“And now you’re punching and you’re kicking and you’re shouting at me.” — Martin Gore
As hopefully everyone knows, June is pride month. That not only means that we see more people in media celebrating the progress that the LGTBQ+ community has made. It means that we see all of the haters come out of the woodwork. Boy howdy, there are some doozies.
One Texas pastor wants the death penalty for “gays.” I suppose he probably means everyone in the LGTBQ+ community, but who can say for sure? The amount of vitriol in Christianity over homosexuality is beyond the pale. I suppose this pastor could be considered the most extreme, but you haven’t heard the worst yet.
What does God say is the answer, is the solution, for the homosexual in 2022, here in the New Testament, here in the Book of Romans?” Awes asked. “That they are worthy of death! These people should be put to death!” “They should be lined up against the wall and shot in the back of the head.”
https://www.newsweek.com/pastor-gay-people-solution-killings-bible-1714037
Far be it for me to dispute the “learned” pastor as I only have my A in “Introduction to the Bible” class at TCU to measure against whatever is on his resume. I have been a Sunday school teacher for over 20 years, so there is that. Yet, the word homosexual never appears in the Bible. They do describe it in a few places, but they certainly don’t mention shooting them. It would be kind of hard considering they missed the invention of the gun by over 1500 years.
Of course, whether the Bible condemns homosexuality specifically is hotly debated. Certainly the concept of transgender, non-binary, or any other relatively new designation is nowhere to be found in the Bible. So, the easiest thing we could say is that the preacher in question is taking a few liberties with the holy text.
Unfortunately, he is also missing the whole story in context. Jesus dedicated his time to sinners. He broke bread with the outcasts of society. He healed the sick and cured the blind. He certainly didn’t condemn anyone to death. I’m pretty positive that he never got out of his 22 caliber pistol and shot anyone in the back of the head. I suppose it’s possible I missed that part of the gospels, but I’m pretty sure I’m on solid ground here.
At the end of the day what are we talking about here? Ultimately, those that have been bestowed with the awesome responsibility of leading a congregation are the connection that non-believers have with whoever God is. God has been many things to many people. He is vengeful and angry. He is loving and forgiving. The God they see is the God you show them. If the God you show them is frightening and capricious then they will not have a connection with him. If the God you show them is so judgmental of his own creation that he would be willing to kill then they will reject that God. They must reject him and in the process reject you as well.
halloffameindex 