Thoughts About Phil Robinson and the Duck Dynasty

I'm just a little frustrated by the whole situation because I get to be caught in the middle of a highly charged debate. Long story short, Phil Robinson is asked by GQ Magazine about this position on Homosexuality. It's a obvious trap by GQ. The writer knows full well how the Bible-believing patriarch will answer the question and he got the response that he hoped for. The result...a lot of publicity for GQ magazine.

Phil plays it smart by quoting the Bible. He offers to commentary past that. But he does quote the most damning verse there is. He plays the "God said it, I believe it" defense.

The conservative Christian side of me stands by Mr Robinson only for the reason that he is standing up for his beliefs. Having only a little exposure to him. He spoke at my church, I know that he is a devout Christian. He doesn't hate anybody. He wishes no ill-will on anyone and hopes that all come to Christ. He also believes that God condemns homosexuality. I believe he would just in front of a moving bus to save the life of a homosexual.

He is a good man who believes that homosexuality is a sin. Logically speaking, is a man's position on homosexuality the litmus test of whether he is righteous or evil in the grand scheme of things.

At the same time, yes, the verse he quoted and the steadfastness of his voice, it appears he condemns the LGBT community in the eyes of God. Yes, I can see how you can in a round about way say that he likens homosexuality to bestiality. I don't believe that was the point he was making.

I doubt Mr. Robinson has many gay friends. I doubt he understands the problem gays face everyday with their identity and the acceptance of their identity. I doubt he truly understands the struggle that gays, Christian or not, face with their faith and their sexuality.

This is what I believe about Phil Robinson.

He loves God.

He believes the Bible and his interpretation of the Bible

He loves the lost, including gays.

He believes homosexuality is a sin.

He has no regular contact with gays.

He doesn't understand the heart of gays, Christian or not.

He is a good man and his stance on homosexuality will not change that.

He can be educated as I hope more and more Christians can be in the days and years to come.

Is Homosexuality A Sin?

In my quest to ask Christians to rethink the way we view Gays and homosexuality and for my gay friends to not give up on God just yet, I've been asked the same question from both sides, "Is Homosexuality A Sin?" In the immortal words of Admiral Ackbar, "It's a trap."

I've made a concerted effort to not answer this question. Not because I don't have an opinion. I've avoided it for two reasons: One, the answer is irrelevant to my goal, which is ending the "war" between Christians and Gays. Jesus walked amongst all people, and believe me, they/we were all sinners. No one was ever even close to being holy and sinless in the eyes of God and yet, God still chose to walk with sinners. He talked to them, served them and died for them. Yes, Gays too. Being sinless was never and will never be a requirement for fellowship with God.

The second reason is that the question is a trap to undermine the overall goal. By answer the question, one way or the other, I immediately alienate myself from both sides of the battle. I'm starting to sound like a mediator and to some degree...I am. 

Look, if I answer the questions, "Yes, homosexuality is a sin." Christ's message is lost. Go through the gospels and you'll notice something interesting. Christ dealt with the lost with love and the issue of sin was the conversation. The woman at the well, who slept with numerous men, Christ address the emptiness she felt by taking men into her bedroom. Jesus told her that God could satisfy that thirst and she believed Him. Go and sin no more. To the hated tax collector, Matthew, Jesus says, "Follow me." Jesus didn't ask for repentance from greed and for taking advantage of the poor. "Follow me."

On the other hand, every moment that Jesus judged a person about their sin, it was always in the direction of religious leaders. Often their complaints dealt with why Jesus would associate with sinners. After all, they are icky. Does this sound familiar? When It comes to the war between Christians and Gays, we are the religious leaders that Jesus is condemning.

Conversely, if I answer the question, "No, homosexuality is not a sin." Christ's mission is lost. One thing that I'll say about my fellow Christians, is that we love the God of the Bible deeply. We've all received God's love and forgiveness and we want you to experience the same love. It's amazing and it brings freedom. If I say that homosexuality is not a sin, I will be pointed to about 6 passages and verses in the Bible that deal directly with homosexuality and then I'm standing in Christian court defending whether or not I believe in the Bible.

At the same time, to God it doesn't matter whether I believe homosexuality is a sin. What does matter is that God made you and he knows the struggle you've had all you life trying to come to grips  with your sexuality. He doesn't judge you, because He knows why you feel the way you do. So who cares what I think. I have no authority to judge you and I don't claim to have it.

So, I choose to not answer the questions. Is it the coward's way out? Maybe it is, but as I said before sin or not a sin, it's irrelevant. Look, do I believe divorce is a sin? We've somehow managed with either ignore that sin or we've somehow managed to love those who go through divorce and restore them into the good graces of the church.

My Kid's Second Exposure to Gays and Lebians

As a Christian, being for or against Homosexuality is usually a theological discussion than a real life experience, because honestly, most Christians that I know, don't have gay friends. For me that's not true, I have a few gay friends, relatives, closeted and open.

As a father, how exactly do I handle the "gay" topic with my five-year old. That issue was thrust upon me recently and I get the feeling that gay and straights may not like how I handled it.

Last Sunday, I took my daughter to Disneyland and we happen to do almost every Sunday. The traffic into the park was usually heavy and it took move over an hour to park. We entered Disney's California Adventure and whammo, I discover that it's Gay Days at Disneyland. How do I know? 80% of the men in the park are wearing red shirts. 

How would I know this? The Anaheim Angels won their first World Series several years ago. I wore my team's red and white proudly at Walt Disney World during their gay days and I sadly no one hit on me.

Back to today, so my daughter and I walked through the park to go on rides. Every moment, gays and lesbians holding hands, being affectionate and sitting in front of and behind on all the rides.

So how did my daughter respond to the "debauchery" that surrounded her. Simply, she could care less. She just wanted to go on rides and find toys for me to buy her. My moral duty was to just let her go on rights and refuse to buy the toys that she wanted. In fact, that was the only drama I had on this trip. She never asked me why those two women are holding hands, why that guy has his arms around another guy or why did those two dudes kiss. Honestly, I don't even this she noticed...she just wanted to go on rides and eat candy. 

