Tag: Christian (Page 5 of 7)

Keep YOUR Gospel to Yourself.

April 22, 2015 / / 5 Comments

On Monday we began hearing stories about an “anti-gay day” organized by some of the students at McGuffey High School in Claysville, Pennsylvania. Since then there have been so many news reports, article, and blogs. The district administration has also supposedly initiated an investigation into allegations of harassment that accompanied some of the “protest.”

The fact that these kids organized a protest doesn’t bother me. I spent two decades in the military to help ensure people are able to freely voice themselves, no matter how narrow minded and bigoted it is. What bothers me is this:

Anti-gay day pic

The fact that they used the cross as a symbol of being anti-gay. I’m kind of getting tired of writing this, mainly to people that call themselves Christians. The fact that this ignorant kid used the cross as a symbol of hate, infuriates me. The cross is a symbol of forgiveness. It’s on the cross that Jesus died to destroy the very thing that this kid is using it to represent: hate.

WHERE’S THE LAW THAT PROTECTS MY RELIGION FROM HATEFUL PEOPLE RUINING IT? ~ TWEET THIS ~

If you read the buzzfeed.com article, it even says that the participating students Instagramed scripture verses and tagged students that they knew are gay. I couldn’t find that anywhere else, but if you can’t believe BuzzFeed, who can you believe? Regardless, even if there’s a sliver of truth to that, this picture still remains. I’m absolutely exhausted from the amount of anger and frustration caused by people, pretending to be Christian, using the Word of God, that was meant to draw people to Him, as a tool to perpetuate their hate. Where’s the law that protects my religion from hateful people ruining it.

To the LBGTQ students at McGuffey High and every other high school that will no doubt have idiots that pick up this idea,

I’m sorry. That’s not my Jesus. That’s hate and Jesus isn’t hate. In fact He’s love. He not only loves you, He IS love. I know there are some harsh verses in the bible and people use them to call you all sorts of horrible things, but they’re ignorant and not taking the whole of the bible for what God said or intended. They’re cherry picking what suits their cause, not God’s. What these students did is the youth equivalent to the Westboro Baptist bullies and it’s disgusting.

Jesus would NEVER condone this type of behavior. I wonder what might happen if Jesus were still walking the earth and a group of people threw a gay man or woman at His feet. I imagine it would probably gonthe same way it went with the adulteress. He would say, “Whoever here is without sin, throw the first stone.” Then He would eat with them, at the disgust of the religious. I’d go to that dinner party.

Please, for the love of my God, if you’re anti-gay, stop using my religion as a means of hurting and hating people. Figure out another way and leave Jesus out of it. Because, when it comes down to it, you’re not really Christians. If you were, you’d know the bible is pro-God and God is pro-people. If He wasn’t, there’d be no cross.

Why the Independent Christian doesn’t Exist

April 15, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Independence  Maybe the truly handicapped people are the ones that don’t need God as much.” – Joni Eareckson Tada, The God I Love: A Lifetime of Walking with Jesus

Nothing is more precious in our culture than independence. We see it in every part of our society. We tout it because, ‘Merica. We encourage our young people to find it and tell them that when they do they’ll have what they need to find their voice. We export it, like South America exports coffee, and we do it on the backs of the fighting young to third-world countries that may never understand the sweetness of it. When we talk about attaining the “American Dream” it’s founded on the idea that you must first achieve independence; from your personal freedom and ability to “decide for yourself” to financial freedom, it’s all grounded in finding independence. Author Marcelle Hinkson said it like this, “When you are independent you learn strategies of self empowerment.” And that’s what we learn to want; to give authority and power to MYSELF so that I can achieve the things I want. 

Independence isn’t a bad thing. I’m glad we won independence as a nation. When we help another country achieve their independence, it’s a good thing. If we desire our kids to have heathy lives, marriages and families, then they need to grow up, move away from their parents basement and become independent. So, independence in and of itself is a good thing. But, in America at least, it has seeped its way into Christianity.

