What follows may not be suitable for children.

I’m having a little trouble……..with pride month. Judging from the “Bud Light” and the Target turmoil…….I am not alone.

First, for my gay friend’s, I care for you and I’m sorry if this post causes you pain. There is no wrong in loving your fellow man. Love for another, male or female, is not wrong…….in fact, it is required.

It is not wrong for a man to love another man. So…….just exactly what is it that is troubling me?

The entire premise of pride month is for the LGBT+ community to come out of hiding and to feel good about themselves. This, in itself, is fine.

My problem……..is that everyone……..on both sides of the argument……….has skipped over a key question. This is a question that lurks in the background and colors the entire conversation about sexual identity and therefore about pride month.

And here is the question:

Is “non-traditional” sexual activity wrong?

There are many corrolaries:

Is it wrong…….for a man to have anal intercourse with another man?

Is it wrong for a biological male to look and behave as a woman…..including competitive sports?

Is it wrong for our teachers to teach our children that these behaviours are OK?

Is it wrong to denigrate the Catholic church?

This question is certainly timely. If this behaviour is right……there is no problem. But, if this behaviour is wrong……then we are formally celebrating bad behaviour…….sin. Moreover, as a society, we are endorsing it. And that, it seems to me, is the point of pride month.

Today, I do not intend to deal head on with the issue of the rightness or wrongness of non-traditional sex. That is a huge topic, that I may or may not return to someday.

For today, my charge is this:

Forget the pride issue. It is only a distraction. Instead, ask yourself the question that we, as a society, are running from:

Are these behaviours are right…….or are they wrong?

Because that is the real problem. If these behaviours are wrong, then taking pride in them……..is even worse. And that is my problem with pride month.

“Go forth…….and sin some more.”

The sisters of perpetual indulgence.

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.

God, ESV

I once visited the Louvre and saw Michaelangelo’s David. It was magnificent. The tour guide pointed out that David’s face, hands, and feet were too big. And this is a measureable fact. She said that Michaelangelo did this because the statue was to be placed high up on a building and that it would look right from that perspective. She presented this explanation as a fact. But, nobody had ever asked Michaelangelo about his design motivation. Her explanation was plausible…….but it was a theory…….not a fact.

I visited a palace on Crete. The guide took us through and explained the building and how each room was used. It turns out, that long ago an archeologist had found a pile of rubble. He stacked up the stones into what he thought the palace once looked like. Later, another archeologist went through the reconstruction and wrote a paper on how each room was used based on its construction. The guide’s explanations of the rooms and of their uses were presented as fact. But……in reality…….the way the rooms were used was a theory, which was based on the reconstruction, which was itself a theory.

And this is how science works.

We look at the world and we can test it, observe it, and measure it. These are facts. But, as we go back further in time, testing, observation, and measurement become impossible. We fill in the gaps with theories. Most of what we believe about our world begins with current facts. But if you track down the logical provenance of these facts, sooner or later you run into a theory, often based on another theory, and so on.

Here is the key “take home lesson”:

Interpretation of a fact that is based on a theory……..is a theory.

Interpretation of a fact that is based on a theory……..is a theory.

If the underlying theory…….which is unproven……or even unprovable…….is wrong, then your interpretation of the fact is wrong.

The “big bang” is the scientific theory that explains how the universe came into being. Suddenly, out of nothing, there was an infinite cloud of dust. The dust coalesced into clumps which, over billions of years, accumulated to became planets, moons, and stars. This means that the center of a planet is older than the surface. So, if you dig down into our planet earth, the deeper you go, the older the material is. This is a theory……based on another theory. The problem is that the entire field of geology, much of the field of archeology, and much of the field of anthropology are founded on these theories……..and they are unproven. If the big bang theory is wrong, then most of modern science is wrong.

Lightening striking a puddle of “primordial ooze” is the theory of how life began on earth. Darwinian evolution is the theory of how different species developed. These are theories……not tested, observed, measured facts. If these theories are wrong……then much, if not most, of current science falls apart.

Don’t get me wrong. Science tells us a lot about how to live in our world. It tells us a lot about where we are……based on the facts.

Science is far less reliable in telling us where we have been because the further back in time we go the more we rely on theories and the less we rely on facts. So, when someone presents you with a fact, you need to look into the ideas that the fact is founded on. If, in digging down, you shift from facts into theories…….and this is often the case…….you need to view the interpretation of the fact with a bit of skepticism.

You need to view science with the same degree of honest skepticism as you do Christianity. To trust your eternity to facts that are ultimately based on unprovable theories is dangerous. You could be in for an ugly surprise.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Moses, probably, ESV

So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Moses, probably, ESV

I’ve probably heard this a hundred times…….sadly……often from preachers.

