Due to what is happening in North Carolina I am today relentlessly listless, free-falling into the cold, bottomless loneliness that always comes when I’m forced to witness evil edging ahead of righteousness.
And evil is not too strong a word for what is happening in NC. It’s evil that Amendment One is even on the ballot. And it’s the very apogee of evil that the great majority of those supporting and pushing for its passage have done so in the name of Jesus Christ—the unequaled champion of the unfairly oppressed, the hero of the maligned, the savior of all who are unjustly persecuted.
What better disguise for evil than Jesus Christ? It’s not like evil is ever going to show up as itself; it knows doing so will guarantee no one asks it to dance. Before beginning its rounds, evil always takes care to wrap itself in the warm, soft cloak of humble piety, sincere compassion, utmost concern.
And when it has serious work to do—when it’s on a mission, and will not be satisfied until blood is on the ground—evil knows that, on its way out the door, it cannot go wrong grabbing a Bible and a cross.
![John Shore on The Huffington Post](http://johnshore.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/huffpost.jpg?w=120 "John Shore on The Huffington Post\")
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You deny 98% of foundational biblical truth-subbing in pc “wisdom” in its place and attack anyone who stands on or points to scripture as the basis of the faith -then claim to know what righteousness is? your version of the faith is founded on liberal politics and a desire to scratch every fleshly itch that crops up and then claim God’s approval for it..
And your version is built on conservative politics that deny rights to the poor and oppressed. Your itching ears ignore Jesus’ teachings in favor of bigotry and legalism and then claim God’s approval for it.
gee you assume a lot – incorrectly
Would you mind giving us a bit more specificity behind your “98%” statistic? I don’t want to assume anything so it would be great if you would please break down that data for us. Thank you.
She’s dead-on accurate. You’re terrified of being wrong. The beliefs you cling to are more than likely, the only things that make you feel smart, ok and in control and many of them have absolutely nothing to do with the real Truth of Jesus Christ.
I would bet a hundred bucks that you’re barely holding on emotionally and that intimacy is really challenging for you. You won’t admit to that being true (even if it is) but at minimum, it will rattle your cage a little.
So prove her wrong…if you can.
98%? Hmm. Others like you who have the full measure of truth have weighed in around 91.34% which is fine but perhaps you guys can get together at the next “Bigots offering bullshit statistics for Jesus” convention and get your numbers a bit more aligned prior to posting on the Internet in front of thousands of people.
Are you talking to me? Looks like you’re talking to me. Well I’ll have you know that my politics follows my faith and not vice-versa. Indeed, how could it be any other way? You have to have faith in a order to put that faith behind particular policies. You have to have at least the slightest degree of trust in a politician to make the effort of supporting him or her. You have to have faith that your legs will carry you—neither collapsing like gelatin towers nor crashing like concrete right through the floor underfoot—just to get out of bed in the morning. In all things, even for those whose faith does not include a god, faith comes first. I wish you faith enough to believe this.
Now, I can’t think of a “fleshly itch” that God didn’t give us for good reason. Sometimes it may be best to avoid scratching it until the appropriate time, and/or to use alternative means of itch-relief, but these are the result of circumstances created by men, and not commands imposed on the Christian by God. I wish you faith enough to trust God, that He made all things—even every itch—with good intent. I believe in a good God, in Whom is no maliciousness. Why do I choose to believe it? Because things like the itches people get just don’t make any sense otherwise; otherwise, God is inconstant and in no way really knowable, and/or not at all praiseworthy, or simply nonexistent. So I refuse to bow to such a false idol. May faith and truth set you free from Bible idolatry, mptw.
Speaking of the Bible, I am willing to accept every word of it as literal truth! *I* stand on and point to scripture as a foundational basis of my faith (note, “a” not “the”—thus, not idolatry: for the true God is the ultimate basis of faith, all else must align with Him or I should conclude it is but the misunderstandings of men). So how is it I am denying 98% of it exactly? That would be of pretty big concern to me, if it had any basis in truth. But I’m pretty sure that you are the one in denial—or more likely misunderstanding—but please, go ahead and prove me wrong. Or I’d also be willing to abandon my interpretation of the Bible if you could demonstrate your “wisdom’s” superiority objectively, relative to the Biblical Wisdom of my faith—that is, that it bears better fruits, so to speak. I’m guessing, however, that you are of those whose misguided beliefs bear such fruits as bullying, teen suicide, perpetual loneliness, drug/alcohol abuse, etc.
i dont think you know what the sinful nature is.
denying a sinful nature or merely disagreeing about the nature of sin?
http://anthropologist.livejournal.com/1314574.html
read this and you might rethink your delusions of hetro-sanctity!!!
In the spirit of injecting a bit of humor into a frustrating situation, this link will take you to a little musical, satirical commentary on the topic done by my local LGBT chorus…
(yes, I’m on stage but not telling you which one I am!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3RsFBHjrOY
The sign in front of St. Lukes Church on Park Road, here in Charlotte NC, says “Love Wins.”
Apparently love wins when you show others how little you care about them.
Evil Wrapped Up in Jesus.
it prompted me to write this… http://bit.ly/Lj9FJB
At times like these, I just curl up with my partner and with God and know I have something people search their whole lives for: Unconditional love.
I am so very happy for you, Matt.
Things like this make putting up with all the world might throw against us (that is, everyone who fights on the side of love, not just the LGBT community) worth it in the end!
