Bible Thumpin' Time

"Warning Against Judging Others"

Don’t speak evil against each other, my dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize each other and condemn each other, then you are criticizing and condemning God’s law. But you are not a judge who can decide whether the law is right or wrong. Your job is to obey it. God alone, who made the law, can rightly judge among us. He alone as the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to condemn your neighbor? ~ James 4:11-12

The other day, I took some time to pray and meditate on what God wanted me to feel in my heart; to what He had to say about all the conflict and controversy that has been going on between my blog, Dani’s blog, Mike’s blog as well as many others who chose to engage in this discussion. I strongly feel the need to encourage those who feel guilty about “sin” to remember one thing. You are human. We all are human. We make mistakes or we live in a constant struggle to strive to be perfect. God knows this. In my beliefs as a Christian, this is why Jesus died on the cross. God knew our struggle, so He sent His only son to this world to experience this struggle. He saved us from our constant battle of sinning.

And the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as the person who has broken all of God’s laws. For the same God who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said,”Do not murder.” So if you murder someone, you have broken the entire law, even if you do not commit adultery.
So whenever you speak, or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law of love, the law that set you free. For there will be no mercy for you if you have not been merciful to others. But if you have been merciful, then God’s mercy toward you will win out over his judgment against you. ~James 2:10-13

Yes, it’s good to try to obey laws of God. The most important thing is treating others the way Jesus would—and if you’re not Christian---than it’s treating others with the same respect you would want. Is that too much to ask for? I find it extremely sad when someone takes it upon themselves to say, “I judge you! You’re a sinner”, when in fact, we all are. We all are in this together, so why be against your brothers and sisters? That’s really who we are. We are all related as humans. Must we fight and quarrel about what’s right and what’s wrong? Do we feel the need to convince the whole world that ‘we’re living the perfect life’? It’s pointless; it’s meaningless.

You were getting along so well. Who has interfered with you to hold you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. But it takes only one wrong person among you to infect all the others—a little yeast spreads quickly through the whole batch of dough!
I am trusting the Lord to bring you back to believing as I do about these things. God will judge that person, whoever it is, who has been trouble and confusing you. ~Galatians 5:7-10

Dani and I were getting along so well. We spoke on the phone and exchanged emails. We spoke upon our differences and how God brought us together despite our different viewpoints. We were okay with that, until she tore me up and criticized me with her judgmental remarks. Some people may be influenced by her, feeling a huge amount of guilt for being homosexual. Those people who feel that guilt will turn away from God. That’s why most of the gay and lesbian community refrain from attending a Christian oriented church. The fear of the judgment of mere humans will hold them back from God. How sad is that? How sad when God finally judges the person who made all the judgments upon us?

“The Most Important Commandment”

One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the discussion. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Here, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important. Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these." ~Matthew 22:34-40

So with that, Dani is committing the worst sin of all. She is not loving her neighbor, nor is she helping anyone by her contradicting preaching of the bible. She cannot back up what God truly wants us to do. All she can do is point out the flaws and imperfections of people—when in fact she should be pointing out how God is loving and how we should love one another. I know some people will debate that and say I am putting God in a “kumbaya” status, but why do you think God even created us? Do you think He created us only to punish us for our physical desires and carnal nature? Do you really think God doesn’t have enough love to forgive everyone of his children? The expectations of God has been washed away. To forgive someone is a very hard thing to do sometimes. We’re full of resentment and we’re like elephants—we can’t forget. God is capable of doing this. If God made the world, He can certainly have the power to restore your soul and make you right with Him.

Yes, Adam’s one sin brought condemnation upon everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness makes all people right in God’s sight an gives them life. Because one person disobeyed God, many people became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many people will be made right in God’s sight.
God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful kindness became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. ~Romans 5:18-21

Kumbaya God? I think not. A gentle God who loves us unconditionally? Definitely. I’m touching upon this subject once again because I have been receiving many emails from gay Christians who were afraid to comment on the board due to judgments that were being passed along freely here. I want to give the message out and even do some ‘bible thumpin’ that GOD LOVES ALL. Get rid of the guilt, get rid of the words of people who hate and judge! God loves you! God accepts you! God wants you to follow Him, and make Him your number one priority. Don’t be afraid to come to God with whatever it is you’re struggling with. Don’t let discouraging words bring you down and make you lose faith in God. God IS kind. God IS forgiving. God IS love. Would you expect less of Him?

Please let that be the message that settles within your heart and within your soul. And in closing, I just want to say while I was typing this all out, these were the scriptures that jumped out at me when I opened up the bible. It wasn’t a coincidence that God led me to these passages. I didn’t have to flip through pages or do any research. I prayed before opening the bible and this is what God presented me with. This is what “I” believe to be true.

Peace be with you all!