My Salvation, Your Condemnation: First Corinthians

And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of The Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11

Paul (and soon, we will talk about Paul, in depth) was the writer of this epistle. One of the most eloquently written so there would be no misunderstandings, Paul focuses on Christian liberties, division in the church, and sexual purification.

The Church at Corinth was extremely diverse. The Jews, Gentiles, and pagans all worshiped at Corinth. Perhaps, because of the diversity of the church at Corinth and plain ole human nature, the church was considered to be progressive. New ideas, new questions, concerns, and new philosophies came from Corinth. Paul wrote this epistle in response to an earlier misunderstanding and also addressed the issues he was hearing about. Also, he addressed the issues of members of the Church at Corinth.

Chapter 6 of this book deals with Paul and some of his frustrations with the Corinthians. The most general way to describe the source of Paul’s frustration is to say, overall, the Church of Corinth was taking the concept of grace, entirely too far, and instead of being graceful about the things they did or were doing they used grace as a license to sin. Before he goes into his issue with sexual purity, is the verse I’ve cited above. Right before he said this, he’d given a laundry list of transgressive behaviors. For example, adulterers, fornicators, idolaters, etc. And then, he writes, “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of The Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

This, to me, is the epitome of what the New Testament is all about. There are a lot of things that people don’t understand about Jesus’ role and the liberties that we are afforded, through Christ. One of the first things we need to, not simply know, but understand is that Jesus Christ died for our sins. He died the death of all deaths so we could be free. He didn’t die so we would be without sin because as humans, that is virtually impossible. And all things are possible but in essence and figuratively and we will see how that still comes to be true as well, at some point. Knowing how vile and disgusting humans could be, He knew that we would never be able to stand before Him. With unconditional love and grace, He delivered to us, His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, a whole human man that could petition for us. He made His Son so much in his likeness that if we want something from God we need to ask for it through his Son, Jesus. Jesus had such an understanding of Man, Nature, Life, and all it beheld that through faith in Christ alone you will be justified. For example:

A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Romans 3:8

Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1

A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Galatians 2:16

For by grace are ye saved through faith. Ephesians 2:8

Justify: 1. (a) : to prove or show to be just, right, or reasonable. [b(1)] : to show to have had a sufficient legal reason (2) : to qualify (oneself) as a surety by taking oath to the ownership of sufficient property. 2. (a) : to judge, regard, or treat as righteous and worthy of salvation. (b) : to show a sufficient lawful reason for an act to be done.

As you, yourself, can see, these are the very same lessons and ideas that the Church at Corinth received. Why? It just so happens, Paul wrote each of the epistles I listed. With the exception of the last one, concerning grace, the same thing is being said each time, differently. There is no way Paul didn’t deliver this very same message to the Church at Corinth. As a matter of fact, in this correspondence with the Church at Corinth he seems to open up the idea to convey a clearer message. I notice this in 1 Corinthians 6:12 when he declares, All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be bought under the power of any.

This is the beginning of his stance on grace and how it is to be exercised as the church was using grace as a license to sin. I’ll bet it has something to do with the word justified. When I think of something being justified, just as the definition explains, I believe that you become an exception. Not to be mistaken with excused or an excuse which often leads to failure, justified or a justification is legally binding. Excuses and justifications sound the same. I am doing this because of that. I am feeling this because of that. I saw this instead of that. The deciding factor in each instance is the that. If the that is something personal then 9x out of 10x it’s an excuse. But, if the that is legally binding, if the that can stand up in court in your behalf, or if the that is sanctioned by God through his Son Jesus Christ, then it is a justification; you are justified.

With that said, if you trust and believe that Jesus died for your sins, if you believe that Jesus is the son of God, if you have faith in Christ that he is more than happy to bear your crosses, then guess what? THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, YOU ARE JUSTIFIED. As a member of the LGBTQ community, the community that is often on the outs with biblical literalists and a lot of churches, this scripture should not only warm your heart, but it exposes the folly of a lot of our spiritual leaders and people who discriminate, for out of the same Cannon they use to put us down is this Scripture telling us that we are justified. All it asks is that we have grace about it keeping in mind that grace is not a license to sin.

