“I am not ashamed to admit that I am a Christian.”

Thus begins Rick Perry’s new Iowa political ad attacking President Obama and gay military personal. Somehow he equates the repealing of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” with how terrible it is that little Billy cannot sing Away In A Manger at the elementary school winter concert.

He then goes a bit further by declaring that when he is president he will end “Obama’s war on religion”.

WHAT!?!?!?!?!?

Correct me if I am wrong but I think somewhere in the Hebrew text of the Christian Bible there is a little command that says something to the effect of  “you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”. I think it is actually part of the BIG TEN that so many Christians claim to follow.

Perhaps Mr. Perry should sit in the pew more often so that he can get his theology correct and see that his accusations against the President amount to bearing false witness, since there never has been a “war on religion” or  “war on Christmas” issued from the White House.

Rick Perry has set himself up in the place of God as a judge  by declaring that President Obama is not a Christian, and that he is out to destroy religious freedom in this country. I am truly tired of the radical/fundamentalist Christians lamenting about all the persecution they suffer in this country at the hands of the liberal politicians, media, and Hollywood.

Enough already!!!! The name of Jesus has been maligned and denigrated and abused long enough.

Rick Perry, I say to you, in front of the 20 people who accidentally come across this blog,  you need to repent of this ridiculous ad…pull it from the airwaves and recognize that Jesus cannot be reduced to a political plank, or a pithy statement for you to garner a few votes.

Jesus is your God, not your lackey!

I am ashamed to say that I am a Christian because of you and people like you that are literally destroying the real meaning of Christianity.

In 1981 I became what is known as a “born again Christian”. Stepping through that door of faith has taken me on a journey that I could never have imagined. I have had many great experiences and met some amazing people along the way and I have gone through some horrific times and been deeply hurt by some who claim to “know” Jesus more times than I would like to think about. And it was in those painful moments that I have considered whether or not this thing called “Christianity” is real.

So it is not surprising that many of my friends who do not share the same spiritual DNA question my sanity for staying within the Evangelical church. At times I question it myself.

I came into “the faith” recognizing my utter inability to earn heaven and fear of being consumed but never consumed by the sulfuric flames of hell and then I spent the next 15 years of my Evangelical faith cowering before God and others for not measuring up to the church standard of a good Christian. Jesus was there but only to take my sins away…I needed to do the rest. At least that is what I was being taught. So to measure up I became a patriotic flag waving, hater of all things “secular” Bible banger. I protested and picketed and wrote letters. I condemned and belittled those that did not know the “Truth”, the spiritually ignorant. I could write more about my early years, but I think that you get the picture.

But within me, in my heart and soul I was dying. I knew how bad I was, all the secret “sins” and weaknesses, the fact that I was just as bad as I was before I became a Christian and that I would never be accepted by God or others. I couldn’t do it anymore.

But then God broke through…

He showed me through a friend that because of Jesus, His love was unconditional and that, if I may borrow a line from my mentor Steve Brown,” He is not mad at me“…ever again. I was and will always be a child of the Creator and I do not have to do anything. I was finally recognized that I was  free, and accepted and loved as is, forever.

But  there is more…

Because I do not have to obsess about whether or not I an getting this Christian thing right (although I am finding that He is changing me a little each day) I can use my time reaching out to others and learn to genuinely love  them unconditionally by deeds and when needed, words. I am being used by the Holy Spirit to expand God’s Kingdom and thus expose people to the amazing Gospel of Jesus, the Good News that because of His sacrifice we can all have access to forgiveness, and love, complete acceptance and unmerited grace from God that never, ever ends. That is something that nothing in the world can offer.

It is the message of Evngelicaliam… but sadly in many quarters of the church, this message has been lost. So people in the church and outside the church need to hear it anew.

It is all about Jesus, not about political affiliation, or social or cultural convictions, or denomination or Bible version, or anything else. It is about Jesus. To add anything to the purity of the message degrades the Good News of God and turns it into something not of God at all.

Evangelicalism is in need of revival. People in the church need to hear of the freedom they can have in Jesus…so I stay along with many others hoping to bring the church back from the sands of personal preference to the rock and foundation of Jesus.

I stay also because I believe the message that, it is only through the unconditional love of God in Jesus, that all of us will finally find what we seek.

