"The Most Judgmental Email of the Month" Award recipient condemns Dr. J for judging homosexuals
Brett writes,
I just read your article “George Bush on Sodomy” (http://www.rightremedy.org/booklets/53). I am a male, heterosexual, Christian. Where do you get off presenting your hateful, exclusive, and narrow minded, hallucinations of God? How do you read this hateful crap you bellow from your Bible? Do you have the copy reserved for the overly self-righteous? If your version of Heaven is sitting next to the likes of you and Hitler, I’ll sit in Hell next to Bill Clinton, Thanks. You are hateful and perverse. Of what are you so fearful? Do you have and official documentation from God that you have the ability to speak so definitively for Him? I’ll be praying for you.
_______
Dr. J responds:
First of all, you are not Christian if you reject God's Word, the Bible, the authority on Jesus Christ, on right and wrong, on what is “hateful” and what is loving. His Word condemns homosexuality both as a sin that merits eternal hell, and a crime. His Word is clear, and I am not ashamed to speak it. He is loving and just, and that is why he speaks thus about homosexuals. His threats of judgment are intended to be a disincentive to destructive, sinful habits. If he accepted sexual behavior that was harmful and destructive, contrary to the way we are designed, then he would not be a very loving Creator. Living by His rules is best for us, because His rules proceed from His loving heart.
_______
Brett then rebuts:
Yes, I am a Christian and have read the entire Bible several times over and God spoke to me through that most Holy book and told me that judgment was His, not mine not yours, indeed not that of any man. He will be the One to decide what is sinful and what the wages of sin will be. Jesus forgives us for our sins, perhaps you should try the practical application of this philosophy. Judge not lest you be judged.
There are many sins and crimes described in the Bible for which the punishment is execution. Do you wish to start the executions yourself on your judgment?. Perhaps you should take yourself and your family to a culture that is more in alignment with your views, somewhere where you will feel right at home where everyone believes in the absolute literal meaning of Holy text, someplace like Iran!
I pray for your enlightenment.
_______
Dr. Johnston responds,
Since you are so well-versed in the Bible, you must be aware of all of the Scriptures where God commands His disciples to judge. Check out http://www.rightremedy.org/node/2 for reminder of those verses. Even the passage you cite in Matthew 7 commands us to pull the plank out of our own eye so that we can see clearly to judge our neighbor (see vs. 2-5).
Since you “have read the entire Bible several times over,” you also must be keenly aware of the oft-repeated fact that Jesus does not forgive everybody; hence, there is a hell of eternal pain for those that are unforgiven. You also must be well aware of the criteria sinners must meet in order to be forgiven: repentance of sin and faith in Christ.
Although it is true that God's Word mandates that some sins, like murder and rape, should be crimes that the government should punish, it does not follow that I want to do the executing of those criminals. That's non sequitor reasoning.
All non-Christians will burn in hell forever if they do not forsake their sin and trust in Christ who died and rose again for their salvation.
Patrick Johnston