Here, I’ll leave you with an example of Gods grace:

I haven’t blogged about my relationship in a while, but there have been some changes. We no longer live together. The circumstances were unforeseen and we both had to split up to each of our parents houses. Her parents are from Haiti and they are devout Catholics. Her lifestyle disgusts them. As a matter of fact, her father just started speaking to her after not even looking in her direction for over 4 years. It took a lot of tears and a good tongue lashing from her younger brother to get him to see the pain he was causing. My partner and I don’t think there is anything wrong with our lifestyle, but as grace would have it, when I go to her house, we don’t sit too close on the couch, there aren’t any PDAs, I do not hang in her bedroom, she is not gazing into my eyes like she can, and I am not gazing into hers. It’s like High School and we are each 31. We handle our situation gracefully. This is all this scripture promotes. We are all sinners, all of us in some way, shape, or form are sinning. Though we are and have been justified, we have to be graceful about it.

Believe that your salvation is in this justification that God has gracefully bestowed upon us through his only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ and be free!

The Nerve of Me: You Matter!

Yesterday, I told my mom that I gained a new follower. As usual, I was smiling from ear to ear. When I get a new follower or I check my stats and see that 5 people read my post the day before, or when someone likes what they’ve read, it is one of the greatest feelings in the world.

I have longed to write. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve kept journals all of my life, but I’ve always wanted to do the kind of writing that I could share with others. Also, I wanted a platform, on which to write. But, it really wasn’t that cut and dry. I was about 14 when I first heard about online journals. That was 17 years ago.

I don’t know any writers. I would like to think I am a writer, I act as though I am a writer, but I have far too much respect for authors and I humbly settle for – I have the great potential. However, I truly believe that writing is scary. It terrifies me. Keeping a journal is and has been a walk in the park. Sharing your writing with others, though, is a whole ‘nutha game. For as long as I’ve wanted to write, at 14 you would think I would have started my online journal, now popularly known as a blog. But, the thought alone was too overwhelming. What would I write about? Is that important? Who’s going to read it? Are they going to read it? When it came to writing, at this age, my confidence and strength just wasn’t there.

As an adult, though, your paradigm begins to shift and you grow defenses. Being able to protect your own self is liberating and refreshing and, finally, here I am. And sure, it’s been 17 years, but, allowing others to read what I’ve written has been the greatest challenge. It’s still very challenging. After each post, thus far, the moment I am about to click “Publish” a pang of anxiety signals through my gut.

After she smiled and said, “Oh, wow, that’s good!” She said, “Did you thank them?”

My hands got sweaty because my nerves started itching. I thought about all of the times I’d followed someone and they thanked me in return – how good and connected I felt, how I felt like I mattered, and that my attendance was important to them. I thought about how ridiculously excited I am when I know people are reading, following, and/or liking. And I realized that I hadn’t been playing fair.

Please forgive me! Because, from the bottom of my heart, I am soooooo thankful for readers and followers! And as much as I hate using “sooooo” in my writing, I needed extra emphasis to display just how thankful I am!

A ka-zillion thanks is all I can muster out! Unless of course you all want a book on why this all means so much to me. Trust me, I am sparing you all! But honestly, since I’ve started this blog, you all have been quietly keeping me going. I love to write, so for that alone, you all mean the world to me! Thanks again for following and reading!

My Salvation, Your Condemnation: Sodom and Gomorrah

And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Genesis 18:23

The book of Genesis is like a soap opera. If you can dig down deep and just make it past the genealogies, you would be amazed at how captivating this book is. Drama, drama, and more drama! For example, to name a few, you have Adam and Eve, you have Noah and his sons laughing at his nakedness, you have daughters trying to get pregnant by their father, and you even have Moses killing an Egyptian. But right up there, with the most talked about stories in the great book of Genesis is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. However, most of the discourse surrounding this particular story is almost never about the lesson God intended us to learn, instead it is one of the Scriptures used to promote the belief that the LGBTQ community will be eradicated.

Honestly, this makes me laugh and pray. The idea that people believe that Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed for gay activity and gay activity alone, is hilarious and scary at the same time. If you are a member of the LGBTQ community, just like me, and someone uses this Scripture to show you the error of your lifestyle, I charge you to laugh at them modestly and then pray for their mercy, relentlessly. Afterwards, share the Good News that I shall propose for you in this testimony, if you will.

Speaking in layman’s terms, Sodom and Gomorrah was your inner-city ghetto. But, it was the roughest inner-city ghetto, the worst, the most desperate inner-city ghetto in the land. It was a dangerous, unsafe, and rotten place. The worst of the worst lived in Sodom and Gomorrah, God was disgusted and moved to destroy it. But, to one of the patriarchs of Scripture, establishing himself as such in Genesis, the plan was revealed. Even though he knew he was only a lowly servant of God, not worthy to even think he can ask, he was compelled. He wanted to know, if there were any righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, were they going to be destroyed along with the transgressors for their transgressions?