To some people that may seem old…to others it may seem young. To me it is a number. But it is a number that makes me reflect on what my purpose here on earth has been and more importantly what my purpose will be.

When I turned 50, I determined to set goals and reach them. At 53 I wonder what the hell happened to the last three years and why I am still stuck at 50.

Early morning on the 18th (yesterday now) I prayed to God. I admitted my slothfulness, my proclivity to procrastinate, and the fear that keeps me from moving into my future. I started to make new promises but then I stopped, suddenly seeing that I can talk the talk but fail to follow through with almost anything unless I am forced into a corner and have to do something to save my ass.

Fear, I have come to realize, has been the #1 factor that has paralyzed most of my life.

Fear of my father and his anger. Fear of my school peers and their years of endless taunts and bullying. Fear of being a failure. Fear in not measuring up, being wrong or not good enough, or creative enough. and most importantly the fear of becoming me.

Fear has created doubt, and uncertainty in me, and the inability to take chances, and risks. Fear, as oddly as this may sound, has been my idol and I have sacrificed most of my life to it.

I do not want to get to the end of my life and the only thing that I have left is regret.

Regret because I always took the path of least resistance, and therefore lived most of the past 52 years merely existing. I have not been fair to the people in my life living this way.

I. do. not. want. to. exist. this. way. anymore.

I want to live, really live and experience freedom, fulfillment and the life God has for me. I want nothing more than to let the gifts God granted me to change me and bless others.

As I enter my fifty-third year that is my prayer.

Amen

“You’re here to defend the defenseless, to make sure that underdogs get a fair break”
 Ps 82:3

Jamey Rodemeyer… 14 years old Buffalo, NY

Tyler Clementi… 18 years old Rutgers University

Phoebe Prince… 15 years old Massachusetts

These are the names of just three students from 2010-2011 that have ended their lives because of relentless harassment and bigotry. There have been many others in the last few years. Often the hateful verbage was ignored by teachers and administrators, or written off as youthful indiscretions. But at the end of the day young people were dead.

I know all to well the pain and humiliation and utter loathing one has for oneself being the brunt of vile words. I lived with my humanity and worth being castrated every day for more than 6 years when I was in school. The “harmless” bullying affected me well into my thirties, and to a much lesser extent still affects me today at 52.

But that was over thirty years ago. You would think at this point in time the issue of bullying would have been addressed, That laws and penalties would have been put in place to protect vulnerable youth. But that is not the case. So day you have more and more young people taking their lives because of hate and bullying. Why is this still happening?

The blame for this lies squarely on the shoulders of several individuals, and groups  of individuals.

It lies on the shoulders of school administrations and teachers “too busy” to care about the lost child in the corner of the classroom, and in the impotence of so many bullying policies that are created more for show than for action.

The blame also lies on the parents of the bullies themselves. Parents teach their children by their actions, words, and attitudes toward others. If parents degrade the poor, the marginalized, and others “not like themselves” their children will too. If parents carry around an air of superiority over other people groups their children will too.   

Some of the blame lies within the culture itself that sets standards and expectations for those within it and when one does not  conform to the “norm” they are demonized and rejected as weird, strange, crazy.

And some of the blame lies on the pulpits and pews of the evangelical churches. We have a tendency to mock and put down and vilify those outside of our church walls. We teach our children, not to love unconditionally as Christ loved us but to look down a  girl wearing tight clothes and the boy who likes to play with dolls. We too create bullies.

But there is something else that is of great distress to me. We as Evangelicals want to be seen as a group of people concerned with protecting human life. We have organized large organization and spent billions of dollars seeking to protect the life of the unborn. But I think that there is much more to being pro-life than that. Where have the Evangelical churches been in protesting and picketing, letter writing and pulpit preaching against bullying and the need to pass legislation that makes bullying and hate a crime? Why have we not spoken up? And why do we, in some cases, work against such laws?  We are supposed to be a voice for those who have none and to see that they are treated fairly and justly. 

Why are we silent?  

I have taken a long time away from television and an even longer time away from “christian tv”. Why I decided to watch it again, I cannot say. Here is a synopsis of what I have observed tonight.