To my Christian friends, I guess you would want me to point out that being gay or lesbian is a sin and God hates that. To be honest, that's not the kind of Christian I want my daughter to be. It would kill me to have her walk up to anyone and start pointing out the sins in their lives. With all my heart, I want her to love others and let God do the judging.

You may also ask, aren't you afraid that gay relationship and marriage will warp her definition of a family. You can talk to her personally, her idea of a family is far from warped. Here's here understanding of family. She has two parents who love her very much. She has aunt, uncles, cousins, grandparents and until recently great grandparents who love her and whom she loves in return. She has aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, who are not even related to her, but she knows they love her very much. That's family. It doesn't make a difference if these people are men or women, she just knows that they are special people in her life and she loves them.

My cousin and his partner are looking to adopt a child. I hope a miracle happens and they do get a chance to adopt. They would make great parents. At five years old, all my daughter will understand that her second cousin will have two parents who love him/her very much.

To my gay friends, I guess you would want me to point out that gay relationships are as normal as straight relationships. C'mon, she's five. She just wants to go on the Ariel ride and buy toys with her dad. To be honest, she's not ready to enter the political world of sexual equality, she just wants to ride rides.

My job, as a father, is to her to love you, gays and lesbians, as God loves you, unconditionally. To treat you as God would have her treat you, as one of God's creations.

So gays and straights, I admit it, I wussed out and didn't discuss with my daughter whether homosexuality is right or wrong. I just wanted to ride rides at Disneyland with my daughter.

Rethinking my stance on gay marriage (maybe)

I'm looking back at my blog and its been a long time since I've written on the subject of Gay Marriage. A few weeks ago President Obama came out in favor of gay marriage.  Maybe I'll write about the politics of gay marriage, but I wanted to respond to an aspect of gay marriage that my Christian friends have brought up on a few occasions.

Simply put, why would I, Alan, an evangelical Christian, be in favor of gay marriage, with the knowledge that gay marriage "displeases" God and legalize "sin."

So Why Homosexuality?

I find it interesting, there are hundreds of thousands of sins in the Bible. Why in the last 4 years have we singled out Homosexuality as the sin Christians will battle publicly and to the point that we will legislate and make a presidential campaign issue.

A friend of mine told me that my support of gay marriage "displeases" God. Also, that if you've read my blog on Gay Marriage, you know that I believe that Christian have done wrong by alienating ourselves from the LGBT community and rather than reaching out to this community we've done far worse by condemning this community at every turn.

Essentially I was "accused" of sacrificing God's definition of marriage in exchange from building a bridge to the gay community (which is not necessarily wrong).

Does my support of gay marriage "displease" God? I know you want to give me a straight answer. Well…I'm not going to give it to you. Instead, I want to point the fingers back at you.

As Christians, we believe in the sanctity of marriage. So much so, that we are spending millions of dollars defending marriage between a man and a woman and defining it as such legally. If marriage is so sacred that we can not legally allow two individuals of the same sex, who love each other to get married. Then we, as Christians, must fight as vigorously to enact laws that violates God's intention for marriage. I've got three to start with:

• Pre-marital sex
• Adultery
• Divorce

Look, fellow believers, I will rejoin the cause of defending marriage, if we work just as hard to enact laws banning pre-marital sex, adultery and divorce. I'm in fact one who can speak to this for I have committed none of these sins in my life. I had sex with only one person, my wife.  I've never cheated on her and I don't plan on divorcing her ever.

So if you want me to help ban gay marriage, I propose that we make it illegal for two single people to have sex before marriage, because this "displeases" God. Since the man is more likely to be the initiator in pre-marital sex, first time offenders will need to attend abstinence courses and for repeat offenders will need to attend sex rehab clinics.

If you want me to help ban gay marriage, I propose that we make it illegal for married people to commit adultery. Since this is one of the ten commandments, the punishment must be especially harsh. Jail time for men. For women, we'll create an adultery registry and we'll just add them to this national database. Better yet, why not slap a giant red "A" on their clothing. Lest we forget, adultery "displeases" God.

If you want me to help ban gay marriage, I propose that we make divorce illegal. By law, we will nullify all divorces across this national. Biblically though, if you divorced due to adultery then you're free and clear, but then you're under arrest for committing adultery. If you are divorced, your marriage with your first spouse is now restored. If you are remarried, your current marriage is null and void and you must immediately move back in with your first spouse. Any children born in these now nullified marriages will be branded as "B@st@rds."

Excuse me now as I remove my tongue from my cheek. To my Christian friends, I have a question for you. Why is it so easy for us to condemn gays and lesbians for being gays and lesbians to the point that we create laws banning them from getting married, when at the same time refuse to legislate the sins that we Christians are more likely to commit?

Think about it. Christians are more likely to displease God by having pre-marital sex, commit adultery or divorce our spouses than we are of committing a homosexual act. Don't you think that by creating laws banning pre-marital sex, adultery and divorce, we would not do it?

When we stand there supporting proposition 8, how exactly are we not hypocrites?

I'd like to thank everyone for sending me the Bible verses condemning homosexuality. Believe me, I've known them all decades ago. At the same time, you know the verses regarding pre-marital sex, adultery, and divorce.

I'm going to end this blog the same way, I ended all the other ones. Christians end this war against homosexuals now! Stop this legalistic battle, we're fighting and be the salt and light to the world that God has called us to be.

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Epilogue. I've been asked many times, do I believe that homosexuality is a sin? I'm going to answer the question this way. I believe the Bible is God's inspired word and that it is both infallible and inerrant. I believe that the way Christians treat the LGBT community is abhorrent and makes God weep. More to come.

Religious Abuse and Other Factors Leading the Irrelevancy of the Church

Before I begin, I feel I need to make some unnecessary disclaimers. I, Alan Ng, am a conservative born again, evangelical Christian with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. After you read this and the other blog entries, you can call me whatever name you want, it will just fall off my back.