God must have thought it was a good question, so he sent some angels to the house of one of his servants. As dusk was falling, the person’s house whom they were sent told them to get inside. They could stay there for the night. He hosted them. They could wash their hands and feet and he baked them some bread which was a staple on the dinner table during these times. He offered all of this, along with a place for them to sleep and told them they could leave early. I hate to throw my two cents in, but I can guarantee you, he just wanted these visitors off the streets before night fell.

They entered the house and before long there came a knock at the door. The head of the household went to the door. It turned out to be the neighborhood goons wanting to know who the men were that visited him that evening. They demanded he bring the men out so they could know them. In those days, to know, meant to have sex with. This was so unacceptable to the head of the household, with whom these visitors from another place were receiving shelter, he stepped out of the door, closing it behind him and looked at them like they were crazy. Begging them to not press their wicked agenda, he offered his virgin daughters to them to do as they saw fit.

Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. Genesis 19:8

“… for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.” In plain English, this man is saying, “… because they are visitors under MY roof.” The man did not say, “… because that is gay and I don’t tolerate that.” He didn’t say, “Do nothing to these men because gay acts send you to hell.” He said nothing, absolutely nothing about being gay, gay acts, being destroyed for being gay, or even, “It’s not right to rape another man.” He didn’t even say anything about the fact the men were rapists. Seems to me like he didn’t care what the men wanted to do as long as it wasn’t happening on his watch.

Here’s a judicial example of what law is at play here, in case you still haven’t fully gotten my point; the same point this Scripture is trying to convey: Someone comes to your house and they ask to use the bathroom. The bathroom is upstairs. Your banister is rickety, unsupported, needing repair or much worst, needing to be replaced. As they are coming down the stairs, the banister gives way and as a result, they fall, breaking their ankle. You are liable for their medical expenses. If someone gets hurt in your house, by law, they can sue and yes, you will be responsible for their medical bills.

I once went to a friend’s house. This was back in the day when the two-way pagers were out. One of my friend’s friend stole my two-way pager. Needless to say, we were no longer friends. I was able to see where her loyalty lied because she didn’t make her friend return it, nor did she offer to reimburse me. In another example, just this past weekend, some of my partner’s friends came into the city. To save money, they stayed at another friend’s house. Their hostess didn’t have a comforter, nor a pillow for either of them. They were cold and expressed an overall feeling of vulnerability.

The hostess in this story, who was saved from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was saved for this very act of hospitality. As I mentioned, God sent angels to one of his servants house to see if his servant was a righteous man. His righteousness was displayed through his moral obligation to be hospitable. The man’s point was, he was not going to allow any wickedness to come to his visitors because he was in charge of their safety for the time they were to be staying at his house. If anything happened to them, their blood would be on his hands. This story, this lesson has absolutely nothing to do with being gay. It has to do with hospitality. This man was willing to give up his virgin daughters and he was even willing to die. When he told the men that he was not going to bring his visitors out, they got irate. They were demanding and aggressive. The man of the house didn’t back down. He was going to protect the visitors in his house at all costs.

People can flip this story anyway they like. At the end of the day, they will have to answer to God. But, for my friends of the LGBTQ community, the next time someone talks about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and its relation to gay people and gay acts, simply shake your head no as if you were talking to a toddler that thought they understood something but they’ve gotten it all wrong. After you explain the story, as it was meant to be told, through our moral obligation to be hospitable, remind them too that during those day, there was no such thing as gay. Well, maybe there was a such thing as gay, but these men at the door may not have been gay! This is a very important addition to the story.

The Bible and Scripture means so much more when you understand the context in which a story is told. Society is brand-spanking new. These guys, hearing that there were new people in town, wanted to show the visitors who the heavy hitters were in the neighborhood. They wanted to control them, they wanted to be in charge, and they wanted them to be afraid of them as this was the nature of life in Sodom and Gomorrah. No different than today’s thug, except for socially we have evolved and we don’t have to rape the new kids on the block, we just ostracize them until they become one of us. Didn’t you see this behavior the first day of school or the first day at a job? There is always one person, or a group of people who feel good about making the new kid on the block very uncomfortable. They have no qualms about humiliating the new kid on the block. The new kid on the block is often the joke, ignored, and mistreated. Well, long before we became what we are today, the principles were still there, however, it was in the hands of a primitive society and in the worst part of town, men went so far as to rape other men to drive that humiliation home! These men may not have been gay. They were using rape as a means to keep control. It was a job. The enjoyment they got was more emotional that physical pleasure. The physical pleasure was probably a bonus. Their main agenda was the very same agenda there is today for jerks when a new kid is in their midst. They want to do whatever they can to make them uncomfortable.

