Some days I want to disavow the Christian church all together. This from our local paper:
Church Members Protest President: Group Rallies the First Sunday of Each Month
By Gary Glancy & Kim Kimzey
Staff writers
Published: Monday, October 5, 2009 at 3:15 a.m.
There were no counter marcheers, no police and not much fanfare, but about 50 members of the all ages from true Light Pentecost Church publicly vocalized their frustrations with President Barack Obama on Sunday.I find the image frightening. I wish these people would read their bible before they spew hate. I am one to choose to argue scripture. I leave that to Cameron, to my priest, and to my own heart. However, I am deeply troubled by pickets reading "Modern Term: Homosexuality-Lesbian. Bible Term: Sodomites I Kings... I have to wonder if they have any idea that Sodomite is a term used by the King James bible, and can't even be found in some other translations such as NIV. Indeed, this is from the Purple Pew:
Marching with a small brass section that played hymns such as "Lord I Want to Thank You," and "Victory is Mine" along North church Street from the Spartanburg County Administration Building to Krispy Kreme next door, the church rally opposed the president's position on abortion and homosexuality.
The held signs that included "America was founded on the belief of the true God. What happened?"; "The early church did not fear the sodomites";' and "President Obama continues to allow the innocent slaughter of babies...abortion is pre-meditated first degree murder."
After the march, Prophet H. Walker, overseer of True Light, delivered a sermon through a bullhorn condemning homosexuality, and saying "leadership causes this problem to manifest itself."
The only interaction with the public came as church leaders handed out fliers promotion their message to motorists stopped at the traffic light in front of the administration building.
The men of Sodom forcibly sodomized foreigners and strangers as way to claim authority and dominance. As the bible passage says, all the people were present, including the women and children. The entire city was wicked. The Sodomites were prideful, haughty, slothful gluttons who had respect of persons, cared not a whit for the poor, and did not follow the ways of the Lord (Ezekiel 16:55-56). The act of anal sex is called sodomy today not because the men were homosexual -- for Ezekiel says they had daughters, and if they had daughters then they had wives -- but because the men of Sodom (in the presence of their wives) used anal sex as a weapon to control, humiliate, and show contempt for their enemies: foreigners and strangers.So Sodomites were rapists, which the people of True Light Pentecost Church equate with homosexuals. Hmmm.....can it get more wrong than this???
"After the march, Prophet H. Walker, overseer of True Light, delivered a sermon through a bullhorn condemning homosexuality, and saying "leadership causes this problem to manifest itself"...Oh my,,,they are getting into Fred Phelps range! Thats scary. Phelps, for all his familys traveling about, is safely off in Topeka, Kansas. This is rignt here in our own back yard! Yeeks! Teke a deep breath and center, Dreamweaver - remember, we have a few members of the local pagan community that occasionally make us want to disavow the pagans! It's a purely human condition. One thing we can hope for is that Phelps' crew has gotten so far out there that even other Christians are embarressed by them and they have pretty much lost all credibility. If First Light (oh, there is an irony!) Pentecost Church keeps it up, maybe they will shoot themselves in the foot too. And we are safely ensconced at our good church, so we know that these extremists are not the sum total of our faith. Hang in there! And it's possible this is a back lash response to this city's recent gay pride parade. Every dog maun have their day.
ReplyDeleteWoops...its TRUE Light Pentecostal church, not First Light. Never mind the irony. I guess that was habit kicking in.
ReplyDeleteAnd Trans? We're pedophiles of course. The range of views in ANY belief system runs from extremely liberal to rigidly biased. And that's any religion. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hindu, Seik, and yes, even Wiccan and Paegan (not all paegan's are wiccan). Choices of who decides to lead and who we decide to follow set out conceptualized beliefs. Baby/Bath water. It's a matter of choosing wisely. When a sect of a religion decides the become more liberal, many members will break off, unable to reconcile the changes with their beliefs.
ReplyDeleteLastly, religion is a very personal matter. It is not the dogma, the pageantry, the physical. It is about one's beliefs and their relationship to the greater power. It is personal not community. We form communities of like minded individuals, not the pother way around. I remember and old comic strip. It was western based and had a Sheriff Rick O'Shea. Also a gunslinger. The gunslinger was invited to church but turned down the offer. Rick said how will he be saved (gives the age doesn't it), but the guy rode off. In the last panel you see him standing in a forest. He looks up and says "I like it this way Lord, just you and me". That was his community.
gee, I always thought it was founded on religious freedom and killing all the indians.
ReplyDeleteI find that I am completely lacking in words here.
ReplyDeleteI'm appalled...amused and just plain awed by the stupidity of some folks.
*hugs*
I wonder if they've looked at their picture yet and noticed how much they look like some other white wearing loonies.