What's Your Verdict? GUILTY or NOT GUILTY?

Over the past few days, I have written a series of blogs (Guilty or NOT Guilty PARTS 1-4)

I purposely kept these blogs simple and open to interpretation. This is a subject that could have easily become long...boring...detailed...and DEEP but I hope that, as you read them, they left you asking questions and even initiated you to do some personal investigation. You have a mind of your own, and all I hope to do is encourage you to FIND OUT for YOURSELF what Scripture says on the homosexual question...Is it in fact a sin?

I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, an attorney, judge, DA or even a court clerk....What I am is a gay Christian who has been wrongfully accused and convicted of what I believe, and hope to prove to you, to be the non-existing sin of homosexuality.

Thankfully I have survived these accusations relatively unharmed, only a few heartbreaks, but nothing that I can't overcome. Unfortunately that has not been the case of countless others in the LGBT community. Many deaths and deep soul wounds have occurred, due to the MISinterpretation of the Word and biased judgements from an uniformed jury....

Please read ALL 4 parts of this blog before going any further:

1) Who's The Abomination Now?

http://brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/whos-abomination-now-guilty-or-not.html

2) What About Sodom and Gomorrah? 

http://brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/guilty-or-not-guilty-what-about-sodom.html

3) ROMANS 1

http://brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/guilty-or-not-guilty-romans-1-part-3.html

4) Homosexuals will NOT Inherit the Kingdom of God?

http://brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/guilty-or-not-guilty-part-4-homosexuals.html

 Imagine your self as a registered voter, who has, by the luck of the draw,been called to jury duty. You have been called to hear the trial of a young gay woman who is facing death. If she is found guilty of the SIN of homosexuality she will be "burned at the stake". She will be forced to wear a "scarlet letter" around her neck until the date of her execution. The stigma that comes with this "scarlet letter" will assure that she will be considered a social outcast and will be rejected by all of society. She will be forced to join the other homosexual sinners who hide and live in colonies; denied any semblance of a normal existence.

 Now, as an impartial, unbiased, open-minded jury of her peers, with a mind of your own,  you have been presented with ALL the evidence, fully aware of the sentence that will surely be handed down if found guilty, you are asked to make a decision..... A LIFE ALTERING decision....

The only instructions that you have been given is, "After reviewing ALL the evidence, ask yourself the following questions."

1.  "Does this prove beyond a reasonable doubt that homosexuality is in fact a sin?"                    
2.  " Is there enough evidence here to convict someone to death by eternal damnation and fire?"  
3.  "What would the Judge (Jesus Christ) do?" 
4.   Guilty or NOT Guilty?

DO NOT decide until you have reviewed ALL the evidence.

What's your verdict?

SIMPLE REALLY......

It's LOVE....

Just Bb 


......This, of course, was a hypothetical situation, well....kind of.

The truth is, gay people are rejected, isolated, condemned and denied the rights that every other American has; the right to Marry the one we love. Think about it for a moment: Is homosexuality a sin? Or is rejection, isolation, condemnation, and denying one the right to love and be loved a sin?

Each time you "decide" that, in your opinion, same-sex marriage is wrong you are taking away someone's right to love.... Each time you "decide" that homosexuality is an "abomination" you are possibly aiding in a teen suicide...(24.6 % of homosexuals attempt suicide compared to only 2.4 % of heterosexuals) Each time you bully the gay community with Scripture you push them further from Christ, leaving them thinking, "That God hates them because they're gay, and there's really no hope for them" which ultimately leads to a soul unsaved....

So your "decision" is TRULY a  matter of LIFE and DEATH--choose wisely

Guilty or NOT Guilty? ROMANS 1 (PART 3)

This is PART 3 of the Guilty or NOT Guilty. If you haven't read PART 1-Who's the Abomination now? or PART 2 What about Sodom and Gomorrah... I strongly suggest you go back and read them before reading further......


In Romans 1 Paul is addressing the Roman Church and he is clearly speaking to them about idolatry (you know IDOLATRY mentioned about 4 times in the list of Sodom's sins) [Part 2 of this series]
Here Paul is speaking of the people who "knew" God and had turned away from Him to glorify idols. (v.21-23)

He then goes on to say that due to this wickedness, the idolatrous worship of these other gods, they were given over (without conviction) to worship them. These "vile affections" were, of course, the feelings and actions of the one's worshipping these gods and goddesses. Of course it was "vile" it was as if Christ's people were having an affair; they were giving themselves completely to a false god.