Paula White show…talking about the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, and in fact walked through a full size replica built somewhere in the south. The whole point of her show was to talk about the Day of Atonement and how we need to honor that day today as Christians, because if we do God will bless us in 7 ways. So how do we honor the day and get the blessings? By sending a sacrificial gift to her ministry.

Another station…Grant Jeffrey is speaking with a couple about how the liberal media has distorted the whole Israeli/Palestinian conflict and how it is completely the fault of the Palestinians as to why there is no peace in the middle east and that Israel has done so much to try to make peace.

TBN…the Pastor being interviewed speaking about how the church needs to take control of every area of culture.

Jimmy Swaggart ”Camp Meeting” a young man singing with a praise team on how HE was going to take back all that the devil had stolen from him, including his soul. Then an evangelist comes out and speaks to the congregation on how they are to honor God by giving sacrifically  so that they receive God has for them. And the Lord told him that some can give $1000.00 or more. He prays and then people come running up to the stage to drop their money on the steps, hoping for that elusive blessing from God. After that a man in the congregation screams out ”simbala…migutala…simbala…traniqua…blahbity bipity do…” and then conveniently interprets for us too.

Another station, ” Free 3 Fold Blessing Oil”… with a testimonial, woman sent for the oil because she couldn’t get pregnant, she anointed her “belly” went to the doctor and found out she was pregnant.

KTV…going to see horror movies will open you up to demonic influences…and partying too hard will cause you to get beat up and find yourself in a limo to hell with satan as the driver.

There is so much wrong with all of these but I will only say this. In most of these settings it was the viewer or the person in the congregation that needed to do SOMETHING to get God to do SOMETHING for them. Many of these situations puts the onus of failure or success on the person. There is only one problem with that. What is being taught is not Christianity, it is a false religion that uses just enough Christian words in order to manipulate people.

If  Jesus is not the center, if Jesus is not the author and perfector of our faith, if Jesus is not the One that has fulfilled the law and secured for us forgiveness of our sins, a restored relationship with the Creator, and all the blessings of God, then it is not the Christian faith. Period.

And many are being deceived by the deceived.

“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

“Stunned” is the only word that came to mind as I listened to a local Christian radio talk show host and his guest, a Bible scholar, give “christian” advise to a caller to the show. The host had invited people to call in with questions for said Bible scholar, so on the other end of the line was a woman with a question concerning her daughter.

The question went something like this, (although throughout this dialogue, it is my a paraphrase), “My daughter has walked away from her faith and the church and is living with her boyfriend, who is not a Christian. They have decided to get married and my daughter is looking to me for help. What should I do?” 

Bible Scholar answers using the verse that I started this post with,“According to the verse in 2 Corinthians,  if we are to truly live our lives out of a commitment to the word of God, it would be wrong for you to offer her help because what she is doing in marrying a non-believer, violates the Word.”

Woman caller, “Yes, that is what I have been taught about that verse. But do you think that it would be wrong for me to attend the wedding?”

Bible Scholar, “Sometimes being a Christian is not easy. Sometimes, if we are to be faithful to Our Lord we need to make difficult choices, and not attending the wedding of your daughter is a difficult choice. But I believe that when we make those difficult choices, God sometimes uses them to impress upon others their need for Him and they turn back to Him”.

“Thank you so much for your help, I believe that is what I need to do.”  Caller hangs up.

So I sit there in my car, in my driveway, and all that comes into my head in that moment is WTF. Here is  a woman calling the show, probably a bit confused because she loves her daughter but has been taught something that goes against unconditional mother love and is told that the best way to love her daughter back into the Kingdom is to reject her?

I looked up that passage in numerous translations, and I compared several commentaries on 2 Corinthians, man stated that there is no concise understanding of what Paul exactly meant concerning interaction with the world, perhaps it involved intimate friendships, or  business partnerships, but none of the commentaries said that the passage was being specific on the issues of marriage.

But even if it had been specific, the passage says nothing about a mother helping or attending her daughter’s wedding day. That is what is so upsetting about how this ivory tower “bible scholar” counseled this woman. If she goes through with what was suggested, she will only alienate her daughter further and this action may shut the door to anything spiritual again. Her daughter may also feel that her mother does not love her and allow a toxic wave of rejection and hurt overwhelm her. It will most certainly keep the future son-in-law from ever considering becoming a Christian, and this woman, because of how she hurt her daughter, may never have any contact with future grandchildren.