I became a Christian in the 1980's just before graduating from high school. I was swept up and took part in the popularity of evangelicalism. I loved my Christian t-shirts and listened to only Christian music. I drank milk from Christian Cows (Steve Taylor Reference). I listened to Focus on the Family, Chuck Swindoll and Chuck Smith. I protested abortion (as I still do today) and The Last Temptation of Christ. And like all good evangelicals, I'm a Republican.

These last few years though have been trying times, not for my faith but for my faith in the church. My faith that the church can remain relevant and paint an accurate picture of Christ.
Much of my attention today has moved away from church and church involvement to the ministering to the needs of those abused and discarded by the church. The song They Will Know We Are Christian By Our Love comes to mind. What does the world see, when they see Christians.

What I see today from Christians has little to do with showing Christ's love to a fallen world, but more about maintaining a pure and godly lifestyle and forcing others to live that way too.

When I talk to people who have turned away from Christianity, I hear stories of the Church letting them down and the Church constantly judging them. The reason rarely have to do with Jesus Christ himself.

In future blogs, I hope to get into detail with this topic, but before then I would direct you to my writings about Homosexuality and Christianity. All of the criticism that I've received never once treats a gay person as a person in need of Christ, but as a person whos lifestyle will prevent them from ever become a Christian and now their sole goal is to destroy the family. This is a huge leap to take.

As an evangelical my life's goal is not to protect America's legal definition of a family. My goal is to be salt and light in this world and share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

More on this later.

The War Ends Now: A call for a real Gay ministry discussion

I recently ran into an old friend on Facebook (not old age, but old having known her almost 20 years. My friend, Misty, blogs about similar issues regarding Homosexuality and Christianity, plush she’s a hellalot smarter than me.

Anyways, she posted a link to this interesting article. In short, a church that almost split and lost their rental property because they allowed a Homosexual family to actively participate in their church. Here’s a link: Covenant Stories: No Right Answers

What makes this sad is that as a whole Evangelicals have no ideal what to do with God's children who are homosexual. We are consumed with purging the church of sin, instead of sharing the gospel. What God do we want to portray?

I feel bad for the pastor as he puts it, “It seemed clear to me that I was a symbol for her of the church that had turned them away.”

I keep mentioning to my critics to consider how Jesus dealt with the lost and sinners. He showed nothing but love and compassion. I defy anyone to show me a time where Jesus spoke harsh words of judgment when speaking to the lost, either in a crowd or individually.

On the other hand, every instance that Jesus had harsh words to say was too the religious leaders, especially when it came to legalism. By legalism, I mean coercing their flocks and followers to behave in “Godly” ways in order to maintain good standing before God and entrance into heaven.

One of the things that I learned at my popular conservative Christian seminary, was the with the exception of 1 John; anytime the writers (Jesus or the disciples) mentioned false religion, they always referred to Legalism as the false religion.

Nowhere in the Bible have I ever been commanded to stand at a corner with a sign condemning homosexuality or to ask homosexual visitors to leave or to “unfriend” them (using a Facebook term).

I was commanded to show love, compassion, share God’s sacrifice to the lost.

So again my evangelical friends, how does God want us to reach out and minister to the gay community.

Alan Ng - Instrument of the Devil (hazards of Christians supporting Gay Marriage)

I’ve had a few people kind enough to respond to my posts about Gay Marriage. I’ve decided to take a new approach to these criticisms. I found a company that will animate these e-mails for me. So here’s the first one.

Not only am I an “Instrument of the Devil” but I am quite the Svengali with my words. Boy, I wish this was true. Millions would come to Christ with my charismatic, yet hypnotic words.

Bridging the Gap Synchroblog - Christianity and Homophobia

This is my contribution to today’s Bridging the Gap Synchroblog. Today, I’m proudly joining dozens of other Christian bloggers to talk about bridging the gap between Christians and the homosexual community. Please take a moment and check out the New Directions ministry.

I’ve been intentional in my blog about not addressing whether homosexuality is a sin or the spiritual state of homosexuals for two reasons. One, the debate can not be resolved easily nor will it be resolved anytime soon. Two, for the purposes of this blog, it’s irrelevant. Whether you believe it’s a sin or not, as Christians it’s not up to us to stand in judgment over the world and deny the rights of our fellow human beings. We were never given that authority by God.

I’ve always considered myself to be a good Conservative Christian.  I did not grow up in a Christian family. I accepted the Lord in high school. When I turned 18, I became a Republican and voted for Ronald Reagan. I was an ardent supporter of ministries dealing with the family, such as “Focus on the Family.” I went to seminary where I converted from a fundamentalist to an evangelical (if that’s a change at all). All this to say that from the very beginning of my Christian walk, I was told that homosexuality was a sin.  I would listen to Focus on the Family and hear them tell me how homosexual community is trying to destroy the family. I became a Christian in the 80’s at the start of the AIDS epidemic and was told that this is God’s judgment on homosexuals (which I never really believed). And as time passed, I was warned of the Gay Agenda to not only destroy the family but to directly attack Christian churches and my faith.

For the most part, I believed what I was being told. So what has changed?

As I read some of the blog of those participating today, we all share something in common. We all actually know people who are gay. In my other life, I perform improvisational comedy in San Diego. It was there that I befriended my first of many homosexual friends. Then I found that I have close family members who are gay. Every time I have an opportunity to be with one of my friends, I wonder what I have got offer as a Christian?

This brings me to today’s topic: Christians and Homophobia

I used to joke about this. “I’m not homophobic, I’m just afraid of gay people.” Soon this joke became very real to me.  If there’s one thing that I can say to the Gay Community is that “we don’t hate you, we’re just afraid of you.”

So why are we afraid? I’ve was told on numerous occasions, that the last sin of a society before it falls is homosexuality. Then I’m pointed to Sodom and Rome. The truth is that they didn’t fall because they allowed same-sex couples to get married. They fell because they were a god-less society that used sex for god-less reasons, like rape and hedonistic pleasure. It’s a very different picture than two people of the same sex making a lifetime commitment to each other.

I was also told that the Gay Agenda seeks to destroy the family. That’s also not true. Whether or not, we allow same sex marriages to exist, my wife, daughter and myself will still be a family.

