I have been accused, by some, of being judgmental in my
writings. I say I am not judgmental, except in the way the Bible tells me to be. I will admit to being bigoted, intolerant and a hater. Bigoted
in that I have an obstinate belief in the superiority of the Word of God, over all else. Intolerant of
the things that are spoken against in the Bible as sins or abominations. I do
consider it perfectly acceptable to hate the things that the Bible says God
hates. For these reasons, there are people who think I am despicable. Where
these people fail in their reasoning is that they have not gotten to know me
well enough, or delve into conversation deep enough, to see if their opinion of
what I write is the same as what I actually mean. It never ceases to amaze me,
the amount of things that get added to my writings, by those who interpret what
I write in the light of their own prejudices. Many times I have found that the
things objected to are not what I have said, but rather what God has said and I
voiced in my writings. It reminds me of a story I heard as a young man. The
teacher had the class read a book, by an author who would be visiting the
class. They were instructed to write a paper on what the author meant by what
he wrote in the book. The papers were collected and the students' ideas were
discussed by the class. Nuance, hinting, hidden agendas and other things were
discussed, but a consensus couldn't be reached. On the day the author was to
visit, there was excitement in the air. Al last, they would get to know the
secret, hidden meanings that were so elusive. When the teacher and the students
were at last allowed to ask the author questions, the author simply stated that
he wrote exactly what he wanted the reader to know, in the simplest way
possible. That is exactly the way we should approach the Word of God. God says
what He means, and means what He says.
I
do my best to live by the examples the Bible sets for me. I am instructed to
love everyone, and that includes the sinners.
Loving the sinner, however, is quite different from accepting or loving
the sin. This explains why a Christian shopkeeper should refuse to bake a
wedding cake, supply flowers or photograph a same sex marriage. As in recent
cases, the shopkeepers had the same sex couple as customers in the past, and
conducted business the same way they would for other patrons. Where the line
has to be drawn is when accepting the business becomes participation in the same sex marriage, which would constitute the acceptance and condoning
of the abomination
to be performed and celebrated. In similar manner, don't ask me to drive a
pregnant woman to get an abortion.
"Religion is the enemy of Christianity. Religion
started toward God, but wound up enthralled with itself. The Pharisees and the Sadducees
were religious. They were the liberal wing and the conservative wing, and both
of them missed it. Religion is the enemy."[2]
Christianity is a one on one, personal relationship with God, the believer
becomes a part of the Church; where two or more are gathered in His name for
worship and fellowship. Every Christian is a member of "the" Church,
but every member of "a" church is not necessarily a Christian. Only
Born Again people are members of the Body Of Christ. These Born Again people
are who the scripture calls The Church. If you wish to know the authenticity of
a Christian, ask them for their testimony (the story of their Born Again
experience). Christians, as a rule, love to tell you how they came to accept
Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
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