Rating sins

*Warning: This is another extremely personal post

**Warning #2: This is also political in nature

*** Warning #3: This may not even make sense by the time I am done.


  You have been warned :)

     It isn't easy dealing with same-sex attractions. Some people act like it is contagious, and they will catch it from you. Others seem afraid you're going to rape them or their children. The church as a whole just doesn't get it... hence years of struggling in silence in the very place one should be able to get love and help: the church.

  Evangelicals have made the sin of homosexuality so bad, that it is like the unpardonable sin. When I first realized that I had been dealt this card, I was convinced I was going straight to hell and there was no chance at redemption for one such as I. Thankfully, the very first person I confided in by way of a letter ( that beat around the bush so much that he had to be a genius to get what I was talking about), straightened me out on that issue. (If you need straightened out, ask me and I'll help you out).

  We have made this sin so bad, and have been so outspoken about it in the wrong ways, that our churches are full of boys, men, girls, and women scared to death to tell anyone their deep, dark secret. And yet, we don't bat an eye at the unmarried couple committing fornication; which is also condemned by the same Bible that condemns homosexuality. Christians react in horror at two guys kissing and having a relationship on TV, but saturate themselves with movies and TV shows that show all kinds of heterosexual sins.

  This sin and lifestyle does have consequences that heterosexual sins don't have. It is a lifestyle full of more promiscuous living than the average heterosexual. Disease is more rampant. It is much more difficult to find a lasting relationship for a variety of reasons.... and this lifestyle has negative effects on our freedoms, and may eventually cause imprisonment and fines for anyone who dares speak out against it..... that is the ultimate wish of the militant gay movement.

  But is it any worse than other sins in the grand scheme of things? God did call it an abomination, yet He also said wearing clothes that are like what the opposite sex wear is an abomination. I am not equating the two, though I think they are connected to this whole gay/transgender movement.

 Nor am I trying to defend homosexuality.

  I was debating with a young guy today who is an ardent Trump supporter and a Christian. I asked why he wasn't bothered by Donald Trump owning strip clubs where women are degraded, used, and often trapped; or why he isn't offended by Trump's serial adultery and bragging about it. As with any Trump supporter when confronted with things like this, he sidestepped and told me that he is bothered by my rating Trump's sins worse than other sins, and that he (my friend) nor I are any better than Donald Trump.

  Since neither of us was going to change our viewpoints, I dropped it.....though I am bothered by what he said. Am I rating sins? Are some sins worse than others? Am I guilty of the same thing the church has done to me?

   Another young Trump fan (it is a shame the first presidential election these guys are voting in, they are voting for the wrong guy) chastised me for calling Donald Trump a sleazeball. I looked up the word, and it means " disreputable, disgusting, or despicable person (also used as a general term of abuse)." I think it is pretty despicable to own a strip club and cheat on your wives (and brag about it).... so I am not dropping the term.

  Any sin will keep us out of Heaven. The Bible lists several sins and says those who do those sins will spend eternity in hell: liars, thieves, immoral people, homosexuals, and more..... but here on this earth, are some sins worse than others? Is it wrong to rate sins?

  I've lived with people rating my sin worse than others, and it doesn't feel good. But the most mature Christian among us would say some sins make a person worse than others:

Mass shooter

Bomber

Rapist

Child molester

Adulterer

Strip club owner

   If you follow my friend's logic, Jeffrey Dahmer is no worse than Donald Trump... so if he were alive, would my friend defend him and tell me I have no right to call him a terrible person? Would he, Jerry Falwell, Jr, and other Christians vote for Dahmer if he said what they wanted to hear? If Trump's sins don't exempt him from being supported by Christians, should Dahmer's? If we can't rate sins, is a child molester any worse than Donald Trump? Is he any worse than Jerry Falwell, Jr?

  You see, we DO rate sins. Some things people do are far worse than others. I am sure my friend wouldn't want a child molester living next door to him or a murderer.......but if all sins are equal and no one is better than any sinner, then why not?

  I think the main issue here is Trump supporters have no true defense for supporting a vulgar man with his history and sins; so they come back with things like this. I could be wrong... regardless, there are some sins more evil than others; and I am not a bad Christian for suggesting someone running for president and being supported by Christians should not be their choice because of the things I mentioned. Nor am I bad for saying as a Christian I cannot support a man with his lack of character and integrity.

  Calvinism may play into it, yet I think even the most radical Calvinist would say a man who commits certain sins daily cannot be a Christian......so are they saying some sins are worse than others?

  Maybe sin is the eye of the beholder. People who struggle with or are friends with those who struggle with same-sex attractions and/or actively live the gay lifestyle are not going to view it the same way as your average evangelical Christian who thinks they don't know any such people......how wrong they are! Families of drug addicts aren't going to view it the same way as we who don't have it in our family.

  But yet, there are some sins more distasteful and more evil than others, no matter who you are. Back to Jeffrey Dahmer. If you don't know who he was, he was a man in the 70's and 80's who kidnapped young men who he would have sex with, then kill and eat parts of them and keep other body parts preserved. He isn't a guy you'd have over for a BBQ or to babysit your kids..... and no one would criticize you for that.

  So are I and others wrong for not wanting a man like Donald Trump as president? Are we wrong for questioning how or why any Christian can support him so ardently?

  Knowing about his strip clubs and cheating, would you feel comfortable having your daughter/sister or whatever young female you love be his intern in the White House? Would she be any safer around Donald Trump than around Bill Clinton?

  And just what are the Christian Trump supporters willing to accept and overlook in a candidate? Today it is lying, business failures, vulgarity, strip clubs, and adultery. What will they accept in the next candidate since they already started down this path? If no sin is worse than any other, and no one is worse of a person than others, then the sky is the limit. Is this the end of Christians electing good men of integrity and biblical and conservative values?

  I doubt many of the same Christians supporting Trump would support an openly gay male with his male lover/husband...... but is that any worse than Trump's sins? I would say it is less than Trump's sins..... but who knows. I would never have thought Christians and conservatives would so ardently support and defend a man such as Donald Trump, and criticize we who point out his faults and tell us we are no better.

 Maybe I am no better than he is. Maybe my sins make me as terrible of a person as I view Donald Trump. Maybe if I were running for president, true Christians and conservatives would look at me as I look at Donald Trump. Maybe.

  But there is a difference in Donald Trump and I. I have repented and asked Jesus to be the Lord of my life. I am not proud of my sins, but am sorry. I know I need a Savior. And since I serve this God that I serve and want to honor Him in all I do.... I can never vote for a man who is so at odds with the Bible and all I believe.

  If that makes me a sin rater and a bad person, then so be it. I still believe some sins make a worse person than others, and that some sins are worse than others.

  And this post isn't intended to knock Trump supporters...... but it is to ask some good questions.

#nevertrump