Here is my advise. One of the greatest attributes of God that we can mirror to others is unconditional love. While this woman’s daughter has chosen to try a path contrary to what SHE ALREADY KNOWS are the beliefs and wishes of her mother, her mother, in Christ’s love is there for her. She is there in spite of her discomfort with the whole situation. Her daughter, and possibly her new son-in-law begin to see the love of God in a different light. Seeing maybe for the first time that Christianity is not about rules and regulations but about forgiveness, patience, and grace. Curious, the daughter begins to ask her mother questions and through love she and her husband are drawn to God and new life.

The “bible scholar” used the Word of God that would have brought death to several relationships. That is not what the “Words of Life” were meant to do.

“I don’t understand why we have to change the form. I’m worried there’s another agenda involved here other than just allowing same-sex couples to be married. We know what a bride is, we know what a groom is—but if we choose to be a ‘spouse,’ does that even limit (marriage) to a human being? Do you know what I’m saying?”

Take a look again at the above quote.

That comment is from Rose Marie Belforti in Citizen Link (an off shoot of Focus on the Family) Magazine. Rose Marie, town clerk in Ledyard, NY was interviewed after she refused to sign marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples after the New York State law went into effect on the 24th July 2011. She claimed as a Christian she could not compromise her beliefs.

Really, Rose Marie??? An a secret agenda to usher in the ability to marry an animal?!?!?!?!!?!?

This blog post is not about marriage equality though, this post is about how some Christians in their attempt to uphold what they see as a Biblical condemnation have taken to using misinformation, lies, and fear mongering to try to get their point across. 

Tony Perkins is another Christian who, in order to raise funds for his organization, decided to bash and malign the “It Gets Better” campaign (a video series that helps combat bullying), by telling his supporters that it is a tool of the LGBT community to recruit kids into the gay lifestyle. You can read it below.

There are many comments that seek to create fear and hatred for the LGBT community, Here are a few more examples.

“Rick Perry’s fellow Texas Republicans voted on a 2010 party platform full of hate and malicious falsehoods about LGBT Americans, saying: “We believe that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases…Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable, alternative lifestyle in our public education and policy, nor should family be redefined to include homosexual couples.””

Or Michele Bachmann linking the LGBT community to pedophilia in 2009.

“Rep. Michele Bachmann spoke out against federal hate crimes bill being considered on the U.S. House floor on Wednesday by conflating gays and lesbians with pedophiles, and saying that the bill would protect pedophiles from hate crimes.

“[A]pparently people who are practicing pedophiles would be considered protected under this legislation, but not, I understand, veterans, not, I understand, pregnant women, not, I understand, 85-year-old grandmothers would be protected under this law,” she said. “But who would be protected? A pedophile, someone who considers themselves gay, someone who considers themselves transgender, someone who considers themselves a cross-dresser? That is who is protected.”

The bill, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, adds “sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person” to existing federal law which currently includes race, color, religion, or national origin. Minnesota Reps. Betty McCollum and James Oberstar are co-sponsors.

Contrary to Bachmann’s statement, pedophilia is not considered a sexual orientation, a disability or a gender identity, and is instead a criminal act.”

The above comments are all fodder for some Christians fight against the “Gay Agenda”. This agenda apparently involves animals, kids, and the tearing apart of a civilized Christian country. In the minds of these people the “Gay Agenda” is ultimate control over every aspect of American Life and the destruction of the Church, turning the good ‘ol USA into a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah.

In all the ranting and railing against the LGBT community the aspect of the Christian faith that has been lost is love, unconditional, embracing, accepting love. The same love God has for us in Jesus.

If there is a Gay Agenda it is this…that individuals in the LGBT community want to be accepted, and treated as equals.

The church, among all other organizations, should be at the forefront in promoting this agenda.

Here is the scenario (the dilemma)…   

Suppose there are three guys who 15 years ago all made a “commitment” to Jesus, and were “saved” in their youth group when they were 13 years old. They all were model young adult Christians and all of them felt called to full-time ministry.

Now they are all 27/28 years old. There have been many changes since that night around the campfire at the youth retreat where they repented of their sins and give their lives over to God.

