I had to approach the protesters in front of the court house on Valentines Day, angered that they would single out Freddie Oakley and her church. It just seemed somehow wrong and dangerous to focus their judgement and hate on not only those who would make commitments to one another but on an individual in particular who had the courage to speak for their rights. I felt impelled to walk up to this self rightous gaggle and ask them, "How can you call yourself Christians?" One of them responded, "I am a Christian because I follow the Scriptures, come and talk." I kept walking, shaking and angry, surprised at my reaction. How dare they believe they alone had a lock understanding Scripture. "No", I yelled back, "I don't talk to terrorists." In my mind, there is little difference between hate mongering so-called "Christians" and the hate filled jihadist sects that our Muslin brothers must deny. This Sunday these same men from the Church of the Divide in Garden Valley came to stand with their signs in protest in front of the First Baptist Church in Davis where Freddie had been attending church. They greeted members of the Church with signs saying the Church is shamed.
There have been times when some who called themselves Christian have stood with those who would be persecuted. I believe this is one of those times. Christians who would be inclusive and open should stand against hate and exclusion being done in the name of Christianity. It was Bonhoffer who said so long ago that there is no cheap grace. I for one will speak to others in my church. I shall ask others to stand with both Freddie Oakley and those who demand equal rights to form committed unions. We need to find answers within our Christian community to respond to actions of hate.
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Yolo Rose -- You've got it all right! I too was at the courthouse on Valentine's Day, and disgusted by the sign-waving out-of-towners. Their pick-up truck parked on Court Street, plastered with big signs blaring Old Testament biblical quotes (guess they've forgotten about the TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS, but then those didn't come along until later, with Jesus ...), looked like Jed Clampett and his dim-witted family had hit town. How pathetic.
They were still there, at least three persistent sign-holders, around 5 pm as I drove home from work. With the traffic backed up on Court from the signal at Third Street, I had just enough time to roll my window down and call out to them, "I'm praying for you folks!" They looked up, happy to spot a potential supporter. Their hope died, however, when I finished my message for them. "Intolerance is a terrible burden, and I'm praying that the Lord will relieve you of it." At that point, the traffic started to move, so I drove on past them and headed for home.
We people who try to emulate Jesus' example in our daily lives (by welcoming strangers in our communities, by housing homeless folks, by feeding hungry families in our midst, and by standing up to bullies who've co-opted the title "Christian") must shake off our timidity when doing our work. We must take our Christianity back from these brutal people, and let folks know that, yes, we are the Christians around here. Loving ourselves while loving others just as much. And loving God, the way God loves us.
Molly Two
Perhaps you have forgotten the New Testament verses that condemn homosexuality as a sin. Here's one of them:
"Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion." - Romans 1:26-27
And specifically regarding marriage, Jesus said, "Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?" -Matthew 19:4-5
Dear Jon,
Christianity is more than knowing Bible verses. The Bible is a fabulous tool, and the foundation for many Christians who struggle to make good choices about how to interact with other people every day, especially people who are "different" from them. The Bible is full of lessons, stories, parables, and historical facts. Not everything in the Bible, however, is fact. We know that God did not write the Bible, for example, just as we know that many books NOT currently in the Bible were removed from it because of political and religious controversies over the ages. So quoting the Bible as the final authority on what precisely is "right" or "wrong" is not as black and white as you would have us believe.
God gave us brains for a reason -- to think through our actions towards others in our daily lives, and to choose to treat ALL of God's children (every single one of them!) with dignity and respect. This includes God's gay children, black children, disabled children, dumb children, arrogant children, pompous children, angry children, ugly children, and intolerant children, as well as all the easily-loved children.
Given all that, I kind of hate to quote the Bible back attcha, but here goes:
This is a little bit from the Gospel of Matthew, which quotes just a few of the words of Jesus in what some Bible scholars call the Sermon on the Mount:
"Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. for with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye."
Matthew 7:1-5
Molly Two
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