Posted on 06/14/2016 5:32:09 AM PDT by Kaslin
I know that many of you are not only hurting today, you are also angry. And your anger is not just directed at the Muslim terrorist who slaughtered so many of your people. You are also angry at Christians like me, believing that we have helped to create the toxic, hateful atmosphere that led to the horrific massacre.
A gay activist in Charlotte, North Carolina with whom I’ve shared meals and interacted many times, expressed his anger towards what he called the “sanctimonious bulls—t” of conservative Christian leaders, saying, “You helped cause this massacre. Your anti-LGBTQ theology assisted in helping others, including the Orlando shooter, in seeing each of our precious LGBTQ lives as dispensable and worthy of death. . . . F--k your prayers and your chaplains. How 'bout you stop your anti-queer theology that supports our death and despair, huh?”
In your eyes, people like me are hateful bigots, not recognizing the validity of your marriages, not recognizing the depth of your relationships, not recognizing the beauty of your families.
And when we say that homosexual practice is sinful in God’s sight, you feel that we are branding you as inferior human beings, virtually damning you to hell for who you are and for who you perceive yourselves to be from the womb.
Some of you have called us CINO’s (Christians In Name Only), reminding us that Paul taught that love does no harm to its neighbor (see Romans 13:10) and claiming that we are doing you to irreparable harm and damage when we tell you that God has a better way, that it’s wrong for you to engage in same-sex relationships, and that, with God’s help, it can be possible to change from gay to straight.
Many of you hear those words as anything but loving, to put it mildly.
As one woman posted on my Facebook page yesterday, “I blame YOU and people like you for the tragedy in Orlando. As of now, 50 people are dead, 53 injured, including at least one police officer, due to homophobia. And you, and your ilk spreading your messages of hate daily directly contribute to senseless tragedies like this. . . . SHAME ON YOU!”
In reality, if people truly listened to my message (or that of my colleagues), it would never dawn on them for a split second to attack you or try to harm you, and as I’ve said many times publicly, if someone tried to do you harm and I was present, they would have to get by me.
My friends and co-workers feel this way as well: As Jesus laid down his life for us, we are called to lay down our lives for others.
You might say in response, “Brown, you just don’t get it. Your words hurt us deeply and your political stances do violence to us. You’re no better than a mass murderer.”
I say to you in response, “Then forget about me or other Christian leaders and in your moment of intense pain and anger, look to Jesus.”
Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).
Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
And Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it” (Mark 8:34-35).
It is Jesus, not religion, that you need.
Maybe you were raised in the church and have issues with “organized religion.”
Maybe you have been hurt by professing Christians or believe that we’re all hypocrites.
I can tell you that Jesus will never hurt you and that Jesus is not a hypocrite, and if you will call out to him from the depth of your pain and despair and ask him to save you and forgive you, he will, just as he forgave and saved me in 1971 when I was a heroin-shooting, LSD-using, 16-year-old, Jewish, hippie rock drummer. And he has never failed me since then.
You ask, “But are you telling me that I’m supposed to stop being gay? Is that your message?”
My message is that we are all sinners in need of God’s mercy and transformation, and you can pray what all of us prayed: “God, I confess to you that I’m a sinner in need of forgiveness, and I cry out to you to forgive me and give me a brand new life.”
Then put your entire life into his hands – your past, present, and future; your hopes, dreams, and pains; your sexuality and your desires – and say, “Jesus, I want you to be the Lord of my life, I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead, and wherever you lead, I will follow you.”
Call out to him today from the depths of your heart, and he will hear your cry.
Then begin to talk with him daily in prayer and read the Scriptures on a regular basis to discover God’s will for your life, and do your best to connect with other followers of Jesus who seek to live by his teachings.
It is true that he calls for the complete surrender of our lives to him, but when we take the plunge, holding nothing back, we discover the very meaning of life itself.
If I can be of any help to you on your journey, please let me know. As much as you may perceive me as an enemy, I am praying for God’s very best for your life.
I’ve never used an image program. I don’t even know if I have one.
I'm sure the killer had HIS reasons.
?
Let me look to see if I can find a 'free' one on the 'net...
Not even the PAINT one that came with PC's?
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Open-Paint
If you are gay, you believe in God, then you should know that your battle is not with us. We should not judge, but we cannot separate ourselves as believers from the word that is contained within the bible. If we did, we would no longer be followers of the way. Christians.
