rivka | (no subject)

"But all the wickedness in the world which man may do or think is no more to the mercy of God than a live coal in the sea." - Langland

I just posted this in response to someone who was proudly storing up Bible quotes she could use to "rebuke homosexuality:"

Here are some texts I highly recommend to your attention:

Matthew 7:1-5.

John 8:3-11.

When we look at what Christ calls us to do, the lessons he teaches are clear. It's not a very Christian thing to store up lists of texts that you can use to "rebuke" someone, and to chase after other people to tell them that they're sinful. That's not what Jesus taught his followers to do.

When the woman who was taken in adultery was brought before him, he didn't quote the relevant scriptures condemning adultery, did he? He wasn't on the side of the people who had eagerly sought out a sinner and condemned her - he told them to be more concerned with what they were doing wrong. When you seek out passages you can use to "rebuke homosexuality," are you being more like Jesus or more like the crowd he criticized in John 8?

And in Matthew 7: Christ tells you, explicitly, "Judge not, lest ye be judged...Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?" How do you reconcile that text with your eagerness to prove that homosexuality is sinful? You have a long way to go before you'll be truly Christlike in your love, charity, humility, mercy, and goodness. We all do. But in your eagerness to tell gays and lesbians what they're doing wrong, you forget about how far you fall short of the glory of God.

Work on yourself. Work on showing so much love and charity towards others that they spontaneously want to be like you and share your faith. If you truly trust in God, then trust that God will know what to do about gays and lesbians. It's not your job to judge them - that job is reserved for God alone.

I'll pray for you in Christ's name, that you may develop Christlike charity of spirit.

Real Live Preacher said it better, but we can only work with what we're given, I guess.

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thank you rivka. that was beautiful :)

n.

I rather like these comments by Walter Cronkite (as posted to Corrente):

There are many of us Christians who recall our Sunday-school teachers and later our ministers dwelling upon the sympathy and respect - indeed, the tolerance - for others that, they taught, was basic to our Christian religion. As the prophet Isaiah summed up this need for tolerance: "Come, let us reason together."

We who believe this are compelled to ask: Where is the tolerance, where is the Christian spirit in the effort to criminalize the personal choices of our fellow citizens, personal choices that do not physically threaten others? Where is the Christian tolerance in the conceit of those Christian leaders who dare suggest that they alone can be trusted to properly interpret the lessons of their Bible, and who would impose that belief on this nation's highly diverse peoples by threatening to throw them in jail if they don't agree with the Christian right's version of God's wishes?

You rock. You rock all the time, but right at this moment you rock even more than usual.

That's a good answer, with all the best of Christianity in it.

That is just beautiful.

See, this is what makes you a Real Christian and not one of these phobic wannabes. And I mean that sincerely - it's increasingly unusual to find someone who has faith based on inclusion rather than on exclusion.

Thanks. Too many people assume that the Bible only says what the fundamentalists think it says, you know? And it was clear that argument from Biblical authority is the only thing that person would accept.

This is really wonderful.

Real Live Preacher said it better, but we can only work with what we're given, I guess.

Perhaps, but what you said was certainly good enough. Very well put.

I hope the lesson takes. I fear it won't, but I hope it will.

You're such a good writer, Rivka, and you use it to wonderful purpose. Thank you. :)

I hope your friend sees it, and it sinks in.

She actually said she'd meditate about it. Of course, she also said that she wasn't really being judgmental, but you can't have everything at once.

I would love to see the response to this. :-)

-J

Your wish is my command. (http://www.livejournal.com/community/ljprayerteam/209607.html)

Beautifully argued and written, Rivka. Thank you.

You might want to read a similar commentary about George W. Bush's religiosity that was published in The Nation. (http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20031222&s=stam) ()

I disagree that Real Live Preacher said it *better*... just differently.

This was very well said (okay, "written").

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Thanks, Rivka...

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