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Did you ever think the visceral reactions might be because "pray the gay away" was flippant? And then to support a flippant remark with a scripture verse about prayer...and accuse everyone else of rejecting "the prime action required of the Lord?"
Whatever side of the argument you are on, I think most can agree that bumper sticker spiritual advice is hurtful and disrespectful regardless of where it is applied.
The prime action required of the Lord is love, not prayer, although prayer is important. Last night, I was reading a little book about Jesus' ministry. It was showing examples of how the law was interpreted when one law clashed with another. There had to be an argument made for a momentary hierarchy of laws, so you know which one to apply to the situation of conflict. This is always the case. Like healing on the sabbath, or the Good Samaritan parable about purity laws.
This trips up fundamentalists and legalists because they tend to privilege purity codes, and certainty, above all else. You think LGBT is "impure" therefore there can't be a situation where God would ask you to accept and affirm them. Yet there is! This is exactly the point of the New Covenant. These codes and laws are surpassed and fulfilled by love. And love is love---it is simply not loving to tell an LGBT person to remain unpartnered, or to remain in a gender body that doesn't match their core persona. You may think there is nothing that could be more important to God than these religious codes of purity, just like in the Good Samaritan parable, but there IS. And not only can you overlook them, you must. You think that it causes a moment of uncertainty, so it can't be from God, but it is.
And if this isn't a clash of "laws" where you need to choose the greater principle, I don't know what is. No matter what side you choose, you will have to make a case for it, just like Jesus had to explain why he did what he did. And your side simply hasn't made that case. "It's wrong. It's un-natural. Some scripture verses are against it." That's not a case! You have to make a case just like Jesus did---a compelling ethical imperative, not a dry repetition of laws or verses.
Save the make believe for Disney. The Scriptures say that God calls homosexuality a sin. Done. Finished. Buhbye. If you want the Lord’s help you pray.
I defy anyone to identify a more anti-gay population & environment than that which exists is within the dank walls of our prison system ?
As well as naming a more anti-gay environment that overwhelming expresses it's anti-gayness not in theological religious terms , but in terms of brutal violence & murder ?
We are talking about millions of people in our prisons & former prisoners .
Our prisons being much better known for violence , drugs , gangs , murder , suicide than for bible thumping " Christianity " .
Given that fact the neediness of homosexual to perennially cling to the idea of "Christians" being their singular main oppressors is curious to me .
Multiplied curiousness given the fact that these millions of current & veteran homosexual hating members of our prison system actually share a common disdain and loathing for Christians .
The neediness of this fraud becomes even more glaring when you consider the percentage of the entire U.S. population that is made up of former prison inmates , gang members , drug dealers as compared to the percentage of Christians .
Crime being much more popular in this country than Christianity .
The thirst that the homosexual community has in avoiding the truth seems unquenchable .
To them if only they could flip a switch to make all the " fundies" disappear then there would be no other oppressors .
" The path of the just is as the shining light , that shineth more and more unto the perfect day ."
( Proverbs 4:18 )
I defy anyone to identify a more anti-gay population & environment than that which exists is within the dank walls of our prison system ?
As well as naming a more anti-gay environment that overwhelming expresses it's anti-gayness not in theological religious terms , but in terms of brutal violence & murder ?
We are talking about millions of people in our prisons & former prisoners .
Our prisons being much better known for violence , drugs , gangs , murder , suicide than for bible thumping " Christianity " .
Given that fact the neediness of homosexual to perennially cling to the idea of "Christians" being their singular main oppressors is curious to me .
Multiplied curiousness given the fact that these millions of current & veteran homosexual hating members of our prison system actually share a common disdain and loathing for Christians .
The neediness of this fraud becomes even more glaring when you consider the percentage of the entire U.S. population that is made up of former prison inmates , gang members , drug dealers as compared to the percentage of Christians .
Crime being much more popular in this country than Christianity .
The thirst that the homosexual community has in avoiding the truth seems unquenchable .
To them if only they could flip a switch to make all the " fundies" disappear then there would be no other oppressors .
" The path of the just is as the shining light , that shineth more and more unto the perfect day ."
( Proverbs 4:18 )
I knew an ex-con who had spent eleven years in the Florida penitentiary system. His sister is my wife's best friend. He attended our church. He told me that it is far easier to be a "christian" in prison where everything you do is scheduled around the rules. He told me there were scores of conversions while he was in there.
Doug said once he was out of prison, he found living Christlike to be extremely difficult.
Rule based people, like Bible worshipers, depend on the "rules" to keep them in line, not any change that has taken place in their hearts.
If you worship the Bible, your heart is in prison regardless of whether you are behind bars.
I do. I was on a jury for a murder trial once. The defendant was an 18-year-old who'd gotten four younger teens to kill another teenager for him. Three of the kids were testifying against the defendant in exchange for not being tried as adults (the fourth had done the actual killing and was already convicted). The prosecutor asked the defendant and the other three if they believed in God, and every last one of them said yes.
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