These verses are not condemning homosexuality, they are condemning idolatry (the REAL sin of Sodom).

Paul doesn't stop there, he goes on to make a complete list of the sins that resulted from their idolatry.

*(Strong's definition)

1. Filled with unrighteousness (injustice)
2. Fornication (illicit sexual intercourse, worship of idols)
3. wickedness (depravity, evil desires and purposes)
4. covetousness (greedy desire to have more) 
5. maliciousness (desire to injure)
6. envy
7. murder
8. debate (strife)
9. deceit (craft, guile) 
10. malignity (bad character, depravity of heart and life,malicious craftiness) 
11. whisperers (secret slanderer, detractor) 
12. backbiters (defamer, evil speaker, [gossip-added by me]) 
13. haters of God (hateful to God, exceptionally impious and wicked) 
14. despiteful (one who, uplifted with pride, either heaps insulting language upon others or does them some shameful act of wrong)
15. proud (showing one's self above others, overtopping, conspicuous above others, pre-eminent
    with an overweening estimate of one's means or merits, despising others or even treating them with contempt, haughty)
16. boasters (an empty pretender) 
17. inventors of evil things (a mode of thinking, wicked, troublesome) 
18. disobedient to parents 
19. without understanding (unintelligent, stupid) 
20. covenant breakers (faithless)
21. without natural affection (unloving) 
22. implacable (non-committal)
23. unmerciful

Now, here in lies the problem--Because you have wrongly been taught that this chapter is about homosexuality you attach ALL 23 sins to ALL gay people. The truth of the matter is, most of the gay people I know are the most loving, loyal, committed, intelligent, merciful, satisfied with their lives, honest people I know... Oh and they haven't killed anyone....So let's see...that eliminates sin # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12....YEAH most of them. 

I believe that these verses are the source of homophobic Christians, the stigma that is attached to homosexuality, and the misconceptions of the gay community. It's amazing to me how Christians immediately shout ROMANS ONE! and they stop there....

BUT Paul then goes on to say.... in ROMANS 2 (let's NOT forget Rom 2)

You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things.  And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things.  Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things?  Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Romans 2:1-3

To be honest we have ALL been guilty of one or two or seven of the sins mentioned in Romans 1....

So the message in Romans 1 is about Idolatry and it's consequences, and Romans 2 is about you being guilty of the things in Romans 1.... so DO NOT JUDGE, the previous chapter is really about you and me anyway.  GRACE--MERCY--LOVE--FORGIVENESS is the big picture of Romans 1 and 2...NOT homosexuality

Just Bb

Guilty or Not Guilty? (PART 4) HOMOSEXUALS will NOT inherit the Kingdom of God!!!

This is PART 4 of the Guilty or Not Guilty series...If you have not read PART 1 (Who's an abomination now?) and PART 2 (WHAT about Sodom and Gomorrah)  PART 3 (ROMANS 1) I strongly suggest you do so before moving forward....(DON'T WORRY they are very short and sweet)

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind--

1 Cor 6:9

For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.--

1 Tim 1:10

*Some translations say: homosexual offenders; practicing homosexuals; and some just say homosexuals

Let's look at these verses that seem to clearly expose homosexuality as sin. 

The word that is used in both these verses is arsenokoites. It means male prostitute, or customer of a male prostitute, or boy molester. This does not refer to homosexuality, it does however seem to condemn prostitution and pedophilia (WHICH has nothing to do with homosexuality) 

The word "effeminate" comes from the Greek word malakos which literally means "soft. An interesting fact that might help you to come to your own conclusion about what Paul is saying is to know that Jesus used this same word in Luke 7:25 (But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts.) 

Now as that sinks in--

I want to show you two more Greek words that mean "effeminate".

1. kinaidos which means "effeminate" or "feminine love of men" 
2.  androgynos which also means "effeminate" or "being like a woman" 

Now I pose this question to you, "Why did Paul, in all his wisdom, use the word that simply means "soft" when describing homosexuality? Paul had, in his vocabulary, 2 more words that were much more descriptive and would have solidified his point. Being a preacher myself, I cannot fathom Paul, one of the greatest preachers EVER, using this word to convey the message that homosexuality is a in FACT a sin....

It JUST does not make sense when he could have simply said, "those that have a feminine love for men" 

The truth is that neither of these words (arsenokoites malakos) have been proven to translate into the word "homosexuals". 