But why do we have to share marriage with the gay community? My answer is “Why Not?”

Schools will teach children that society accepts homosexuality as normal.  Yeah, schools are teaching evolution and allowing kids to get abortions without parental notification. Why, as Christians, have we allowed the public school system to teach our children about values, when this is clearly our job as parents.

They are going to revoke tax exempt status, allow churches to be sued, shut down churches that speak out against homosexuality.  Even if this is true and your church is being attacked because of your messages denouncing homosexuality, I have a question for you. Is this why your church exists? To end the scourge of homosexuality? If it is, I would challenge you to rethink your purpose as a church.

In a recent blog, I mentioned that the church has three real goals on earth. Matthew 22:36-40 – Love God and love your neighbor. Act 1:8 – Share the gospel to the world. Ironically, you’ll find an excellent explanation of these goals in Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Church.

I’ve always been bothered by the fact that the message is stop and put an end to the sin of Homosexuality, but never in that message do I hear love your neighbor or share the Gospel. How has it that we’ve drawn the line in the sand and made homosexuality the unpardonable sin? How is it that when we find out a person is gay, that we need to “speak the truth in love” and point out their sin and move no further until they repent. How is it that the evangelical Church has no strategy at all for reaching the Homosexual community with any kind of real plan for sharing the world?

We will risk our lives going into Muslim countries in the name of the Lord, but we won’t bother going into West Hollywood or Mission Hills.

I’ve found that interacting with my gay friends is no different interacting with my straight friends. They are all people with individual stories and with an emptiness that life just can’t fill. And I have a message that Christian is the living water to quench their thirst.

I take that back, there is a difference; I have no church that I can take a gay friend to without being judged or told to repent. Or where they are going to be stared at and in many cases not asked to come back unless they’re willing to repent (believe me if they’ll do it to my divorced friends, they do it to my gay ones).

My Challenge to the Evangelical Church. Let’s get back to what we’re called to do and come up with a real ministry to homosexual community. Let me start you off. Head into the homosexual community. Meet individuals. Talk to them. Listen to their stories. Share with them your story about how God changed your life. Let God speak through you. Let God do the rest. And finally, end the war.

The War Ends Now - Response to Gay Parenting

I was responding to faktb and I like what I wrote, so I moved my response to this blog. You may want to read the original blog and comment.

You asked, "a child should have a mother and a father (and not two females or two males as parents)?"

In America there are millions of children who do not have a mother and father. There are children being raised by no parents, by one parent and believe it or not, just because a family has a mother and father, that doesn't make it a healthy family.

We can go back and forth talking about what makes the best family relationship, but that doesn't solve the problem for the millions of children who don't have a mother of father.

Are you saying that a single parent is better than homosexual parents?

Are you saying that an abusive home is better than homosexual parents?

Are you saying that a child is better off lost in the foster care system than being raised by homosexual parents?

My child has been exposed to a few gay couples. She's doing quite well and was not harmed. Believe me, she's going to be exposed to a lot of things in her life and she'll survive because she has great Christian parents.

This leaves the question, can 2 homosexuals make good parents, the answer is yes. I invite you to watch this video.

The War on Homosexuals Ends Now - The Christian Perspective on Legislating Morality

As a Born-Again, Evangelical Christian, I must admit that I would love to live in a nation that basis it’s morality on Christian values. I strongly believe that following that values and moral set by the Bible is the formula for a nation's true success.

This will one day happen (i.e. Second Coming of Christ). Until then, what kind of a society should Christians create? More so, what does this have to do with homosexuality?

I believe in legislating morality. I believe that there should be laws and punishments based on Christian morality, but the truth is I live in a country that is not comprised of Christians. The United States is comprised of Christians, Muslims, Athiests, Buddists ... you get the point. As a Christian I can not enforce my faith on those who don't agree with me.

Matthew 22:36-40 states:

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

All of laws of the Bible can be summed up into two categories: Love God. Love your neighbor.

I have two issues that I'm pretty passionate about today: Abortion and Equality for Gays.

I am very Pro-Life. I do not believe in abortion as a form of contraception and as a father of a daughter born to teens, I believe every life is precious.

I am in support of equality for gay. Primarily, I support Gay Marriage in America.

So if I'm an Evangelical Christian, then how can I be against abortion and for gay marriage.

It's simple. When it comes to legislating morality, you can't legislate the "Love God" commandments. You can not create laws that force Americans to worship the God of the Bible. You can not create laws that force American to accept Christ as their savior, to not work on Sunday and tithe 10% to the church (insert tax comment here).

What you can legislate is the "Love your neighbor" laws. We can write laws that punish those who would hurt their neighbor. This is why murder is illegal, stealing, lying under oath, etc.

Abortion kills another human being out of convenience.

But what about homosexuality? We addressed that in a recent blog. Two consenting adults who love each other and want to get married is "loving your neighbor" (literally in some cases). No one is hurt physically, emotionally, or mentally.

Most Evangelical Christians believe that homosexuality is a sin. This sin would be classified as a "Love God" sin. It's wrong only because it's not the way God designed marriage.

Here's something to think about. If homosexuality is a sin in God's eyes, then you have to accept that divorce is a sin and we would write laws that make divorce illegal. If we're so adamant about outlawing gay marriage then you need to be just as adamant about making divorce illegal.

Divorce has done far worse damage to the Christian family then gay marriage could ever do.

The War Ends Now - Homosexuality and Speaking the Truth in Love

I want to respond to a few comments from my friend, faktb.

The other day I expressed my love and friendship to my lesbian friend. But at the same time, I politely let her know that homosexuality is not right. I felt that this is what Jesus would have done. What do you think? Do you think Jesus, after communicating his love to her, would have told her that homosexuality is right? (View Original Post)

I hear this a lot from Christians. It's this whole concept of "speaking the truth in love." Most of the time I find this statement pretty empty. To me "speaking the truth in love" actually means "judging a person's lifestyle without yelling."

Politely telling your lesbian friend that homosexuality is not right, is not really speaking the truth. It's casting judgment on a person's lifestyle. If you look through the gospels, the only time Jesus every cast judgement upon anyone, he did it to the religious leaders. He never judged the lost.

