Burnishing Bigotry - 3rd edition

Daniel #011: Next you say that, ―[my claiming that] Paul [was] a homophobe and that
the church [is] supporting his lies is dangerous ground to walk on‖ … Well again, my Friend -- it
depends on what you mean by ―dangerous‖. If by ―dangerous‖ you mean ―inaccurate‖, then I
would disagree, as the Bible quite clearly shows Paul to be a man who responded quite
melodramatically, quite aggressively, and often quite bigotedly towards all those he felt were
disagreeing with him or who were disagreeable to him – and homosexuals were clearly one of
these groups (1 Corinthians 6 is an extremely unfriendly chapter to many groups of sinners, I think you
can admit) … Now if by ―dangerous‖ you mean risking my Soul being tossed to Hell for
questioning the holiness of Paul (or the sanctity of the Christian church‘s dogma which was primarily
founded upon the contents of Paul‘s letters), then I think you are probably spot on. I admittedly
find Paul to be far less than ―holy‖ in his writings. Do I find him to be devoted? Yes, I do …
And do I find him to be sincere? Yes – and passionate? Yes, again. And yet if by ―holy‖ we
mean in alignment with the teachings of Jesus Christ &/or in harmony with the all-Loving nature
of Jesus‘ celestial Father, then ―holy‖ Paul most certainly is NOT!
Of course, if God truly is as unkind and as testy as you & Paul & his church claim Him to
be – if this does prove to be the case, then I am prepared to meet that fate with gratitude towards
God in my Heart (for the amazing life I have led up to now) and forgiveness for Him on my lips (for
the radically unjust consequences He will have seen fit to administer – not only to me, but to all the other
―sinners‖ & ―heathens‖ He has allowed the minions of Hell to eternally torture & torment) …
But then again, maybe God‘s Grace is far greater than that, my Friend – maybe ―The
Apocalypse of Peter‖ (a writing that was considered to be valid Scripture up until at least 200 years after
the death of Jesus Christ) is correct – where it states that God eventually remembers His perfect
Mercy and calls all those damned in Hell to come be with Him in Heaven; just like the Prodigal
Son was welcomed home without expectation or condition (see Luke 15:11-32) … And maybe –
just maybe – there is no Hell waiting for us whatsoever. After all, the Old Testament contains no
concept of post-mortem damnation until the book of Daniel (one of the last Old Testament books to
be written), and Jesus in the Gospels
spoke not of ―Hell‖ as you are
envisioning it, but rather of
Gehenna – which was an actual
garbage-burning dump located
outside the walls of Jerusalem in
his day; one that symbolically
adorned Jesus‘ teachings &
sermons quite well.
In closing, at least as far as
Hell & Heaven are concerned, I
guess we will all simply have to
wait and see – and Love as many
folks as possible – and serve as
many of the downtrodden as
possible – and forgive as many of
our trespassers as possible in the
meantime!
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