That is right homies, almost five centuries after Martin Luther pinned his 95 Theses to the church door and freed christian's from the domination of the Roman Catholic Church, we have come full circle. Now you don't have to buy forgiveness under the authority of Rome, you can simply download an app and allow Mr. Piper to instruct you on how to properly desire god.
Ok... Now to the main point, one of Piper's commandment on how to properly desire god is to condemn homosexuals.
In a series of sermons, at his Bethlehem Baptist Mega Church in Minneapolis, titled: Homosexuality, Human Relations, and the Challenges to Evangelism, Piper instructs his army of god fearing believers on how to properly "deal with" the gays. Adequately echoed by a friend of mine of Facebook, Spencer Barfus argues:
"Christians who know the truth and love sinners don't fear homosexuals...they fear what God will do to homosexuals who continue in their sin. And so, we speak out against such things, not because we want to make people feel bad, but because we care for them. We want them to know the truth so that they can be set free like we have. God is faithful to all His promises, and does not lie. Jesus died on the cross to set people free from sins like homosexuality."As many christian's seem to do, Spencer hides his bigotry behind the bible providing a eulogistic covering by claiming that christian hatred of homosexuals is a form of love. Yeah... that is what they say... condemning people for who they love is a form of love.
I will let y'all read the article for yourselves but I would like to comment on one thing Piper says:
"The argument against Christianity today is not epistemological but moral. Christianity is rejected not because it is badly argued, or untrue, but because it is evil. And it is evil because it opposes homosexual practice. The panelists agreed that, at least in major metropolitan areas, the issue of homosexuality ranks near the top of the reasons people reject Christianity, along with the problem of suffering and the exclusive claim that Jesus is the only way of salvation."
- Christianity is poorly argued. Not because it's adherents aren't intelligent but because it is inherently flawed - an omniscient god creates a humanity that it gives the privilege to choose whether or not to accept it. But it knows that the majority of those he created will reject its invitation to eternal life. Therefore, god creates man to live eternity in hell. I would say that is a great reason to reject christianity.
- It is more likely that christianity is untrue than it is true. There's the hell thing. There is the plurality of religious experience thing. There are the pagan elements the told the christ narrative before christ came things. Not too mention the belly of the whale thing.
- I do agree that many manifestations of christianity are actually evil. The harassment of homosexuals, the intolerance, the arrogance, and the way that it is used to justify wars and inequality.
- It is not evil because it opposes homosexuals, it opposes homosexual because it is evil. Inherent in the christian worldview is that there are christians, chosen to go to heaven, and there are non-christians destined to go to hell. Christians know what is right and moral and non-christians have no moral compass by which to base their actions. Christians may "sin" but there sin is forgive while the rest of us are doomed to internal incarceration. I won't even get into the fact that the more money a christian has the more he/she is forgiven of their trespasses. And I sure as hell won't mention the fact that George Bush is considered a "good christian man."
- Homosexuality does not rank at the top of why people don't believe in Christ. People don't believe because they have other religious beliefs, because they don't want their mind to be limited by the fact that all questions can be answered by "because god made it that way" or "we can't know because god hasn't revealed it to us," because they have open minds and may realize that if there is a god it is an unknowable entity.
- Piper is right at the end of this quote, people do reject christianity because of suffering and exclusivity. What he fails to understand is that much suffering in this world is perpetrated by he and others like him that claim to love people by saving them or condemning them. The marks of christianity are felt all over the globe - from the communities demeaned by well meaning college students building water wells in Africa, to the inner cities that are being "saved" by adhering to upper middle class, white values.
Unfortunately, these are not just the thoughts of fundamentalist preachers across America, but the thoughts of every day christians attempting to apply his teachings in their every day lives, building mega churches and crushing souls as they live out their faith.
There's an app for WhatUpWally?,
WhatUpWally?
1 comment:
We can easily find people who are Christians, but aren’t always living fully as a Christ-follower. We can pick apart religious people; however, it is nothing new for a Christian to not be perfect, after all they are human. Jesus himself recognized hypocrisy in the church, but regardless of that doesn’t say that the Word is wrong, more the actions of the people are off. Christians are striving to be Christ followers, not Piper followers, not Bush followers, or whomever else. Jesus says to follow the Word, but not the example of other humans in Matt 23:1-4 “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.” Even religious leaders have the ability to fall short, so our standard should be after Christ alone.
I don’t agree that God creates man to live eternity in hell because of what the Bible says:
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
John 3: 17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him”
Jesus says in John 6:39-40 “And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”
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