Read any interaction Jesus had with the lost, you'll see a very different story. Let me point you to John 4, the woman at the well. At no point did Jesus state that adultery was right or wrong. The truth that he spoke of in love was about the woman's spiritual condition. She was "thirsty" and used sex as a means to fill that thirst...to find intimacy. Jesus identified Himself as the source of eternal water to quench that "thirst." Jesus understood that it was not the adultery that he needed to address but the emptiness in her life that only Christ could fill.

You mention your lesbian friend. My questions to you is what kind of friend are you. You've been very good about pointing out her sin, but can you tell me how she became a lesbian. Do you understand the inner struggle she had coming to terms with her homosexuality? Do you understand struggle of coming out? Do you understand the emotional pain she feels whenever she has to deal with judgemental people such as us, Christians? Can you understand mixed message of Christ she's getting when told that she'll never have a true relationship with Christ as long as she chooses to live this way.

Sure, we have the Bible, the Sword of Truth, but you have to remember that we're not supposed to use it as an actual sword.

On several occasions, you ask would Jesus support Gay Marriage, would Jesus have told her that homosexuality is right. The problem with your question is that Jesus never have brought these issues up because he knows that one's sexual orientation is not the problem. The problem is how do we fill the emptiness in our life. Fortunately, you and I have found Christ. Now, we need to let everyone in on our secret.

The War Ends Now: The Gay Christian

I have a question. Is it possible to have two evangelical Christian believers that agree about everything regarding Christ, the Bible and Salvation, but one of the believers be homosexual.

I hate to break it to you but it is possible and it does exist. But if one of the believers is gay, is he really Christian? How can you answer this question any other way than yes.

Watch this video and think about it.

The War Ends Now: The Prop 8 Debacle - What went wrong with California Gay Marriage

Well today was a big day on the Gay Marriage front. The California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8 banning Gay Marriage in the state. Boy, are people angry (and happy).

Just for the record, I’m an evangelical Christian and I support Gay Marriage. I’m also a conservative Republican, and I support Gay Marriage.

So what went wrong? Why is Gay Marriage still banned? How can we change this?

Taking Shortcuts

The problem is that rather than going to the normal method of passing legislation and having it signed by the governor, we have maverick politicians think they can bypass the State and US Constitution.

Gavin Newsome’s Mistake

The first mistake was by Gavin Newsome. Right or wrong, in 2004 Mayor Newsome authorized the issuance of marriage licenses in the city of San Francisco. His intentions were right. He acted upon what he perceived was a civil rights issue. The problem is that he was making a decision that would affect the entire state and the California Supreme Court shut him down and annulled the marriage certificates issued.

The problem is that the mayor of San Francisco can not rewrite the laws of the state. He does not have the constitutional authority to do that. It’s what we call a political stunt.

California Supreme Court’s Mistake

On May 15, 2008, In re Marriage Cases, the California Supreme Court in a 4-3 decision somehow managed to find that marriage is a fundamental right in the California Constitution and held that a statutory ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.

Again, right or wrong, the Supreme Court angered the conservative masses because declared the redefinition of marriage in a document that wasn’t there. In other words, the authors of the California constitution did not include consider the LGBT community as having these fundamental rights. (We can debate this, but I just want to point out why there was such fervor in overturning this decision with prop 8).

The Christians Mistake

This mistake is obviously Proposition 8. Many people who know me, know that I’m a fervent non-believer in the Proposition system. It is not the job of the people to legislate; it’s the job of our state representatives. I elect people to do this job for me. Unfortunately, Prop 8 passed and was upheld the by Supreme Court.

Where Do We Go From Here

It’s easy…we have to change the law and despite what I said about Prop 8, I will support a proposition giving marriage right to the LGBT Community.

NOTE TO THE LGBT COMMUNITY, you can not get what you want by taking shortcuts. You’ve got to change the hearts and minds of Californians. I’ll warn you now, THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE EASY, but it’s the only real way to get what you want, EQUALITY, and make it stick.

I’ve made it a goal of mine, so speak to the Evangelical Christian community in hopes of getting them to reconsider their impressions of the homosexual community and bring you the rights you deserve.

The War Ends Now: All Sins Are (Not) Equal or Gays are not Rapist and Pedophiles.

I want to take a moment and address a point my friend made on my past blog. It has been easy for Christians to lump sexual sins together. In fact, it was called out to me. In my first response, I mentioned pedophile priests and predator youth group leaders.

Faktb said: “So let’s be clear to express our disapproval of pedophile priests, corrupt youth pastors, and yes, homosexuality.”

That’s my problem, I don’t believe you can lump homosexuality with the other sexual sins.

All my Christian life, I was told that sin is sin and God hates them all. That’s true. But you have to admit that some sins are worse and have greater repercussions, especially the sins that can change and alter the life of the victim of that sin. My child lying to me about hiding my car keys has little comparison to rape.

Be that as it may let’s go down the list of sexual sins:

• Rape – Physically forcing a victim to have sex with you. Violating physically another person.
• Sodomy – See Rape.
• Pedophilia – Physically forcing a child to have sex with you. Coercing a child into having sex.
• Molestation – Physically touching a child for the assailant’s sexual pleasure.
• Incest – Physically forcing yourself upon your child. Coercing your son/daughter, niece/nephew, etc. into having sex.
• Child Pornography/Exploitation – Capturing the image of children in lewd and suggestive position for sexual pleasure.
• Homosexuality – Two people of the same gender expressing their feelings in the same way two people of opposite genders do.

Try as you might, but you’re comparing apples and oranges. The first six sins on the list are sins against another human being. They are actions of violence, power, manipulations and the ultimate in selfishness. It is one person forcing their will upon another in a heinous and violent way.

You bring up the example of Sodom and Gamorrah. Sodom was not judged because it was a city of homosexuals. It was judged because the citizens had become so hardened in their sinful life that they decided they would attempt to rape God’s representatives.

