5 area churches work together to put up billboards declaring Christ’s love extends to gays, lesbians
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What would Jesus do?
For some people, that’s just a slogan on a jelly bracelet. But for a coalition of five LGBT churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, it is the basis for what they hope will be productive dialogue with those on the conservative side of Christianity about the relationship between homosexuality and the church.
As part of an international campaign to promote such dialogue, the five local churches have banded together to pay for four billboards for the month of September. The billboards are placed strategically along Interstate 30, between Dallas and Fort Worth — two on the eastbound side, and two on the westbound side.
Two of the four have black backgrounds on which is written, in large pink letters, “Would Jesus Discriminate?” At the bottom is the Web site for the campaign, WhyWouldWe.org.
The other two carry much more “provocative” messages, according to the Rev. Colleen Darraugh, senior pastor of MCC of Greater Dallas. Darraugh’s church joined with Promise MCC in Oak Cliff, Trinity MCC in Arlington, Harvest MCC in Denton and Agape MCC in Fort Worth for the campaign.
“One of them says ‘Jesus affirmed a gay couple,” and the other says, ‘The early church welcomed a gay man,’” Darraugh said.
Those are the billboards, she added, that are getting the biggest response.
The Rev. Jon Haack, senior pastor at Promise MCC, agreed, but said the response “has been largely positive.”
“We’ve gotten responses from people saying, ‘Thank you so much,’ and a few have written us to say this has given them hope for Christians and hope for themselves for the first time,” Haack said.
Even the messages in opposition have been, in general, “respectful,” he said.
But not all of them.
“We’ve gotten responses from people saying that God does discriminate, that homosexuality is a sin. One e-mail had the subject line, ‘How dare you’ and then it went on, ‘pervert the word of God. This will not be tolerated by God.’
“Some of them are even sarcastic, like the one that said something like ‘I’m so glad men can sleep with men and women can sleep with women, even though I, God, destroyed cities because of that kind of thing.’”
Some, Darraugh continued, suggest that “we read our Bibles again, and that we be faithful to Scripture. The thing is, that is exactly what we believe we are doing.
“I can’t see a single example in the Bible of Jesus discriminating against anyone,” she said. “One of the biggest difficulties is that people quote the Bible without looking at the translations from the original. In the original Greek, ‘homosexual’ or ‘homosexuality’ doesn’t appear. But new translations use those words. That is culture imposing itself on Scripture.”
Many LGBT people have turned their back on religion because of the history of churches rejecting and condemning them. And many would question the need to even try to have dialogue with people who use their religious beliefs to persecute and discriminate against LGBT people.
But both Darraugh and Haack said that history is precisely the reason why such dialogue is needed.
“There are many people in the LGBT community for whom this dialogue is very important, because so much damage has been done through the years in the name of Jesus,” Darraugh said. “We are trying to get people to see that, and to see that Jesus had a message of love.
“There is a difference between church tradition and Scripture, and those are the barricades we are trying to take down.”
Even though the billboards have prompted some outrage from more conservative factions — one woman told CBS Channel 11 News she “cringed” when she saw the billboards, and that she was “disgusted at the same time” — Haack said he believes that the billboards’ message will reach a larger, more moderate segment of Christians who are willing to discuss the issue.
“It is my hope that more and more people will begin to engage in productive dialogue on how inclusive God’s love really is, and that more and more people will explore for themselves what the Bible really says, instead of just accepting what they have been told all these years.”
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition September 11, 2009.
Ever play the telephone game in school? Start at one end of the room; have someone read a sentence into their neighbors ear who in turn repeats it to the next person. The sentence the last person in the chain gets is completely different from the starting message.
In this game you are not even changing languages. The Bible has gone through many language translations. These translations are influenced by social and political norms at the time of translation.
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Experiement: Mark 11:12-14 describing how God hates figs…
12. And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: 13. And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not [yet]. 14. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard [it].
Use Bablefish to translate it to German.
12. Und auf dem kommenden Tag, als sie von Bethany gekommen wurden, hatte er Hunger: 13. Und einen Feigebaum Haben der Blätter von weitem sehend, kam er, wenn haply er irgendeine Sache darauf finden konnte: und als er zu ihr kam, fand er nichts aber Blätter; während der Zeit der Feigen war nicht [schon]. 14. Und Jesus, der an sie, kein Mann beantwortet wird und gesagt ist, essen Frucht von thee nachher für überhaupt. Und seine Schüler gehört [es].
Then translate it back.
12. And on the coming day, when her of Bethany were come, it had hunger: 13. And a fig tree credit of the sheets from a distance seeing, he came, if haply he could find any thing on it: and as it to it came, found it to nothing however sheets; during the time of the figs was not [already]. 14. And Jesus, to which to them, no man is answered and is said, fruit of thee eat afterwards for at all. And its pupil belongs [it].
I have been struggeling with this issue and my family for 40 years. Recently, my nephew began his singing career on American Idol in 2007 (hint Navy). After being voted off at number 7 (I believe), he ventured off into “Country Music” and had an alblum & a single released that did “ok”. His music video was featured regularly on CMT. And then, the CD sales didin’t take off, record lable dropped him, and now, “surprise”, he’s a “Christian” music artist. Sadly, my entire family is Assembly of God. And I, the only out gay person in the entire family, is ostercized for being gay. They even had me try “gay-to-straight” therapy. I finshed that, said to them “I’m still gay” and they said I’m going to hell. In the mean time, my Christian Nephew is on the 700 Club being interviewed about his new Christian C.D., and the entire interview was about how exciting it was to have the “American Idol” experience. My respons to my family was this: If the Bible is so literal, and I’m going to hell for being gay, then you are all going to hell for being Idol Worshipers…. I’ve have been waiting my entire life for bilboards such as these, and for someone to finaly be brave enough to put them up. I now feel free and relieved of my guilt for standing up to my family, and the possibility they will never accept me.
Bigotry is sinful, whether it be racism, anti-semitism, or homophobia. Therefore the God of the bible — of Leviticus — is a homophobic sinner. He should repent of His sinful homophobia, should atone for that sin, and should seek forgiveness for the pain and suffering which His sin has inflicted upon gay people for the past 4000 years.
This kind of “in your face” tactic sets us back twice as far as we have moved forward with acceptance. The only part of this whole thing I agree with is that Our Lord and Savior Jesus would not discriminate. The translations that are being used for these billboards are of a “very†liberal nature.