Members of the Augustana Gay- Straight Alliance (GSA) will be knocking on doors in Sioux Falls beginning later this month to educate the community on the consequences of the Marriage Protection Amendment, which will be voted on in November 2006.
What they'll be educating people on is how nutty they are. Doubt me?
Jessica Nathanson, writing assistant professor at Augustana, believes that society must first examine the institution of marriage.
"It is ownership," she said, "Marriage is an oppressive institution."
Uh huh. Maybe in the oppressive countries that liberals like to make apologies for, but not in the West.
I also noticed that the Left slipped up and admitted conservative ideals are the not out of the mainstream, but are the values traditionally upheld by decent human beings until the recent secular humanist insanity has infected society:
"[Conservatives] want families, and their idea of family is marriage," she said.
Augustana has a lot of nerve calling itself a Christian institution when it tolerates a homosexual group on its campus--especially one as radical as this. A Christian institution should instead be telling people about the good news of Jesus Christ, that they can be set free from their slavery to sin, including the sin of homosexuality.
But apparently Augustana is more concerned with being trendy than being obedient to God.
13 comments:
Lots of Lutheran colleges allow these students groups to meet. The college I went to did.
Yes, it's not just confined to one denomination. Most Christian denominations are making serious compromises, and some are rotten to the core with it.
University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky recently expelled an unrepentant homosexual, and now to hear the uproar, you'd think they'd kicked out somebody for the color of their skin, rather than for a behavior which is at odds with what Christ teaches (yes, the whole Bible is His, not just the Gospels). Incidentally, the student handbook of the college states,
"Any student who engages in or promotes sexual behavior not consistent with Christian principles (including sex outside marriage and homosexuality) may be suspended or asked to withdraw."
Someone not willing to abide by the tenants of the college they want to attend, much less the tenants of the religion espoused by that religious college, shouldn't go there. There are plenty of Godless colleges they could go to. But it isn't enough for radicals on the Left to just have their own stuff; they feel a burning need to ruin everything for everyone else, too.
First - it's tenets, not tenants.
Second - Augustana is an ELCA college. Having a gay and lesbian student organization at Augustana is totally in line with the ELCA position on homosexuality.
Thanks for the "tenets" correction.
And while it may be in line with the ELCA position on homosexuality, it isn't in line with God's position on homosexuality. Unless I'm mistaken, Lutherans still claim to worship God, rather than their denominational leadership.
My God does too, Ellroon. In fact, he "so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son." If our sins didn't mean anything, and didn't stand between us and God's approval, he wouldn't have needed to send Jesus to die a horrible death for us. Jesus' agony is how high the price was for our sins. But we have to accept the new life that Jesus brings if we want to accept the pardon he bought for us. That also doesn't come cheap.
He says in 1 Peter 1:16, "Be holy, because I am holy." We don't become holy by just bee-bopping through life, doing whatever pleases us.
We are not to take advantage of his kindness by continuing to live our own way, hoping he'll just overlook the fact that we're doing exactly what he told us not to do. "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!" (Romans 6:1-2)
God even tells his people to warn others when they're on the wrong path: "When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood." (Ezekiel 3:18).
He was also pretty exclusive about how we come to meet God's approval: "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" (John 14:6)
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." He loves us, but he's also a holy God. It's in his nature.
Even though he loves everyone, he will send those who refused to come to him through Jesus to Hell: "Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matthew 7:23)
It seems you're advocating is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called "cheap grace." He said it was "the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sins depart." In other words, it's trying to make the sin okay without actually changing the sinner.
And as Christ said in John 3, we all must radically change (so much so that he said it was like being "born again") in order to become acceptable
("justified") in God's sight.
For more on Bonhoeffer's "cheap grace," read http://koti.mbnet.fi/amoira/blessings/gracech1.htm and http://www.resourcesforchristiantheology.org/content/view/95
"Judge not." Matt 7:1
I have a feeling that if Bob Ellis took this scripture as seriously as he takes all the rest, he wouldn't have a single thing to say on these blogs.
Thanks for the comment, Will. But you make the same mistake about Matthew 7:1 that a lot of folks do. It's an understandable one, but dead wrong, nevertheless.
There's a big difference between the kind of self-righteous "judging" that Jesus condemned in Matthew 7 and using the discernment called for by the Bible; it would also be impossible to be the "salt and light" that Jesus called his followers to be, if they tried to follow Matthew 7:1 the way it's commonly misinterpreted.
For the sake of brevity here, let me suggest the following readings:
1 Cor 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things
1 Thes 5:21 By all means use our judgment, and hold on to whatever is good.
Luke 12:57 Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right?
John 7:24 Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.
1 Corinthians 5:3 And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.
1 Corinthians 6:2-3 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
God didn't call us to be spineless idiots. We can and should identify and call out immoral behavior.
"Augustana has a lot of nerve calling itself a Christian institution when it tolerates a homosexual group on its campus..."
As a former Augie student, I feel obligated to defend the school.
Yes Augustana is a private, Christian school. But who says all Christian schools have to be as mean as Brigham Young University or Falwell's Liberty University that oppressively ban students from being openly gay or even advocating the gay lifestyle.
One of the best parts about Augie was that it was a very gay-friendly school. I was good friends with one of the girls running the campus GLBT group (then called "Out!"). She liked that she could tell the gay high schoolers in Sioux Falls that Augie is a safe college for them to attend.
I fail to see how mean colleges that ban gay students are seen as more Christian then a safe school like Augustana.