The “sin” of Homosexuality on the other hand is not a “sin” of violence, but a sin against God’s design. In the beginning, God made us male and female in order procreate. God wanted humans to grow in numbers and the only way to do that was for male and female to “hook up” in a marriage and produce children. Look at all of the verses in the Bible regarding homosexuality and you’ll see that the “sin” is one of design and not violence.

So my fellow Christian believers please refrain from comparing Homosexuals with rapists and pedophiles.

The War Ends Now: Homosexuals - The Forgotten Mission Field

My friend responded again to my post and I wanted to take a moment to address a few of this point. I'm going split his response into two parts. The first is the Gay mission field. The second part I want to address the affect of Gay Marriage on the morality of the world. Let's tackle the missions field.

Point #1 - It's not just about preserving the family. Think about the next generation who will be taught that homosexuality is moral. There is the danger of losing them (In terms of numbers, the next generation vastly outnumbers the homosexual population).

Response #1 – Since when has homosexuality become the sins that going to ruin the next generation for God. If you’re claiming that we’re in danger of losing untold numbers, I hate to break the news to you, we’ve lost it. Pedophile priests, Youth pastors dating the teens they are supposed to shepherd. Believe me, we’re giving reason enough to drive people away from God. Let’s not single out homosexuals.

Point #2 - Also Romans 1 suggests that homosexuals are set in their ways, since they have willingly suppressed the truth and their knowledge of God. I highly doubt that homosexuals will turn to Christ if same-sex marriage is legalized. If you have any hard evidence otherwise, I'd love to see it.

Response #2 – Have you given up already? If you understand anything about missions, no one is ever set in the ways. Let me direct you to the story of Don Richardson and the peace child. If you honestly believe that the homosexual community has hardened their hearts, then Your God is way too small and is not as powerful as you think. Then Christ’s Love is not compelling enough to draw people to Him.

Point #3 - Your method is loving, no doubt, but what about the other crucial component, i.e., truth? Jesus was both loving and truthful; and we ought to follow His example. As a result we ought to love homosexuals but speak the truth to them about the wrongfulness of homosexuality in a loving way. The loving truth is that same-sex marriage is not appropriate in the eyes of God.

Response #3 – We kind of agree here. There is love and there is truth as well. But there is a difference with Truth and how we proclaim the Truth. Truth is Truth and the Bible is the most tangible document of God’s truth. But the issue we have is how we tell the lost about the truth.

1 Corinthian 13:1-2 – “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

You can possess the absolute truth, but if you can’t communicate that with love, then your message is rendered useless. Yes, I’m taking the loving method, because I can actually talk individual gay and straight and show them who Christ is.

Now if by love, you tell me that for the sake of their soul and happiness, they need to turn from their “sinful” ways or if by love, you tell the gay community that if they repent then God will accept them. But read the Gospels, he never spoke this way to sinners and the lost. He spoke exclusively with harsh words to the religious who claimed that they represented God (Pharisees). He showed nothing but compassion to the lost and yes, even spoke the truth in love. Let me refer you to the woman at the well.

The War Ends Now - Responding to the Christian Argument against Gay Marriage

I would write more, but I feel that I have a lost to say and I don’t exactly know how to organize my thoughts. Yesterday, while watching Star Trek, I had got a bunch of comments from my Gay Marriage, Miss California and Perez Hilton blog from a particular anonymous fella (I assume it’s a dude). He brought up a few points that I wanted to address. You can find the original comments on my previous blog entry. Oh well, here we go.

Point #1 - If homosexual "marriages" are recognized by federal and state governments, there will be no principled reason to oppose new federal laws forbidding discrimination in hiring based on sexual orientation. Churches, synagogues, mosques, religious schools, and faith-based charities, as well as secular organizations of every kind, would be subject to a new kind of government scrutiny.

Response #1 – This is a completely false statement. Since the beginning of this country, religious institutions have been given the right to “discriminate” in its hiring practices and rightfully so. A Christian church is allowed by law to never hire a muslim, and vice-versa. They are allowed by law to never hire of woman as pastor, regardless of qualification. Religious institutions are allowed to hire and fire based on the organizations religious beliefs. Church can “discriminate” based on any arbitrary reason that it deems as right. If gay marriage passes, the government is not going to be shutting down churches.

Point #2 - The legalization of homosexual "marriage" would invite an ongoing assault on individuals and organizations that uphold traditional marriage or have moral or religious objections to the practice of homosexuality.

Response #2 – Not sure what rock you’ve been living under but as Christians we are already being assaulted. We’re being told that sex before marriage is normal. We’re told that divorce is an easy way to get out of a “bad” relationship and that killing an unborn child is a choice and the consideration of life is meaningless. The thing about Gay Marriage is that, yes it redefines the term family from a governmental and societal standpoint, but that does not mean it is redefined to me. If Gay Marriage is the law of the land, it does nothing to affect my love and commitment to my wife. She’ll still get all my stuff when I die. My daughter is not going to wonder why I married a woman, and she’ll still be free to choose whomever she wishes (with my approval) her spouse.

Point #3 - The legalization of homosexual "marriage" will greatly accelerate these pressures to marginalize the nation's religious communities and the values that define them. In some countries, speaking publicly against homosexuality has been criminalized.

Response #3 – I’m assuming we’re both Christians. We both believe Jesus is God and died for our sins. We both believe the Bible is the Word of God. If this is true, then we believe that God is Omnipotent. If this is true, then no matter how the country defines the American Family, my God is still bigger than that and that God’s people and His church will never be marginalized. If you feel that your ability to live a Christian life is be harder, than your God is smaller than He really is. Regarding the criminalization of speaking publicly against homosexuality…Good thing you live in the United States. By the way, go to Iran, and you’ll watch them round up gays and murder them.One last thing about the fall of the United States…do you honestly believe that when gays get married, they’re going start rounding up Christians and throwing them in jail. You can not blame the state of Christianity in America on the Homosexual community. The fall of the church in America will be our own fault because we chose to influence the world by legislating morality rather than living it in our own communities. We are called to be Christ-like in a lost world and show compassion to a lost people. We were not called to be legislative warriors of morality.

