i was not approving what they did


it actually wrong in my opinion

that is why i posted the sermon topics

just goes back to the hypocrisy of every organized church i have ever attended

i have never attended this particular church

but i have attended many

and various denominations

jon, the church OFFERED to hold the service, because they loved the family. they weren't ASKED to.

to make such an offer and then rescind is just...cruel.

It is inhuman to go back on things like that.

It always makes me sad to discover that other people, especially supposedly spiritual people, have such an incredibly different conception of "love" than I do:

That paster said: "Even though we could not condone that lifestyle, we
Went above and beyond for the family through many acts
Of love and kindness," Simons said. "

Many acts of love and kindness? I see no love, kindness or even basic decency in the actions of this church.

Kat- thanks for pointing this out. If no one speaks out when they see something they believe is wrong it is assumed by all that they assent to those actions.

_______
adj4u-

I just wanted to address what you said because I *think* I know how you feel- for many years I stayed away from all churches because of all the hypocrisy and horrible experiences I had with them. But part of me longed for the sense of a community, a coming together to try to develop and share their beliefs and ethics. And I missed the singing lol... so I go to a Unitarian Universalist Church now.

My church accepts and attempts to cherish all- all religions pagens, jews, catholics, budhists, etc. all races, all orientations, ALL. Perhaps you can still find a place for you to share your religion with others, should you so desire. Of course I often skip church to worship my God at the beach... but in my church this is well understood and accepted with no hint that it is an incorrect prioritization....

That sounds like the church I am a memeber of. They accept all and welcome all. They even go the extra mile to protect them. Such as put together special meetings and private rooms. Reason for this is; there are prostitutes and exotic dancers and the like trying to come to believe in something. We even had a man come in drunk one morniing holding a glass in his hand and in his housecoat. He was welcomed in front of the congregation and asked to please have a seat and stay in control of himself and he was welcom. He came back a few more times (sober) and said when he felt the need that he would definately be coming back to our church. He said he felt loved, accepted and a presence. He comes back now and again, always sober.

While being bible people believing the way they read it; belive gay is a sinful action, they still welcome all gays and the like with open arms. It is after all; "love the person".

Kat

Well, if people want doctrine, what about humanity, isn't that enough?

???

We are all the same, Human. Loved by someone. With basic human rights.

Kat

I think humanity is a doctrine we all should live, whether we belong to a church, or a religion, or what ever.

Exactly.
Kat

Thats simply unbelievable what this pastor did.

I fear that the outrage in this post is too specific. That being, that others would not honor a man who served their country, when the greatest risk was his alone.

This people is not the outrage. The outrage is that we have people in power who believe as that church believes. Because it is so, there is a huge miscarriage of the rights that this country was founded on.

It took two hundred years for those who were so oppressed due to their very nature that they hid away in fear to make their presence known. In 1969 in New York was the first major breakthrough. It's referred to as Stonewall.

37 years ago the world was forced to see that an entire culture had been left out of the rights and privileges that every other citizen was guaranteed.

The outrage here is not that religion is allowed to believe what they will, and follow the dogma of their beliefs. The outrage is that 37 years ago this unequitable treatment was uncovered for all to see. Over 25 years ago it was conceded by the medical professionals that the nature of those, whose rights were denied, suffered no illness. The outrage is that there has been an ongoing battle to claim the rights, to quantify the humanity of those denied equal treatment under the constitution, without concession.

Save your letters and emails and phone calls to the churches, send them instead to your representatives. Send your beliefs to those in your State who control the unequal employment rights, unequal renting and home purchasing practices, unequal insurance benefits, unequal adoption premises, unequal family protection, unequal legal representation by Judges who claim those of the GLBT community unfit to have parenting rights.

And if you are as outraged that ANY citizen is denied the same, equal rights that this constitution was meant to provide, then make your next contact the HRC. Get involved because once an inequity exists, there is no guarantee that YOU will not find yourself also disqualified from equal treatment.

He fought for his country, probably suffered in doing so.

And all he got for his sacrifice was a slap in the face.


sad.

As my friend Red said; it is not about him being a soldier and risking his life for his country; it is about him being gay. It is about his basic human right to be memorialized or whatever it is called in the church of his family. That is the outrage, my friends. His sexuality, his lifestyle, his humanity.
It isn't bad enough we have these quacks out there picketing funerals of gay people and soldiers, now we have this.
Red is right. More can be achieved by sending letters or e mail to our leaders. I do. I am involved on a constant. Whenm I believe in something so strong, I am a force, and will be heard from. It is up to us, the people that believe in human rights to take a stand for equality in the Nation.
Thanks for reminding me Di.

Kay

This is clearly blind bigotry at its worst.

They say they don’t want to “condone” homosexuality?

So what if they guy was a convicted murder?

I’m sure they wouldn’t have a problem with that.

So what are they saying?

They condone murder, but not homosexuality?

It’s not the place of a church to condone or not condone anything.

All they are supposed to do is preach the gospel.

Like adj said, “Hate the sin, not the sinner”.

I don’t believe that Jesus even spoke to the issue of homosexuality.

So I’m not sure where they even get the idea that it’s a sin in the first place?

They are obviously two-faced hypocrites.

As Red pointed out, they’re everywhere. Not just in churches.

But the ones who justify their bigotry in the name of a God are the worse of all.

Their behavior is despicable.

some thoughts on the point

of homosexuality and the bible


http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bibx.htm

I checked out the religious site you gave adj,

They pretty much confirm what I had suspected:

From that site:
"Of the many hundreds of Jesus' instructions and prohibitions recorded in the gospels, few if any have a sexual component and none deal with homosexuality."

If Jesus really was God, and he was concerned about homosexuality I'm sure that he would have addressed the issue.

Combining the New and the Old Testaments is to have your cake and eat it too so-to-speak. If both are combined together you can ALWAYS find something to support any bigoted position.

The old testament has extremely superstitious and prejudiced ideas in it, not to mention that it’s plagued with male chauvinism as well as apparently condoning things like slavery since it speaks to the issues of how to treat slaves.

Jesus was constantly changing the laws that had been stated in the old testament.

So thank you for posting support for my position. Jesus said NOTHING about homosexuality.

hehehhehe

there are a few more points there


but i never said i disagreed with your position


i actually voted against the marriage is only man and woman
fascist thing

I think the church was wrong to cancel the memorial. I think the proper thing to do would have been to remove the pictures of the young man kissing and embracing men in an affectionate manner and allow the memorial to go on. The deceased could have been memorialized without mentioning his homosexuality. Homosexuality is a sin in Christianity, but it's no worse than any other sin. A memorial for any sinner should just include the love, service and accomplishments of the deceased and ignore the sins. But I think that while we can point out that the church failed in this respect, we should always keep in mind our own failures, to keep ourselves grounded and avoid being overly judgemental of their actions.

I'm plenty grounded spider, I think.

If a church is to take away the rights of any sinner, then shouldn't it be all sinners? No one sin is more than another. If it's sin being the reason for the late notice, and ultimate rejection, then what of all sinners? The ones living together, smokers, drud users, suicide, liars, and so forth and so forth. Where does it stop? What about gluttony? Wasting water, ie; home pools, smog, the air. These people opened a can of worms when they chose to be the judge of finding one sin over another as being worse. IF "homosexuality" truly is a sin, it should be considered a lesser sin because it is only mentioned, I think, two times. Once in reference to adultery and another that slips my mind right now. Twice...There are so many more, mentioned much more.

This church made it'self judge jury and executioner. "LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN"............

Kat

"This church made it'self judge jury and executioner."

Amen