.   What drops from the family tree will show you where the problem lies.

OKAY!  Hope that explains, at least the basics!

NOW ON TO THE REAL HEART OF THE POST!:

JESUS WOULD ABSOLUTELY ATTEND A GAY WEDDING!

"On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding."

John 2:1-2

I just made the worst mistake I could have made.  I allude to the story of how Jesus changed water into wine, at a wedding.   I don't know if it is the worst faux pas a theologian could make, but it  has to rank up near the top of mistakes.

The wedding at Cana is a wedding between one man and one woman.   As you know I've already argued that gay marriage is, in truth, nothing.   So how exactly do I start with the wedding at Cana??    I start with the wedding at Cana for the very reason that I know it cannot be used to explain why Jesus would attend a gay wedding.   The problem is how Christians approach gay marriage and how Jesus approaches gay marriage.    Jesus never said anything about gay marriage, because it didn't exist.  Still we can read the Bible and it is clear, that homosexuality is condemned, and no amount of religious ceremony will change that.   When we think about marriage we see God's approval for the kind of marriage we see in Luke 2.   God is pro-marriage between one man and one woman that is true.   Was Jesus at the wedding in Cana to lend that marriage credence?    Was Jesus' presence at the wedding God's way of saying, "This action gets 5 stars from God?"    I don't believe God is saying anything about the particular wedding at Cana.

Set aside the wedding of Cana for a while.   Let's begin with the right question:  Why was Jesus here on the earth?   We know Jesus didn't come to give the wedding at Cana the thumbs up.

¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
¹⁹     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

 Luke 4:17-19

¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

John 5:19

But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33c

Jesus attends the wedding at Cana because he is called by Father, Father was working there, and Jesus went not as a way of approving the wedding at Cana, but because he overcomes the world.

The problem with Christians and gay weddings is they don't want to have anything to do with them.   The Christian won't go to a gay wedding because they don't want anyone thinking they approve of such things (And of course as believers in Christ we do not approve of what God condemns!).   The thinking looks kinda like this.   "Jesus would never approve of gay marriage, so Jesus would never go to a gay wedding.  Since Jesus would never go to a gay wedding I won't  attend one."  Certainly sounds like solid reasoning.   The problem lies in the truth:   Jesus doesn't think the way we think.    Remember that the Jewish leaders leveled the accusation against Jesus, "How is it he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"  (Mark 2:16).

The wedding at Cana is merely a red herring.    So let me ask you the really important question:   If Jesus knew he could/would overcome the world (utterly destroy all satanic power and control), and if Jesus knew there were lost sheep to be found there, and if Jesus was doing his Fathers work there, WOULD JESUS ATTEND A GAY WEDDING?

Are there not ears in need of the  "good news" at a gay wedding?

Are there not blind eyes which  need sight at gay weddings?

Are there not prisoners in need of freedom at a gay wedding?

Are there not the oppressed who need freedom at a gay wedding?

Are there not those who need the LORD's favor at a gay wedding?

If there are prisoners, the oppressed, the needy, the blind, and the need for God's favor at a gay wedding,  then how could anyone believe Jesus isn't called there or that he would not go?

If, in your mind, Jesus would still not attend a gay wedding, why do you think that?

If  you believe, according to Christ's teaching, he would attend a gay wedding, give some positive steps Christ followers could take in the right direction?

LIONS! TIGERS! AND GAYS! OH MY! Part 4

WWJC?

(What Would Jesus Condemn?)

 I’ve been talking about Christians dealing with President Obama’s executive order which prohibits those who receive government funding or contracts from discriminating against LGBT persons.  Obama’s order doesn’t have an exemption for religious organizations who receive government funds.


I think the most important question I haven’t asked yet is, “Christian, where would you like for LGBT people to be?”  Let’s take a moment to seriously consider this matter:  “If you are the light of the world, and if you have an eternal relationship with God why not take every opportunity to draw all kinds of people, including LGBT people to where Christ can get close to them?”  If you believe homosexual practice is an abomination then working with or around you would be ideal to bring them into contact with the “good news”.   Jesus saves from abomination!  If you are a believer in Jesus Christ then you believe he’s saved you from your sins, so give that same “good news” to those around you.


If the government forces you to do your work with LGBT persons then find a way to show the world overcoming love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness.   Christians have used either condemnation of or total acceptance of sin, for the past 30 years and nothing has been working.  Rather than push sinners away, or ignoring their sins, why not do what Jesus did?


The Pharisees of Jesus’ day condemned all who were not like them.  When Jesus was having dinner at the house of one of the leading Pharisees, a woman came into his house, went directly to Jesus, and started washing his feet with her tears.

“When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”  Luke 7:39.

The Pharisee could do nothing but condemn the sinner for her sins, but Jesus forgave the woman’s sins.  If you have the cure condemnation is nothing but cruelty.  For Christians to condemn sinners is like a wealthy man refusing to feed his own children, because of the cost.  If you are a Christian or Christ follower then you have the wealth of God’s kingdom, so how can you refuse sinners, any sinner, the wealth God has lavished upon you?


When Jesus is hanging on a Roman Cross the sins of sinners are place upon him.  We’re not simply talking about a transference of a guilty verdict.   The weight, knowledge of, and reality of sin was placed upon Christ.  Jesus, for the first time knew exactly what we all of us know from early childhood, the shame, feelings of, and power of sin.   Jesus knows our sins literally and intimately.

“For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us…”

2 Corinthians 5:21a

Jesus knows us by our sins.  Jesus knows how wicked we truly are.  Jesus knows that we deserve nothing but his condemnation.  Jesus knows he is innocent, and he knows these same people crucifying him have murdered many more innocents than him.  Jesus knows that our guilt is absolutely irrefutable and yet this is his prayer on the cross, for those guilty of murdering an innocent:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

Luke 23:34

Jesus knows our true hearts, and yet he does not condemn those who deserve condemnation.   Consider this then:
Jesus not only takes the penalty for our sins, but he refuses to give condemnation.  Jesus not only takes our sins to death, but he continues to offer hope and life.  Jesus takes sin to the grave and he takes God’s righteous condemnation to the grave, as well.
I believe in Hell, but any who go there will go there because they have rejected so great a love.  All who go to Hell will do so under their own power, and they will be their own condemnation.


