But what does it mean? Well, it's usually said when some person tries to get out of trouble by citing scripture. In medieval times, the ability to quote certain verses of the Bible could literally get a death sentence waived, because it was supposed to prove to the Judge - back before DNA, internet, or any real records - that you must be a member of the clergy, and thus deserving of mercy.
It's used also when someone is trying to avoid punishment for wrong doing they are caught in, such as the child with cookie crumbs on his face who wants to tell the parable about the woman caught in adultery!
And between those two extremes, of a murderer trying to escape his sentence and a child trying avoid a "time out", there are the tens of thousands of examples of ordinary people trying to justify or excuse sin that they know to be sin.
And in the year 2017, in the United States in particular, no group is more adept at citing scripture for their own purposes than the LBGTQRSTUV lobby. I may have tacked on some extra letters, but they always do so too, so what of it? I think it's LBGTQI now, if one wants to be technical. They keep expanding so that there can be some forlorn hope that they make up some noticeable amount of the population.
Instead of being barely 1.5% of it as is the actual case. Or less in number than the fan base of the new "Hawaii 5-O", and that's saying something. If you are an average American, then you can think of more homosexual characters on television and in theater right now, then you can remember having met in person in the entirety of your life. Really.
Why do homosexuals - and their fans, friends, fellow travelers and family - bother to cite scripture from Judeo-Christian holy books? Well, it's because many of them find themselves born into families that practice Christianity. And given that all those they know are in that social circle, they face two choices.
First, they could see how in the clearly stated rules of their faith that the practice of homosexuality is a sin. This would have them then undergoing the hard and demanding work of "repentance", which involves refraining from that sinful behavior, being truly sorry for it, trusting God's will over their own, believing upon Christ's sacrifice and atonement, and then spending the rest of their life guarding against a relapse into that same sin.
You know, like every other Christian is already supposed to be doing with all of their types of sins, such as a desire to steal, or to sleep with their neighbor's wife, or to have sex with a woman they are not married to, or to be a drunkard, or even to murder.
But that is awful hard work - as all the other truly repentant Christians could tell you - and sex is awfully fun - as again all the other Christians know, too!
Is there an easier way? OF COURSE! And that's where Satan, the Lord of Easier Ways, comes in. Satan is the first to tell the drunkard - such as myself - that a few beers at the end of a hard day won't hurt! Or just on the weekend! Or just for special occasions! Total abstinence? That's silly! Who can be so strong? It's totally against the nature that the drunkard was born with! If God didn't want him to drink, why'd he even give you that urge, eh? Eh?
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| She was born a drunkard. Should she thus stay one? |
I just saw an example of this yesterday. Some 12 year old Mormon girl, I believe prompted by her parents for their own purposes, hijacked a Fast and Testimony meeting to "come out" that she was a lesbian. For those unfamiliar with Mormonism, they dedicate the first Sunday of each month to any member who pleases to come up and "bear their testimony", as in "how they came to know the church was true, that Jesus died for our sins, that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet, that the current President of the church is a true prophet" and like that. It's only for that.
True, some hijack it by giving what's called a "bragimony" where they just "testify" as to all the great things they did in the past month, or how far back they've traced their ancestry, but in the main, it's a cool enough day and just lets everyone share how they came to learn of the truth of Christ and the church.
Not this 12 year old. While the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints vigorously - and properly - opposes the practice of homosexuality while giving love and guidance to the homosexual, this girl decided that such did not go far enough. She gave a "testimony" in which she claimed that God had made her a lesbian and wanted her to be who she was! In other words, that it would be okay for her to practice her sexual inclinations, even in opposition to the stated words in the Bible and the stated position of the church!
Now, I'm no fan of the Mormon church leadership, but when I read that the Bishop had stopped her testimony, I could only agree with his right to do so. That was no more of a venue for her words (or her parent's words) then an LBGTQI rally would be for my words here. Time and place. Time and place. However, the regrettable thing about silencing her is that now she is hailed as not only "brave" but a "martyr" because being "shushed" in 21st century America is the same as being burned at the stake in 13th century France or crucified in 1st century Rome.
