2 “Because he is found by those who do not put him to the test, and manifests himself to those who do not distrust him.” ~ The Wisdom of Solomon 1:2 (NRSV)
Orlando has suffered a grave attack that is motivated by hate, therefore, hate seeped into the soul of the aggressor. We can blame the parents who raised him, the wife who loved enough to not get him help, the community which he attacked, and the list goes on. But God is not found in the manner we seek if it through hate. God is found when we come to him not to put him to the test when we open our hearts and beg for forgiveness for our trespasses. But Orlando has also suffered another attack that is quite different from other terrorist killings. One that is not talked that much about – that attack comes from the Christian Community because it was not just people killed but people of the LGBT Community specifically. So this is what I heard and saw and wanted to immediately disavow as dangerous Christian rhetoric that is on the same level of Radical Islam which both is founded within an evil doctrine of repression.
“Pastor Roger Jimenez from Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento told his congregation that Christians ‘shouldn’t be mourning the death of 50 sodomites.”
“People say, like: ‘Well, aren’t you sad that 50 sodomites died?’ ” Jimenez said, referencing the initial death toll in Orlando, which authorities later clarified included 49 victims plus the gunman. “Here’s the problem with that. It’s like the equivalent of asking me — what if you asked me: ’Hey, are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today?’
“Um, no, I think that’s great. I think that helps society. You know, I think Orlando, Fla., is a little safer tonight.”
He added: “The tragedy is that more of them didn’t die. The tragedy is — I’m kind of upset that he didn’t finish the job!” ~ Bever, Lindsey, The Washington Post, June 15, 2016
God hates fags.
God sent the shooter.
God hates murderer Omar Mateen.
Omar Mateen & slain fags are in hell.
REPENT! pic.twitter.com/XwkX7jGYpp
— Westboro Baptist (@WBCSaysRepent) June 12, 2016
“Kill the Gays” Preacher Kevin Swanson: “God’s on His Side” ~ by DAWN ENNIS of the Advocate.
Pastor Jimenez, Pastor Steve Drain of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, Pastor Kevin Swanson of the Reformation Church of Elizabeth, Colorado, and so many others from the Baptist / Orthodox Churchs has publically called those who died, sodomites and pedophiles teaching their congregations that there was no tragedy by killing them and that they wished more had been killed. In no manner, in no place in the bible does it say this teaching is correct. What these supposed learned men are referring to is found in the Book of Leviticus which is one book of four believed to be written by Moses who received this knowledge directly from God.
22 “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” ~ Leviticus 18:22 (NRSV)
This to an untrained eye this passage is a direct commandment that describes a behavior which God Himself has said to be wrong, as something that you shall not do. As a God fearing man without doing the research I am inclined to read this and think all who do this is evil. But those who wrote this, if it was Moses or Aaron, existed in a different reality than from us today. So we must always read the Bible with one eye to the source and one eye to the present, always asking how does this apply today. Back then Moses had a different agenda, the people were in the survival mode, and God saw their wickedness and sought to do something about it in a more direct way than from how he operates in our modern world. So, the setting was Mount Sinai where Moses was attempting to sanctify the people so that the Lord might appear unto them. To do this God specifically told Moses the following;
18 “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: I am the Lord your God.3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes. 4 My ordinances you shall observe and my statutes you shall keep, following them: I am the Lord your God. 5 You shall keep my statutes and my ordinances; by doing so one shall live: I am the Lord.'” ~ Leviticus 18:1-5 (NRSV)
The objective was to create a new nation with a new statute, a nation more holy than any that had come before, and a nation with a direct connection to God. Here in America, we like to think we have a direct connection to God. We like to think we are more holy than the rest of the world. We like to believe we are special and try to preserve Biblical Laws that at the time of their creation as they are today were cumbersome, laws which shackled the people. God did this because from the parents who were slaves and born in Egypt and who had grown fat and uncomplacent but also lazy and self-serving and who God loved and wanted to change them by reminding them of where they had come from, could only happen over time. So the promise land was more the children and grandchildren who had been forged by a Godly fire, subject to a higher standard would this new nation arise. For detailed information please click the following link: Journeys and Events in the Life of Moses by Edward J. Brandt of the Department of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion, The Church of Later-Day Saints.
What is the Relevant Argument?
So the argument becomes less about behavior and more about the time period of the laws that prohibited that behavior. Again looking in the Bible we find a more recent passage that holds the same message that speaks out against the aforementioned behavior.
