While reading Tony Campolo’s book, “Speaking My Mind,” I came across an interesting citation in Chapter 5 (Are Evangelicals Handling the Gay Issue All Wrong?).  So far this book has proven to be at the very least increasingly interesting, even though I disagree with some assertions.  Tony Campolo does break many molds in trying to point out what has gone wrong with evangelicalism.  Dr. Campolo cites all of Matthew 23 as an answer to those that call out the misgivings of others (subjectively speaking) while neglecting the fact that they, also, are imperfect and are not pure.  Here is an excerpt:


Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.  It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.  You blind guides!  You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! (Matthew 23:23-24)

This is not the first time that I’ve cracked this weighty tome and found it rather simple to find a passage that addressed one or many of the social wrongdoings performed not only by our political leaders (read: theocrats), but by many Christians.  I see these passages as a condemnation of the people when they decide to waste time and energy (…all the while making it well known that they tithe fine herbs and spices) doting on another’s sins while ignoring their own and casting aside the basic tenets of justice, mercy, and faith.  This is pretty basic and I wonder how the moral voters can justify their clear obsession with the lashing of gay rights when our leaders lead us to war, neglect the rising tide of poverty, and support the merciless act of corporal punishment.

It also must be brought to light that when I reference sins, I am not inferring that being gay is a sin.  (I have trouble with the word sin and its connotations.  This is a part of my examination of Christianity that will probably garner a great deal criticism.) I never have and never will fall under the weak guise of the motto: “Love the sinner, not the sin” because this is simple and disrespectful to an extremely complex condition.  Being gay is not a sin because it is a mere human condition and, to me, we are all God’s children straight or gay.

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