If you are a Christians consider something else:

If God is conforming Christians to the likeness of Jesus, then, “Father forgive them…” is where God is taking us, as well.  So why is it Conservative Christians continue to be, very often, condemning?   Does the law condemn sinners for their sins?  We know the law does condemn sinners, and I would never argue against the law or the condemnation of the law.  But what must be argued, and what I believe is God’s argument is that salvation saves us from the sting of death from the law, but Jesus also saves from condemnation.

“For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

John 1:17

So the law came through Moses, and what does that law look like for the Homosexual?

“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is abomination.”

Leviticus 18:22

BAD NEWS!!  Nothing else to be said about the law: Bad News!
But what does the law look like with Jesus?   What does law look like with grace and truth applied?

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”

Romans 8:1-2

I can tell you exactly what the law look like with truth and grace applied, in my own life.   “Lonnie you are a law breaker and you are guilty of committing abominations.  Because of the law you are dead in sin.  BUT through Jesus Christ you are no longer a sinner dead in sin, you have been made born again by the Spirit of God.  The Spirit breaks all the bonds of sin and death, and gives you life.  You are no longer an object of wrath, but a beloved son of God and in eternal relationship with God.”
The law which was death to me has now become a reminder of all that Jesus has accomplished for me.  When I look at Leviticus 18:22, I don’t see a future of death and punishment, but a reminder of the great gift Jesus has given me!  What was once death is a cherished proof of the power of God to overcome all the world can produce in me, and that is sin.


With so great a power to save, heal, fix, rebuild, raise from the ashes, how could anyone claim to represent Christ and offer anything but grace and truth, which overcomes the world, and also the condemnation and death,, the law necessarily brings?  What doctor, having the cure for a disease protests or seeks the formation of laws against disease??   If the doctor has the cure he/she merely gives the cure.   Why aren't Christians who claim the cure, condemn instead of giving the cure?   I believe it is the cost of the cure!  But what cost disobedience?   If Jesus puts condemnation to death, then what will happen to those who claim to be Christ followers who continually give condemnation instead of the Lord's prayer, "Father forgive...?"   If God is conforming us to the image and likeness of Christ then we will rather plead against, not for condemnation.


How great is the punishment of Hell for those who claim relationship with and through Christ who condemn others??

EVANGELICAL HEAL THYSELF

I've mentioned a new book written by Matthew Vines called, God And The Gay Christian.  My heart honestly goes out to this young man, and any who've come from the loud mouthed, Bible thumping, "do nothing" evangelicals of my day and before my day.   I've also written about "Revangelical"  the blog sight of Brandan Robertson.   He's another of the new evangelicals I call "feely" post-evangelicals.

Robertson, has a recent post up about being called a heretic by fellow Christians, and frankly it's just disgusting, but what can we expect?   Brandan doesn't fit the mold of the evangelicals who came before him.    I take issue with Brandan, but the issues with him are different, because I understand what post-evangelicals have been handed by us evangelicals.

You can find Brandan Robertsons blog post here :   http://www.patheos.com/blogs/revangelical/2014/07/23/2013724i-have-been-crucified-with-christ-reflections-on-being-a-her-html.html

The first two bullet points Brandan gives, to explain why he's vilified as a heretic, would have brought me to the same conclusion about Robertson, just 5 short years ago.    Robertson says:

• The Bible is not clear on the issue of homosexuality and those who affirm and are gay Christians are still none the less Christians (even if they turn out to be wrong)

• No one has a fully reliable interpretation of the Bible.

I had to bite my tongue, top lip, and bottom lip to keep from expressing my "knee-jerk thoughts, which were something like: "Well, DUH kid!"   "Of course, dipstick,  if you say heretical things then you're going to get pasted with the epithet."    I held my peace, and thought about it for a little while, (something I would not have done, just 5 short years ago,) and this is what I came up with:

Brandan isn't operating from a  long experience with obeying Jesus Christ, and that realization opened a new can of worms for me.   Robertson doesn't have any experience with evangelicals that have the cure for homosexuality.  The only thing conservative Christians, of the evangelical flavor, have been offering in the past is harsh condemnation.   Condemnation hasn't set anyone free from homosexuality.  So if condemnation doesn't heal, and evangelicals won't approach it some other way, then honestly, what do we expect from people like Brandon Robertson??!!  Everyone can call Robertson and his crowed heretics, but when the only other option is condemnation then Robertson is already dealing with heretics.  God has given the answer through Jesus Christ and since Jesus states clearly, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him," then too many traditional evangelicals started the heretical ball rolling by offering condemnation instead of sticking to what Jesus CLEARLY teaches!   Those disagreeing with him can call Robertson a heretic all they want, but what current evangelicals need to do is own responsibility for our own heresy, disobedience, and hypocrisy!    Jesus can and does overcome every sin, and that includes the sin of homosexuality.   The trouble with old line evangelicals is it's easier to condemn than it is to listen, engage, and reach relationally to relationally/sexually broken people.   

Those of us who come before the post-evangelicals have proved what G.K. Chesterton famously said:  "Christianity has not been tried and found lacking. Christianity has been found difficult and left untried."

Evangelical heal thy self:  We must repent of misrepresenting Christ,  misusing his name for selfish ends which have not served or promoted God's eternal kingdom, and set out to learn how God overcomes homosexuality through Jesus Christ.

There I've said it, and I'm sticking to it!!

Lions! Tigers! And Gays! OH MY!! Part 3

No Where To Go.  No One To Trust

Jesus said, to the Jewish leaders:

 Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? ³⁷ Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. ³⁸ But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

John 10:36-38

We keep expecting LGBT people to believe what we say, but we can’t show them how God administers the life giving gospel of the life, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to them.  Jesus doesn’t do what we do today.   Jesus  points to the work of the Father in and through him, and says, “Look at the works only God can do, and believe me, because the words I speak and works I do prove each other!”

The only people who believe Jesus are the tax collector, some Roman soldiers,  half-breed Jews (Samaritans), and prostitutes:

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³² For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

Matthew 21:31-32

The irony here is  these religious leaders of Jesus’ day are actually very moral and upright, but the prostitutes and tax collectors truly are not.   They do not go near tax collectors and prostitutes.  They can’t free prostitutes and tax collectors from their sins and give them new lives.  All the religious leaders can do is look down their noses at all those sinners, and put them out of the temple and synagogs.   Funny, Jesus comes along and a man can hardly find a hooker or a Jewish tax bully anywhere he’s been teaching and healing!

