Verity Baptist and the Gospel of Hate

“If we lived in a righteous government, they should round them all up and put them up against a firing wall, and blow their brains out.” 

-- Pastor Roger Jimenez of Verity Baptist Church, Sacramento, CA

Pastor Roger Jimenez claims he was misconstrued when he made this statement concerning the recent, deadly attack at the gay friendly nightclub in Orlando.  I sit here reading the words; over and over, trying to construe the statement any other way than that which is so sadly obvious.  You can call me stupid, I don't see it. 

I have issues with Christian hate.  I have issues with ostracizing those in the gay community wishing to worship as Christians.  How is holding this community at arm’s length going to instill them with the love, tolerance, and the gentle understanding which is Christ?  No.  He says his words were not a call to action, and this denial is, in itself, hateful bullshit spewing from the pie hole of yet another Christian hypocrite professing to be holier than thou.  These righteous constantly, and conveniently, forget we are not to judge the servant of another, for it is to their own master they must stand or fall.  If their master is to be Christ then we should welcome them and pray that they stand tall at judgement.  It is for us to guide, not to judge; divine judgment is the purview of God, not of man.

This, so-called, "pastor" goes on to state, “As far as the Bible is concerned, they crossed a line. The sin they performed is worthy of death.”  And, again, we see another minister that reads the Bible and interprets it to meet his own agenda of divisiveness and hate.  I'm the first to admit my lack of biblical knowledge, but I am learning as I go.  Clergy who take the Bible as it is written, as the unquestioning WORD of God, should be intelligent enough to also take time out to understand what they read.  For instance, the biggest mistake clergy makes, as in the case of Roger Jimenez, is to judge:

Who are you to judge a Servant who is not yours? For if he stands, he stands to his Master, and if he falls, he falls to his Master, for it is appointed to his Master to be able to establish him.

-- Romans 14:4

One article wrote that Jimenez "says the deaths shouldn’t be mourned because if the victims were gay, then the Bible calls them sinners, and they deserved to die."  Well, maybe we should first come to grips with who really wrote the Bible before we go translating it, interpreting it, and mucking up the Word of God, yet again for the umpteenth time.  But, most Christians don't want to know the story behind the Bible.  They don't want to hear about the multiple translations into languages that don't directly translate word for word, or even in spirit, the unique nuances of language and culture.  They really have no concept of the education of the monks doing said translating, or of their "creative" desire to fluff up the tales a tad.  They don't want to hear about the incomplete texts embellished in order to produce a complete document.  What they would rather do, is to have blind faith in the personal agendas of their clergy to not lead them astray.  Good luck with that.

“When he said ‘it’s unfortunate that more people were not killed at this club,’ how does that follow from any religious doctrine that more killing is what God wants?'”

-- Baker Peeples

Baker Peeples' statement, above, should be an eye opener to the very insanity that was the catalyst for the incident in Orlando.  How does the murdering of a segment, a culture, in our society follow from any religious doctrine that this is what a loving God would want?  And how does the desire to compound that killing, with yet more death, make us any different than the animal that wrought this terror upon us?  When do we, as Christians, also cross the line into heresy and commit "radical terrorism" in the name of God?  How does becoming the very evil we fear forward God's agenda of peace, love, understanding and tolerance? 

Clergy around the Sacramento area condemned the remarks made by Pastor Jimenez:

This past Sunday morning, there was a heartless and heartbreaking statement made by a Sacramento pastor to his congregation related to the shootings in Orlando. It was then posted online and broadcast on the nightly news. These comments, applauding the death of innocent people, are completely contrary to the Bible’s teaching and God’s heart. His statements do not represent Jesus nor hundreds of Sacramento pastors whose hearts have been broken and are praying for the loved ones so tragically affected by this cowardly act. As Sacramento pastors, we are united in our prayers and sadness for those who have lost loved ones and for those even now fighting for their lives. May God’s love prevail in this tragedy.

-- City Pastors Fellowship of Sacramento

So, it would seem from this condemnation by "hundreds of Sacramento pastors whose hearts have been broken and are praying for the loved ones so tragically affected by this cowardly act," that perhaps Christian interpretation of biblical scripture might require deeper thought and understanding from some clergy before spouting it from their pulpit.  Doesn't it then follow that, if clergy should be cautious of what they interpret, perhaps the congregation, the least of us, should also read scripture with an open and active mind?  It might even pay for us to review our understanding of the Qur'an, and of the personal, religious, and/or political agendas driving Islam's own heretical clergy to claim the destruction of beauty and innocence is an edict of Allah.

The world needs to understand that we all live in a state of balance.  For light there is dark, wet there is dry, good there is evil, and for love there is hate.  We live in this balance because it would be impossible to experience, understand, and appreciate, one without the other.  As much as we deplore these despicable acts, God visits them upon us so we never forget to appreciate the other side of the coin and try to keep the balance favoring the Gospel of Good over the Gospel of Evil.

Pastor Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist church fame is another hate monger which interprets the Bible to excuse fomenting his own acts of heresy and hatred upon society and Christianity.  Can we stop him?  Not legally, nor, perhaps, should we.  His ilk reminds us of who we truly are.  They make us look in the mirror of self-judgment to see if we stand tall before them and are worthy to protect the least of us against their vile hatred.  Concerning the Westboro Baptist church, someone once wrote, "But the Constitution does not empower government to decide what is legitimate in religious belief, or to censor anybody who chooses to preach a gospel of hate."

A last helping of food for thought concerning the "Gospel of Hate" as written up by the Toledo blade:

THE Constitution is a hard mistress. Those who love it must obey its toughest commands, as they are embodied in the First Amendment, which upholds the rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion. Most of the time, tolerance is easy. But it's not the easy issues that most need the Constitution's protection.

-- Toledo Blade, “Gospel of hate” (10/10/2010)

“Give what is Caesar's to Caesar and what is God's to God,” tries to come to grips with our Constitution and religious or spiritual faith.  That "hard mistress" which is our Constitution was further exercised as Sacramento rose up to show this "pastor," Jimenez, that the pendulum of free speech, the First Amendment, swings both ways.

Bravo, Sacramento!  Bravo!

Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider another viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, and instructor. He is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path," which offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination.