September 7, 2009, 11:13 pm by dc-agape.

Jesus taught many things about love.  He includes it as the second most important commandment.  Not just in the Gospel of Matthew (Matt 2:38) but also in the Gospel of Mark:

Mark 12:31 The second one is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.

But what type of love are Christians supposed to give to their neighbors.  Obviously “Love your neighbor as yourself” has no meaning to the TrueChristian™.  For it is clear that they will obey only the Laws that they believe their YHWH has commanded them to follow.  But how do you love your neighbor?

Jesus has another saying that most TrueChristians™ like to ignore.  It is these verses:

Matt 5:46-47 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

You see TrueChristians™ are commanded by Jesus to show love to everyone…not just to those that are like them.  In other words, even if it hurts, TrueChristians™ have to love sinners like Atheist and homosexuals.  And what is the Biblical definition of Love:

1^st Cor 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

You see this is how TrueChristians™ must love their neighbors!  They must be kind to their neighbors, they cannot be rude to their neighbors, and they cannot keep records of wrongs that their neighbors do.  They must protect their neighbors and they must trust their neighbors!  If they cannot do this they are no better than others and they are just like the “pagans (sinners)”.

Now I have only been able to post on the first Important Questions.  But this question involves TrueChristians™ and homosexual rights in the USA.  By attempting to condemn homosexual civil marriage (the right to choose who you marry) TrueChristians™ are showing their true colors.  They are rude, they are not kind, and they keep records of wrongs committed by homosexuals.  They are not protecting their gay neighbors and they do not trust their gay neighbors!  They are breaking the second commandment of Jesus teachings by their hypocrisy. 

Christians wonder why Atheist and homosexuals treat them like spoiled little children…is it no wonder, when Christians cannot even follow their simplest of commandments from their role model?  Is it no wonder that Atheist mock and sneer at Christians, when it is the TrueChristians™ that cannot obey even the simplest concept of their own religion?  Oh, it’s true that Christians love their Christians neighbors, and sometimes their Jewish neighbors, and on occasions even their Mormon and Muslim neighbors, but to ask a Christians to show Biblical Love to a gay man or an Atheist…impossible!  It just won’t happen.   And just why is that?

Is it not because Atheist and homosexuals are the “worst” sinners?  Actually that is a balloon full of extremely hot air.  For TrueChristians™ know that all sin separates humans from YHWH, and not a single one is more or less acceptable to YHWH.  Just read:

Gal 5:19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

Notice that sex is in the list, it’s even the first one mentioned, but it is not the only sin.  And Paul does not make a difference between eating too much and having sex outside of Biblical polygamous marriage.  He also does not make a difference between sexually sin and rage, or sexually sin and fractions and dissensions.  And that is the key!  Why do we have 45,000 denominations of Christianity: fractions and dissensions!  There can be no TrueChristians™ as long as there is fractions, dissensions, discord, and the like.

Paul has a more complete list of sins:

Romans 1:29-32 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice.  They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  Although they know God’s righteous decrees that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Notice that the closest Paul gets in this list to homosexuality is “filled with depravity”.  He includes “God-haters” but not those who deny YHWH (Atheist).  By the way, this is a list of sins practiced by those that “knew” YHWH existed.  just as a dig…does this remind you of our Representatives and Sentors (just a little bit)?

And before any Holy Rollers claim that this verse fits me: YHWH turned me over to homosexuality when I was 13!  If you believe my heart was filled with wickedness and I did not “glorify YHWH” at that age, you are a liar.  I became an Atheist because for nine years I attempted everything suggested by my religious leaders to eliminate the “sinful nature” that I had no choice about, and YHWH did nothing!  The hormones in my body increased as I turned to a young teenager and then into an older teenager and finally a self-sufficient adult male…the “sinful nature” did not abate, it did not become easier, and in fact, by the shear act of denying it the urges became stronger!  Finally it dawned on me either YHWH was a liar or non-existent.