What is not debatable are the others "sins" these verses refer to:

1. Fornicators (anyone having sex before marriage UH-OH) 
2. Adulterers (If you're divorced and remarried-according Jesus HImself-you are an adulterer) 

* Most of the world has had sex before marriage and at least half of the Church is divorced

My point is.....

 We have looked at all the possibilities (hopefully with an opened mind) and there is no SOLID proof that homosexuality is sin.....

STAY TUNED for my closing arguments....

Just Bb

  

Guilty or Not Guilty? WHAT about Sodom and Gomorrah? (PART 2)

This is PART 2 of the "Guilty or not Guilty" series..If you haven't read part 1 "Who's an abomination now" I strongly suggest that you go read it before you begin here.....

"I know homosexuality is wrong! I mean just look at what God did to Sodom and Gomorrah!" 

Have you ever stopped for a moment and asked yourself, "Why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?" I used to think the same thing that you're probably thinking now... because of homosexuality... But if you dig a little deeper and look beyond the surface you will find that it wasn't homosexuality at all. 

“As I live,” says the Lord God, “neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done.  Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.--Ez 16:48-50

This verse clearly states that Sodom's sins were:

1) Gluttony (carried out at your local buffet)

2) Laziness (uh oh!)

3) Pride (how much did you pay for those shoes, nails, car etc)

4)  They didn't help the needy (did you just walk past a homeless man)

5) They were haughty (which sums up the previous sins) 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

6) They committed abomination (uh hello it was right next to the sea, THEY must have been eating shellfish DUH (-:jk:-) 

NOT one time does this say, "God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because they were gay." 

MORE REF. To the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah....I searched them and not once did I find homosexuality on their lists of sins

OLD TESTAMENT

1. Gen 18:20 (wickedness)
2. Gen 19:13 (grievous sin)
3. Deut 29:17-26 (idolatry and false gods)
4. Deut 32:32-38 (MORE idolatry) 
5. Isa 1:9-23 (murder, greed, thieves, rebellion, covetness)
6. Isa 3:8-15 (mistreating the poor)
7. Isa 13:11-19 (haughtiness)
8. Jer 23:10-14 (adultery and lying preachers) 
9. Jer 49:16-18 (evil pride) 
10. Jer 50:2-40 (IDOLATRY...again and PRIDE...again)
11. Lam 4:3-6 (cruelty and mistreating the poor) 
12. Amos 4:1-11 (oppression and mistreating the poor) 
13. Zeph 2:8 (PRIDE...imagine that) 

NEW TESTAMENT

1. Mark 6:10-12 (JESUS speaks of inhospitality and the rejection of His disciples) 
2. Luke 10:10-16 (JESUS again speaks of inhospitality and the rejection of His disciples) 
3. 2 Peter 2:6 (Idolatry and ungodliness) 
4. Jude 1:7-8 (ALMOST!!! the Greek word translated here as "fornication" is "porneia" and had a distinctly heterosexual connotation; and the "strange flesh" was a reference to angels or "sons of God" that WOMEN had sex with [see Genesis 6:1-4] according to Jewish tradition

READ THEM FOR YOURSELF!!!! 

Now ask yourself once more, "Why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?"

Find out what the Word really says before you convict someone to death, by eternal fire....

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...Hosea 4:6 

Just Bb

Guilty or Not Guilty? WHO'S THE ABOMINATION NOW? (PART 1)

This blog is the first of a series...before you make a judgement please hear all the evidence--

It is tradition, here in South MS, to find a buffet and graze. (maybe that's why we're the fattest state in the US) We tend to corral together, especially after church, to meet at our favorite feeding trough, and we call it "fellowship".

I was recently sitting at one of these super buffets, in my Sunday's best, and I was shocked at how high the food was piled on their plates....I remember thinking, "that's A LOT of food! (gluttons...hmmph)"

Then I took a closer look, and to my utter SHOCK I saw.... I saw... (I can barely stand to recall) I saw....CRAWFISH!!! Oh MY!!! and...and...and.... OH the horror of it...yep!! IT'S SHRIMP!!!

Oh Jesus!! ALL these people are an abomination!! These so called sanctified, Christians, are nothing more than SINNERS according to the Word of God!! THEY are an ABOMINATION...the whole lot of them!!!