LGBT people should never do what we tell them to do.   If after 45 years we don’t know God’s answer for homosexuality then no one should believe us.  Is Matthew Vine an evangelical and a game changer?   Yes, I’d have to say he is, and why shouldn’t we consider him one of us?   He’s showed as much knowledge and ability to bring gay people to the homosexuality overcoming power of God as John Piper, Al Mohler, John MacArthur, Mark Driscoll, Rick Warren.   And look at Rob Bell, he’s way out ahead of the curve.  He says he’s for love no matter what it looks like.   And why shouldn’t Bell and Vine hold to their positions on homosexuality?   Who among evangelicals knows how God desires to work freedom and change in the lives of sexually broken people??   Christians can’t show LGBT people the world overcoming work of the Holy Spirit because they think it’s easier and just as acceptable to God to stand against sin.   The thinking goes something like this:

“If I stand across the street with a picket sign at a Gay Pride Parade that should be sufficient to show God I’m against sin.”

 Few of us ever go among the sexually broken.  We’re all  afraid of being judged by the religious leaders of our own day.   We’re also concerned that people might start getting the idea we’re gay if we start hanging out with gay people.  Christian guys are afraid if they reach out to help a gay guy, the homosexual will develop a crush on them.   (I’ve had to explain to more than one Christian man, that gay men have standards and exceptional taste, so very few Christian men are in danger of attracting a gay crush).    No one who has the cure for a terrible disease wastes time condemning the illness.   Jesus wasn’t afraid the sinners he hung out with were a threat to his way of life or thinking.   Jesus didn’t hesitate to go to the worst of sinners.  Jesus brought the cure to the world and he didn’t sit around ranting or raving about Nero (Obama to many of today’s Christians).   Jesus came to find what was lost, and to offer eternal life.  If after 45 years you’re still standing around like the religious leaders of Jesus day,  condemning sinners and excommunicating them, then how can you possibly expect  people to trust us?

I’ve had many many Christians tell me I should be among LGBT people, because my story of God’s work in my life is so powerful.  I can’t go to gay people and tell them how God changed my life.   Where would I send them after I told them how great God’s salvation is??   I’ll tell the gay people and the Church will simply prove me wrong.   All my life I’ve watched Christians destroy the faith of others because they show no love, no understanding, no faith that God will change the sinner.  they don’t reach with love and faith that God can overcome sins.   I’ve watched Christians do it time and time again, someone reveals they are gay and they are shunned, refused opportunities to work in their church.   And God help the sexually broken persons who showed any kind of interest in youth or children.  People who’re living lives which bear good fruit for all to see have received death threats if they get too close to children/youth ministries.  There are so few safe places, in the Church,  for people struggling against same-sex attraction.

People who leave homosexuality are in danger from the LGBT community, but the Church hasn’t offered a safe place for them to remain safe and pursue the life and freedom God will freely give them.  The Church is as dangerous a place for those dealing with same-sex attraction as the LGBT community is.   No one is going to listen to a voice which offers life, relationship, peace and eternal life, if all the evidence proves  those words false.

The Church had better stop worrying about Obama’s executive order and start learning about God’s orders.   If, increasingly, no one can tell the difference between the traditional evangelical and the Matthew Vine kind of evangelical then that will be all the proof God will need, and he will start believing there is no difference between the two parties.  God overcomes, the Church…er, perhaps I should say church (lower case “c”) because the evidence of God’s overcoming power is lacking.   Great is the wisdom of God!   When we stand before God we’ll either be conformed to the image and likeness of Jesus, or Matthew Vine, or Fred Phelps.   God isn’t going to have to point any fingers, he’ll see Jesus or he won’t.

Lions! Tigers! And Gays! OH MY!! Part 2

THE BAD NEWS AND THE GOOD NEWS

The good news is Jesus Christ has overcome the world.   Also in the good new column: God says something incredible about those who believe in the saving grace and life transforming power of God:  “In fact this is love for God: to obey his commands.  His commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.” 1 John 5:3-4.   So now here’s the thing…God desires to overcome the world in and through you.   Still in the  good news column:  The truth that God can and will overcome homosexuality.  Remember 1 Corinthians 6?   “And such were some of you.”   God has got the answer though he really doesn’t give the answer in 1 Corinthians 6.    While you might find that a problem I most certainly do not.  My not knowing the answer to the problem isn’t the problem.  The Holy Spirit has the answer to all sin problems and I’m his house.  I live with the person, the Holy Spirit, who knows how to fix, cure, save, free, deliver from sin.      In other words the answer is to allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through you to love people to the freedom found only in Jesus Christ.

THE BAD NEWS:

There is a new young evangelical out there, and he’s written a really terrific book, called,  God And The Gay Christian.  His name is Matt Vine.  Ok, it’s not a terrific book, in fact it’s completely derivative.  There is nothing original at all in the book.  I was reading the stuff in Vine’s book nearly 30 years ago.  I do like the way he packages the book, it’s easy to read, you feel a connection to the writer though not the material.  Well you might get a connection with the material, I can’t get into what Vine writes because it’s just such truly bad theology, and his conclusions are simply pulled out of his ear or the same place all bad theology comes from the broken, unwashed, deceived human heart.   Vine isn’t the angry, accusing sort of gay religious type.  He attempts to approach his audience with respect and kindness.  He is relational, and I honestly like and appreciate the approach.  He makes several dives at the Gay utopia speak.  He claims that gay people can’t ever change and then as his absolute and irrefutable proof he holds up the failure of Exodus International (Gay Utopia Speak are those things gay people say about being born gay, that gays can’t change, and any attempt to change is harmful and dangerous, and etc., and etc., ad nauseum.   I honestly feel sad for Matthew when he points at Exodus International and claims its failure is 100% proof gays can’t change.   Exodus International was doomed, not because gay people can’t change.  Exodus International failed because, “Birds of a feather flock together.”  If all you know is homosexuality, and all the person you’re trying to help to freedom, from homosexuality, knows nothing but homosexuality then all that can be known is gay.   Exodus International was the blind leading the blind, so where else could a bunch of blind gay people end up but in gay christian relationships??

