Lewis is my especial favorite, he just speaks to me where I live. Such a gentle, genial, but absolutely convinced and convincing man.
Posted on 05/23/2006 1:58:25 PM PDT by NYer
CHICAGO, May 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement was released today by the Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM). The RSM will respond to the fear and intolerance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender (GLBT) persons, by many of our Catholic Bishops on Pentecost Sunday, June 4, 2006. We will be entering, with our straight allies, Catholic Cathedrals across the nation on Pentecost wearing Rainbow Sashes as a sign of identification. Some Bishops have welcomed us in the past, and we are thankful for their welcome.
Nationally our Bishops have lobbied against our human rights. Our grief is intensified because many in the GLBT Catholic Community feel alienated from the Church because of this assault on our human rights. We believe the Bishops have a serious obligation to root out structures and attitudes that discriminate against the homosexual as a person. A small number of courageous Bishops are exerting their leadership in behalf of this effort, and these Bishops will have our full support and prayers.
The Gospels reveal that, while Jesus did not hesitate to proclaim radical ethic of life grounded in the promise of God's kingdom, he never ceased to reach out to the lowly, to the outcasts of his time even if they did not live up to the full demands of his teaching. Jesus offered forgiveness and healing to all who sought it. And when some objected to this compassion, he responded: "Let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to throw the stone,"(John 8:7)
We are followers of Jesus Christ, and Catholic. This is why members of the Rainbow Sash Movement will wear Rainbow Sashes on Pentecost Sunday. We see homophobia within the Church as both an opportunity for education, and a way to promote the idea of love of neighbor. We are calling for dialogue.
To find out more, and get involved with Rainbow Sash Movement please visit our Web site at http://www.rainbowsashmovement.com, or email: Sashmovement@AOL.Com
Love C.S. Lewis And G.K.Chesterton....2 blessed converts!
Lewis is my especial favorite, he just speaks to me where I live. Such a gentle, genial, but absolutely convinced and convincing man.
I believe that God is Love and that God loves everyone totally and completely. That does not mean that I think that God is not sad when we hurt ourselves or others - but that God loves us with a love that is beyond our ability to understand or even imagine.
My prayer for you is that you allow more love into your life and your heart - as you love God more and more fully and you love others - I pray that your heart and mind will open to even more love and your interest in condemnation and attack will begin to wane and fall away. And I pray that you find true peace of mind through forgiveness of yourself and others.
You are grasping again sonsong!
You are misquoting me. Why don't you read my post #293 again.
That is one of the fascinating things about belief. People are free to believe whatever they want to - regardless of what anyone else believes. You are free to believe whatever you choose to - as am I.
The idea that God is less than Love does not make sense to me. Just as saying that Jesus was a condemner and an attacker does not ring true for me.
Yet sometimes, people interpret it as condemnation or attack. For example, when my son was about two, he started to run after a neighbor couple that he liked as they had left our apartment and were walking toward theirs. Josh couldn't see that a car was coming down the lane in the parking lot, he could only see James and Alicia and he started running toward them. I could see the car, but I couldn't get to Josh in time to stop him, so I yelled/screamed "JOSH, STOP!" He stopped, the car passed (the driver actually heard me through his closed windows and he looked over and saw that a toddler had nearly walked into the path of his car), and the danger was averted.
Anyone who did not see what happened, but only heard me yell at Josh would probably have incorrectly thought that I was attacking or condemning my son based on the tone of my voice and the volume of my shout. In fact, Josh started crying because he thought I was mad at him, when in fact I was only expressing my love in yelling to keep him from walking into serious injury or death.
Yes, I do.. I call the adulterer for what he does, I call the theif as well. If I see you or anyone else engaging in clearly sinful and immoral behavior I will tell them so... I know some folks don't like that, and I know most people are too cowardly to do it.. and no, that doesn't mean I'm holier or better, I've sinned in my life too, knowingly and admittedly... I'm human... it comes with the ride.
Fortunately though I have folks around me who are strong enough people to call me on them and when folks have called me on it, I haven't lashed out at them and tried to justify my behavior but taken what they have said to heart.
You are free to believe whatever you want, but what you believe and what scripture teaches do not jive in the least... if you believe "God is Love" is the nutshell of Christian theology then you are indeed blatantly ignorant of Judeao-Christian theology.
The Gospels have as strong or stronger a provenance as ANY texts of that age. And Paul's letters are contemporaneous with the Gospels.
Your reading of Paul sounds suspiciously like a lead-in the "Paul was Gay" argument that I have heard from so many revisionist Episcopalians. Unfortunately, there is not much evidence for this view (other than the self-deluding hopes of the people setting it forth).
