Our local minister of a predominantly LGBT church responds to the new 1st Baptist Church minister

[w8liftinglady]

(Courtesy and props to D Magazine)

http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2012/01/24/cathedral-of-hopes-jo-hudson-responds-to-robert-jeffress-article/

Jo Hudson is the senior pastor of the Cathedral of Hope, which serves a predominantly LGBT congregation and is generally credited with being the world’s largest such church. Hudson read our profile of First Baptist Dallas’ Robert Jeffress, and, as you might imagine, she wasn’t thrilled. She writes:

Unlike your writer, I don’t want to hate Robert Jeffress. On the contrary, I realize that his arrival at First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, has ushered in a revival. A person who leads a church like that can’t be all bad.

The revival of any Christian church is a good thing. It means that people are hearing the Christian message and being transformed by the love of God. Overall, the recent developments at First Baptist Church of Dallas would appear to be great news for the greater body of Christ in the Dallas area.

But then, the writer quotes the words of Dr. Jeffress from the sermon he delivered “Gay is not OK:”

“What they (homosexuals) do is filthy. It is so degrading that it is beyond description. And it is their filthy behavior that explains why they are so much more prone to disease.” Dr. Jeffress went on to suggest that members of the LGBTQ community are destined for hell.


I’m reminded of the quote by the writer Anne Lamott: “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”

How can a minister of the Good News of Jesus Christ who clearly is enjoying success through loving his neighbor as himself condemn a group of people who happen to love people of the same gender? How is this not a violation of Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbors, including our gay neighbors?


Much more at site...



(I LOVE Dr Hudson. She is NOT afraid to stand up for her congregation)

[closeupready]

1. As a former Catholic, it's hard 4 me 2 agree w/"The revival of any Christian church is a good thing"

Both in terms of the historic hatred Protestants had/have for Catholic doctrine, but even moreso because Christianity, as it is effectively subscribed to by the vast majority of Christians, is deeply and irrevocably homophobic, particularly when one considers Paul's hatred for sex.

So I don't consider a revival of any Christian church a 'good thing', necessarilys. It can be if it is a church that welcomes gay people and embraces them as part of their community, such as the ones which some terrific GLBT DU members attend.

[MNBrewer]

2. Ditto! It depends completely on exactly what's being "revived".

Not a former Catholic. Former Methodist, here, btw.

[Bluenorthwest]

3. I sort of think what Hudson says stinks and stands with

hate in the end. Luke warm, the religious folks call it.

[MNBrewer]

4. Revelation 3:15-16

"I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!"