People like Rachel Held Evans, author of, A Woman's Year Of Living Biblically, and another younger neo-feely evangelical named Brandan Robertson call Vine, “a game changer.”  I find Brandan Robertson’s claim that Vine is a game changer a bit more believable than I do Evans’, but then I don’t trust the neo-feely evangelicals.  Brandan claims that after having lunch with Matt Vine he realized that Vine is an evangelicals like the ones he’s known all his life.

I must admit, at first I thought Robertson had lost his mind.   But as I started to think about Robertson’s assertion I realized he is dead on target.  Matthew Vine isn’t any different from the lion share of evangelicals I’ve known.   Vine doesn’t know what to do with homosexuality and he cherry picks the verses he likes to support his position.  Vine’s arguments come from the same old sources gay theology has always been dependent on and all the other evangelicals I’ve known use the Bible as an excuse not to reach out and help homosexuals come to God for God to change them.  Unfortunately I’m going to have to admit that Brandan Robertson is right about Matt Vine:  Vine is an evangelical.  This is  VERY VERY BAD NEWS!

  

If evangelicals can’t see the difference between Matthew Vine and any other evangelical then there is a very strong possibility there are no vast differences to speak of.   What sets the Church apart is both the words and deeds of God done in us and through us.   If we can’t find the path to God for LGBT people, then have you really found the way of life?   Claiming Jesus can change homosexuals is a far cry from proving it.   Jesus tells us he could prove what he said, and he proved the words he spoke by doing the works Father called him to accomplish.   “And such were some of you, (1 Corinthians 6:11).”   If you don’t know how to minister Christ’s life to LGBT persons “such were you,” is meaningless, for at least some of the sinners mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6. 

So what shall the evangelical movement do now?   Here come the LGBT evangelicals, and if you think the body of Christ is polarized now, you ain’t seen nothing yet.   One of the things I find most off putting about Vine’s book is that all of his arguments are the arguments of mere unwashed, untransformed man.  Vine is suggesting you and I take his special theology, you know  "Gay rose colored glasses" and read the Bible through them, so that we see what Vine desperately wants us to see.  Vine wants you and I to see the Bible, God, and Gays differently.   This is where Vine’s book falters badly:  The problem isn’t persuading me to read the Bible his way.  Because, in and of myself, I am a mere man, and I can certainly see the value and the pull to that.  The problem for Vine and every other religious homosexual is convincing God to view his Bible from there perspective.   Changing my views is worthless.    If God doesn’t change his thinking about homosexuality, adultery, single straights bumping uglies, and all the other “immoral” acts then Vine’s book is worthless.   Vine’s book fails not because he fails to be convincing, but because no one has ever succeeded in changing God’s view of sin.   

The failure of Gay Theology, Feminist Theology, Fascist Theology, and every other special theology is that true believers in Jesus Christ believe the Bible because it contains the teachings of God, and those words have powerful life altering effects in our lives.

This post is long enough, so I hope you’ll come back for the next part of this series of posts.    So be looking for:

"Lions! Tigers! and Gays!  OH MY!   Part 3."

Lions! Tigers! And Gays! OH MY! Part 1

FIND A MIRROR;

Placing Blame Where Blame Properly Belongs

Well President Obama went and done it!  He's opened a can of worms all over the sizable religious movements in this country.  Didn't someone get Obama the memo that America is a Christian nation?  Maybe the cause of the problem isn't Obama.  Maybe the Executive Order prohibiting organizations, including ahem...religious organizations, with federal contracts from discriminating against employees who identify themselves as gay, lesbian, or transgender, isn't the problem.   Maybe LGBT persons aren't really the problem for Christians in America.  Maybe the problem with and for Christians is Christians.   Perhaps if Christians had been obeying God's teachings, and if Christians had sought God's kingdom first, and if Christians hadn't been cherry picking favorite verses while ignoring other very important Scriptures, Christians would be very different, and there wouldn't be this problem with  Gays.   Maybe the real problem is that the Church is suffering a terrible identity crisis.

For more than 20 years I've been asking Christians, leader and laity alike, "Why can't the Church minister the eternal life giving, world overcoming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to gay people?"   The answer I always received was exactly the same, and I mean word for word the same:  "We don't know what to do."   Well it was 45 years ago that the Stonewall Riots in New York City kicked off the modern Gay Rights Movement.   You've had 45 years, so, just between you, me, and God, when do you suppose Christians are going to arrive at an approach to homosexuality?   Can you give an ETA?

What if the topic under consideration here we're curing cancer and not homosexuality?    Would Americans put up with a medical/scientific establishment which hadn't done anything about furthering their and our understanding of cancer?   And more to the point would Americans put up with a medical/scientific community which simply said, "We don't know what to do about cancer."?  Would the world let our medical/scientific communities get away with almost 50 years of inaction and excuses?    We know none of us would put up with a medical/scientific community which gave us 45 years of inaction and continued ignorance.   But then cancer is all about beating cancer and outliving it's incredibly powerful death grip.    Homosexuality is, well it's not cancer, but according to Scripture it is life stealing, and the eternal outlook for homosexuals isn't very bright if Scripture be believed.   The most important question for Christ followers should be:  If the world wouldn't put up with the medical/scientific community, refusing to advance knowledge and treatment of cancer, how is it Christians believe God would accept the Church's empty and useless response to 45 years of the Gay Rights Movement?   Doesn't God love Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, and Transgendered (better known by the letters LGBT community)?   We know that God does love LGBT people, and Jesus tells us so:

"FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONE AND ONLY SON..."

Surely that covers LGBT persons since they are in and of the world.   God clearly knows how to love, even those, we who call ourselves his children ignore or merely attempt to shame into "proper" behavior.   Perhaps the most important question to ask of all is, "Does God know how to overcome; defeat; put away; end the power of homosexuality and all the baggage associated with the sin?"  That is among the most important questions, but the answer creates more questions and propagates more puzzlement.

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived.  Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor

nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards

nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were

some of you.  But you were washed, but you were, sanctified, but you were justified

in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

(Bold text is my addition).

