- Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
-- 1 John 2:4
- Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.
-- 1 John 2:9
- If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
-- 1 John 4:20
- “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam [is] in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."
-- Matthew 7:1 - 5
- What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ...
-- James 2:14 - 26
- Like the glaze covering an earthen vessel are fervent lips with an evil heart. Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart; when he speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart; though his hatred be covered with deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
-- Proverbs 26:23 - 26
- Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.
-- Proverbs 24:28
- Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
-- Jeremiah 9:4
- “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?"
-- Luke 6:6
- But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
-- James 1:22 - 24
- Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.”
Micah 3:11
- Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I [am] the LORD.
-- Leviticus 19:18
- Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
-- Matthew 7:12
- 31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth [his] sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed [thee]? or thirsty, and gave [thee] drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took [thee] in? or naked, and clothed [thee]?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] not to one of the least of these, ye did [it] not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
-- Matthew 25:31 - 46
You see being a Christian isn't about just knowing what the
Bible says or hearing what one's minister says, or believing in God or Jesus. It also requires one to live it as much as read it and sit occasionally in a church. To the extent that all this rancor I've read comes from folks who self proclaim to be followers of Christ, Christians, what gives them the right? Did Jesus not teach that it's not our place to judge? Is that not exactly what underlies all the hoopla about "being forced to do this?"
Frankly, I say "How dare one make the accusations these people have regarding gays, or anything gays do, in the name of Christ, as so-called followers of Christ, or in the name of anything meaning to be Christian. None of it and nothing about it is Christian!" I am truly sad and prayerful for Christians who would have anyone believe they take their faith seriously for their remarks such as the several I've seen in this thread suggest to me their faith in the truth of Christianity's message as given not just by Jesus, but also by the Old Testament prophets -- the truth that by following all of God's instructions all the time they will find redemption and salvation -- isn't all that strong. And
I say that as someone who knows and has long and often argued that it is only through faith that I come to believe in God and that He and Jesus are as described in the Bible.
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
-- Matthew 16:26
Christianity is not a thing to use to knock down someone else or find their faults. It is the way to find and express the goodness in oneself that one's soul may be lifted up to God's kingdom on the day of judgement, judgement that is God's, and His alone, right to mete.
