Re:This Is Not a Day Care. It’s a University
by warfangle on Tuesday December 01, 2015 @02:32PM
(#10658059)
A lot of the very right-wing evangelical churches do.
I grew up in one. They use words that mean one thing to everyone else but mean (via subtext) another thing entirely to the in-group.
That's why I specifically called out that kind of church; I thought I was careful about that. I've been in many churches that are amazing, wonderful places. But I've been to other churches (usually PCA) that can be downright evil.
Edit: this wasn't about skin color, but more LGBTQ/nonbelievers. They're a very different breed of bigot than Those Who Wear Sheets.
Please do not read any tone into what I'm saying here, because if you've gotten that message I honestly don't know how. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." - John 13:34
The verse you reference above is in the context of marriage and you hear it a lot at weddings, but the context of love within Christian community is always going to go straight to the way that Jesus defined it. There's no part of the Christian community that is going to try to override what Jesus said. "Just as I have loved you" means unconditionally. It doesn't mean as long as they agree with you, have the same color skin as you, speak the same language as you or fit some specific stencil.
I realize this is a bit off-kilter for Hacker News but sermons that talk about how we are all sinners in need of forgiveness are there specifically for two reasons.
1. No matter what you have done, God will forgive you. No matter what you have done, God loves you.
2. Because God will forgive the worst of us who truly asks for forgiveness, we have no right to deny forgiveness to anyone who truly asks for it either.
I've visited a lot of different churches throughout the southeast in my life and I've never once heard a minister say anything that implies anything other than the above.