Posted on 09/10/2011 7:14:38 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Actress Kristin Chenoweth is a self-identifying Christian who has sparked controversy by speaking out about her support of the gay community in an interview with lesbian and gay publication The Advocate.
The LBGT publication asked the TV and theater star: "What would you ask people who cite Christianity as their justification for passing laws that discriminate against people?"
Chenoweth replied, "I would ask, 'What would Jesus do?' It sounds so cliché and Pollyanna-ish, but I have a feeling if he were on the earth today, he wouldn't be walking around saying, 'You’re going to hell' and 'You're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong.' I think he'd be accepting and loving."
Chenoweth is best known for her theater and television roles such as Glinda in "Wicked" and April Rhodes on "Glee." The actress is also releasing her fourth studio album Some Lessons Learned on Sept. 13.
Chenoweth is not new to controversy over her conflicting beliefs. In 2005, she was fired from a "Woman in Faith" concert for her support of gay rights.
Analysts for Focus on the Family refer to pro-gay Christians as a part of a larger movement called "Pro-Gay Revisionist Theology." Leaders of this movement claim Christians' prejudice against homosexuals leads them to misread biblical texts about homosexuality.
Christian Research Institute's Joseph P. Gudel says, "I realize that it is not 'politically correct' to speak critically concerning any person or group. Nonetheless, true Christian love does not ignore immorality and the lives ruined by it, but speaks out in the hope of helping those individuals."
Contradictions are not Chenoweth's concern, however. "I don't judge you for your opinions, so please don't judge me for mine," the actress said in response to critics.
"I read my Bible and I pray and all of that – I really do," Chenoweth told The Advocate. "But at the same time, I don't think being gay is a sin. Period."
Just to let you know, if you want to take me on in an argument where you want to defend the leftist policy of ‘Seperation of Church and State’, you will lose.
I absolutely find your statements of telling Christians that they have no place legislating their beliefs highly offensive.
And I am not even Christian. I just hate anti-religious bigots.
AMEN !!! I may get flamed for this too. I am against the act NOT the person. Folks be very very careful telling people they are going to Hell for you are not the judge.
Let me tell you about my mother, she loved people unconditionally eventhough she was a democrat conservative. There was no grey area for her, it was either wrong or right - period. You see my mother grew up in the church. I have uncles, cousins who are ministers. My mother was not a church goer perse, but she deeply love and believe in God. My mother was told she would go to Hell, etc. Well on day she had a near death experience and she saw Jesus. From what she told me she saw him standing in front of her and she saw children playing round him and infants flew and landed to sit on his shoulder. He radiated a bright glow. He then called her but she refuse to look at him, and then he called my mother to look up, but again refused. He then asked why does she not want to look at him. She told him that she was not worthy and that she was going to Hell. He then asked her who told you that? My mother refused, so he “OO I know, don’t worry I will take of that person” He gave her the option to stay with him or go back. Well the Lord gave my mother another 10 years.
So you see folks, don’t pass judgement for only God can do. I recall my mother received a call from a relative asking what was she suppose o do with her lesbian sister attending church. My mother did not judge, she told that relative “Let her continue going to church and pray for her”.
Well now my lesbian relative left that lifestyle, had she put up with people saying your going to Hell. I doubt she would change. I am proud that my mother showed unconditional Love and that is how it should be.
So be careful what you say to other for God is recording every word that is coming out of your tongue.
Kristen will learn in the afterlife for now let her give her opion. Remember in the last days churches will become cold, but let not your Heart be cold.
|
I’ll probably get flamed, but I am a Christian and I don’t have a “problem” with people who are homosexuals... just as I don’t have a problem with people who are alcoholics or people who are overweight because they eat too much. A person who is any of those things has a disorder- whether it be a sexual, substance abuse or eating disorder. Is it a sin to have homosexual sex? Well, yeah. It’s also a sin to drink or eat too much. But I’m not going to run up to these people and wag my finger in their face and tell them to repent! Jesus tells us to love one another, not condemn one another. I do have a problem with anyone who promotes homosexuality as “normal”. It isn’t. For a guy to do you know what with another guy is biologically disordered. I also have a problem with the redefinition of marriage as anything but between a man and a woman. Because the state shouldn’t legislate that children be denied either a mother or a father, and that’s what homosexual marriage does. Beyond that, any redefinition opens the door for polyamory, etc., and that isn’t good for children, either. Anyway, my 2 cents. =========== Your "I count" is six and the sum of references to God, Jesus and the Bible is one ... Just Sayin...