My Salvation, Your Condemnation: Sodom and Gomorrah – Part 1

And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you brethren, do not so wickedly. Genesis 19:5-7

As Holy as the Bible is, you would think people would want to use it to perpetuate the love, grace, rest, and salvation, offered in and through scripture. However, more than enough people are inclined to use God’s Living Word, to satisfy their own vanity. In giving the benefit of the doubt to those who use the Word for their own personal edifications, some of them really do not know; some genuinely do not understand the power and glory they are abusing when they use Scripture to pass judgement on and/or stigmatize a community, a person, a way of life, even a thing. They also fail to make the connection that in doing so, the very thing they are condemning has a greater chance of being exalted and instead they who condemn will be held accountable for not staying in their lane, as condemnation has been reserved by God as something only He can do.

The Bible, throughout history has been a vehicle for the vane, for the abusers, for the removed, to exert power and control over whatever they see fit. During the Crusades, a holy war, the Bible was used to murder and coerce people into Catholicism. During the Slave Trade, the bible was used to exert power and control over slaves and much crazier, even, the Bible was used as a confirmation to slave owners and traders that they were participating in something Holy and Godly as set forth by Scripture. There are much more instances throughout history of the Bible being used and perverted to satisfy vile and human dysfunctions, but right here today, there is a community that cannot seem to escape the use of Scripture to justify the blatant discrimination and stigmatization they endure – The LGBT Community.

Members of the LGBT Community are no strangers being ostracized for their lifestyle. And, literally, the only leg ostracizers have to stand on is Scripture and their vain perversions, interpretations, and understanding of it. Somehow, someway, the Scripture is connected to the the blatant social and civil inequalities and inequities that exist against members of LGBT, in today’s world. For example, the only real reason people who are against same-sex marriage have is scripturally substantiated: God intended marriage to be between a man and a woman. Sometimes execution of the discrimination that LGBT members face or have faced isn’t as direct. Sometimes it’s downright ignorance. Sometimes the person who hates that someone is gay, lesbian, trans, etc., may only be smart enough to say, “It’s just not right!” They don’t know why it’s not right. Perhaps it was an idle word they’d received. Maybe they themselves are in the closet. Maybe two generations before them, someone allowed what Scriptures warn us against:

Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Colossians 2:8

The fact of the matter is, whether it is direct or indirect, Scripture is the umbrella of all discriminatory acts suffered by the LGBT. Colossians 2:8, I’m sure can be cross-referenced dozens of times. The Gospels talk to us about those whom we allow to build on Christ’s foundation, as does a couple of other books in The New Testament. Throughout the bible, false prophets are around and we are charged to recognize them and stay away from their teachings and drama. Talk about the vanity of fools gives way to lessons about whom we follow. Without a degree, socially accepted credentials, or any formal theological training, I am confused about the confusion and debate, as a matter of fact, I am confused as to why a debate even exists. Indeed, an avid reader of Scripture, I am dumb-struck at the behavior rampant in the world. I am often left wondering, “What Bible are they reading,” or, “What Bible have they read”, thinking surely it isn’t the one I am familiar with or any of it’s contemporary translations.

My Salvation, Your Condemnation will be a series of essays dedicated to exposing the supposed contradictions of Scripture. And when I say supposed, that is exactly what I mean because if you ask me, there isn’t one contradiction to be found. However, I am sensitive to the fact that in all actuality, Scripture seems to contradict itself. I am here to show you that the contradictions don’t lie in actual Scripture, but in the understander, the interpreter, the reader. The contradictions lie in society, they lie in vanity, and the madness of human nature. Contradictions find places to grow in the retina of the untrained eye and festers in the heart.

Using Scripture, personal experiences, love and understanding, I pray to show the LGBTQ, a community to which I belong, that we are, can, and will be blessed. That there is a great salvation, for us, to be had. We are afforded the liberties offered through Christ. I do not know what I will write next, but to begin, I will with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. This story, parable, even, is the main story that fuels the fire of people who are against people who are in the life.