24 “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason, God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.” ~ Romans 1:23-27 (NRSV)
Again, about two thousand years ago people for the sake of not spreading diseases held fast to the moral principle found in these scriptures. A morality clause that upholds the biblical ideas and beliefs of true marriage as it was between Adam and Eve and is celebrated to this very day. Two opposing arguments on how to live is the debate we face today. Nothing more nothing less. No matter which side you come down on our great nation needs to place only one truth before the population which is more superior to any of these scriptures and any scripture on this topic which I have not mentioned. These supreme truths will help solve this delima and help people from all faiths to join hands, this truth will heal all people of all hatred and will promote only Godly interaction with each other and with God Himself. So you might ask what is the Supreme Truth I speak of?
Examples of Jesus
Example 1: Forgiveness even unto death.
39 “One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ 42 Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ 43 He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’ ~ Luke 23:39-43 (NRSV)
Example 2: Not Judging Others
7 “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. 2 For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. 3 Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye” ~ Matthew 7:1-5 (NRSV)
Example 3: Serving two Masters
24 “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” ~ Matthew 6:24 (NRSV)
Example 4: Supreme Blessedness (The Beatitudes)
5 “When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak and taught them, saying:
3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’
4 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.’
5 ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.’
6 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.’
7 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.’
8 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.’
9 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.’
10 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’
11 ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.'” ~ Matthew 5:1-11 (NRSV)
Example 5: Blind Faith in Jesus Alone
24 “This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. 25 But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them was written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” ~ John 21:24-25 (NRSV)
Example 6: Love Part 1
18 “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” ~ Leviticus 19:18 (NRSV)
44 “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” ~ Matthew 5:44 (NRSV)
27 “But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” ~ Luke 6:27 (NRSV)
27 “He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’” ~ Luke 10:27 (NRSV)
30 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’” ~ Mark 12:30 (NRSV)
Example 7: Love Part 2
21 “They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” ~ John 14:21 (NRSV)
Summation
God is not found in acts of violence, rather finding peace and forgiveness with the lord comes from self-reflection, self-attainment, self-understanding, and applying the most recent laws of morality Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savour left us with, which when listed in this order do they make perfect sense of how we are to treat our fellow man and how others should treat us.
1.) Forgive others even unto your last breath. Not for them but for yourself so that you may be forgiven in the eyes of God the All mighty.
2.) By forgiving others you cease to judge them, you stop judging others actions, their words, their plots, their beliefs, and how they live which is different from yourself.
3.) By forgiving and not judging others you are able to decide whom to serve. The question posed to us all from God at birth is simply this, “Will you serve me the Lord your God or will you serve mankind which is imperfect and will some day cease to exist?”
4.) By cleansing your soul and dedicating your life to God, you then receive the supreme blessings and begin to practice them with fidelity.
5.) Finally, by doing all these things God bestows his most precious of gifts upon you; that of His most perfect love. Your cup will overflow with love and your life transformed through love which enables you to replace hate with love, replace greed with love, replace lust with love, replace laziness with love, replace wrathfulness with love, replace envy with love, and replace pride with God’s most perfect love. In this, you will love others no matter who they are or where they come from or what they believe and how they live. In this way, love equals tolerance for your fellow man and peace is the product. For I say to you my brothers and sisters this is the message all ordained Priests, Deacons, Bishops, Preachers, Ministers,
For I say to you my brothers and sisters this is the message all ordained Priests, Deacons, Bishops, Preachers, Ministers, Pastor, and Church leaders from all faith groups should be preaching about when it comes to any mass killing, any natural disaster, and any act of God; but especially when people who hold a different perspective on life than they do are murdered with such hatred, it should always be meet with love, not condemnation! All religious organizations need to rethink the true message of God, which is love and forgiveness. When a gay is killed every preacher needs to preach how wrong murder is, not glorify it because the one who lost their life was gay! We are all human beings and therefore by default children of God! It is God’s domain to judge not ours! Rather our most supreme commandment is and has always been to, “love one another!” John 13:34-35 (NRSV)
For I leave you with this: 11 “Beware then of useless grumbling and keep your tongue from slander, because no secret word is without result, and a lying mouth destroys the soul.” ~ Wisdom 1:11 (NRSV)
Amen,
My brothers and sisters, I humbly invite you to contact me directly at listeningfaithfullyblog@gmail.com. Let’s open a dialog and share the good news with each other.
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