“destroy all that they have, and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass” – God, The Bible 1 Samuel 15:3
In the wake of the repeal of DADT the level of hatred unleashed by Republicans and Christofascists has been as shrill as we would have expected. As previously reported here by Rmuse, Bible-based bigotry did not carry the day and you’d think the world had come to an end. And according to some of these crazies, it will. Peter LaBarbara of the ironically-named “Americans For Truth About Homosexuality†(because they’re really about lies) talked about the “gaying down†of our military. But it was perennial bigot of the week Bryan Fischer’s words that stood out:
“The new Marine motto: ‘The Few, the Proud, the Sexually Twisted.’ Good luck selling that to strong young males who would otherwise love to defend their country. What virile young man wants to serve in a military like that?”
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I dunno, Mr. Fischer. I know of at least one ancient Greek military unit that would have mopped the floor with any comparable force of heterosexuals you can care to name. The Sacred Band’s accomplishments show them to have been pretty damn virile.
You have to remember the lesson of the Old Testament, that those who turn away from God are vomited forth from the land. Everyone remembers what happened to those islands of tolerance and diversity known as Sodom and Gomorrah, whose only sin was to not toe the extremist religious line of the day. (Actually, it was because they were a bunch of selfish rich people that they were struck down by God, not because they engaged in sodomy – read it yourself. Ironic isn’t it? Turns out it was a bunch of Republicans…)
The ironically-named (they all seem to be ironically-named – for example, the Freedom Federation is about taking freedoms away, not protecting them) “Christian Anti-Defamation Commission†(CADC), which claims it is Christians who are the victims of bigotry (not the actual victims of Christian bigotry who are deprived of constitutionally-guaranteed rights), is now talking divine vengeance. Gary Cass’ secure line with God must have been ringing off the hook because he is telling us that God is about to unleash the “mighty sickle of His wrath†on America for “drinking from the dregs of civic debauchery.†Let Sarah Palin try to spell that!
This is serious Old Testament stuff here.
After a long and difficult fight, the struggle for maintaining the military policy of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell†was lost for now. There are some hard truths for those who uphold traditional biblical morality to face. Being able to admit we have a problem is the first step towards making the changes we need to reverse this and other gains made by sexual anarchists and secularists.
“Sexual anarchists†he says. It is clear that Mr. Cass has a very negative view of the modern liberal democracy, which has as its strong spine an adherence to tolerance and diversity.
The last thing we need to do is surrender biblical moral standards to sexual libertines, as if God’s holy nature has somehow changed with public opinion polls.
It’s appropriate here to suggest to Mr. Cass that there is no need (nor indeed any suggestion) that he surrender his biblical standards. Nobody is asking him to do anything he is not personally comfortable with. That is, after all, the essence of the modern liberal democracy. Nobody has suggested that Christians surrender their beliefs. They are merely asking that Christians tolerate the beliefs of others. This task is, apparently, too difficult for the CADC’s bigotry expert.
Homosexual behavior is intrinsically sinful and we cannot renegotiate God’s moral law. No apologies are necessary for agreeing with Jesus, the Apostles, the Law and the Prophets. History, science, scripture and eternity concur.
No apologies, but loads and loads of apologetics (For the record, an “apology†in this sense is “a defense of†so Christian apologetic works are a defense of Christianity – the bookshelves at your local bookstore probably sag under the weight of these tomes).
Homosexual sin, like every other kind of sin, always results in some kind of death. But sexual sin in general, and homosexual sin in particular, is singled out in the Old and New Testament as particularly deadly. Because of this, the unrepentant person trapped in homosexuality, just like all other sinners, is to be pitied and the object of our compassion.
I don’t know…most things result in death, including life. It’s the one thing none of us can escape. But to address Mr. Cass’ point about “sin†the Old Testament doesn’t really say what he says it does. Lesbianism, for example, isn’t outlawed in the Bible. No seed is wasted, you see.
IMPORTANT: And there is more ambiguity in the texts than he suggests. For one thing (and this is important) seed is the issue here, because the ancient Jews thought the seed contained ALL OF LIFE. No egg in the woman – just the man’s seed putting life in her womb. But modern science knows otherwise. Turns out God didn’t fully understand his own creation – or – God didn’t write those words so often quoted, or even say them. Jews who did not have the benefit of modern science wrote them. On the basis upon which they’re written, the injunctions against homosexuality, being a admonition against what amounted to basically murder, is now seen to be without merit.
Spiritually, they are dead to God’s mercy and transforming grace in Christ. Sadly, it was unrepentant homosexual Ellen DeGeneres who emceed the Christmas in Washington TV Show this year with President Obama and family smiling as they blindly celebrated the birth of the Savior. They never saw the incongruence of it all.
As I said, Mr. Cass, lesbianism, deplorable as it was seen, isn’t addressed in the Old Testament as a sin. You should really consider reading your own scriptures before you start “quoting†from them. Even unrepentant bigots – perhaps especially – should read before they talk.
Ultimately, we must resolve that Providence has ordained the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell†for now. It could not have happened if God had willed otherwise. But why?
Amusingly, perhaps, it was not God who repealed DADT but mortal men and women, duly and constitutionally elected. According to the Constitution, God does not get a vote. No god does.
In times like these when our nation defies the moral law of the living God, we must ask, “Is God hardening our heart like he did the defiant Pharaoh?†God did it to show His mighty power in the outpouring of ten plagues on the gods of Egypt and by destroying Pharaoh and his army.
I hate to break this to Mr. Cass given that he is on a roll here, but there is no evidence whatsoever that the whole Israel in captivity thing ever happened. The pyramids were built by Egyptians. Archaeologists have found their houses. What they have not found is any evidence that thousands of people wandered in the Sinai for decades. We have a lot of records from that period and no Egyptian sentry seems to have been aware of all those people crossing the border, coming or going.
And you thought the United States had trouble with illegal immigrants!
Is God letting America ripen in her rebellion before He wields the mighty sickle of His wrath? It’s worth considering as our nation’s military now serves under a shameful, pink flag.
Who is going to rebel, Mr. Cass? You? Polls demonstrate that some 75% of Americans supported repeal of DADT. If there is a rebellion, it will be a very small one. I almost hope that you will lead it. Or are you suggesting that America is rebelling against your God? Because I will happily remind you here again that God doesn’t enter into the picture. He’s not in the Constitution. We owe our fealty to the Constitution, not a deity, no matter how pissed off he may or may not be (and really, how can a perfect being even be pissed off? Such human frailties ought technically to be a logical impossibility).
In the meantime Christian, humbly pray, boldly preach and persevere by the power of the Holy Spirit knowing that God is not mocked and one day His righteousness will prevail.
God is not mocked here, Mr. Cass, but the Constitution, which was ratified by every state in this great nation, the Constitution written by our Founding Fathers. That is being mocked – by you.
Nobody is asking you to act against your beliefs. We are merely expecting you to respect our rights – according to the Constitution, the same Constitution which has protected yours for over 200 years.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
