Love the sinner, hate the sin. That's what they say, right?
Maybe not so much at the Seagate Community Chapel in Wilmington, North Carolina, where the sign out in front of the church instructed gays to 'turn or burn'.
God is love. No?
Tammy Heuring, the moronic wife of the Seagate Community Chapel pastor, says, “It's kind of like salt in a wound. However, salt does heal a wound. It just hurts really bad at first.”
Does salt heal the wounds of a parent whose child kills him-or herself after being bullied for being gay, Tammy? Is that how your god works? Adding pain upon pain upon pain?
Pastor David Heuring says "[w]ithout having the space, the person who does the sign used the most concise wording that they could. Was that the best wording possible? I don't think so.”
But the sign wasn't rewritten or taken down, so what does that say about the good pastor?
The sign was, however, rewritten by vandals, who spray-painted over it, writing the words 'god loves gays.' Church members then added 'but he hates sin.'
Church members. Hate.
Wilmington Pride, an area organization that supports gay rights, wanted to do something about the message they called hateful and organized a peaceful protest across the street from Seagate. Pastor Heuring was outside, offering up a dialogue, no doubt about god and hate and changing your wicked ways; he also offered up lemonade. But neither group felt the protest would make a real difference.
“It's just a sin,” said Tammy Heuring. “We're all in it, so unfortunately they just need to realize it.”
Perhaps, Tammy, but do people expose your sin outright and ask you to turn or burn? Could your alleged sin result in you being beaten and battered and left to die? Does your sin make you a second class citizen in your own country?
Or just a sinner.
And the good Pastor Heuring says the 'turn or burn' sign is just the first in a series of signs they will be putting up about different types of sinners. But I imagine it'll be the only one that leads to death threats for the LGBT community.
God is love, except at Seagate Community Chapel.
Yet, after that peaceful protest, something more happened. Wilmington Police are now searching for a man who smashed the chapel's sign Sunday afternoon. witnesses say a tall, white man took a hammer to the sign, then left in a silver Ford Taurus. The car is reported to have bumper damage and a missing hubcap from the front, left tire.
I might be wrong, but I think that tall man was Jesus, and he wasn't happy with Pastor Heuring, his wife, or his alleged church.
Church Sign Spurs Protest
Church Sign Hammered
I predict the next sign event - a lightning bolt.
ReplyDeleteI wish they would watch "Prayers for Bobby" and take it to heart. I got into a discussion with a woman recently about the Bible and gays. Thanks to you and Dan Savage, I was able to offer a rebuttal. I guess she's never around people who don't believe the way she does. The stuff she said was just ignorant. I'd feel sorry for her if she didn't piss me off so much.
ReplyDeleteJesus driving a silver Ford Taurus. :)
ReplyDeletejesus never told anyone they would burn in hell.
these church folk are ridiculous.
And here I thought Jesus was a republican so I always pictured him driving a gas guzzlin Hummer!?!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this church tells its adulterers, child molesters and thieves to turn and burn as well?
ReplyDeleteI find it amazing that so many evangelical christians never quote Jesus?
ReplyDeleteThese come to mind:
"Let him here without sin cast the first stone."
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
"Judge not, lest ye be judged."
There is a word for people like these; They are called Pharisees....
And Jesus was on their hypocritical asses daily.
YAY! Wally! ;)
ReplyDeleteThis is my hometown. I grew up in Wilmington, NC and I am just disgusted by this. I just wish people would realize how ignorant they sound. It is embarrassing. Wilmington actually has a very strong Gay community and I hope that they continue to fight this stupid, stupid church...
ReplyDeleteIt's the same old story. They just won't listen and don't have an answer to the question:-
ReplyDelete"Why do you make the arrogant assumption that EVERYONE believes in the same God as you - if we believe in a God at all?"
Are they saying that we all should be FORCED to share their beliefs, no matter how crackpot they are?
wipes tear
ReplyDelete