“You shouldn’t be gay, don’t you know the story of Sodom and Gomorrah?” “Yes, I do know the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, but what does it have to do with me being gay?”

It’s Getting Old!

There is no point in looking forward to seeing my girlfriend. I could have and should have learned this lesson about a year and a half ago, but I can’t get enough of giving people the benefit of the doubt no matter how many times my feelings have been hurt by them.

So for this reason, I am now sitting here stewing in my own stupidity for being surprised, once again, by her normal erratic behavior. Another day of anxiously awaiting her arrival, all for her to come in with a nasty-assed attitude for something completely beyond my control, that she actually didn’t even need my help with:

As usual, my phone was on silent. At 4:53pm I looked over and my phone was ringing. It was my friend Sam, so I answered. Sam and I stayed on the phone for close to an hour and when I hung up, I noticed that I had received some text messages. I checked my messages and all of them were from my girlfriend. It was after 5:30pm and I knew that she would be walking in the door soon. Being that I don’t get reception in my apartment, I had to go outside to call her. Before I called her, though, because of the time that it was, I decided to first make the bed.

The minute she answered the phone, I heard frustration in her voice. I figured she wasn’t able to cash the check that she got, which they gave her a day in advance. Before I could even get the question out about whether or not she was frustrated, she’s telling me that she is frustrated because she had been trying to call me. She needed me to tell her where the closest check cashing spot was.

I was so upset, right at that moment, because as usual she HAS to make something my fault. One of my hugest issues with her is the fact that she has yet to take any responsibility for the degradation of this relationship that was once so promising. I simply said, “Okay, I’m sorry to hear that and I’ll see you when you get home.” She didn’t give me the benefit of the doubt at all. If she did her first question would have been, “Babe? Did you see me calling you?” Or she could have made a statement, like, “I called you mad times!” First of all, we are going to act like I’ve never called her and got no answer and her response to me giving her the benefit of the doubt was, “The phone only rang once,” or “I don’t have any missed calls from you, Babe.” We are going to act like that never, ever happened before on her end. I should have gotten the benefit of the doubt automatically because if she knows nothing else, she knows that my phone stays on silent! So the attitude was XTRA like her nickname on Facebook. Me missing her calls isn’t brand new at all. The gap between the time she called and the time I called her back may have been a little longer, but with a little thinking – what I’ve asked her to do more of on more than one occasion – she would have realized that if she was going to be frustrated, the frustration would have been for the situation we are facing with her not being able to cash her check at which point we could be together in the frustration like a team, like how 2 people who are facing the same circumstances in the same situation are supposed to be. I’ve been talking to this girl about turning me into the enemy or someone who isn’t on her team as long as I’ve been talking to her about her attitude. I’ve been talking to her about being a team player, explaining to her that the same support she has for her FB Fam and her new “friend” that she has been talking to for the past few months excessively isn’t supposed to shine through more than the support she is giving at home.

Just today we were texting. She was saying that she wanted me to make love to her tonight and that she really wanted some last night. My response was that I really wanted some last night but dealing with how she perceives things and her mood swings is frustrating, tired, and tiring. She responded that is how she gets from lack of sex. I said call it what you want, but it’s getting old! First of all, the mood swings and how she perceives things is worst than immature, it’s primitive and barbaric. Her mood swings and how she uses perception to not take responsibility for her actions and ways is the one oldest and most immaturest games in the book. Her attitude disappointed me and was just another example of how she has yet to do anything that I have asked. The lack of respect comes from the fact that just today, I put into clear words that her mood swings and perceptions were completely out of wack and annoying, so for her to come in in the manner that she did was a total slap in the face.

By the 4th paragraph of this text, she looks up from FB and asks, “Can I talk to you?” My response was, “I don’t know, can you?” Seriously, I can’t even answer that question, without being an ass about it because the fact of the matter is NO YOU CAN’T because I am not your Facebook friend, I’m not this lady that you’ve taken to whom you find so interesting who compliments her, has a pet name for her yet has no idea who or how you really are, there is nothing virtual about me and last but not least, I am the same age as her. She gets along with any and everything virtual and the young 20s crowd and low-life aggressive women that have nice voices who have absolutely nothing to offer her so she could feel better about herself because they appreciate the fact that she will coddle and support them and is always available especially if I am not around and they grow to need her and meanwhile she is addicted to someone needing her so it works out perfectly for her in all of those relationships.

“I DON’T KNOW, CAN YOU? Can you talk to me like I am someone to respect?
*dropping the mike and walking into the crowd*.