Editor, Commonwealth:
When I read a recent “My Two Cents” comment from “bmw” (April 27), I felt the need to clarify my stance on House Bill 1523 and the transgender bathroom issue.
Bmw seems to think paranoia is my driving force. This is not the case. I believe this bill was passed to protect Christians, not persecute LGBTs. Consideration must be given to both groups.
If I have unknowingly encountered a transgender person in a public restroom, fine. Ignorance is bliss, and that probably went for both of us. However, thanks to LGBT activists, we are hyper-aware of everyone around us, where this was not the case before. Open bathrooms will give sexual (not LGBT) predators more opportunities to attack females.
With the legalization of gay marriage, there will be many more uncomfortable thresholds to cross in the future. The possibilities are endless. However, for LGBT activists, it’s not enough to have the freedom to marry in an accepting church, or use a florist or baker who supports them without issue. These people are looking to break the backs of any who, out of conscience, do not wish to participate in their celebration. Should the refusal to participate be due to an individual’s Christian faith, that’s the most egregious sin of all. That’s the issue!
As the Rev. Billy Ray Stonestreet recently stated (“Preachers speak only for selves on HB 1523,” April 28), we will soon find Christian pastors jailed for preaching biblical truth behind the walls of their own churches. I was so glad to hear a minister come out publicly and speak the truth of just how dire the situation is becoming.
It is hypocritical for the left to preach acceptance of all lifestyles, except Christians. If people can stand around the breakroom at work talking in support of LGBTs, then those who don’t agree should be able to say so publicly as well. Schools are allowed, even encouraged, to teach about the Muslim faith, erase history in the name of globalization and brainwash our young people in our colleges against order and respect for authority. Many have a meltdown should they hear a viewpoint that differs from theirs. But we dare not mention the one thing that restores order, self-respect and respect for others — the Bible. That’s what a free-thinking, healthy nation is about — learning and sharing ideas, to be able to use critical thinking in order to develop our individual beliefs. Open debate. Not some government-sanctioned, force-fed prescribed pattern of thought.
HB 1523 has opened up much-needed discussion. It was passed to protect people of faith and conscience from persecution. It is a major issue. It’s sad that many Christians who once stood in the light of truth now give their full support to sin of all kinds, thinking they’re doing some great good in the name of love and/or commerce. But is it?
Christians should take Jesus at His word. He said we would be reviled for His sake and that the gate that leads to eternal life was narrow, not wide-open. Some Christians say we should only do and say loving things, forgetting that our Lord also said he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.
Jesus did not hunt down sinners and beat them over the head, but He did, when asked, tell them the truth of their sin and told them to repent.
If LGBTs want to shake their fists in the face of God, so be it. The questions for those of us who profess to be followers of Jesus are these: Christian? Or something else?
Sherry Stallings
Greenwood
