Day: November 28, 2006

Email from forum member:

I’m checking out. Advertisements for homosexuals doesn’t belong on this website. I don’t want to be associated with filth.

*screen name omitted*

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This member is referring to my bible discussion website at www.Bible-Discussion.com – With few exceptions, my public forums are open to public discussion from a wide variety of viewpoints. The forums are a blank canvas for members to discuss and debate related issues. On my forums I have contextual ads running, which means that ads are displayed according to the content of the pages. If you are on my motorcycle forum, you will see ads for motorcycles. This member was posting in the “Homosexuality and the Bible” section of my Bible Discussion website. The website contains around 50 some discussion topics on bible related issues. Because they chose to discuss in the “Homosexuality and the Bible” forum of that website, the ads displayed were from related groups – a mixture of gay Christian organizations, mainstream non-profit Christian groups and retailers of Christian related products. The “filth” he refers to is not porn or adult related. It is from gay Christian groups running ads, and occassionally also anti-gay Christian groups trying to reach gay Christians.

This member also posts: “I’m a born-again Believer, frustrated over all the confusion “out there” among Christians, resulting in so many denominations (and a few cults masquerading as Christian). The discussion groups I have been a part of reflect that confusion. How can we Christians counter the onslaught of Islam if we don’t understand our own faith? Perhaps THIS discussion group will offer something that the others haven’t ~~ so far.”

So my answer to this member, who lasted 3 days with a total of 13 posts (on a free public forum) is this: It seems you have a history of condemning those that do not believe as you do, I see no inclination for that pattern to be changing anytime soon.

You see it fit to condemn gays and Muslims – I do not. Of course, you are free to disagree with me on my own discussion forum; the forum that I pay and upkeep so people like yourself can disagree and debate, for free.

And when finally no Muslims or homosexuals are left (having all been “fixed”), then we can attack the Buddhists and Hindus. Once they are gone we still have left the Wiccans, B’ahai and other weirdos. Then onto Mormons – let’s not forget atheists and Unitarians – they are nasty breeds. Finally we will have weeded them all out from the “true” faith, and it will be you and I alone on an island. In time we will find that one of us does not have the truth, perhaps an askew interpretation of the Trinity or some other theological device. And then only one of us will be left, and the world will finally be as it should be.

Let me share a story with you, one that I doubt you will enjoy. When I was younger there were many people who mistook me for being gay. It’s not something I encounter so much as an adult, but as a youth engrossed in the arts and with a fair complexion. I attended Pacific Lutheran University, a good Christian school in my opinion. In my Freshman year I returned to my dorm room to see someone had spray painted “FAG” on my dorm room door. No doubt this act was fueld by a misplaced religious conviction. I was the brunt of several homophobic attacks at that University and also later in the workplace. It still boggles my mind that these actions took place at a Lutheran University. Is this the testament of our Christian faith, to spend our time pointing fingers and condemning? As close a parallel I can draw is what the author of “Black Like Me” must have experienced when he was mistook as an African American in the South. In that very small way I have known the pain of the gay community. And I knew from that experience at PLU that I would never condemn a gay person the way others were condeming me.

I do not get a message of condemnation from NT scripture, I receive one of compassion and understanding.

I see no reason to condemn either homosexuals or Muslims, and I do not view either as “filth”. The closest thing I can label as “filth” is fundamentalism, of any religion. It is mankind’s cursed creation.

“Jesus paid much too high a price for us to pick and choose who should come.” – Casting Crowns

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IF WE ARE THE BODY – Lyrics
By Casting Crowns

It’s crowded in worship today
As she slips in
Trying to fade into the faces
The girls’ teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

CHORUS
But if we are the Body
Why aren’t His arms reaching
Why aren’t His hands healing
Why aren’t His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren’t His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way
There is a way

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat
And quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances tells him that his chances
Are better out on the road

CHORUS
But if we are the Body
Why aren’t His arms reaching
Why aren’t His hands healing
Why aren’t His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren’t His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the Body of Christ

Chorus (2x)
If we are the body
Why aren’t His arms reaching
Why aren’t His hands healing
Why aren’t His words teaching
And if we are the body
Why aren’t His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus is the way