Gay Wrongs

As if it weren't outrageous enough that an American football player would dare to acknowledge his God rather than prance around like a spoiled four year old, like most other players, a former Australian tennis  player has said that gay unions should not be defined as marriage.  You can read more about this shocking you can read more about this horrific development here.  Fortunately, the forces of all things good and gay have created a Facebook group, encouraging people to refute this argument by waving colorful banners at the Australian open.  'At'l teach those homophobes!  

Yet again, we have here an example that the only thing these "tolerant" people can tolerate is the absence of any truth or moral imperatives.  Any expression of such beliefs is immediately attacked, the person slandered, hopefully their career ruined, and an avalanche of harsh statements declaring the moral imperative of rejecting all moral imperatives. If this belief seems strange, cruel, or even irrational to you, you must be a radical right-wing hateful homophobe, as Professor Kerryn Phelps explained in an interview with the BBC

"I think Margaret Court's name should be stripped from the arena.  The Australian open is an iconic sporting even, it has international attention, and for the name of somebody who has now associated themselves with some very extreme, right-wing views that harm a lot of people, I don't think that's appropriate for the name of that venue."

Good grief, she must have said some pretty hurtful things.  The article linked about provides an example of these outrageous views that "hurt a lot of people".

Court, the greatest women's player in the history of Australian tennis and a winner of 24 grand slam singles titles, has vowed to attend this year's tournament despite the backlash against her views about homosexuality, which she says involves "abominable sexual practices." 

She has described same sex marriage as "unhealthy, unnatural unions."

Wow, that's so . . . true.  No wonder so many "tolerant" people are attempting to silence these views and erase the recognition of the incredible accomplishments of this former athlete.  (I wonder what people would have said if she was a Muslim and not a Christian pastor?)  Unfortunately for the anti-truth gays, Margaret Court happens to be "the greatest women's player in the history of Australian tennis and winner of 24 grand slam singles titles".  Thus she will not be easily trashed and dismissed.

In savagely protecting the rights of a few, Professor Phelps has dismissed and marginalized the views of one of the most wide-spread religions of all time, Christianity.  Apparently, if you believe that the Bible is true, as I do, you are nothing but a right-wing extremist who causes harm to a lot of people.  Never mind that said people are only hurt by their own "unhealthy, unnatural unions" and the people that tell them such unions are ok, and not the people who express their Biblical belief that such actions are sin.  The Bible is quite clear on the sinfulness of the action of homosexuality.  Take 1 Corinthians 9-10 (ESV)

⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous^[a] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,^[b] 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 

[b] 1 Corinthians 6:9 The two Greek terms translated by this phrase refer to the passive and active partners in consensual homosexual acts

The Bible does not say that we should persecute gays or that we should treat them like dirt, it only says, as Court said, that homosexuality is a sin and that those who give themselves over to it in favor of God will not inherit the kingdom of God. Thus, making statements like Courts, however much people may find them distasteful, is necessary for Christians, since they know that people who embrace homosexuality are hell-bound and have an obligation to say as much to homosexuals in the hope that the Holy Spirit will use such words to turn them from their evil ways.

The Bible also defines marriage in Genesis 2:18-24 (ESV)

¹⁸ Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for^[a] him.” ¹⁹Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed^[b] every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens andbrought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam^[c] there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹ So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made^[d] into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said, 

   “This at last is bone of my bones    and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman,    because she was taken out of Man.”^[e] 

 ²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Footnotes

1. Genesis 2:18 Or corresponding to; also verse 20
2. Genesis 2:19 Or And out of the ground the LORD God formed
3. Genesis 2:20 Or the man
4. Genesis 2:22 Hebrew built
5. Genesis 2:23 The Hebrew words for woman (ishshah) and man (ish) sound alike

 God created men and women to be partners.  But as with all other things God created, this union has been perverted in many ways; through adultery, fornication homosexuality, and other means.  The only God-honoring sexuality is inter-marital sexuality.  All other forms are a perversion of God's wonderful plan, stated in verse 24.  Any attempt to call homosexual unions "marriage flies in the face of the true meaning of the word, stated by the author of all truth in the Bible.  Those who don't believe in objective truth, moral imperatives, or other such annoying, old-fashion ideas will say that they have the right to define marriage however they want and that religious fundamentalists should just step aside and allow society to continue its progress.  But what I have never heard anyone explain is why on earth in the name of freedom and tolerance, society can no longer tolerate maintaining the original definition of words.  They seem to think that the fact that they believe all beliefs are true gives them the right to trample whatever beliefs they don't like, but in reality it only gives those who have beliefs all the more right to maintain their ways, even at the expense of the ethical nihilist, since the ethical nihilist cannot argue against others on the basis of moral imperatives.  Of course, that's not how they see it.  Typically people don't even know what an ethical nihilist is, even though they are one.  I obviously can't speak for Professor Phelps, but I would guess that her position on gay rights is based more on her subjective feeling that gay people should be told that they are married rather than a rational argument firmly rooted in her worldview.  She certainly didn't make any astounding arguments in the BBC interview.

It turns out that the Bible speaks about people like Professor Phelps.  One example is Romans 1:16-25

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jewfirst and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,^[a] as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”^[b] 

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,^[c] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. ²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring 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.Footnotes:

1. Romans 1:17
 Or beginning and ending in faith

1. Romans 1:17
 Or The one who by faith is righteous shall live

1. Romans 1:20
 Or clearly perceived from the creation of the world

Claiming to be wise, Professor Phelps has become foolish, and God has given her up to the lusts of her heart, to impurity, and to the dishonoring of her body.  Thank God for people like Court who are willing to stand up for the truth and attempt to bring people to the realization of their sin, and pray that Christians may continue to love homosexuals and hate homosexuality.