Leviticus 18:22 (KJV): "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind it is abomination." Leviticus 20:13: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." Romans 1:24-32: Romans 8: http://www.bible.com/bibleanswers_result.php?id=246 |
You have corrupted the context of Jim Robinson’s statement.
The proper exerption would be:
“We oppose all forms of... GOVERNMENT ENFORCED... homosexualism...”
Decriminalization, benign neglect and non-recognizance are not government enforcement of anything.
If Jimrob meant to exclude all libertarian type leanings, then he should amend the statement and then ban about a third of Free Republic’s membership if not more.
And how many other types of behavior do you feel the same way about? Or is this just a special feeling you have for homosexual behavior?
Would you say ‘let the outspoken pedophile continue to come to church’ or ‘let the person who is promoting bestiality openly continue to come to church’.
I am just wondering if you hold all corrupt forms of behavior in the same regard.
Let’s see, Glee seems to be about living the lifestyle that simply is not in harmony with what Christians should be seeking to live, not just homosexuality, but also cohabitation, fornication, etc. This is also fairly typical of TV shows in general as well. Ironically, during the show I Love Lucy, the stars of the show, who were married in real life and in the show, weren’t even shown sharing the same bed, things have certainly changed, and changed drastically for that matter.
>> A quote of Mahatma Gandhi
Perhaps; I really don’t know. I’ll take your word for it
>> ... and not biblical.
Well, on that, we’ll have to agree to disagree, if I can’t win you over based on Scripture. While those exact words are not found in Scripture, it is the very essence of what Jesus taught (ref: John 8:1-11; in fact, I’d recommend reading this chapter in its entirety. His disciples and apostles echoed this teaching in other Scripture. (Ref: pretty much all of 1 John).
Jesus loves us all, even the worst of sinners...he wants them to repent and come home.
Jesus doesn’t want any of us to go to hell.
Jesus doesn’t want any of us to be telling others that they’re going to hell, because that is not our job nor is it something we know.
Jesus does not want us committing sins and yet we all commit many.
Practicing sin is the wrong thing to do.
Jesus wants us to pray for the grace to not commit sins and to pray for mercy for sinners.
Jesus does not want us to pretend sins are not sin. If we accept sins as good, how can we ever repent and come home.
Hollywood is full of evil...prayer is the answer.
A good way of summarizing, IMO, conservativism, is the fact that it emphasizes people having their own enormous degree of self-reliance and self-esteem. The problem with some ideologies is that they tend to progress to the opposite, where some people become ultimately unfairly burdened by the expenses of what some other people do.
I don’t condemn them, but that doesn’t mean I wholeheartedly and enthusiastically endorse their lifestyles and their agendas. Sadly, in their opinions, my failure to do the latter means to them that I condemn them.
“We oppose all forms of... GOVERNMENT ENFORCED... homosexualism...”
Hopefully Jim Robinson will clarify the meaning of his statement. My reading of it is that the "government enforced" modifier is applicable to "atheism".
I base my contention of this interpretation on the fact that Free Republic is unabashedly pro-God. Thus, it seems to me that opposition to homosexuality in any form harmonizes with the goals of Free Republic.
As stated in my initial posting, I humbly submit to correction if my understanding of Jim's statement is flawed.
IMHO, few people forget about the concept of purgatory. I will admit that I am catholic, and it is primarily a Catholic thought, but I personally feel that most people don’t do something serious enough to merit truly being cut off from the glory of God forever, which is a really long time, even if someone did something wretched to someone in such a short life, however, purgatory does, at least to me, exist as something sensible from God.
Again, for someone who feels that someone is living the wrong life, whether it’s cohabitation, homosexuality, being a member of an incorrect faith, talking about hellfire is among the last things you should ever do, in any of those situations, IMO, people who wish to talk about hellfire need to realize that all of these people are far more, for the most part alienated than gain interest in changing their course. What’s even worse, in my view, is personally my own concern that playing around with talking about what’s really only God’s job.
