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Was Jesus intolerant?
Posted By katie allison granju
The conversation continues regarding my own comments on Knox County schools allowing the Franklin Graham Festival organizers access to students during school hours.
Today, David Oatney weighs in:
As a Catholic, it is a fair assessment to say that Franklin Graham and I wouldn’t see eye-to-eye theologically, but when Graham said that abortion is a murder and a sin, he is right-it is murder, and it is sin (not to mention a grave injustice against humanity). When he says that homosexuality is a sin, he is correct, it is a sin-period. The whole point of Christ is that even in the face of the worst sins there is the opportunity for forgiveness, reconciliation, and hope.
Liberals say that a message like the one Franklin Graham delivered is intolerant. By the standards of modern liberalism, Jesus Christ, the great progressive of His time, was very intolerant. His message is not one that makes the tolerant comfortable. It is a message that got Him crucified.
Liberals do not have to embrace Christ’s message, and they can call it intolerant all they like (by their standards, I suppose they would be correct). It isn’t my place to judge them for not accepting that message-that responsibility goes to God alone. The message is the message of Christ, however. Franklin Graham is a minister of the Gospel, and therefore we should not expect him to say that we should all hold hands, sing Kumbuya, and that any path to God is okay. That is not the Christian message.
May 2nd, 2008
Huh. I must’ve missed that part in the bible when Jesus talked about abortion and homosexuality.
I agree with Elmer. Mr. Oatney and Graham must truly be members of the Lord’s Anointed seeing as how they have access to a version of the bible that the rest of us have never seen!
Ummm…if there was anything that Christ loved it was bashing gays and protesting abortion clinics? Right on!
Jimmy Carter in his book, Our Endangered Values, comments:
“Now, leaders of the highly organized Christian Right have successfully elevated into America’s political debate some of the most divisive social questions. The most vivid examples involve sexual preference, which obviously has highly personal and emotional overtones. Tragically, these divisive social questions have even been moved to the forefront of the presidential election scene. At the same time, almost all Protestants now condone divorce as acceptable, and rarely emphasize fornication or adultery, although these sexual acts were repeatedly condemned by Jesus. It is much easier and more convenient to focus on sins of which we are not known to be guilty.”
Well, Jesus did say “If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” and “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned”. (Not TOO tolerant). He said “Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish.” And Paul said “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel…” Of course you probably didn’t know about these words.
Now the book of Revelation quotes God Himself as saying that the abominable would have their part in the lake of fire. It would be pretty cruel of God to say something like that without informing us of which things are abominable and which things aren’t. Fortunately we are told which things are. According to the Bible homosexuality is. So….you know…if one believes the Bible one has no choice but to side with God. Not people.
Jesus said His followers would be hated. At one time I would have found that statement hard to believe. But not so in the last 10 years or so.
P.S. If you already have a faith in the Bible you will probably find a book called “The Intolerant Christ” informative and interesting. If you don’t believe the Bible then…well….you know…..dont worry about it.
Lots of love…
Way to represent Christians in a positive light, Kreiger.
FYI, Christianity is a universal religion with a rich and complex history. It’s a lot bigger concept than can fit into books which reduce it to an exclusive club for conservative Republicans.