Interpretations of Biblical Scripture Misused to Promote Bigotry

Although the intention of this website is to keep people informed with Joe’s health with regard to his pancreatic cancer, I also feel it is incumbent upon me to also keep those that care for Joe up to date on other aspects of his well-being.  I mention this only because there was one night this week, Monday evening September 26^th,  that due to circumstances, was very hard on him emotionally and therefore affected him in many ways, including physically.  It was evident on Tuesday that the events of the previous evening were weighing heavily on him, some of that due to the fact that he did not sleep well the night before both due to his chemo treatment earlier in the day and with a lot on his mind that night at bedtime.

Earlier in the day, Joe had shared an article on Facebook from Barry Saunders that had appeared in the News & Observer.  The article was in regard to last weekend’s NC Pride Parade and festivities that had been held in Durham and Duke’s East Campus.  Both Joe and I had attended, Joe performing with the TGMC, along with many of our friends and acquaintances.  The essence of the Barry Saunders article was that he didn’t understand what the conservative, right leaning, politicians and populace of North Carolina were so afraid of when it came to gay people.  As he put it in the opening sentence of the article, “I went to the Gay Pride parade and guess what, I still like women.  So what are all of ya’ll afraid of?”  The article was in response to the Amendment One that will appear on the May 2012 Ballot to “Ban Gay Marriage and Define a Marriage as between One Man and One Woman”.  The proposed question in the opening sentence appeared on Joe’s Facebook “Wall” along with a link to the article.  I do not know if the persons that then decided it was their place to give an opinion read the article or just read the 1^st sentence that appeared on the post.  However, when I opened my Facebook page just before shutting my computer down at work and saw the first comment, coming from a childhood friend that Joe considered a friend in both real life and Facebook, I took it as a personal attack on Joe and did not react well to it.  My response to this person, although not ugly, was not kind and some may say mean spirited, but I accept that.  It is hard for me to sit back calmly when I feel someone is attacking him.  Some might say I am “over protective”, but I can live with that label as well.

Here is the first comment (I have removed the name and only have initials):

MW:  perhaps they are concerned about the continued spread of aids, the moral corruption of their children, the further moral decline of society, and promotion of a reprobate sin, which will surely bring more of God's judgment upon us.

My first response was:

Jeff Holland Perhaps Mr. W you should practice the form of Christianity that believes in loving thy fellow man along with caring and forgiveness rather than judging, which if I'm not mistaken, is clearly stated in the Bible. Oh, wait, I was thinking of Christian values.

What followed was a series of Bible thumping from him and then another childhood friend of Joe’s joined in and then a former middle school student of Joe’s joined in.  What ensued were hours of a hell fire and damnation diatribe from Mr. W, Mr. F and Mr. S.

Here is just a sample, but let me warn you, some of it is quite ugly with respect to the way Mr. W interprets the Bible, at least as far as we were concerned.

MW:  Mr Holland, Jesus Christ preached against sin much harder than I ever have, and warned about hell more than He promoted heaven. I judge no one, God's word has already performed that task. And when one truly loves, he is more than willing to take the heat for calling sin --- sin. What kind of love refuses to call to someone's attention to the fact they are about to jump off a cliff and find themselves in a bottomless pit? What kind of a loving parent would refuse to warn their child not to run out in the street? What kind of parent would not try to save a child who dares to run out into the street. The problem with most folk today, they do not understand true love -- they define love as lust.

MW : And may I add, any movement or church that condones the sin of homosexuality, which claims to be Christian is defined by the Bible as apostate, false, dead in sin, and reprobate. I love you, but I detest your sin. And the love of God would say, repent of your sin, receive the One True Christ, be justified, sanctified, and transformed into a "new creature in Christ." That's would be defined as true biblical love -- that which is willing to tell you the truth. By the way, I was brought up with Joe in the Baptist church, but I will not compromise with the Word of God and waywardness. I pray God the Holy Spirit convict, convince, and illuminate your mind to the truth of His Word, lest you become an eternal reprobate.

Jeff Holland : Mr W, let's agree to disagree. Having been brought up in the Baptist Church I heard more than enough of the type of speeches you give. As an adult I made my decision to remove myself from the hate speech and seek out God's love in a different environment, one that is accepting of the fact that all people are not the same, but that all people are due the same basic human rights. Continue your hell fire and damnation diatribes against any that disagree with your personal as well as religious points of view. Although you say you judge no one, your original response to Joe's posting about " continued spread of aids, moral corruption, moral decline of society and promotion of reprobate sin" seems judgmental to me. Possibly you should have been a psychoanalyst, since you seem to be able to diagnose "most folk" without having met "most folk". Maybe next time, you will wait to be asked for your opinion to one of Joe's posts before spouting off.