Point #4 - The deconstruction of marriage will affect what children are taught in virtually every subject at public schools.

Response #4 – Since when did we give up the teaching of our children to public schools? I have a responsibility as a parent to raise my children with the beliefs and morals that I believe in. If you’re relying on public schools to do this, then you need to reconsider how you’re raising your children. My children are going to be taught evolution, she’ll be given condoms, taught that fetus is not a life, that Christians have ruined western civilization. Believe me, two people of the same sex wanting to be married is the least of my concerns. I’d rather promote abstinence, prevent abortions and promote the value of religion before going after gay marriage.

Point #5 - You are proposing that we disband a scriptural (biblical) basis for morality.

Response #5 – I would love a government that bases it’s morality on a Biblical foundation. A Christian Theocracy is what we’re looking for. Newsflash: this has already been attempted. It’s called the Old Testament. The Theocracy failed because we tried to impose God-honoring rules on a people who did not fully love God. Biblical morality works on you and me only because we have a relationship with God. But trying to impose these rules on non-believers won’t work and leads to what we have today.

As you know, the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind and soul. Then we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. As I mentioned in a previous blog, Gay marriage is a victimless sin. It’s the joining of two people of the same sex. It does not hurt me in any way. It does not hurt you. Nor does it hurt anyone outside of the two. You can claim that it hurts God, but again, you can not legislate laws based on the greatest commandment, otherwise we’d have to create laws based on keeping the Sabbath and attending church and taking communion.

I've mentioned this before to others, the Bible clearly states that all people are God's children. All in need of a savior. My goal is to bring all people to Christ, even homosexuals.

You know that when it is all said and done, God is not going to pat you on the back and say thanks for saving the family. He's more interested in the souls you brought to Christ.

Gay Marriage, Miss USA and Perez Hilton

I’ve been following this who Miss California Gay Marriage debate and I’ve been formulating my opinion in the mean time. I’ve been kind of going back and forth before coming to this conclusion.

Disclaimers:

I support Gay Marriage. If you read this blog, you’ll know that I’ve posted some pretty strong opinions regarding Gay Marriage and the relationship (or lack of) between Christians and the Homosexual community. http://mypalal.com/efme/index.cfm

I’m an extremely casual follower of Perez Hilton. Basically I follow him on Twitter, but I really don’t go to his website. I’m not much on the tabloid gossip. I accept him for who he is. His life is publishing celebrity gossip and he happens to be gay.

I basically feel that Miss California got the raw end of the deal, but at the same time, I don’t think it cost her the title.

The question and answer portion of the pageant is not meant to see if a contestant can be politically correct. The Q&A portion of the competition is about whether a contestant can form and opinion and express that opinion, whether you agree with it or not. Each contestant should be allowed to hold her own beliefs and should be awarded for being able to express those beliefs. This is what sets Miss California apart from Miss Teen USA North Carolina two years ago.

Also, the question from Perez was without a doubt a loaded question. It was meant to say, if you want to win my vote, believe the way I do. Does this mean that Miss USA must be Pro Gay Marriage, Pro Choice and Anti Gun in order to win? I would admire a Miss USA who was politically incorrect. It might make things more exciting.

Unfortunately, the line has been drawn. In the future, contestants are now going to be force to have their beliefs told to them and they will have to defend them whether they believe it or not. This will make the women’s movement proud. You can be a female robot as long as you’re our robot.

Finally, I don’t think this hurt Miss California chance of winning, because Perez was only one of 12 judges.

Related Links.

• The Donald Defends Miss California
• The View Defends Miss California

The War Ends Now: Homosexuality - The Victimless Sin

I haven't written on this subject for a while because I want to get some of my thoughts, thought out better.

Small battle won today. Iowa Supreme Court legalized same sex marriage. Small victory only because Iowa is so small. My general feeling is that Christians need to start supporting same sex marriage, if we ever want to start winning more souls to Christ.

This now transitions me to what I want to discuss in my continuing series to end the war between Christians and the Homosexual Community.

My question is who exactly is the victim of the sin of Homosexuality?

In my seminary days we defined sin into to catagories: sins against man and sins against God.

Let's discuss one the most pertinent one today.

Sins Against Man

Christ stated this simply...Love Your Neighbor as Yourself (Matthew 22:38). These sins are described as actions that harms another person. Sins like hatred, murder, envy, covetiousness.

My belief is that homosexuality is the "Victimless Sin." The fact is that two consenting adults of the same sex, who wants to get married, does not harm anyone.

I know a few same-sex couples and in no way has my life been harmed or have been tempted to stumble because I choose to befriend a homosexual couple. In fact the very act of civil union has harmed me and my family in no way.

If you have been harmed it is only because you feel offended and your feelings of offense is not anyone's doing but your own. As Christians, we need to be more self-controlled that we do not allow our feelings of offense lead to sinful actions. If you sin, because of these feelings, you can not blame anyone but yourself.

I defy any Christian to find any harm done to them personally as a result of a Gay Marriage. Please I'd like to know.

One last thing, one of the benefits of a same-sex marriage...ZERO ABORTIONS. To my knowledge, no gay marriage or union has ever lead to an abortion. On the other hand, heterosexual unions have lead to millions of abortions. Allow me now to remove my tongue from my cheek.

Christians End This War - The Myth of Protecting Our Children from Homosexuals

During the Prop 8 campaign, most of the ads that I saw had to deal with the fact that our children will be taught that Homosexuality is normal and that gay marriage will be presented as normal in society.  I want to address our children in this blog.

My continuing thoughts on the war Christians have waged on the Homosexual community. Please review my past blogs for more insight.

This blog will be less about what our children will be taught and more about a trend that has been going on for years that continues to push Christianity into the world of irrelevance.

One thing that we can agree upon is that when gay marriage is finally legal, our children will be taught that same-sex marriage is just as normal as marriage between a man and a woman.  Along with evolution, communism and liberalism, our Christian morals will come under attack once again.  My response is SO WHAT!!!