There are a few areas where independence doesn’t work so great; one of those is marriage (that’s a whole other blog, but quick side note, individuality is important, independence is contrary to the actual purpose of marriage.) and another is Christianity. It amazes me how many people become Christians and attempt to live out their faith independent of others. It amazes me more that no other Christian tells them that that’s wrong. Independence is not only incompatible with a Christian life, it contradicts it. Christianity is the confession that you’ve tried to do life on your own and that it’s too much. It’s literally the surrender of self empowerment to the sweetness of divine power. Christianity is dependence. 

People don’t like to think they’re dependent on anyone else. It’s scary to not be in control. People let us down and aren’t to be trusted with our most vulnerable areas of life. Theirs a belief that if you can’t control your life then you’re weak. Because Christianity is surrendering control, society views it as the religion of the weak, as a “crutch” for the weak minded. John Piper has a great sermon where he talks about that. He talks about crutches generally being a good thing, except when used to describe Christianity and who eventually realizes they need a crutch. You can read or listen to it HERE. Regardless what your feelings are about becoming a Christian, if you’re already a Christian, you’re called to live a life of dependence, not independence.

Jesus said, of Himself, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father[a] does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.” He also said, “I and the Father are one.” If Jesus acknowledged His inability to operate outside of God the Father, where did we get the idea that we can operate outside of Him. I’ve heard lots of Christians say things like, “God and I have an understanding.” Uh, no you don’t. If your understanding is that you are weak and He is strong and apart from Him you can do nothing. Then ok, you have a pretty good understanding. If it’s that apart from Him you can do nothing, then I have the same understanding. Other than that, there is no, “I don’t go to church (or participate in Christian community) because God and I have an understanding.” or “I knows I believe in Him, so I don’t need to go to a building to prove it.” Any “understanding” that resembles anything close to those ideas, is not an understanding with God. Those are excuses; whether built out of the intent to not have to fully engage with God or the fear of full surrender, they’re still excuses.

If the excuses are fear based, I fully understand. Surrender isn’t usually viewed as a good thing and definitely not an easy thing. But surrender inside of Christianity isn’t about giving up whatever perceived “freedom” we think we have. Surrendering to Jesus is about giving up the need to try harder. We give up trying to be a “better” person. We give up the need to “fix” ourselves. Surrendering to Christ is the surrendering to rest, not the giving up of rights. Surrendering in Christianity doesn’t mean abandoning who you are; it’s entering into the fullness of who you’re meant to be. 


If you hold onto the notion that you’re an independent Christian and ideas like you don’t need community, going to church “just isn’t for you,” or you and God “have an understanding” then you’re not living the Christ following Christianity described in the Bible and that Jesus laid the foundation for. Independence and Christianity do not exist inside of the same space. There’s one body and one Spirit and we are called to interdependent unity within both. Jesus said, “…whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit…” The only way to interpret that is dependency. That’s my understanding with God.

If they’re an abomination, you are too.

April 10, 2015 / / 2 Comments

MovieAbominationIndiana’s recent passing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law has reignited the discussion about how Christians should approach the LGBTQ community. Not that it was dying or ever went away, but the volume of the discussion definitely rises and falls. Right now, it’s at a 10 (I use 10 because when our kids turn the surround sound in our basement up to 10, we get to enjoy whatever they’re watching from the comfort of our living room, upstairs). With that, no matter where you turn, whether you want to participate or not, you’re bombarded with 8,000 different points of view. I have mine and I added to the conversation with a number of blogs. As I’ve read through many of the articles, and their comments, written by those Christians supporting the new law and exerting their “rights,” it isn’t uncommon to see scripture quoted to hold up the argument against homosexuality for “religious freedom” sake.

One of the most common verses of scripture is Leviticus 20:13. It says,

“If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.”

aedFirst, thankfully most Christians don’t focus on the second part of that verse. Some whack-jobs do, but they aren’t Christian. Most Christians tend to focus on the word abomination and use that as the basis of their argument. It is true that the bible says that; can’t argue with it. This article isn’t intended to prove or disprove whether Christians use that scripture appropriately, but regardless, I do not think that word means what you think it means. As a quick side note, I found a great word study article that lends some clarity to the Hebrew word that was used in that passage, and 103 other passages, and gives the probably interpretation of that word. Here’s the LINK. Instead of trying to convince my fellow Christians that the word, “abomination” shouldn’t be the crux (or involved at all) of any argument against people in the LGBT community, I’d like to level the playing field a little. Here’s how; if they’re an abomination, many of us are too.