"And such WERE some of you."   Look at that, do you know what that is?   Perfect present past tense of "to be"..."were."   At one time you 'are' but now you are, eternally, "were", as in "You are homosexual, but now God has made you "were homosexual", perfect present past tense of 'to be'.   You 'were' tells us what is no longer in your present, and what will not be in your future.  'Were' tells us what is in your past and will stay in your past.  God has changed everything for you, and for eternity you will not be defined by 'were' but by what God has given you and by what God has made you:  A New Creation.

Clearly, plainly, indubitably, without doubt, with greatest assurance God knows how to overcome homosexuality, and move it into the perfect present past tense for all of eternity.   God doesn't tell us how he does that exactly.  God doesn't tell us the step by step instruction for leading people to freedom, but he does tell us what to do.   Yes that's absolutely right...Jesus tells us what he wants us to do.   If you would say, "I don't know what to do with or about LGBT people or their sinful situation," know that God proves you wrong.

"Do to others what you would have them do for you."

~ Jesus of Nazareth

It's only been in the Bible for over 2000 years, so Church you have no excuse, and be assured you will not stand before God and say to him, "I didn't know what to do."  God will prove to you that you are a liar.  So lets beat the heavenly judgment, and fix our real problem right now.   Take a good hard look in the mirror and say, to that man or woman there, "I am the real cause of my own ignorance."   Say to yourself, "God has the solution, the cure, the fix for LGBT people, and God calls me to be part of the solution."

If you will take up this one little exercise you will see the truth of the matter, and that the Church's problem is herself.   Christians have no excuse for 45 years of ignorance about how God overcomes the sin of homosexuality.   When we start obeying the teachings of Christ God will not fail to lead us to that place..."And such were some of you."  God calls us to reach with his eternal love with a relational approach.   God will show you the right road to freedom when Christians start down that road.  The road to obedience is always the road where Jesus waits for us to join him in his work.  Jesus has been longing for us to join him on the road to eternal freedom for LGBT persons.   Join him, and you'll find the love which overcomes the world.

Stay calm!  There is more I have to say on this matter...  After all God has defeated homosexuality in my life, and God's ways work better than you or I could ever ask, hope, or think.

HOLD TIGHT AND DO NOT WORRY!!

Look for the next post in the series

50 YEARS

I turned 50 on December 31, 2013.  I've tried writing about it, but the posts get too long.   There is a lot to say with 50 years under your belt.

I guess I'm a little depressed.  Not because of turning 50.  I actually like being 50.  I'm just in God's refining fire right now.   The work I'm doing right now is simply awful, but God has many purposes with it.  One purpose, for the job, is to ensure I don't ever try to return to it, or jobs like it.   When God wants to make sure I don't return to something there is a long drawn out burn time.   When things get too hot I like to run back to what feels safe.  The problem is what feels safe to me isn't ever really safe.  What feels safe is settling for less than God.

Of course what God wants isn't safe.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer very eloquently said, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."   God is not at all safe.  Again I'll hand the keyboard to Bonhoeffer:   "Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God's will."   OUCH!

We like to focus on what we see as the "good for me" portions of the Bible.   We like to make the Bible tell us, "Wealth and health show how much God loves us!"  But Jesus never teaches us such things.   Jesus, instead promises us,  "In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart I have overcome the world," John 16:33.    Wealth, health, and youth are what the world desires, and much of the Church in America has hopped on the world's bandwagon.    Honestly how can anyone argue that God hasn't greatly blessed the healthy, wealthy, and young?   But Jesus tells us, "But take heart for I have overcome the world."   Jesus desires to overcome what the world values and promotes.  Rather than embracing the way the world measures what is important, we need Jesus to overcome the world in us, and through us.

Jesus commands us, "A new command I give you:  Love one another.   As I have loved you, you must love one another.   By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another,"  John 13:34.   Some will say to me, "Well God can bless us with health, wealth  and we can still love one another."   That would all be good, but the truth is, we don't love as Christ commands.  What is more Jesus promises us he has overcome the world.  To overcome the world means he has destroyed the world's ways, systems, desires, sins, and power to enslave and destroy human beings.   Health, wealth, and youth are the world's desires, and God sent his only Son, to overcome what the world loves, values, and promotes.   Jesus came to save us from health, wealth, and youth.   Jesus came to give us true wealth, health and life.   "Now this is eternal life: That they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent," John 17:3.   Jesus has come to give us relationship with God, and so that we may have relationship with our fellow humans.   In God' economy wealth and health is measured in relationship with him, and the humans Jesus came to love and die for.    Better to live a short, sickly life with the promise of eternal  relationship with God than to live rich, die old, and lose your immortal soul.

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it is the path to death's house."  Proverbs 14: 12.   Honestly, there is nothing more dangerous or mean than a Christian who has convinced him/herself  that God blesses with things.   God's blessings are rich relationships and an eternity with him.

Don't know what the next years will bring to me, but I hope the pursuit of God in relationship will become all consuming!!

WHAT'S A CHRISTIAN TO DO?

The Real Problem With Anti-gay Comments from Duck Dynasty's Daddy Phil

First, why is Phil Robertson in GQ Magazine?  Anyone take a look at how Phil dresses and grooms (or more accurately, 'doesn't' groom) himself?   I've been reading GQ for many years and 'Redneck Sheik' has never been acceptable for GQ, so why now?  It just goes to show you that GQ is more likely to appeal to guys who are, well, into other guys sexually.  Sure there are the few guys who really are 'Metrosexuals', but I've always believed, and have seen ample evidence, that for many the prefixes, "Metro" and "homo" are more likely to be interchangable.   But before opening that can of worms further, let's get to the point...

Is Phil Robertson being true to the gospel of Jesus Christ or is he simply another in a long line of hateful religious jerks?   Technically, Phil is absolutely right.  Homosexuality is called a sin in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments.   Telling the truth about sin is one things, but we're told in John's gospel the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  (John 1:17).   Am I just bantering semantics here or is there something really different between what God brings through Moses, and what Christ brings when he comes on the world scene as the God/man?

