Why My Faith Calls Me to March

So you quote Leviticus regarding immigration, yet you support homosexuality. Have you ever read what Leviticus says about the gay lifestyle?

I appreciate you sharing your own process of moving from "cool-club" Christian to deep-thinking, theologically engaged activist. Thank you for your faithful stand on the side of justice.

I too, along with most Christians, welcome the immigrant. I just pray that more immigrants would respect the governing authorities and immigrate legally.

My cross to bare is to stand up for the poor and needy (and advocate for a just system).

An immigrant's cross to bare is to immigrate in a spiritually responsible manner, trusting God through trying circumstances.

We are both called to trust God and act righteously.

I read the link about Lisa Sharon Harper getting arrested. This is an example that I have seen in the pages of Sojourners where people draw a false parallel from their actions of "civil disobedience" to the sit-ins in the 60's when blacks broke the law and were arrested for sitting at legally-segregated lunch counters. Lisa did not get arrested for helping an immigrant in a way that the law forbids. Her actions do not parallel what the civil rights activists did in the 1960's. She got arrested for blocking traffic. Immigrants are not oppressed by our laws prohibiting the obstruction of traffic.

She would say that she broke the traffic laws to publicize the plight of the immigrant and her opposition to the Arizona law. However, she could have done so by lawful means. She would not have been arrested for speaking at a rally, marching around the federal building, creating a website, writing her Congressman, etc. I find it difficult to equate her arrest for blocking traffic with those arrested for breaking the unjust segregation laws. Laws prohibiting the obstruction of traffic are not immoral and unbiblical. I think we need to question whether it is appropriate or even Christian to break regular laws to draw attention to some other law we question. I think it is a false parallel to the civil rights era, and something that we need to stop doing. We debase the legacy of the civil rights workers when we break regular laws, and claim that this is "civil disobedience" to help immigrants. Unless Lisa can show me that immigrants were actually helped by her breaking the traffic laws, then we should not encourage such misdirected and phony acts of civil disobedience.

I read the link about Lisa Sharon Harper getting arrested. This is an example that I have seen in the pages of Sojourners where people draw a false parallel from their actions of "civil disobedience" to the sit-ins in the 60's when blacks broke the law and were arrested for sitting at legally-segregated lunch counters. Lisa did not get arrested for helping an immigrant in a way that the law forbids. Her actions do not parallel what the civil rights activists did in the 1960's. She got arrested for blocking traffic. Immigrants are not oppressed by our laws prohibiting the obstruction of traffic.

She would say that she broke the traffic laws to publicize the plight of the immigrant and her opposition to the Arizona law. However, she could have done so by lawful means. She would not have been arrested for speaking at a rally, marching around the federal building, creating a website, writing her Congressman, etc. I find it difficult to equate her arrest for blocking traffic with those arrested for breaking the unjust segregation laws. Laws prohibiting the obstruction of traffic are not immoral and unbiblical. I think we need to question whether it is appropriate or even Christian to break regular laws to draw attention to some other law we question. I think it is a false parallel to the civil rights era, and something that we need to stop doing. We debase the legacy of the civil rights workers when we break regular laws, and claim that this is "civil disobedience" to help immigrants. Unless Lisa can show me that immigrants were actually helped by her breaking the traffic laws, then we should not encourage such misdirected and phony acts of civil disobedience.

There is no such thing as a "gay lifestyle," an expression created by those who don't like homosexuals.

Why don't you Bible proof-texters read all of Leviticus 18, 19 and 20 together as one complete context?

The Israelites were being told not to adopt or adapt the religious rituals of the Canaanites when they got to the promised land, aka Canaan.

Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13 are sort of repeats of the same pagan fertility ritual where a HETEROSEXUALLY married man had sex with a "holy" man dressed up like a woman to represent the Canaanite fertility goddess, Asherah. The sex act was a "sacrifice of 'seed'" to the goddess as an act of faith that the man would have more children.

