I’m frustrated right now, but I shouldn’t be. I should be stoked, but I’m not. My article, “The Conundrum of LGBTQ-Affirmation” is, as of writing this, front and center at www.patheos.com. This is a big deal because, so far as I can recall, Patheos is the largest English-speaking faith and spirituality website in the world. And something I’ve written is featured front and center.
Cool, right? Well, yeah!
However, because a lot of people, including Christians, are reading this piece, I’m facing an epic backlash. In just the past day and a half, I’ve been told that I’m delusional, that I’ll fry in hell, will lead LGBTQ folks to fry alongside me, and that the devil himself is using me as his tool. The best part? All these comments are coming from so-called Christians.
Now, say what you want about my theological views, or whether you agree with them or not, but know this: It’s not okay to accuse me of being one with the devil. It’s not okay to tell me that I’ll spend an eternity in hell simply because I affirm the LGBTQ community. That’s bullshit. And it needs to stop.
Honestly, if you are one of these types of Christians, what gives you the right to abandon the call to love others, and exchange love for hatred, spite, and malice? What makes you think that by your own standard, you won’t also fry in your monster god’s eternal torture chamber? I bet you’ve got some unresolved sin issues that you wouldn’t be too proud of.
I’ve faced all this nonsense before. That’s why, if you check out the “endorsements” for my book Heretic!, you’ll notice they aren’t your standard variety. Here’s just a taste:
“We are no match for this professor of word vomit, who, in all reality, is getting 90% of his info from Wikipedia or a bitter Rabbi who has no reason to revere Scripture as holy.”
“This is a demonic lie. It directly goes against the very words of Jesus and it is a Gospel of the spineless who are not willing to face the hard truth. It’s an affront to Jesus’ work on the cross. It is deceptive, a completely perverted understanding of the Gospel. And people who spread these lies are one with the devil.”
“I know it’s hard, but actually reading the Bible can really illuminate what God actually thinks on topics. Distefano is either a severely ignorant believer or a false teacher.”
“[This book is] a perfect cocktail of disgusting lies.”
Obviously, there is humor to be had here. But humor has to be used or I’d go crazy from all the hatred. If I didn’t make light of this crap, I’d be super-depressed. If I didn’t laugh this off, I’d be down in the dumps for reasons that should be obvious to anyone with a pulse.
But sometimes it DOES bring me down. Bigly.
What I can’t understand is how saying this to strangers makes people feel better about themselves. Do they think they are doing the Lord’s work or something? Are they reading about the same Jesus I read about? What about Jesus makes them think he would approve of any of this?
I try not to identify myself by what I’m not, but I’ve gotta say: It is really hard to be a Christian these days. I know I’ve harped on this a lot on this blog, and I know I don’t even think about that label, but I can’t help but think how detrimental so-called Jesus followers are to the actual mission and message of Jesus.
No wonder people leave Christianity behind!
It’s not that they want to have license to sin. It’s not that they’ve hardened their hearts. It’s that self-proclaimed Christians have. Christians are to be known by their love, and too often, I see nothing but hatred.
So, you can write me off as a hell-bound heretic or a devil-worshipping piece of shit, if that’s what you must do. But here’s the deal. I will instantly ban your ass from this page. I will delete your stupid, closeminded comments, and quickly move on to bigger and better things. I won’t tolerate your nonsense on here, not until you open your tiny, little minds up a little.
(End of rant.)
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