Not sure quite what you mean. You don't think homosexuality is normal and you don't believe in gay marriage.
Well, that's the position of 99% of the folks who are on FR. The Gay Lobby would label you as having a "problem".
>> I am against the act NOT the person. Folks be very very careful telling people they are going to Hell for you are not the judge.
Amen.
>> I may get flamed for this too.
Maybe so, but not by me: you have Holy Scripture on your side, and it’s very clear.
This of course does NOT meant that homosexual *behavior* is to be accepted without speaking out against it, or otherwise condoned; the scripture is *very* clear on that point, as well. And we are admonished in Scripture *not* to accept sin among us.
However, as you point out, it is *not* for any of us to judge the fate of anyone’s eternal soul. Even Jesus does not claim that role, although He could (Ref John 8:15,16); instead, He serves as an advocate for all of Christendom before the Father. I pray I will *never* sin by usurping the power of the Almighty by judging another in that regard. To be fair, I must pray for forgiveness, because I have in fact done just that on occasion, and it is very much *not* my role to do so.
FRegards
JimRob as the owner of the site and our host here is, of course, welcomed to correct me, but I think “homosexualism” refers calling evil “good” in regard to homoerotic behavior, particularly when that vile position is expanded into a political program.
Reddy was not doing that. (Note the scorn quotes around “problem” in his post.) He was reminding us that other temptations can lead one to sins and sins unrepented of lead to the wages of sin, which is death. And yup, gluttony, of which drunkenness is also a variety, is there on the list of the seven deadly sins, and the longer list us Orthodox prefer of the eight grievous vices, along with lust, of which homoerotic lust is simply an exotic variety.
It is salutary to remember that, while unrepented homoerotic acts will lead one to hell (as St. Paul reminds us), so will unrepented anger, pride, gluttony, avarice, envy, sloth, or ordinary heterosexual lust, or the corresponding sins of falling off the “royal road on the right side”, false meekness refusing to resist evil, false humility that is really a form of pride, abstemiousness about food (which FReepers rightly savage when the left tries to tell us not to eat meat — I think it falls under “wacko environmentalism” in most cases), and so forth.
I trust that JimRob opposes and will oppose all political movements current or futures that call “good” what traditional Christian morality knows to be evil, even as I, and I trust you do. We just don’t happen to face an obnoxious in-your-face demand that we all accept gluttony as an untrammeled good, replete with speech codes in defense of it, glutton-pride marches and the like, the way we do vis-a-vis sodomy. (Or maybe we do, denunciations of “lookism” applied to the obese turn up on college campuses from time to time, it’s just not as energetic or odious as homosexualism. And guess, what, FReepers uniformly mock and oppose such rubbish, too.)
>> Actually, he’d have no problem telling the homosexual he or she is wrong, as he did with the woman caught in adultery (John 8). Jesus did not condemn in that passage, but, being holy, Jesus abhorred sin. As with the woman caught in adultery, Jesus would suggest to Chenoweth and anyone else that the homosexual must repent of that sin in order to enter the Kingdom of God. So yes, he’d say “you’re wrong”. Being God, Jesus could do no less.
An excellent exposition of that Scripture. Very useful. Thank you!
Because society automatically thinks that if someone is young, beautiful and talented that they must have a great many other positive qualities, too. Who knows, maybe this chick is just playing the showbiz game and saying what the entertainment degenerates want to hear, but being Christian and bearing false witness is a dangerous game.
I was just reading Matthew chapter 7, studying the part about all the miracle workers and prophets that *won't* get to heaven. After reading what this chick said I think I finally understand that verse.
Placemark for pingout.
Well said, and I agree.
Thanks very much for a thoroughly interesting and obviously thoughtful post.
Focusing on Conservatism, I am of the strong opinion that homosexuality is counter to its core values. I'll go so far to state that a "Gay Conservative" is a contradiction in terms. I personally see organizations such as GOProud and the Log Cabinites as a fifth column undermining Constitutional Conservatism.
On the other hand, there are certainly sins (and make no mistake, sins they are) that don't preclude one from being an authentic Conservative. Although gluttony is by no means a laudable trait, I think it is possible for one to be an Obese Conservative and even be a Conservative who drinks to excess. (And this comes from a non-drinker).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.