It is odd that the author of Leviticus didn't mention that in those shrines where Asherah and Ba'al, aka Molech, were worshiped, there were "holy" women with whom the HETEROSEXULLY married men had sexual intercourse.

When you see the word "sodomite" in a King James Version Bible, the literal translation of the word is actually "holy" referring to a man who serve a god of some kind. The original Hebrew Scripture text had no vowel points to help with the pronunciation. When that word, "kodesh," appears as a noun and refers to one who worshiped YHWH Elohim (LORD God), the word is translated as "saint."

In every context where the KJV MISTRANSLATED word "sodomite" appears, the religion in question is ALWAYS connected with the worship of Asherah and/or Ba'al.

Hello Minnesotan,
I appreciate your logical argument against civil disobedience actions like the ones staged in New York City. You are absolutely correct to say these kinds of actions are not the same as those staged during the civil rights era. Those actions broke unjust laws for the sake of living in the light of the truth - in the face of laws that told lies (ie. the lie that blacks were not worthy to be served at the same lunch counter as whites). Also, those actions were done by black people for the well-being of black people. Whites and others certainly participated in the civil rights movement, but they broke no laws when they sat down at lunch counters. It was legal for them to be there.

Today, the nature of discrimination is much less obvious than in the 1960's. It is stealth. It comes in the form of laws that most of us are never affected by. So we go about our days unaware that these laws are hurting whole people groups every minute of every day. America's broken immigration system is a perfect example. Most of us move through life unaware that people are disappearing from neighborhoods, jobs, and families without warning because of systematic ICE raids or random traffic stops that land mothers and fathers in prison--separated from their families.

So, what can I, an American citizen and a New Yorker do? I cannot be arrested for breaking the immigration laws. New York is a sanctuary city, so even if I were to offer sanctuary to an immigrant, I would not be arrested for that. This begs the question, what can I do?

Ninety-nine other New Yorkers and I decided to follow the example of the Persistent Widow--we became a bother to the system, calling for justice, in order to bring attention to the cause.

Perhaps the most encouraging words I received in the midst of the civil disobedience actions came from the police themselves. I asked one officer, if you could stand on this line, would you. She said, "Yes."

Ok, I've been hammered for doing this in the past on other topics, but I'm about to ...quote scripture. I know, I know,...how dare I introduce scripture into a blog for Christians, but I try to base my beliefs in what God says.

First, let me point out that sin is sin. When we fail to call sin what it is, we are powerless to overcome it. Let me also point out that my sins are just as detestable and un-spiritual as any other sins out there.

Having said that, please read Romans 1:21-31:

"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless."

When we don't glorify God and we turn away from the truth we turn to all kinds of sin, and yes homosexuality is one of them. Let's call sin what it is and start the repentance and healing.

Ok, I've been hammered for doing this in the past on other topics, but I'm about to ...quote scripture. I know, I know,...how dare I introduce scripture into a blog for Christians, but I try to base my beliefs in what God says.

First, let me point out that sin is sin. When we fail to call sin what it is, we are powerless to overcome it. Let me also point out that my sins are just as detestable and un-spiritual as any other sins out there.

Having said that, please read Romans 1:21-31:

"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless."

When we don't glorify God and we turn away from the truth we turn to all kinds of sin, and yes homosexuality is one of them. Let's call sin what it is and start the repentance and healing.

I think Jesus would hang out with gays and lesbians today, as he did with outcasts in his day. I don't know if he would march in a "Pride" parade, since that has distinct political overtones, including a legal strategy that will ultimately infringe my right to tell people about the Ten Commandments, and Jesus' explicit definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. But my question for you is: would you also march in a Klan pararde? Aren't they are as much outcasts today, if not more so, than gays or lesbians? If you disagree with that, then the debate becomes about the word "outcast" not Jesus' love for everyone, regardless of their specific sin or how attached they are to it, or whether they choose it as their identity.