We can only share what we know/believe. I for one have enough on my own plate in regards to my walk with the Lord. At the end of the day, it is not me and you and God. It is you and God alone.
Colon is Christopher Columbus’s last name in Spanish.
It definitely does NOT have the same meaning in Spanish as it does in English - LOL!
What sort of event did God hold on the scorched Earth where Sodom and Gomorrah, were?
It wasn’t a group hug fest.
That’s a load of semantic manure.
The Creator of the Universe could’ve replayed the events in slow motion and pointed out every detail if He wanted to.
And He will.
This in no way gives the big OK to sin---
but it does mean that the Good Shepherd goes after the straying sheep with open arms, and not with a butcher knife.
Look, I have a young relative who told all the aunts and uncles he was gay when he was 14. I pray a lot for him, and I have told him that this is not the path God wants for him, it will hurt him deeply and he will not end up with the love he so longs for. I can only get through to him, effectively, to the extent that he trusts me and knows that I'm there FOR him, not AGAINST him.
? Trust comes first.
Truth, without trust, is just a jab: its results are like those of a vaccination jab: the person gets a tiny dose and then develops an immunity against it: the person is inoculated against the Truth.
Truth without Trust, without Love, is useless --- and that's the truth.
Gen 3:15
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."
NIV
Who is the seed that will crush the serpents foolish head?
Suffering the penalty for sin of the world upon Himself so that we can be free from sin - that's Love, and grace.
The problem with the reprobately minded Rainbow "culture" is that they've REJECTED that grace; preferring to pretend they have PERMISSION to sin instead of forgiveness from it.
Amen. This is exactly right, HLPhat.
Rom 1:26-32
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
KJV
Reprobate
— that which is rejected on account of its own worthlessness (Jer 6:30; Heb 6:8; Gr. adokimos, "rejected"). This word is also used with reference to persons cast away or rejected because they have failed to make use of opportunities offered them (1 Cor 9:27; 2 Cor 13:5-7).
(from Easton's Bible Dictionary, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Some folks are foolish enough to think they can "share a degree of respect and understanding" with the culture of reprobately minded individuals who operate in the spirit of anti-Christ against the body of ALL who are repentantly and gracefully forgiven - which is Christ's true church.
Other folks, not so much.
Maybe the question "recovering" feminists in the domain of state-established/establishing religious Jesuit/Papal dogmatism should be asking is:
What was it that provoked such a punitive response by God -- giving their self-worshiping, state-established, idolatrous culture over to a reprobate mind, in the first place?
Per Romans Chapter 1 God does not appear to be expecting "respect and understanding" with those He's given over to the reprobate due penalty for their idolatrous choices.
Furthermore Jesus, The Word, specifically instructs us to REBUKE the sinner:
Lev 19:17
17 "'Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.
NIVBut rebuke, in Love:
Lev 19:18
18 "'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
NIVLuke 17:1-4
17 Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. 2It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 So watch yourselves.
"If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."
NIV
>>Truth without Trust, without Love, is useless
Baloney. 2+2=4, not 5, That's the useful TRUTH -- regardless of whether the rules of math are embroidered with purple/pink Trust and Love thread or not.
Likewise Natural Laws - like Gravity and the self-evident rules governing the reproductive fitness of species and cultures -- characterized by sexual dimorphism via Natural Selection; have CONSEQUENCES when they are ignored and/or abominated.
People who step off cliffs fall. Cultures that normalize the perversion of nature die.
And "woe to that person through whom they come" - regardless whether they come with some feigned and twisted facade of Trust, Love, respect and understanding pasted on, or not.
Matt 10:14-15 14
NIV
Rebuke, Repent, Forgive - What does this mean, in Orlando?
Respect and understanding --- and words of truth --- turned me away from disordered affections and misplaced worldly loves. So what I know of the way God's mercy works towards sinners, I know from experience.
As St. Paul said the faithful saints at Corinth...
Tagline
btt
But you weren’t given over to a reprobate mind, were you.
2 Timothy 2:24
And the servant of the Lord must not be contentious, but be gentle unto all men, able to teach, and always patient.
We don't have a right, I think, to despair of other people's salvation, or to quit reaching out to them. God only can read their minds and hearts, and by God's grace repentance is possible, yes, even to the last breath.
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