The Reverend Diana Holbert, pastor of little Grace United Methodist Church, took a swipe at big First Baptist Church of Dallas on Sunday with a sermon titled "Why Gay Is OK." Her message was in direct response to a sermon delivered by First Baptist Pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress entitled "Why Gay Is Not OK."
Now, I get that a lot of these holy-rollers don't like The Gays, but it always makes me wonder, how they can preach such things in the name of god--little g. It really is hatred and bigotry and ignorance and fear, all rolled up in a neat little package and served as an appetizer to Sunday brunch.
"I knew I had to preach about this," the Rev. Diana Holbert said, telling her diverse East Dallas congregation that homosexuality is not a big issue in the Bible and that Christians should be more focused on subjects such as health care, greed in the corporate world, and the welfare of children.
During her sermon, Holbert said, "God doesn't discard or discriminate....The Bible has often been used to attack gay and lesbian persons. Let's put a stop to that."
Dr. Jeffress issued his rebuttal to Holbert's sermon before her service began, saying--and this is another problem I have with these people--"I wonder if her follow-up message will be 'Why Adultery is OK' or 'Why Incest is OK.' "
Ah, yes, The Gays are the equivalent of incest and adultery; we caused the economic crisis and global warming; blame us for waterboarding, too, while you're at it. Lindsay Lohan and Perez Hilton? Our fault.
"The Bible says sex is reserved for a man and a woman in a marriage relationship," Jeffress continued. "Once you reject God's Word as our absolute authority in all matters, then any perversion is permissible."
So, if gay is OK, than any perversion will do.
Reverend Holbert, whose husband is a professor at Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology, chose her words slowly, unlike Jeffress, in responding after her sermon. She said she had never met Jeffress.
"I want to be careful," she said in an interview. "I don't want to call him anti-scholastic. I don't want to get in a fight with him. I kind of feel sorry for him."
I feel sorry for him, too, because if you believe that God--big g--is love, then Jeffress has missed the boat.