I IMMEDIATELY jumped up onto the table in the center of the room and SHOUTED, "SINNER!!! YOU ARE AN ABOMINATION!!  You can't go against the Word of God---It says so right there....in Lev 11:9-12 

‘These you may eat of all that are in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers—that you may eat.  But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you.  They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination.  Whatever in the water does not have fins or scales—that shall be an abomination to you.

GOD HATES SHELLFISH-- It's AN ABOMINATION!!! 

Sound ridiculous? That's because it is, and these are the same verses that you are condemning me with.... 

I am tired of hearing people say, "homosexuality is an abomination" If you will stop for just a moment and see that, according to the book of Leviticus or somewhere else in the Old Testament, YOU TOO are an abomination. It's probably not from homosexuality but there's something written in that book that condemns you...I promise 

Thank God for the blood of JESUS CHRIST! 

Just Bb 
This blog is part of a series....links to the rest below

2) What About Sodom and Gomorrah? 

http://brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/guilty-or-not-guilty-what-about-sodom.html

3) ROMANS 1

http://brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/guilty-or-not-guilty-romans-1-part-3.html

4) Homosexuals will NOT Inherit the Kingdom of God?

http://brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/guilty-or-not-guilty-part-4-homosexuals.html

5) Whats your verdict? 
http://www.brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/whats-your-verdict-guilty-or-not-guilty.html

God HATES me because I'm GAY.....

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.--1 John 4:18-21

Today I was talking with a wonderful young woman, whom I've known for many years, and she told me a secret that she had kept most of her life. She guarded this secret with her life and tried just as hard to disguise it. In her attempts to camouflage what she thought an abomination, she portrayed herself to be someone that she wasn't and in her failed attempts to conform to what society considered "normal", her heart was repeatedly broken.  As a consequent, she developed thick callouses that toughened her once delicate heart. 

She texted me and said, "BTW I'm gay, and I refused to acknowledge this because I am convinced that God will hate me for it!" My heart was immediately broken because I understood this horrifying feeling....The God that I LOVE with everything is going to send me to hell because I'm gay...He can't love me...I'm an "abomination".... THIS HOPELESS thought...this LIE is responsible for countless suicides in the LGBT community. "GOD hates ME because I'm gay!!" 

I must admit that I felt a holy indignation instantly rise inside of me and instantly I thought, how do we combat this deadly lie? Well, we first have to find it's source, and unfortunately the source is....yep, you guessed it Christians, not all Christians, but the uninformed, religious, zealous, 'christians' that so obviously DON'T know the heart of Christ! This rejection is NOT coming from my GOD.... this hopelessness is NOT coming from my God... this hate is NOT coming from my GOD...this condemnation is NOT coming from my GOD!!! MY GOD is LOVE....perfect love! This nonsense is coming from those who claim to know Him best...the church! 


I am grieved by the anguish that it this young lady, along with countless others, endure.... Just a couple of weeks ago this same young lady showed me her arm where she had, in a drunken stupor, cut herself. She has begun to drink and cut herself to try and relieve some of the pain that is tormenting her on the inside; pain caused by the unbearable thought that God hates her because she's gay!! What an injustice...a violation...an outrage!!



WAKE-UP people!!! In your wicked attempts to be "righteous" you are responsible for many deaths. When you convince someone that they are innately evil because they are gay and, in their dispair, they go hang themselves, their blood is on your hands!!! YOU ARE IMPARTING FEAR!!! and God's Word clearly says that there is NO FEAR in love!!! You are ultimately KILLING people!!! Jesus came to give us LIFE...abundant life!! It was the enemy that came to KILL...who's side are you on anyway?


If God wants me to change something in my life He will let me know because I have a personal relationship with Him. MY RELATIONSHIP!!!

What if I told you that you were an abomination because your eyes are green...or because you are black...or because you're white--ALL of these things you have no control over. YOU were born that way--AS are WE!!! I mean, just the thought that God hates you because of something that YOU CANNOT change would be devastating to you! It could quite possibly be enough to cause you to simply give up on life...[think about that for just a moment]

I'm sick of people saying that homosexuality is a choice... I've got news for you, I CHOSE to be heterosexual most of my life because I didn't feel as if I could truly be me because "God would hate me" and as a result I became a drug addict! I had to be high in order to have any relationship with a man simply because it was so awkward and unnatural to me (YES I said unnatural)! As long as I was on drugs I was able to cope, but when I got clean I was forced to examine my heart and I wrestled with myself for a long time, because of the FEAR that I would GO TO HELL! 