I guess you'd have to call God "mean, Haggs, because he's the one who said he considered homosexuality to be an abomination. You'd also have to say his Son Jesus, after whom Christianity was founded, is also "mean," since he made it clear that "from the beginning, God created them male and female" and ordained this design for human sexuality.
If people like you and colleges like Augustana find God the Father and God the Son so "mean," why bother calling yourselves Christian after all? Why even want to be associated with such "mean" deities? Is it more pleasurable to malign his character than to just disassociate yourself from Him?
When I said "mean" I was in no way referring to God the Father and God the Son. I was referring to those who twist Their words into mean-spirited oppression.
It's very interesting that you chose the "homosexuality is an abomination" verse. Leviticus 18:22 is still strongly debated to this day. The actual Hebrew, which the verse was translated from, is kind of unclear and incomplete. Some translators and Bible commentators have added words to try and make it more clear. Usually, those words are added to reinforce pre-existing beliefs of homosexuality.
And also Bible publishers might be afraid of losing sales if they print a version that interprests Lev. 18:22 in a way that doesn't condemn homosexuality.
And do we know the context of that verse? Some interpret it's implication of a male-male relationship to be similar to the homosexuality we see today. But others think it might refer to the ritualistic male prositution that was happening in the pagan temples at the time.
To sum up: Are you sure your interpretation of that verse is what God intended?
Absolutely sure. Because there are a lot more passages condemning homosexuality than the one I mentioned (which is only "debated" by people who want to find ways of getting around what the Bible says). As I said earlier, God is clear enough in both Old and New Testaments of how he meant human sexuality to work; homosexuality is quite literally a perversion in the truest sense of the word. It turns God's design upside down.
So if rejection of homosexuality is "mean," then God is mean. But he isn't. He loved humanity enough to sacrifice his only Son to provide a pardon for our wrongs; Jesus loved us enough to suffer humiliation, death, and even separation and rejection from his Father to buy our pardons.
He bought those pardons for sinners like me, and sinners like homosexuals. All we have to do is acknowledge our sins and accept that pardon and we can begin the new life he wants for us.
So you want to talk about homosexuality? YOU want to talk about homosexuality? You want to talk about homosexuALITY?
Sit down CHRIStian. Give me that bible you’re waving before you hurt yourself. I’m going to resist the temptation to snatch it from your hands and beat you with it. I am your worst nightmare, a Texas preacher who knows The Book better than you do.
You cannot wave your unread bible and scare me. I know its larger story and I will tear you a new biblical asshole.
Show me your scriptures. Show me how you justify condemning homosexual people.
Show me what you got, Christian. The Sodom story? That story is about people who wanted to commit a brutal rape. Let’s all say it together, “God doesn’t like rape”. You could have listened to your heart and learned that, Christian. Move on. What else you got?
A weak-ass little passage from Leviticus? Are you kidding me? Are you prepared to adhere to the whole Levitical code of behavior? No? Then why would you expect others to? What else?
Two little passages - two verses from Romans and one from I Corinthians. There you stand, your justification for a worldwide campaign of hatred is written on two limp pieces of paper. I know these passages, both their greater context and the original language. I could show you why you have nothing, but there is something more important you need to see.
Come with me to the church cellar. Come now and don’t delay. I am shaking with anger and fighting the urge to grab you by the collar and drag you down these steps.
You didn’t know the church had a cellar? Oh yes, every church does. Down, down we go into the darkness. Don’t slip on the flagstone and never mind the heat.
There, do you see the iron furnace door, gaping open? Do you see the roaring flames? Do you see the huge man with glistening muscles, covered with soot? Do you see him feeding the fire as fast as can with his massive, scooped shovel?
He feeds these flames with the bible, with every book, chapter, and verse that American Christians must burn to support our bloated lifestyles, our selfishness, our materialism, our love of power, our neglect of the poor, our support of injustice, our nationalism, and our pride.
See how frantically he works? Time is short, and he has much to burn. The prophets, the Shema, whole sections of Matthew, most of Luke, the entire book of James. Your blessed 10 commandments? Why would you want to post them on courtroom walls when you’ve burned them in your own cellar?
Do you see? DO YOU SEE? Do you see how we rip, tear, and burn scripture to justify our lives?
The heat from this cursed furnace rises up and warms the complacent worshippers in the pews above. The soot from the fire blackens our stained glass so that we may not see out and no one wants to see in.
Do you smell the reek of this injustice? It is a stink in the nostrils of the very living God. We are dressed in beautiful clothes and we wear pretty smiles, but we stink of this blasphemous holocaust.
Every church in America has a cellar like this. We must shovel 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, because every chapter and book we ignore must be burned to warm our comfy pews.
And you come to me with two little scraps of scripture to justify your persecution of God’s children?
Sit down Christian. Sit down and be you silent.
How long has it been since you forgot that we were called to walk the earth as pilgrims? Do you not remember when HE told us to give our coats to those in need and sell our possessions to help the poor? Did you forget how the first church had all things in common so that none would lack.
Did you forget the day He told us that whatever we did for the oppressed we did for Him, and whatever we withheld from them was kept from Him as well?
Sit down Christian. You have not earned the right to speak to this generation. The right to speak is earned with love.
Take back your bible. Take it back and start reading it. Fall in love again with Jesus. Sell what you must and walk the earth. Let your love be astonishing and people may one day listen to your words.
Even now you might be saved. Our God is merciful and forgiveness awaits.
Preacher,
Where did you come from? And who's gospel are you preaching?
Post a Comment