It isn't simply a matter of semantics there is a vast difference between the Law of Moses, and the "...law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus..." (Romans 8:2).   With the Law of Moses comes death.  The only answer the law gives for sin is death.   In Leviticus 18:22 we're given perhaps the most damning of all pronouncements against homosexuality in the Bible.   "You shall not lie with mankind as with woman kind: it is abomination."  (Leviticus 18:22, KJV).   The proscribed punish for breaking the law spelled out in Leviticus 18:22 and again in Leviticus 20:13, is death.   "Do not pass 'GO', do not collect $200, go straight to Hell."  All the law can do, through Moses, is kill.  The Holy Spirit, through St. Paul, explains it to us... "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  Simply put, "No one, having sinned, can expect good from the Law of Moses.

Now if we stop at the Law of Moses then Phil Robertson's comments would be perfectly acceptable.   Well, Phil's comment would actually be wrong, because all his comments do is  cause God's judgment to come upon Phil.  Phil by merely pointing out the sin of homosexuality condemns himself.   Phil is calling out sin, by pointing to the Law of Moses, but we know that Phil is a sinner himself.  Phil even admits he was a sinner, before coming to Jesus Christ for salvation.   Was Phil saved by keeping the Law of Moses?   He was not saved by through the Law of Moses.   Phil plainly confesses that he is a sinner, and alluded to Jesus Christ being his savior.   The problem with, or for, Phil is that he's a hypocrite.  He points to the Law of Moses when speaking of the sins of LGBT persons while at the same time saying he was saved by Jesus Christ.   Either we all live (and die) the law, or when offered, we accept salvation and the lordship of Jesus Christ.  Christ followers can't have it both ways.   We go with the law or we go with grace and truth.   There cannot be grace and truth, through Jesus Christ, for Phil, while Phil pulls out the law on LGBT persons.   If Phil gets grace and truth, then so do LGBT persons.

Now someone will say to me, "Yes, but Phil is only pointing out the truth, that God condemns homosexuality."   That sounds good and proper, but in the end it doesn't work.  First, let me reiterate, the Law of Moses only has one answer for sin: DEATH.   Where is the grace in the Law of Moses?   There is no grace in the law.   Second, we're told in John 1 that in addition to grace Jesus brings truth.   Now  many will argue that the Law of Moses is truth.   How can anyone argue that the Law God gave Moses isn't truth?    The Law is for law breakers, that's why God gave the law through Moses.  The Law of Moses is sent not to task humans, but to show humans that they are past, present and future law breakers, and completely enslaved to sin, without hope of ever being anything else.

The grace and truth of Jesus Christ are the new law, The Law of the Spirit of Life.   The grace and truth of Jesus Christ is eternal life, eternal freedom, and eternal relationship with the triune God, and his born again children.  These children are born of the same Spirit who created Jesus' body in Mary's womb.  (Jesus has always existed as the second person of the God head, but only as spirit with the rest of the God head).

What does this new law mean for me, a person guilty of abomination, according to Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13.   The Law of Moses means death to me, but bring the grace and truth of Jesus Christ to this  life ending law and suddenly what once gave death becomes something new.   Before God drew me to his Son, and the Holy Spirit convicted me of sin, righteousness, and the judgment to come, I was a hopeless and helpless lawbreaker.    But when God found me, and by his prevenient grace enabled me to make the first freewill choice I'd ever truly made in my life.  When I'd accepted God's forgiveness and grace by faith, then God made me born again, transforming me from a dead lawbreaking slave to a new spiritual creation in the likeness and image of Christ Jesus.  The truth of God in Jesus Christ always frees; the truth of God in Christ always brings eternal life; the truth of God in Jesus Christ always brings eternal relationship with God and his new creation children, the  Church.

When I was a dead slave to sin, what we might call a zombie today I was an object of destruction.  I treated other men as objects of my lust, and objects to be used sexually.  I also accepted that  I was a thing to be lusted for and used sexually.  And like mere objects we were meant to be thrown away after being used up.   With the salvation and Lordship of Jesus Christ, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).    In Christ The Holy Spirit has made me alive to God.  In Christ I am not a thing of lust, I am a beautiful humanized creation enabled to love and serve God.  I am free to turn away from lust and the abomination I'd created with my sexual immorality.   No longer does Leviticus 18:22 give me death.  Leviticus 18:22 is now a continual reminder that God has made me free, that God has overcome me, my sin, my sin nature, and the power of the world to conform me to the life of a slave to sin.   There is no death in Leviticus 18:22 for me, now there is the joy of being made new, clean, and free by God.

I cannot agree with Phil Robertson, Duck Commander, or not.  Papa Phil isn't telling the truth of God in Christ.  For the truth of God in Christ is freedom from sin, not judgment and eternal punishment.  Anyone who gives the Law of Moses without the truth and grace of Jesus Christ, is not telling the truth at all.   When we give law, but not grace and truth we  cover the face of Christ; we bury the truth under a pile of rules none of us can keep; when we give law we deny the slave the face of the merciful, loving, and gracious master who frees slaves and then adopts them into the very family of the only true God.    The Law condemns but the grace and truth of Jesus Christ always brings life, hope, peace, and eternal relationship with God.

There are not enough words to express my great gratitude for you and your husband.   What you are doing is the work of God and shall prove it to you.

Not long after salvation I started work at the soup kitchen my church had opened in one the poorest and dangerous parts in my home town.  God had saved me and pulled me out of homosexuality.   But simply saving me didn't fix the brokenness in me.   Saved or not I didn't know how God take out of me all the "abomination" I had chosen to give myself.  You know the "abomination" of which I speak don't you?   Leviticus 18: 22,  

"Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination."

 I was filled with fear, hopelessness, bitterness, and the rejection of my fellow Christians.  When I told my first pastor about my past I thought I was telling him about the most amazing freedom God had already worked into my life.  The night Jesus Christ saved me he showed me what he was offering through eternal relationship with him.  I had a little vision of this small silver wrapped box, with a beautiful silver bow holding closed.   So real was this vision that I simply asked, out loud to, an empty room, "What's in the box?"   Immediately words seemed to well out of a place within me.  I didn't sense the thought originated in my mind.   It was a simple thought, but it destroyed my life in homosexuality as sure as nuclear bombs obliterate all life.   The thought said, "This is My gift to you:  Unconditional love, unconditional understanding and unconditional acceptance.   (What Jesus meant by unconditional acceptance didn't mean Jesus affirmed that he created me to be gay.   Jesus accepted just as I was, and he would take the sin out of me.)    BUT HOW?!  How can even God change an abomination into a child of God?!!   