Ryan, dropped out of Bible college after his girlfriend became pregnant and had an abortion. he felt that he had failed God and after months of depression and a suicide attempt started to get his life together.Today he works at a dance club as a bartender and lives with his girlfriend. He holds on to that day he was saved but feels to ashamed to attend church, so spends an hour or two a week reading his Bible.

Tom finished Bible college and went on to get his Masters in Divinity from a well-known fundamentalist University. He is the pastor of a small church in Orlando, Florida. he is married and unknown to his congregation is verbally and sometimes physically abusive to his wife. He has spent many a sermon preaching about how women need to learn their place, because feminism has corrupted the natural order of things. and his church as been active in protesting gay pride parades,and abortion clinics, and although Tom has never said this out loud, he delighted in the murder of two abortion doctors, feeling that they had brought it upon themselves by murdering unborn children. he spends two hours each day in prayer and Bible reading and expects nothing less from his congregants.

Our last person is Chris. for most of Chris’ life he has struggled with feelings that there was something not right within. Chris did not fit in with guys, or girls, for that matter and was a loner. ridiculed and mocked Chris spent a lot of time crying alone. Coming to understand who Jesus was and what Jesus did, allowed Chris to feel alive for the very first time. After graduating from college, and moving to New York City to pursue a career in culinary arts Chris finally came to understand what the struggle had been. Chris was a woman “trapped” in a man’s body. for the past 6 years Chris has been working with a therapist that specializes in helping people transition to their “real” gender. Chris now felt free and thanks God for bringing her to this understanding. She is heavily involved in her church, which is open and affirming to her. She sings on the praise team, has memorized huge portions of the New Testament, and works as a volunteer answering phone calls from young people at a Crisis Services agency.

Now the question…

Who do you think is a genuine Christian in this scenario just presented? would love to hear your thoughts.

But maybe I am wrong, so I started to think of where it is that fundamentalist/patriots might want to take america back…

1981…when it was ok to discriminate against someone because of their sexual orientation or
1971…when being gay was still considered a mental illness or
1966…when you could be discriminated against because of your age when looking for a job or
1964…when African Americans still could not vote or
1961…when there was not equal pay for equal work or
1961…when being gay was still illegal or
1959…when women did not have any available female birth control or
1953…when segregation was all the rage in schools or
1937…when there was no minimum wage, maximum work hours, or child labor laws 
1873…when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of states rights to restrict women from any profession to uphold the law of the Creator
1869…when women could not vote or
1868…when the KKK rose to life or
1857…the Dred Scott decision declared that African-Americans had no rights or
1847…when women had not rights
1641…where Massachusetts becomes the first colony to recognize slavery as a legal institution

What really scares me about some of the fundamentalists ranting?  A few of them would not be opposed to eliminating some of  these laws and standards.

So my response to the take America back crowd…”No, it  is not yours to take back!”

There are many churches holding to the fundamentals of their faith with steadfast conviction, yet all that is thrown out the window when it comes to Independence Day and the melding of God and country. It is almost as if Jesus died on ”Old Glory” rather than an” old rugged cross.”

Let me just say here that there is nothing wrong with patriotic celebration, even I enjoy a good fireworks production. What is so distasteful to me is the whole God and country exceptionalism embrace by the church. The church is not a creation of the american dream. In  fact it’s very message is antithetical to the american dream and to american exceptionalism.

The american ideal is to make as much money as we can, get all the things we want, treat others in the world as “less” than we are, and exert our military might wherever, whenever, and however, because of our superpower status. All of this reeks of pride, arrogance, and self-righteousness. 

Churches and her members thereof , have an ideal too. It is to reflect Jesus to the world around us. What does that look like? The marks of a Jesus reflecting church or individual are evident, humility, gentleness, helpers to the poor, sick, weak, abused, hungry, and neglected. We are to stand in the gap for those who have not power. We are to promote peace, following after the Prince of Peace. Our goal is to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth and our weapon is love. A love the is undying toward God and to our neighbor. 

Does anyone begin to see the problem?

This continual blending of Christianity and American government is creating, or maybe already has created, a religion that is Christian in name only. Maybe the Church has an idol and that idol is a jesus wearing a suit with an american flag lapel pin firmly in place.