There are many variations:

Be good……or you’ll go to hell.

Lie and you are going to hell.

Steal and you are going to hell.

Vote pro choice and you are going to hell.

Gays are going to hell.

First……a few clarifications:

Hell…….is real…….it is nasty……..and you don’t want to be there. To make matters worse…….eternity is a long time.

A whole lot of people are going to hell……it’s going to be crowded….. with a whole lot of unhappy people. Some of them are going to be very surprised…..they are going to feel cheated………because they truly are “good people”……..kind, generous, loving, honest people……..people with misconceptions.

And finally………the great misconceptions:

Christianity does NOT teach that sinners are going to hell.

Christianity does NOT teach that “good people” are going to paradise.

Sinners are not going to hell……..at least not primarily because of their sin. Their sin in incidental.

Good people are not going to paradise……..at least not primarily because they are good. Their goodness is incidental.

Fact is……if Christianity did teach that sinners are going to hell……..I wouldn’t find it to be a very appealing religion. Because…..I am a sinner…….just like you……and Joe Biden……and Donald Trump…….and Jeffrey Dahmer.

From God’s perspective, the difference between me……..and them………is inconsequential.

I am not here to tell you if you…….are going to hell. That decision is way above my pay grade…….and it is an invitation to self righteousness……..and we certainly don’t need any more self righteousness.

What I am here to tell you may be the most important thing you will ever learn on the internet…….if you read my blog for years and only remember one line……..remember this:

The way to get into hell is to refuse to accept Jesus as your lord and saviour and refuse to accept his free gift of forgiveness.

The way to get into hell is to refuse to accept Jesus as your lord and saviour and refuse to accept his free gift of forgiveness.

God’s rule……not mine. If you don’t like it……that’s irrelevant.

It’s as simple as that.

The son of God…….Jesus…..voluntarily died a death that redefines gruesome. He did it to earn a “GET OUT OF HELL FREE CARD”. He earned it. I didn’t earn it. You didn’t earn it. He has offered that precious card to you……because he loves you…….because he wants you to spend eternity with him……..in paradise. All that he asks in return is that you recognize his divinity and his sacrifice. That act is not a small thing……..it will change your life. And that is the whole point.

Hell comes down to this:

You voluntarily choose to spend eternity in hell if and when you reject Jesus’s gift, refuse to honor his sacrifice, and refuse to accept his divinity.

The irony here is that we rebell against our creator because we want to be in control…..and all the while, we are in absolute control of the single most important decision of our lives.

In effect……we believe that we are smarter than God.

But, God has empowered us.

We have the power to decide………whether we will spend eternity in paradise…….or in hell.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”

Paul, ESV

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Jesus, ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John, ESV

“I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

Jesus, ESV

Imagine two men standing in the street. They are having an argument about a car that is blocking traffic. And it’s getting ugly. The first guy punches the second guy in the face. The second guy takes a step back……..then turns and walks away. The first guy yells, “go ahead, just walk away…….you p..sy”……..and then laughs.

Now…….add in the fact that the second guy is an out of uniform Marine. He has a concealed carry permit and he is carrying a pocket knife, a sheath knife, and a .45 caliber pistol. I know of several instances where this very thing has happened.

It really redefines the situation. It completely changes your assessment of both men. Suddenly, the first guy is a fool and the second guy is the noble and honorable man.

“Turn the other cheek”……..one of the most misunderstood concepts in the Bible.

To refrain from retaliating when you are not capable of retaliating is not turning the other cheek……..it is weakness.

To refrain from retaliating when you are fully capable of hurting your attacker is the true act of turning the other cheek.

When Jesus was taken before the Sanhedrin, an officer punched him in the face……..and he did not retaliate. Remember, Jesus is God. He created the universe. He has the power to destroy it and start all over from scratch. He certainly could have called down a bolt of lightning and taught them all a lesson. He could have given them a taste of the justice that they so richly deserved.

But he didn’t.

Jesus sets an example by not retaliating when he is punched in the face. We need to follow his example. This is the superficial lesson of “turn the other cheek”.

But there is a much more important…….deeper lesson. When we disrespect, disobey, or even deny Jesus…….we are, in effect, punching him in the face. And he does not retaliate. He withholds justice…….retaliation…….because he loves us and does not want to lose a single one of us to Satan. He gives us a chance to return to him. And he will wait…….as long as we have the breath of life in us.

The deeper lesson of “turn the other cheek” is that Jesus gives us the opportunity to return to him………after we punch him in the face.

But his forbearance expires……….when we do.

Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Jesus. ESV

“Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”

Jesus, rebuking Peter for defending him with a sword, ESV

When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”

Jesus, before the Sanhedrin, ESV