A couple of years later God sent me to work in the soup kitchen my church ran in one of the worst and most dangerous neighborhoods in my home town.   Ministering at that soup kitchen was incredibly difficult to do.  I didn't look down on the patrons of the little soup kitchen because I'd made my life an abomination, so I certainly could condemn anyone else.   There actually was one group of frequent visitors: the hookers.   

The worst hooker was a woman I always call "Lilly".   Lilly had AIDS, but she kept selling sex.  At first I hoped God might have sent me to be in the right place to catch Lilly in the act of selling sex to someone, so I could turn her in and then act as witness against her in a court of law.   Lilly just needed to be thrown in jail to save lives.   

Instead Lilly became the key to unlocking how God can free a man who'd made himself an abomination.   Lilly was the hardest human I'd ever met.  There was nothing of human spark in her.   When she looked at me there was never any recognition in them.   She show me she hated me, and she didn't try to sell me her wares.   There was nothing in the eyes looking at me.  She was seeing through me.   She deserved whatever punish came her way, including Hell.    The evidence of her life condemned her.   Lilly never spoke to me once in the 4.5 years I ministered the gospel at that little soup kitchen.  I did have the chance to hear parts of the stories other hookers talked about among themselves.    Some of those hookers were very bold saying right to you face.  "I do this (prostitution) cause I love sex and I love money."   Funny thing was I'd over hear them talking about how they hated men and that all men are pigs and dogs.   For people who loved money and sex they hated the men who supplied them with both. 

One of the greatest things God taught me through hookers is:   Hooker might love sex and money but they hate men using their bodies.   Money changes nothing, no one wants to be made into an object for other people to use, abuse, and throw away.   Actor Charlie Sheen said it the best: "I don't pay prostitutes for sex I pay them to leave."  

as I overheard pieces and parts of the hooker's life stories I was able to piece together their early lives.   The men and women who should have loved and cherished them raped, beat, prostituted them for money or drugs.  To survive these women took control of their own lives and did the only thing they knew how to do.   The most important people in their lives treated them like so much garbage.  For some of these women if they'd stayed where they came from they'd have ended up dead and literally thrown their dead bodies into dumpsters or shallow graves.   I started seeing the hooker's lives in a very different light.   One day when Lilly came in God powered more light on situation.   This thought welled up from inside me,  "I want Lilly to be my daughter.  I never intended men to use, abuse, disease, and then throw her life in a dumpster, like so much trash."    God loved Lilly!  God wanted Lilly to become his beloved child.   The people who should have loved and treasured Lilly treated her body like it was a trash can.   All Lilly did was embrace the message her abusers given her, "You are a trashcan."  Lilly went out and continued the use and abuse of herself living up to the identity her abusers had given her; TRASHCAN.   Not only did Lilly trash herself, but she trashed every man she could get her hands on.   They used Lilly as a trash can, she trashed the men who used her, and the men who used her, likewise, trashed themselves with her.   

Another great lesson God taught me through hookers:  The person who objectifies, uses, and abuses other people makes himself into an object.   It is impossible to make a fellow human being into an object, for lust and use without being made a similar object by lusting and using.   

This understanding was the key to God teaching me about Leviticus 18:22
This thought welled up from inside me,  "Lonnie you are not an abomination.   

"I have saved you and you are no longer a "thing to be used."  I have created in you a new human life.  You are the object of my love and fatherly pride.   You are not a "thing" you are my child in and through Jesus, my Son.   I have taken away all that you were, and that includes the abomination.   I have taken all you are and placed it upon my Son hanging on a cross.   I have taken all the worth, beauty, holiness, righteousness, and perfection of my Son; my very heart and all of my wealth, and placed it on you.   You are no longer a thing for I have made you alive, free, and clean."  

THAT IS LEVITICUS 18:22, not as it was given through Moses, but rather through the grace and truth of Jesus Christ.   I love Leviticus 18:22, for in Christ the law which killed me has become the life giving law of the Spirit of Life.   I'm not a thing to be killed by the law, I am a child of God made brand new so that instead of being an object of destruction I am made new for eternal  life and eternal relationship with God and his other former
 abominations.   "God gives beauty for ashes..."

Keep giving this man God.  Your friend is called to relationship with the beauty of God (grace).   Your friend has lots of ashes, but the beauty of God you give through acceptance, understanding, and God's world overcoming love will utter consume all his ashes.

This is an excerpt from the book I am writing:  EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT GOD'S LOVE HE TAUGHT ME THROUGH HOOKERS
    

  

• 
  

EXCERPT FROM MY BOOK

EXCERPT FROM MY BOOK

FROM CHAPTER 5

“This leads to another realization God taught me through hookers:  Whether conservative or liberal, Christians don’t want to deal with the brokenness in sexually broken people.  Condemning and merely swallowing sins are different sides of the same coin.  The truth is we don’t want to deal with “those” people.

Condemnation and acceptance are the way we get past, around, or avoid people Jesus came to serve and save.  The Religious Right removes Jesus Christ from his cross so the sinner may be crucified in his place.  The Religious Left removes Jesus from the cross, because where there is no sin there is no need of a suffering savior.  Jesus says in Matthew 23:13, “You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.  You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”  And again in Matthew 23:24 , Jesus says, “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.”  Sexually broken people deserve the opportunity and invitation to know, “…Jesus and him crucified.”  Condemnation and acceptance add up to the same thing:  People  are refused Christ.  When we deflect broken people through condemnation or acceptance of sin then we, without thinking, have shut the door of heaven in the faces.  We are tying up heavy burdens for these people because we demand they free themselves, or by demanding that they merely accept their sin because of the specious argument that “nature” made them that way.  Their sin is to heavy for the to carry, but Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  We can’t say to the hooker “Lilly”, or the LGBT person at work or school, “You made the choice, so make a different choice,”  and we also can’t simply say, “Well God just made you this way, so you need to just accept that.”   Jesus says the opposite of what Both the Religious Right and Religious Left say.   Jesus came to open the gates of the kingdom of heaven and to take away the heavy burden. “

Can you help a brother out?   Does it make sense?   Are you getting the gist of what’s written here?    Do you agree or disagree, and why do you agree or disagree?    Do you think  the verses from Matthew 23 fit the context or can rightly be fitted to the context of the excerpt?

