That Piece On What The True Story In America Is

Same-sex marriage supporters demonstrate in front of the Supreme Court on March 27, 2013 in Washington, DC. The rights of married same-sex couples will come under scrutiny at the US Supreme Court on Wednesday in the second of two landmark cases being considered by the top judicial panel. After the nine justices mulled arguments on a California law that outlawed gay marriage on Tuesday, they will take up a challenge to the legality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The 1996 law prevents couples who have tied the knot in nine states -- where same-sex marriage is legal -- from enjoying the same federal rights as heterosexual couples. AFP PHOTO/Jewel Samad        (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

John Pavlovitz, Christian, pastor and humanist, has come through again in a new write-up titled ‘The True Story Of Today In America.’ Read and be inspired.

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We all have stories we like to tell ourselves; narratives we create to frame the world around us.

Those stories often help cushion the blows and soften the impact when things around us are too frightening, too disorienting, too difficult for our minds to deal with.

These stories are often largely well-crafted fiction, born out of fear and desperation, and the sense of something slipping quickly through fingers: control.

Many scared Christians were telling stories today. Continue reading

Arkansas Lawmaker Outraged Over Gay Pride Being Held On A Sunday

Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, presents a resolution during a meeting of the Legislative Council in Little Rock, Ark., Friday, June 20, 2014. The Council approved the non-binding measure that urges the state Supreme Court to uphold a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

Arkansas State Senator Jason Rapert is pissed off that his hometown of Conway, AR just hosted their twelfth annual Gay Pride parade on Sunday.

Rapert posted a book length rant on his official Facebook page (Check on the Facebook Rant HERE) over the weekend accusing gay people, or as he likes to refer to us “anti-Christian activists,” of “crossing the line” by purposefully planning their parade on a Sunday (aka “the Lord’s Day”) to “mock” and “intimidate” Christians.

“They understand that the lifestyle they are glorifying on our streets is considered sin by every Bible-believing Christian,” Rapert exclaimed, “and they use their parade on a day reserved to worship God and reverence the Lord to mock Christians.” Continue reading

Does God Hate Homosexuals?

god-loves-gays-21The early Christian laboured to spread the gospel and the life and times of Jesus. Christ’s early followers were brought up with the moral codes of Jewish religion, but the sexual ethics of the gentiles they sought to convert was dramatically different. In a world dominated by the pagan Roman Empire, a variety of sexual appetites were known and even celebrated. The pantheon included Aphrodite, the goddess of love, Pan, a pastoral fertility god, and many other deities renowned for their sexual adventures. Roman laws permitted polygamy, divorce, prostitution by both male and female. The tradition allowed for the carnal union between men and boys, the sexual use of slaves, sacrifice of unwanted infants through abortion and infanticide.

Christians pride themselves in a dramatically different view of sexuality. “This is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication. That each of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honour, not with lustful passion like the gentiles who do not know God…” – 1 Thessalonians 4:3. Continue reading

‘We Follow a Jesus I Do Not Recognize.’ Rev. Colin Coward in a Facebook Rant

colin-coward-the-independentThe Rev. Colin Coward, MBE, director of Changing Attitude England, recently wrote on Facebook about his displeasure with homophobia in Africa and the distortion of Christianity by those who are anti-homosexuality. Read below.

‘I feel incredibly angry today. I’ve been chatting for the last hour and a half with a gay Nigerian friend, a quiet, thoughtful, stable young man who allowed himself to trust a ‘friend’ who invited him to a café this morning. It was entrapment. They went to a place that was more rooming house than café which was a set-up, finding himself in a room where other guys were waiting to assault him. He has been attacked, threatened with a machete, kicked and punched, burnt with cigarettes, forcibly stripped naked, clothes torn, photos and a video taken, beaten, and those in the room were joined by guys he had seen playing football earlier.

‘He is a Christian and those assaulting him were Christians. He feels suicidal now, fears the police and further exposure, can’t seek medical treatment, is in deep pain physical and emotional.

‘Assaults like this against LGBTI people are a daily event in Nigeria and other homophobic African countries. I am seethingly angry at the distortion of Christian teaching that encourages and supports the abuse of LGBTI people. Continue reading