MW:  God has blessed you with the free will to choose and whatever lifestyle you choose to live is up to you -- just don't expect those of us who love God and believe the Bible to approve of your sin and don't seek to ask us to help you justify. Sleep with who you will, have as much sex as you like, (heterosexual or homosexual); but mark this down in red -- judgment day will come on all sin, including the sin of homosexuality, according to God -- not this preacher. Yes, God is loving and merciful when we choose His way (i spent 10 years as a drunk and addict before God cleaned me up). When we reject His way -- we reject love, grace and mercy --- leaving us with wrath and judgment.

RS: ‎1st Corinthians Chapter 6 verse nine KJV

MW:  that verse is very, very clear RS - and it's not just a Baptist Bible, it applies to all

Jeff Holland  Sir, I have not asked for your approval, nor do I desire it. I have put my life and faith in Jesus Christ and only desire judgment from him.

MW:  I am glad to hear you have put your life and faith in Jesus Christ. If that is truly the case, God has now given you the power to forsake and overcome the sin of homosexuality. Paul referred to this as "putting off the old self...corrupted ...,with the lusts of deceiit..." and put on the new man created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." Ephesians 4:22-24 Paul said, "if any man be in Christ, he is a New Creature, old things have passed away." Forsake you sin and become the witness and testimony that Christ has called you to be. "He who loves Me, will keep my commandments."

MW: ‎1 Corinthians 6:11 goes on to say --- "and such (homosexuals verse 9) WERE some of you." If you have truly put your fatih and trust in Christ, Paul says you "WERE" but are no longer a homosexual. That being the case, you now need to repent and forsake that sin, so you can start living a life of righteousness and holiness. In my case, I was once a drunk, I was a drug addict, I was a fornicator, an adulterer, but thank God, today I am a new creature and no longer have to live that way. I am free from the BONDAGE of sin. I am now "washed, justified, and sanctified." My sanctification is continually compelling me to put away the sins of the flesh.

Jeff Holland Mr. W  and Mr. S : As with most Christian faiths, except Southern Baptists and a few other Evangelical churches, the KJV hasn't been used for many years due to the vast quantity of translation errors discovered by Biblical scholars, therefore, I would have to disagree with YOUR interpretation of 1 Cor 6:9-11. In my Bible (the NRSV), homosexuals are never mentioned. As for Eph 4:22-24 it states, "You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness". That sirs, I have done. But please, as I stated earlier, I have neither asked for nor desire your approval, therefore, this discussion is over for me. Have a nice day.

Of course it did not end there.  Especially once the other former childhood friend put his 2 cents worth in:

MF:  Jeff Holland, you are one prejudiced bastard.

As you can see, the type of comments deteriorated.  Joe finally posted a response expressing his sadness that 2 childhood friends and a former student would feel the need to condemn the 2 of us so profoundly and in such a public way.  He asked  all of them to please stop and to consider his response the last communication between them. 

Joe Lupton:  MW, yes we were friends when we were young and growing up in Roanoke Baptist Church and I thought we could continue as FB friends; however, I have never made any condemning and bigoted statements on anyone's FB page. Yes, people can disagree; however, the venom that spills out of your mouth does NOT reflect the God that I have loved and served throughout my life. "To love another person is to see the face of God" is from Les Miz & I wish more could abide by this instead of forcing such condemning views upon all of the world.  In my dealings with pancreatic cancer I have come to put all of my energy into loving the world and praying for all to have love in their hearts. I feel that my life right now needs positive influences and not such negativity as you present. Please consider this our last communication. (MF, I don't appreciate your "liking" on MW’s post even if you do agree with him. RS, when you were a student of mine, I tried to treat everyone equally and tried never to condemn anyone. I had hoped that you had learned something from me.

Of course that didn’t happen as all of them continued on for hours.  Joe has since removed the entire exchange from his Facebook wall.

On a happier note, many of our friends did chime in showing support for us and expressing their opinion on the posts from MW, RS and MF.  Many, many, many thanks to Mark Potratz, Stacy Potratz, Amos Brown, Chelsea Brown, Challie Sullivan and Lola Elliott Hugh for their support that night.  At some point, Joe intends to post the entire conversation as a Note on his Facebook wall just to show the type of hate speech and condemnation that we deal with continually, especially with the proposed Amendment One to the Constitution of North Carolina coming up on the May ballot.  We are hopeful that level headed and intelligent people from all sides, liberal, conservative, progressive, right-wing and left-wing can see how divisive and detrimental passage of this Amendment One will be to the entire State of North Carolina.

Today Joe is feeling better about things as the events of Monday become more distant but I know that it will be a long time before that night is forgotten by either of us.