I DIDN'T choose to be gay I JUST AM-- This is not something that I just "decided" to be; who in their right mind would choose to be a social reject...an abomination...a ____________ you fill in the black with whatever slur you choose-- there are thousands!!! 


Jesus NEVER condemned homosexuals NOT EVEN ONCE, so NEITHER do I--and please don't pull out those 6 verses to try and convince me otherwise until you DO SOME research and read them in the  CONTEXT in which they were written!! 
OAN: Jesus did, however, address divorce and might I remind you that approx.. 50% of all Christian marriages end in divorce--and NO ONE rejects or condemns them to hell--OH NO they just embrace them and officiate their next wedding in 18 to 24 months! 


...AND please don't let me hear you say, "I love the sinner but hate the sin" This statement does NOT FLY with me or any other homosexual because YOU consider homosexuality the "sin" so ultimately what you're saying is I hate you... UH hello I'm gay---so I AM what you HATE--THERE's no love in that statement it's just the "spiritually correct" thing you say to try and make yourself look and feel righteous! 

Nevertheless, I was extremely excited for this young lady as she took her first step out of that lonely, dark, isolated, closet and I pray that she is met with LOVE, the kind of love in 1 John 4.... PERFECT LOVE! The kind of love found in 1 Cor 13 NEVER FAILING--not RUDE and LOVE that bears ALL things!!! 


I write this blog, a Christian, as a way of pleading her case along with millions of others...Please STOP trying to change people and turn them into something they're not--This is producing depression, anxiety, drug addicts, alcoholics, and even DEATH--If anyone's going to perform any transformation of any kind, it will BE GOD...not you!! Just do what Jesus commanded, LOVE your neighbor...your straight neighbor AND your GAY neighbor!! 


I pray that you hear my heart and not my hurt--I pray that this triggers compassion in you and not anger--I pray that you can step into this young lady's shoes for just a moment and experience her distress and despair-- and I pray that you hear Jesus' heart whisper, "I died for her, just as I died for you. I forgave her, just as I have forgiven you. When I said, "It is finished" I meant it is finished." 

...You really have no idea the agony that we endure from those that are called to LOVE like HE loves.... Open your heart and set your religion aside--

GOD CANNOT HATE ME.... how can you???       

A Word of encouragment for my girl:

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.  For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.  And not onlythat, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.--Romans 5:6-11

Just Bb

It's a beautiful LIFE!!!

I LOVE my life...All of it, the good the bad and the ugly. The way I see it is that it takes an assortment of the beautiful, the ugly, joy, tears, laughter, noise and quiet to make life interesting and stimulating. I have found that it's the moments of heartbreak that make me appreciate the instances of happiness. It's the chaos and noise that make the silence so peaceful. It's the ugliness that makes true beauty shine.

My life, as is yours,  is an array of all these things and I think it's foolish to try and avoid the "bad" or ignore the "ugly"...When we do this we take the beautiful things for granted; I mean it's the struggles in life that make the victories priceless ...It's the people that I have lost that make those that remain so valuable... It's the one's that have viciously broken my heart that cause me to cherish those who love and protect me...It's the darkness that makes the search for the light. 


You can't have the gorgeous without the vile...healing without pain....joy without tears.... illumination without the bleak shadows. It's the monstrous things in this world that make the finer things in life so EXQUISITE! After-all it is the black backdrop that makes a diamond shine!!! 

It's real easy to allow the difficulties and heartache, that is an unavoidable part of life, to harden us and make us bitter but it's these things that make the rest of life so sweet. I have found that if you love your life...it will love you back...and if you hate your life...well it will hate you back!

I read a quote that said, "We don't see things the way THEY are...we see things the way WE are." I'm happy with my life ALL of it, and because of this I see LIFE as a thing of beauty...simple really.

LIFE is too short to complain about what's gone wrong--CELEBRATE everything that's going right!! So when it's dreary and it rains just smile, because a colorful flower is just beneath the surface waiting to make it's debut!!!

Jesus says in Matt 5: 8-- Blessed are the pure at heart for they shall see God....Don't allow the bad things in this world to contaminate your heart, protect it from the ugly...KEEP your heart pure with forgiveness and full of LOVE and then....in EVERYTHING you will see GOD!!!

Just Bb