Over the seven years that have gone by since I rededicated my life to Christ, I have come to realize that there are some groups of people who like to call themselves Christians, but don't believe that the Bible, which is the basis of our faith, is to be believed. These "liberal" Christians will simply pick and choose what they want out of the book and ignore the rest. "Hey, Jesus turned water into wine and drank it Himself. Let's ignore what Paul said about not taking part in drunkenness (Romans 13:13 and Galatians 5:21) and go get plastered!"
Yes, Jesus did drink wine. Heck, even Paul told Timothy to drink wine for his stomach (1 Timothy 5:23). But Jesus was never intoxicated in Scripture.
Of course, as in a couple of my recent essays, this subject brings forth a discussion of homosexuality. About.com is a wonderful site that gives information on a variety of subjects. I have recently been to their marriage guides' forums, where I have posted questions of import regarding my own marriage. I have gotten some wonderful answers, as well. For that, I'm grateful.
Then, a post entitled "Presbyterian Court OK's Gay Marriage" came up. Now with a post like this, one would think that it is expected to bring forth a little debate. When you talk about a Christian denomination throwing the Bible out the window, you are going to get some real Christian responses. Accept that, or don't post the controversial topic. But I digress.
The basic point of the post was that the Presbyterian "court" said that it was not against "church law" to marry a gay couple. So I made a simple response. "They may not have violated "the church's law," but they sure violated God's Law." Whoa, did I hit a nerve!
The first response was from a person by the online name of "EDCOREDUX," who told me that some of them were "fed up" with me telling them about God's Law. Of course, I would expect as much. The pharisees didn't like being told that they were ignoring God's Law, either. I pointed out that the person who put up the original post surely expected some Christians to come out to debate such a topic. I'll quote his entire response here:
"If it can be discussed rationally, that's acceptable. Quoting ancient passages from a bible many of us do not believe in only promotes contempt, not discussion. Could you be persuaded by passages from the Koran to change your beliefs?"
Conveniently, the moderators closed the thread before I could give my reply. However, since this website is my means of expressing my beliefs, I'll respond here. The thread is about a Christian denomination allowing homosexuality. Only an incredible moron would even consider saying that quoting the Bible in such a discussion wasn't "rational." And no, I couldn't be persuaded by passages from the Koran, but the discussion was about a Christian church, not a Muslim sect.
Another thread that came up was "Papal envoy hints supporting gay unions." My first post stated "I believe that the church cannot survive without following the whole Bible." The response that I got was from a person with the screen name of "Candless." He responded with the most ludicrous comeback that I hear people use when Christians use the Bible to discuss homosexuality: "Should we reinstitute stoning people to death for "gathering sticks on the sabbath?" Ugh. Okay, I'm going to answer this question by stating that Jesus stopped a stoning, which I have always taken to be His views on that type of punishment. He also did things on the Sabbath that would have been considered "work." But He never told us to ignore Old Testament references to homosexuality. I also pointed out that the New Testament does mention homosexuality being a "perversion"(Romans 1:26-27).
"MaryNYC" responded. Her response basically boiled down to the thought that she ignored Paul's writings. I responded by telling her that his writings are part of the Bible, which is central to the Christian faith as the Word of God. Thus, if a person doesn't believe Paul's writings, then that person is not a Christian. Worshipping a "feel good" God who doesn't hold us accountable for our actions is simply not Scriptural. Otherwise, Christ wouldn't have had to be crucified. Yes, Jesus forgave the adulteress in the stoning example above. But He told her to "sin no more." Christianity is not an easy religion to follow. It is tempting to try to explain away some sins that we commit by ignoring any Scripture that condemns them but, when we do that, we are just deluding ourselves.
Next, "lilyservant" jumped in. She stated that not many Quakers (her denomination) believed in the Bible. She went on to say that she not only believed that God did not write the Bible, but that "he's not very happy with it." She also stated that, since I am a Bible-believer and a person who "speaks for God," then I am not a Christian.
I should have laughed. But the absolute idiocity of her statement . . . as well as the fact that she believed it, was almost heart-breaking.
I'm going to boil my thoughts down as best I can here. If it had not been for Paul the Apostle and the Bible, the Christian faith wouldn't exist today. People can dis Paul all they want. But he gave up more for the Gospel than almost anybody else in history. He was a Pharisee and a Roman citizen, with all the benefits of both. But these were garbage to him. He gave up the wealth of his religious position, as well as the protection that being a Roman citizen afforded him (along with his head) because of his unwavering devotion to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Had it not been for his tremendous sacrifice, nor his writings in that Bible that the Liberal Christians are ignoring, then the worship of our Savior would have probably died out centuries ago.
May 13, 2004