I’d honestly appreciate your input!!

Forgive the formatting error, I don’t know how I did it and I don’t know how to fix it.

THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE I WANT TO KILL...

There are some Christians...I really want to kill...No, not kill...That's not what Jesus really taught, is it?  So what did Jesus teach?

²¹ From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

 ²² Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

 ²³ Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. ²⁶ What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

Matthew 16:21-27 (NIV)

Okay, but what does that have to do with wanting to kill certain people?  Well, it should be obvious, as a Christian, there are no people I want to literally kill.   I bare no people group or individual a wish or plan for their death.  What I'd like is for my fellow Christians to die, of free choice, the way Jesus teaches we must die.  Now some well meaning Christian will say something like, "Yes, Jesus is telling us to come and die with him on his cross."
  
In Matthew 16:21-27 Jesus ISN'T teaching about his cross.  If Jesus had been speaking about his cross he would never have said, "...take up your cross, and follow..."  No one, except Jesus, could carry or die on the cross of Jesus Christ.  ONLY ONE HUMAN IN ALL OF HISTORY...past, present, and future could die on the cross of Jesus Christ...JESUS CHRIST.  Now it is true, we are taught in Scripture, that we have been crucified with Christ, but again, Matthew 16:21-27, IS NOT where Jesus is teaching that we die with him on his cross.  DO NOT MAKE THE TERRIBLE MISTAKE OF ASSUMING... Remember what ASSUME means... (you make an "ass" out of "u" and someone named "MMM")

Now what exactly; precisely; specifically is Jesus talking about when he tells us, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me..." Vs. 24??!!   The answer to this is very easy...What comes right before Jesus' commands to "deny", "take up," and "follow" in Matthew 16:24?? 

 ²² Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

 ²³ Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Someone explain to me, please, how Jesus is talking about dying on his cross, when clearly; without any doubt; it's obvious Jesus is addressing Simon Peter's rebuke, and Simon Peter's opposition to Father God's purpose, plan, and perfect will for Jesus??!!   Jesus isn't pulling this lesson out of thin air.  Jesus is directly addressing Peter's self-centered, self-serving, and utterly human (satanic!!) way of thinking!   Someone is going to say to me, "NOW HOLD ON ONE MINUTE!!!  JESUS IS SIMPLY REBUKING PETER..."   That is absolutely and utterly unsupportable by what the text says!!  If Jesus is only rebuking Peter why then does he turn and address all of his disciples???  Jesus isn't merely rebuking Peter, he is also telling us exactly what the root of the human problem is: MERELY HUMAN THINKING.  What's more Jesus tells us what, or rather "WHO" the wellspring of "merely human thinking" is:  SATAN!
 
For me Matthew 16:21-27 begs a very important question: 

"Which of us doesn't think like a "mere" human being?  I think the way other humans; or "mere" human beings think.  I can't help but think like a mere human, because I am MERELY human!!"

Jesus isn't merely addressing Peter's shortsightedness, he is addressing what is at the heart of humanity's problem:  SINCE THE FALL, DUE TO SIN, ALL OF HUMAN KIND IS BORN, SPIRITUALLY, IN THE LIKENESS AND IMAGE OF SATAN.   God created us in the likeness and image of God, and we still all bear the appearance of, BUT!...  BUT!! When the first of our species sinned our spiritual nature has been cast in the image and likeness of the one who lead us into sin, and keeps us enslaved to sin.  We are, all of us, with the exception of Jesus of Nazareth, born with the same spiritual defect:  We are like our father; "the ruler of this world"; Satan.  We, all of us, just like Satan, oppose God!   Jesus isn't merely rebuking Peter, he is taking the opportunity to reveal what is in Peter's "merely" human heart, but also what is in the hearts of every "mere" human being.
 
Do not make the error, of believing that Jesus is speaking of "his cross," in Matthew 16.  Jesus is speaking exclusively of "your" cross; "my" cross; "our" crosses as "mere humans".   When Jesus says "your" cross he is telling us something about ourselves; he is telling us, in no uncertain terms, what our "merely" human way if thinking, being, and doing creates for us:  A CROSS.   Jesus is telling us that the way we live is the most horrible, shameful, slowly torturous, agonizing ways to die.  When Jesus says, "Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me..."  Jesus is saying...

STOP TRYING TO FIX YOURSELVES!  STOP MANIPULATING, USING AND ABUSING OTHERS!  STOP, "I DID IT MY WAY!!"  YOUR WAY IS JUST A HELLISH DEATH ON A CROSS YOU ARE MAKING FOR YOURSELVES!!!  JUST PICK UP THAT WORTHLESS, F***ED UP WAY OF LIFE, OF YOURS, AND FOLLOW ME WITH IT!!"

(Just so you know that is the "Lonnie" paraphrase of Matthew 16:24.  If you want to flower it up, and turn it into King James speak, feel free, but I like my way of understanding it, because it's absolutely true of how I was and how I lived my life, before Jesus Christ).

If you follow where I'm going with this is, does this mean that Jesus is saying, "come with me so I can put you to death on your cross?"   Jesus isn't saying anything about dying on "your" cross or me dying on "my" cross.  How do we know Jesus isn't telling us, in Matthew 16:24, "...to come follow and die on "your" cross?? Jesus has already told us in Matthew 11:28:

  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."  

When Jesus says, "Take up your cross, and follow...," He is telling us to follow him to the place of freedom, eternal life, peace and joy unspeakable, in the presence of God!!!  The road to life is first, to stop thinking, being, and doing the way the world around us thinks, lives, and behaves.  The Holy Spirit through St. Paul explains this further in Ephesians 4:17-24:

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

²⁰ That, however, is not the way of life you learned ²¹ when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;"

CHRISTIANS,  CUT THE CRAP!!!!

AND DIE TO YOUR "MERELY HUMAN" WAY OF THINKING, BEING, AND DOING!!! 

PUT ON CHRIST!!

(Lonnie's Paraphrase of Ephesians 4:17-24)