Proverbs 6:16-19 says,

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

There it is. There are six, no seven things that the Lord views as an abomination; which by the way, homosexuality isn’t listed here, and the ones that are listed here are actually listed in other places, as sin, in the bible. And, King Solomon, noted as the wises man to ever live, wrote this. So let’s go through the list.

1. Haughty eyes: If you’ve ever looked down on someone with an arrogant attitude, that’s an abomination to God. Pride is a sin and is the starting point for a whole host of other sins. Let’s be honest, a lot of Christians view others’ sin like this when comparing it to their own. If you’ve ever felt or treated someone as if you were better, or less sinful, than them; abomination.

2. A lying tongue: If you’ve ever lied, even a little white lie to your kids because you were too tired to take them to the park, that’s an abomination to God. If you say you haven’t, you just committed an abomination.

3. Hands that shed innocent blood: Any ex-con that’s doing (or did) time for murder, whether it was planned or accidental, has committed an abomination. That’s an easy one for most all of us to agree with. If you agree with that… haughty eyes.

4. A heart that devises wicked plans: This is subjective, but if you’ve ever made plans to call into work and lie about being sick to go to a sporting event (or anything), that covers two things on the list, so you’ve committed a double abomination. Or if you’ve ever planned to cheat someone out of something, that’s an abomination to God.

5. Feet that make haste to run to evil: If you’ve ever excitedly gotten ready and rushed off to a night with the guys/girls, in which you knew you were going to be drinking to excess, that’s an abomination to God. Drunkenness is a sin and if you gleefully run off to join in that, you’ve committed an abomination just by simply going.

6. A false witness who breathes out lies: Man, God really hates lying enough that He put it on the list twice. Maybe it’s because the devil if “the father of lies” and he and God don’t see eye to eye. But I digress, if you’ve lied about someone else, for any reason, you’ve committed an abomination. There’s no way around it, lying is an abomination; end of story.

7. One who sows discord among brothers: If you’ve ever created disharmony within your family or your church, you’ve committed an abomination. This could include, but is not limited to, gossip, not agreeing with you pastor, being part of a church split, doing something to upset someone and causing a fight, lying about someone else, being rude or arrogant, being prideful, theres a ton more, but you get the point, you’ve committed an abomination.

For most of us that should level the ground at the foot of the cross. If it doesn’t, you’ve just committed an abomination. Here’s what I want to point out more than anything else. Nowhere in either of those scriptures does God call the person an abomination. Leviticus says, “have committed an abomination” and Proverbs says, “things…that are an abomination.” Both of those passages of scripture are directed at acts, not people. Whether or not you believe homosexuality is a sin, calling the person an abomination is not only hurtful, it’s possibly the most hateful and damaging thing you can say. You’re telling them that they shouldn’t exist. That’s not true, because God made them; He made all of us the same, with the same need, Him.

We are not called to call out what we perceive as sinful in others’ life. When we approach others with that agenda, it doesn’t follow the Apostle Peter’s direction to share our hope with gentleness and respect. Maybe we go to God and start dealing with our own issues, first. Maybe we pay less attention to what we think is a more egregious sin and figure out where calling out others’ sin is really coming from. Is it from a deep desire for them to know the same love of Jesus that you enjoy? Or is it because it’s easier to tell others what’s wrong with them, then dealing with what’s wrong in us? If it’s the first, the word abomination should never cross your lips and you should ask God to remove it from your mind. There are far better ways to communicate others’ need for Jesus and share the radically intense love He gives. Maybe one of those ways is that you bake them a cake.

What are some ways to communicate Jesus’ love to others, with gentleness and respect?

If you found this article helpful, do me a solid and click one of the share buttons. Thanks.

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2024 BrucePagano.com

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