Yes, that is a good point. However, I am not talking about the perception of condemnation and attack when it is not what is happening. I am talking about the actual states of condemnation and attack. And I do not think that they are part of what Love is. Certainly people will think all kinds of things about behaviors and even statements - this thread is proof enough of that(g). But what is really in your heart? That is what matters. What is your real intention? And please understand, I am not asking you these questions. I have already said I think you are sincere. I am using the general term, you.
Ok, there we have an agreement that a correction can be a very loving thing from a parent.
Why does the homosexual community get so bent out of shape with the Catholic Church when we are lovingly sending the corrective message to them that homosexuality is a sin from which they must repent because not to do so will result in their spiritual harm?
It is expected of all sinners to repent of their sins and not to flagarantly show it in the Church. Would you expect to see an unrepentant murderer next to you in the pews going around bragging about their crime to all the parishioners? Would you expect to see an adulterer flaunting his mistress next to him on the pews?
Scripture tells us that we are suppose to seperate ourselves from others who engage in behaviors unacceptable to the Church. /p>
Why is that the homosexuals think they are the only ones that get a free pass on sin and all others in the Church have to accept it?
God is MORE than Love. He is Love, but He is also Holy. Perhaps you think that God's Love means that He will not condemn man's sin, but if that is the case then there is no reason for Jesus to have died for our sins. If there was no reason for Jesus to have died for our sins, then He would not be God's son, because there would be no reason for God to send His son to us. If Jesus was not God's son, then there is no reason to pay any attention to His teaching, because he was clearly a lunatic -- claiming to be one with the Father, claiming He would rise from the dead, etc.
Then I have no problem with you(g). I have a problem with those who are only interested in homosexual *sin* or *abomination*. I have strong people in my life, too - who tell me the truth and let me know when I am off course. Unfortunately I am not always as gracious as you when being told - but I'm getting better at it(g).
You are free to believe whatever you want, but what you believe and what scripture teaches do not jive in the least... if you believe "God is Love" is the nutshell of Christian theology then you are indeed blatantly ignorant of Judeao-Christian theology.
Indeed and you are free to believe whatever you want to, too. And yes, I believe that God is Love. I am sorry that you don't.
"God is love" is just code for the homsoexuals and hedonists to say "god is whatever feels good"
Thus "god is the buzz from drugs"
or any other hedonistic gratification.
the talking point is not about "God" the real context of that talking point is "I worship 'recreational sex'"
Its really quite simple, as I have stated before:
"homosexuality, particularly among men is a mental disorder that often manifests itself in narccisstic and self destructive actions. "
Which is exactly why they expect the world to bend to them.
I think that our Rector is probably in his early sixties, as are 2 of the assisting priests. The Vicar is maybe in her early 50's. So far our Bishops seem to be OK.
So I guess it's the young ones we have to look out for, huh? (LOL - everyone is younger than me!)
Good for you. That's neat. But it is neither here nor there as to whether I believe the Bible to be translated correctly. Jesus spoke Aramaic for heaven's sakes. But even if you read Aramaic - it wouldn't mean that the Bible was translated correctly or that is wasn't changed for politcal reason over the years.
We're just repeating here. You are free to believe whatever you want to - whatever you choose to. And so am I
But Love is not the pitying, excusing, weak emotion that says, "aw. . . sure, go ahead. I love you anyway." That, as C.S. Lewis said, has cheated many a statesman out of his honor and many a woman out of her virginity.
The problem (for us) with God being Love is that he is also Good - all the Good that there is. And sin cannot exist in the presence of Absolute Good - it shrivels up and burns away. In other words, God does not really condemn the sinner - the sinner and his sin condemn themselves, because they cannot exist in God's presence.
Jesus most certainly condemned the unrepentant sinners - not just the cleansing of the Temple, but the multiple fierce and uncompromising condemnations of the Pharisees and Sadducees "you brood of vipers! who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?", and the Seven Woes in Matthew . . .
And you can't put that down to a bad translation, unfortunately. It's there in the original Greek, plain as print.
Well there is a hard question. I don't know why(g). But I know that here in Utah people want the Mormon Church to change as well. And the Mormon Church did change. It used to be that blacks could not hold the preisthood and now they can. So my guess is that, as with other issues, the homosexuals want change.
I think that there plenty of adulterers in church(g) - think of Clinton, Kennedy etc . And if we include all sin - there are multitudes of sinners in church - right(g)?
It will be interesting to see what happens.
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