Some random guy on facebook, seeing that article, posted it where some of my facebook friends, and thus I, could see. I generally try to avoid posting on "friends of friends" posts, but well, call me "triggered"! I posted a comment correctly pointing out that everyone was missing the most remarkable thing about the story of all. That this 12 year old, without realizing it, and I'm sure without her parents realizing it, was doing nothing less than declaring that SHE was a NEW PROPHET!
Because what most forget nowadays, when you claim to have heard God tell you something completely new, especially when it calls for specific action at odds with what others were thinking should be, then yeah, you're proclaiming yourself a prophet. Because it's ONLY prophets that get to add to scriptures any new revelations that have come from above.
Now, don't fret, obviously this girl could not really be a new prophet, because a crucial element of new prophecy is that it can NOT contradict the previous scripture. But the important part was that she was claiming a new revelation (that God wanted her to be a lesbian), so not only was she attempting prophet status, she was plainly achieving "false prophet" status. Quite a feat for one kid at a sleepy Fast and Testimony meeting on a boring Sunday!
Well, that comment got the original poster in a dither, and he immediately trotted out Standard Gay Defense Against Christians #1:
"Your notion of how to share ideas of faith is misguided. Scripture warns often not to judge others or be quick to find fault with them. (Matt. 7:1; Acts 10:28; Rom. 14:10)"
He blathered on a bit, but that was the gist. I've seen it before. The "no judging defense" I call it. You will note that in this defense, he was - hilariously - judging me for judging! Please, actually ponder that a moment - he has cited verses in scripture that he believes mean that I should not judge. And having found such scriptural backing, proceeds to name what I am doing as wrong! Now, is that, or is that not, exactly what I had just done when I judged the girl's stated opinion on the verses in scripture that I knew?
The answer to this, though, is not that he's a fool and a hypocrite, or even that he probably believes in no scripture and is just trying to use the words of the Bible against those who believe in it. (Thought that's true, too.) The answer is that, "Of course we get to judge!" You see, we are told a variety of things about judging, but to NEVER judge under any circumstances is not one of them.
You can "judge" a wild eyed unkempt man running towards you with a knife and screaming "Diiiiiieeeeeee!!!" as having harmful intent. You may judge the 35 year old man with tattoos on his face who shows up to pick up your 17 year old daughter for prom. You may judge the guy who you found in your bedroom with your wife when you came home early, especially if he is under the sheets with your wife.
And you get to make judgments based on less obvious cases than that, as we are to avoid sin and hanging out with sinners. Thus most Christians "judge" that going to a party with a bunch of drinking and drug use would be bad, even if good old Steve is going, too. They are NOT judging the exact spiritual status of Steve or the others at the party, though they are aware that if some of them are sinning that they will need to repent to achieve grace.
Likewise, when anyone - including a 12 year old - says, "I am a lesbian and I believe God wants me to be" then it is okay to "judge" that she is clearly an unrepentant sinner. How? Because she is stating that while she is inclined to sin in a specific way - as we all are inclined to sin in specific ways - that she believes God WANTS her to.
I hate to state the blindingly obvious, but you cannot simultaneously be repentant of your sins AND proclaim that God wants you to sin. In such an obvious case - like the knife wielding maniac - you get to make the easy judgment that barring a later repentance, that she is in grave spiritual difficulty at that moment. And not only for how she said she believes, but that she is also now publicly counseling others to believe that way.
That's a sin, too, and yeah, when you are seeing someone sinning, you get to "judge" that the sinning sinner you are seeing sin is actually a sinning sinner sinning! It is remarkable to me how foolish this generation is that this even has to be explained! But soothing sophistries go a long way to silencing truth, and Satan is great at that. And the sophistries will always be pretty and soothing.
The whole of the quote above is this:
"The Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. An evil soul producing a holy witness is like a villain with a smiling cheek, a goodly apple rotten at the heart. O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!"
