Saturday, June 01, 2013

The Immorality of "Biblical Christians"





Much like the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Southern Baptist Convention is obsessed with persecuting and maintaining anti-gay bigotry.  And also like the Catholic Church hierarchy, the SBC leadership continually turns a blind eye to pastors who sexually abuse children and youth.  Indeed, they almost act as if it was the child or youth who somehow solicited their own abuse.  (The Assemblies of God crowd is little better)  Illustrative of the SBC's anti-gay obsession, ABPNews is reporting that the SBC will likely adopt a resolution urging its 47,000 member churches to severe their ties with the Boy Scouts of America now that openly gay scouts can be members:


Frank Page, the Executive Committee’s president and CEO, told ABC News the SBC will likely recommend that its 47,000 U.S. churches pull away from the Boy Scouts of America at the upcoming annual convention meeting in Houston.

“One of the big issues here is whether or not to allow a private organization such as Scouts to remain resolute and strong in that which they believe,” Page said. “We are in a society now that truly seems to attack anybody who points out a difference that might make some people feel that what they are doing might be morally incorrect.”

J. Smith, president of the Association of Baptists for Scouting, said in a statement prior to the vote that dropping the ban could “precipitate a major crisis in how Baptists relate to the Boy Scouts of America.”

“This really isn't about having a place for homosexuals or atheists to benefit from Scouting,” Smith said. “There are Scouting alternatives to serve people who hold those practices and beliefs. This is about a concerted effort to bring down a cultural icon.”

The justification for all this hate and discrimination?   A handful of passages from the Bible that are selectively clung to even as a vast number of passages are utterly ignored.   The hypocrisy is best demonstrated by the manner in which almost all of Leviticus is ignored other than the supposedly anti-gay passages.  Making matters worse, of course, is modern scientific knowledge that shows that (a) homosexuality is a normal variant of sexuality and (b) gays are far less likely to be molesters than straight males.  And for the ultimate kicker, we know now that Adam and Eve never existed as historical people.  Poof!  The whole storyline collapses.  Yet, Biblical Christians per Albert Mohler of the SBC must cling to blind ignorance:

[N]o issue defines our current cultural crisis as clearly as homosexuality. Some churches and denominations have capitulated to the demands of the homosexual rights movement, and now accept homosexuality as a fully valid lifestyle.

Other denominations are tottering on the brink, and without a massive conservative resistance, they are almost certain to abandon biblical truth and bless what the Bible condemns.

Our churches must teach the basics of biblical morality to Christians who will otherwise never know that the Bible prescribes a model for sexual relationships. 

Note how homosexuality trumps homelessness, starving children, brutal wars and a host of horrors as the top cultural crisis.  It's a sick mentality and to me displays the utter immorality of Biblical Christians who cling to ignorance and hang of the every word of pastors who ask them to act less intelligently than the dumbest farm animals.  Bob Felton sums it up well at Civil Commotion:

Mohler refers repeatedly in this piece to “Biblical morality” — but what on earth does “morality” mean if it is mere obedience to an anonymously-fostered rule and indifferent to the consequences of the rule’s application?

In this case, following “Biblical morality” benefits nobody and harms homosexuals. That’s not morality — that’s a refusal to think and engage moral questions.

We call actions moral or immoral because they have good or bad effects, or consequences; it is the consequence which shapes our valuation of the act. An act without consequence upon the life of the individual or the community — throwing a pebble into a pond, say — is of no moral significance and nobody sane would call it good or bad.

She is out of fashion this week, but Ayn Rand got a few things exactly right: To think or not to think is a moral choice, and the evil of religion is that it condemns thought.
I will admit that I have growing contempt for "Biblical Christians" who prefer to cling to the writings of ignorant herders rather than accept modern knowledge and who will go to any and all lengths to avid having to think for themselves.  They cause so much damage to others and are the root cause of so much hate and intolerance simply in order to feel good about themselves by condemning others.  It is truly sick and it is the antithesis of the Gospel message they claim to worship yet ignore in reality.  The Pharisees of the Bible were far better people than today's "Biblical Christians.". 

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