Posted in Important Questions, Love, State of Mind, Becoming an atheist | Print | 7 Comments »

September 7, 2009, 6:43 am by dc-agape.

Last week I ask some tough questions to one of my Christian commenters.  I had a reason for each of the questions.  I have posted why the first question:

How do True Christians respond to the desire of homosexuals to have the same legal rights as heterosexuals to marry the person they love?  Specifically I asked how my commenter responded to the approval of California Prop #8.

In response I have received two replies that need to be addressed:

Please explain compassion and justice from a materialistic world view.

I am not clear how the issue of Gay Marriage relates to your understanding the teachings of the Bible though.

It would seem that our True Christian is not clear on the concepts of compassion or justice even while living in the USA.  It would also appear that our True Christian does not understand that to be “Christ-like” one must show compassion and act in a just manner towards one’s fellow human.  Let me see if I can clear up some of the confusion.

Dictionary.com makes answering the first part of the first request very simple.  The definition of the English word “Compassion” is:

A feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering

Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it

It would seem that our Christian does not understand that one must not only claim to have compassion, but that one must also wish to relieve it!  The “stricken by misfortune” can certainly be a disqualifier to the subject of Gay Marriage until you combine justice with compassion.  Even thought the second definition “a deep awareness of the suffering of another” is clear enough to show that by banning/protesting Gay Marriage the Christians, who do this, are not showing a deep awareness of the suffering of others.  In fact, they are not even aware of the suffering that they are inflicting on other citizens in their own country.

But to truly understand that the Gay Marriage protest is causing suffering and striking the homosexual community with misfortune one must include the concept of justice and having a just attitude.  Using dictionary.com two of the meanings of the English word noun “Justice” are appropriate for the “materialistic world view”:

These are the “top” definitions of the English adjective “just”!  Notice the words justice, fairness, equitable, and lawful.  Dictionary.com has two definitions of the word justice that are in direct relation to this topic:

Conformity to this principle, as manifested in conduct; just conduct, dealing, or treatment

The maintenance or administration of what is just by law, as by judicial or other proceedings

These are not the “top” definitions of the English noun “Justice”; they are definitions of the word.  In my original post I described what was just by law: equality of all citizens in the USA.  The denial of equal rights to marry the person one loves is in the United States a fundamental denial of the right to pursue happiness.

I must admit that the concepts of compassion and justice are difficult to comprehend, especially to one that already receives both with abundance.  Of course that is what makes it difficult for one who claims to be compassionate and just to “forget” how to be exactly that: compassionate and just!  Since they receive it without thinking about it they “forget” that other people do not have the same experiences in life.  In fact, the people who deny compassion and justice to the gay community, here in the USA, are lulled into believing that everyone receives the same treatment that they themselves receive.  They are being taking their own freedoms for granted.

I think that I have hinted at the controversy of Gay Marriage and the teaching of the Bible.  Maybe I have not been clear enough.  If Christians are to be “Christ-like” does that not mean that they should show compassion and justice as Jesus did in the Gospels.  One thing that is missing from the Gospel is the concept that the “sinner” should be treated as less valuable, less human than the righteous believer.  In fact, the exact opposite is the case.  Jesus turned water into wine for a wedding festival – John 2:1-11 (gluttony), Jesus ate with the tax collectors and the prostitutes (greed and sexual amorality), and Jesus even taught in the Beatitudes:

Matt 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy”. 

And further in Jesus’ ministry Jesus tells his followers this:Matt 22:37-40 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.”

To love your neighbor but to deny them the same right that you take for granted is a hypocrisy.  How can you love your neighbor “as yourself” yet demand that your neighbor cannot have the same rights as you!  So from a Biblical stand point and a “materialist” stand point there is no difference. 

It is true that some Christians believe that all homosexuals will go to hell…how “loving”.  But should not Christians have the decency to show mercy, compassion, justice, and love to the “sinner” while we are here on Earth?

Posted in Important Questions, Love, Personal Responsibility, State of Mind, Introduction | Print | 13 Comments »