Indeed. And the enemies of Christianity, and those who indulge in homosexual sex and all manner of sexual sin, love the concept of a world with NO judgment whatsoever. By God or Man. For they to be able to do as they please and you can only sit in silence, lest YOU be "judged for judging"! They are joined by the parents, the cousins, the friends and the relatives of such, who having the choice between telling a friend or family member they are sinning, or claiming to believe that it's not really sin, have disastrously chose the second.
Theirs is to look good and kind and non-judgey! Yours is to look mean and hard and judgmental!
Kudos to Satan - well played. And woe to man - how dumb can we get?
Needless to say, I brushed aside his "you can't judge" nonsense. He then showed himself to be a real player in the service of Satan, and no ordinary misguided Christian at all, by trotting out the second line of defense that the LBGTQI have against God and the Bible and those who choose to take them seriously.
"Please, Dean, share the exact words that Jesus Christ spoke with regard to the sins of this child."
I've seen that one before, too. There's little I have not seen, mores the pity. This is where since Jesus Christ was not recorded in the Bible saying that practicing homosexuality is a sin that it must not be a sin!
I answered him in the best way possible. "Please, Jared, share the exact words that Jesus Christ spoke with regard to how we are not supposed to murder."
Because you see, Jesus did not say the words "Thou shalt not kill", His dad wrote those words on a tablet for Moses in the Old Testament. And likewise, Jesus did not say the words, "Practicing homosexuals are not going to receive Heaven" because His father told that to the Apostle Paul later on! (And to Moses way back when!)
What the scripture citing sinner is hoping you'll do is leap to the Old Testament verses against it, so he can ask, "Do you follow every other law in Leviticus?" And if you instead leap to the Apostle Paul, they'll try to pit Paul against Jesus and say that they - laughably - "stand with Jesus".
So you must do as Jesus did with the sinning - but soothingly speaking - Pharisees who tried to trap Him and turn their question back upon them. "Please share where Jesus told us not to kill others."
I didn't get a chance to continue the "discussion", he blocked me. With me gone, he could trot out the defense of just arguing against the straw man me that was no longer there. He re-iterated about how Jesus never said anything about homosexuality and his buddies name called and all shook their heads piously in sadness over how misguided a sinner I was for "judging" this poor martyred girl.
I was thus everything hateful about Christianity for naming sin as sin, and they were all everything great about mankind for "defending" the 12 year old child's "right" to have homosexual sex.
More posted verses about judging. More verses about how kind we are to be to all. I did not see the verse about the adulterous woman, though, and that surprised me. She usually gets used as the third line of defense.
Where you'll be told, "But Christ forgave the adulteress, are you stricter than Christ?"
The answer to that is that, no, I am not. I have the same Christian love for homosexuals as I do for drunkards, thieves, idolaters, murderers, etc. And as a sinner, I would not condemn the adulteress. And striving to be like Jesus, I would forgive her.
But the story didn't end with Jesus not condemning her. It ended with His words, "now go and sin no more."
I would be more than happy to hear of a homosexual, a drunkard or a thief who stopped practicing those sins. But if they are going to then steal my watch, get drunk, or sleep with another guy the next day, then I'm going to "judge" that their repentance has a bit of work needed. Because they've forgot the "go and sin no more" part!
Now, if you've read this far, here is your final, and unassailable argument against those who - like Satan - want to cite Scripture for their own purposes in justifying the practice of homosexuality:
"You have quoted to me many verses pertaining to us not judging, or not casting first stones, or loving our fellow man, or forgiving all. You expect me to - as a Christian - follow all those verses as you understand them. That 12 year old over there, also says she is a Christian. Do you now expect her to follow the verses in the Bible that even more plainly state that she is not to indulge in homosexual sex because that is a sin? A 'yes' or 'no' will suffice, unless you need to try and justify why you hold me to the scriptures as you see them, but hold her to them not at all."
Then leave. And pray.