Know that just as your pain is our pain, your joy, your love, we share also with you, when you share them with us.
For there is no such distinction as between gay love and straight love—not even between romantic love and platonic love really—but one thing that is Love.
Through it, by it, and in it are all things connected: from the rising of the sun each morning to its setting at the Last Day; from footprints in tar beds long since covered by the seas to footprints in dust on the surface of the moon. From the first of our kind to walk upon the face of the earth unto the last of the human race to have perished, from the greatest artists our world has ever known to the lowliest beggars in our streets—all need love.
But sadly, some—perhaps all of us at times—refuse to see that need, and see to it that it is met: they refuse to share in others’ love as we do in yours, when you share it with, and I hope as you do in ours when you see that here—though surely it feels nothing like in your lover’s arms—indeed you are loved (and this exactly as you are: no “love the sinner” bullshit allowed around here without quick and sharp denunciation!)
I pity them that shut out whatever love at all, for they clearly do so in ignorance of love, and this when love is all they ought to really need!
They—we perhaps at times—do it to their(our) own detriment, twisting and turning their hearts in and out of alignment with love, on the basis of some strange animal instincts—on the basis of fear, to put it bluntly (the pitiful cowards).
Yet everything they do that works against love—thought the damage it does is real, and really hurt—will come, in the end, to naught! Yes, even now, love is prepping for their undoing! And what then shall remain of them? Nothing but dust, and daisies.
But when we put on the spirit of love—to whatever extent this Spirit is our own—we are assured a place at the end of the ages; and even now we might behold paradise! Thank you, Matt, for giving us that glimpse—that hope—that tangible expression of the love for which we are determined to fight and moreover to win for our very selves (even those of us who are straight) when all will be said and done (for in that day will there be neither straight nor gay)! Surely we are to be accounted worthy of this, in staying the course to fight the good fight (even if we should happen to have join our fathers and Father in heaven in the meantime—and our mothers and Mother as well—for the Spirit will endure forever, and even our dust will be raised to life in due season)!
Thank you, John! As usual you are able to reach down into the heart of human existence. I have felt exactly the way you describe yourself feeling on more than one occasion. Out of the depths of my despair a small, irrefutable light shines forth. It usually isn’t a big, bright light. Just enough for me to know I can go on hoping. There it was today. The President making his statement about supporting marriage equality. I think what may have pushed him “off the fence”, so to speak, was maybe what happened in N. Carolina coupled with Vice President Biden saying he has no problem with marriage equality. Whatever the reason, it was the small light at the end of the tunnel for me.
“Whether or not we have a right to do something is independent of whether it is right to do so. ”
What do you mean by “right”?
Two different primary senses of “right”—those which remain when excluding any sense opposed to “left”: the first is as in distinction with “responsibility”; the second is as in distinction with “wrong”.
Obama has finally weighed in-
Crazy. I found this post deeply comforting.
Although I’m distressed about what’s happened in North Carolina, the events of today – the President stepping up to the plate on equality – have helped me hang onto hope. The words of Psalm 24 came to mind.
The earth is the Lord’s; evil cannot and will not triumph forever.
“When evil is serious, it reaches for a Bible and dons a cross.”
What an intensely profound string of words. 13 simple bits of language; a thorough explanation of 2000 years of Christian-wrought misery.
In my experience, the profound is often simple.
This is such an empty article.
Edit a few sentences in in paragraph 2 and you’ll have an article perfectly suited for your opponents, John.
Not that I disagree, but it’s just so pointless.
Yes, if I rewrote it, I could make it say something entirely different. Insightful. Thanks.
Now John, be fair. If you don’t put more juicy hateful details in, how will people be able to quote you out of context and be all upset about it? Tolerance and compassion are soooooo bo-ring.
LOL!
I think it’s PERFECT the way it is!
And what improvements do you suggest? John has the right to express his feelings however he wants, and he’s expressing what many of us feel. Sorry you think he has to live up to your expectations. I don’t. It’s his blog.
Whether or not we have a right to do something is independent of whether it is right to do so. Whether or not we have a right to do something, it could still be pointless, and others surely have a right to feel that way about it from time to time, right? Indeed, what reason have we ever to think there’s really any point at all in our existence?
But then there is Love—the one cause I know that is sufficient cause for itself.
Atta girl, Melody!
FishFinger, I don’t think this is empty at all! It is filled with the outflow of the heart; it reflects a view through the lens of John’s, and so many others, inner feelings (as they stood at the time of his writing it). Emotions are not vacuous. Indeed, they are the source of the heaviest burdens placed upon the human soul—a very weighty matter indeed!
The point of such meditation upon them as this is, in general, to work them out towards a remedy of their particular cause(s); and the point of sharing it—to connect with the feelings others have, that they might do the same; and the point of doing the same together—that we legitimize what one another feel inside as the justified emotions that they are; that we loosen the bottle cap on them; that we aid one another in reflection upon that wherein they are rooted, and so unto possible resolutions.
” it’s just so pointless.”
This – literally – makes absolutely no sense.
Which “opponents” are you talking about exactly?
I assumed it meant people who view so-called liberal Christianity as evil. (Please correct me if I’m wrong, FishFinger!)
Funny. I kind of got atheists. I guess we’ll never know.
Concern troll is very concerned.
So true Kirsten.
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