The Christian Bubble

When I was a student at Biola’s seminary, Talbot School of Theology, many of my undergraduate friends would talk about what we called “the Biola Bubble.”  The concept is simple, many times Christian isolate themselves from the world that we find ourselves living in this nice Christian bubble that protects us from the influences of the world. We grow up attending Christian Schools or are home schooled, we then go to Christian colleges and then apply for Christian jobs, enter ministry or become missionaries.

The truth is by living in this “Christian Bubble” we live very safe lives and become less likely to be taken in by the evils of the world.  Let’s assume for the sake of argument that living in a Bubble will in fact shield us from the temptations of the world (the fact is we’re tempted no matter where we are).  Let’s also assume the living in this Bubble makes us strong Christians and in fact brings us to the closest relationship we can have with God.  The fact is this is the wrong way to live and is nowhere encouraged in the Bible.  In fact, the Bible tells us quite the opposite.

Salt and Light

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says in Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world”. I’ll go on “A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.”

Salt is a seasoning, its spread through a dish to enhance its flavor. Light, on the other hand, shines everywhere for all to see. 

As salt of the earth, we are to go to all areas of the world and share the gospel and God’s love to all. We are not to remain in the kitchen cupboard with the rest of the salt.

As light, we are to shine the message of God’s love to everyone. We are not to hide our light underneath this “Bubble”.

Protecting Our Children

So what does this have to do with Gay Marriage and protecting our children? As a parent, my job is to protect my child from danger. It’s clear that one sign of a bad parent is one who let’s their children run with scissors. But isolating my child from the world is not exactly protecting my child. Let me throw this out to you, does protecting your children mean isolating them from the world or giving them the skills to live in the world as Christians.  When its all said and done, is our success as parents going to be how much stuff did we shield from our children or how prepared are our children to survive in the world as adults.

Exposure to the “Gay Agenda”

By banning Gay Marriage, how exactly are we protecting our children? Assuming in pre-school our kids learn that “Heather has two mommies,” what is the harm? Your kids will not automatically become gay because of a pre-school teacher.

The only thing is that you don’t want school teaching your kids worldly values. Honestly, you’re really not supposed to let schools do your job as a parent. Whether you like it or not, your kids are going to hear opinions different than yours.  That doesn’t mean you pull them out of school (see the Christian Bubble discussion, you just read).

Let’s spin this positive, this is the perfect opportunity to discuss with your kids your values, and when they grow older, you’ll continue to teach your values and even better, you’ll expose your children to opposing viewpoints and teach them to think critically. Let’s remember, your job is not to isolate your kids from evil, but to teach them to survive in the world.  

Christians End the War - The Sanctity of Marriage and the Myth of Civil Unions

I've not posted recently about my feelings about the Gay Rights issues. I've written but in reviewing my drafts I felt like I was just rambling. So rather than trying to say everything, I'm going to have to organize my thoughts.

I want to talk about the idea of the Sanctity of Marriage. I've had a chance to talk to several of my fellow believers and one argument that is brought up is the idea that why do gays have to use the word Marriage to describe their relationship.

I'm told that we've given them Civil Unions, isn't that enough. It seems Civil unions is basically Christians saying, "alright we won't let you use the term Marriage, but we'll let you have a civil union which is pretty much the same thing. Cmon gays isn't that enough?"

Then then discussion is concluded, why do they have to touch "marriage"?

The Sanctity of Marriage

As a Christian, I believe that marriage is a serious commitment to my spouse/partner. When I got married, I made a spiritual and legal commitment to my wife. Everything I own is ours and everything I earn is ours. When we have kids, we are committed to raising our child together.

I also made a commitment to be faithful to her as well. I got married at my wife's church and the service was performed by ministers that we respected. We asked God to bless our union and we know He has.

I believe Christians view marriage more highly than any other group. I say this because I understand why Christians hold marriage in high regard and does not want to see this understanding tainted in anyway.

As admirable as this is, you can not expect a non-Christian world to hold marriage to this standard. My position is that a marriage is the union between two consenting adults, both emotionally and legally. You'll note that I dropped the spiritual part, because you can not prevent two consenting adults who do not believe in God from getting married. Nor should we.

If we expect to uphold the sanctity of marriage legally, we would need to require all couples to be married in churches by ministers or pastors. We would also require that couples take part in pre-marital counseling, so they can work out issues such as money, and raising kids. And if we are going to follow the Bible, we can't allow any Christian to marry a non-Christian.

I'll be honest, these are good things that everyone who wants to get married, should do. Let's face it, that pre-marital counseling could probably save a lot of marriage and prevent a lot of bad marriages from ever taking place.

My point is that you can't legislate the Sanctity of Marriage. You can not expect the government to insure that a marriage is being formed for the right reasons and that the participants have thought through all of the issues before entering this legal union.

As it stands today, we will also any man and woman to get married. We'll allow athiests and muslims to get married. None of which can be classified as a God-honoring Christian marriage. We'll allow a Christian and Non-Christian to get legally married, even thought they are unequally yoked, and you know that's against what God said in the Bible.

Worse, we'll allow two teenagers to get married only because they had pre-marital sex and the girl is pregnant. As honorable as that it, what a train wreck of marrage this will become. It is very difficult, if not impossible, for this to be a God-Honoring marriage.

What does it take to get married in the State of California? All it takes is that you go down to the clerks office and fill out an application and then have a officer of the court or minister to legalize the marriage.

In Conclusion

As a Christian, I'm glad we don't enter the union of marriage lightly. The problem is that we can't expect the rest of the nation to follow suit. It is not up to us to legislate this either.

In speaking of Gay Marriage, my position remains the same. Marriage is the union between two consenting adults, even if it is a same sex partnership. To me as long as two people love each other and are willing to commit themselves to each other, it not up to me as a Child of God to pass judgement and say you can or can not get married.

Why can't "Civil Union" be enough? It's not enough, even if legally a civil union provides all the legal rights that marriage has, it does not provide the emotional rights or the spiritual rights either.

As Christians, if we believe that "Civil Unions" are enough, then I dare you to call your marriage to your wife or husband a "Civil Union." Christians are not and should not be the final decide on what marriage is in a non-Christian world.