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BJS
Registered Member
Date Joined Dec 2001
Total Posts : 587
| Posted 11/13/2002 10:48 AM (GMT -6) |   | Pitts cancels speech in front of radical religious group
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. Rep. Joseph R. Pitts abruptly canceled an appearance at a religious conference this weekend after learning Wednesday that members of the group sponsoring the gathering support executing homosexuals and abortion providers, and stoning disobedient children.
``Congressman Pitts doesn't believe in stoning anybody,'' said spokesman Gabe Neville, confirming the cancellation Wednesday morning.
Pitts, R-Pa., was scheduled to speak Saturday at the conference, sponsored by the Immanuel Free Reformed Church and the National Reform Association. The association supports imposing Biblical law over United States laws.
The Rev. William Einwechter, a conference organizer, authored a January 1999 essay titled ``Stoning Disobedient Children'' in which he wrote: ``Contempt of parental authority is the death of family, law and order. The question then is: Who or what should die? The rebel, or family and society?''
Also scheduled to speak at the conference -- being held in Ephrata, Pa. -- is religious author Gary DeMar. DeMar, in his 1987 book, ``Ruler of the Nations,'' called the execution of abortion providers ``a long term goal'' and wrote that ``the law that requires the death penalty for homosexual acts effectively drives the perversion of homosexuality underground, back in the closet,'' according to information provided by religious liberty watchdog group Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
In a Nov. 12 letter, the watchdog group's executive director, Barry W. Lynn, urged Pitts to cancel his appearance, calling the National Reform Association ``so extreme they would make the mullahs in Iran blush. Their bizarre agenda should be repudiated, not endorsed, by members of Congress.''
Einwechter, reached Wednesday, said he was ``obviously disappointed'' that Pitts would not be appearing, adding, ``I made it clear that we're not requiring anyone to endorse anything that we stand for.''
Einwechter also defended his 1999 essay. ``This is what is in the Bible,'' he said. ``To attack that is to attack Christians, to attack Jews, and it is its own sense of discrimination.''
State Rep. Samuel Rohrer, R-Berks, also is scheduled to speak at the conference, according to the agenda. A message left with Rohrer's staff in Harrisburg was not immediately returned.
Brett
"Siste viator et memento mori." | | Back to Top | | |
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BBBCanada
Registered Member
Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 2763
| Posted 11/13/2002 11:11 AM (GMT -6) | | Brett,
Thanks for the update. You know, there is a lot of Reconstructionism that we can glean from. I like Gary DeMar on the issue of eschatology for the most part. But it saddens me to see that he would endorse the death penalty for homosexuals. Some of the other statements, as well, such as stoning children, and executing abortion providers, is just plain whacked. But this IS a Reconstructionist for ya.
Brandon
"Totalitarianism, whether in the civic or in the ecclesiastical realm, is unacceptable."--Richard Mouw: Consulting the Faithful | | Back to Top | | |
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GregBoyd
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 1818
| Posted 11/14/2002 4:42 AM (GMT -6) | | Clearly, Taliban thinking isn't just an Islamic phenomenon.
Nor is it going to go away.
Thanks for the info BJS.
Doc
"In Christ...the ONLY THING that matters is faith energized by love." Galatians 5:6 | | Back to Top | | |
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S.B.G.
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 143
| Posted 1/21/2003 3:36 AM (GMT -6) | | This kind of thing absolutely breaks my heart!! I wonder if these people have ever met, or come to know a homosexual? I suppose if they did they wouldn't be capable of getting past the predjudice to the person. My husband stood in a hospital room and watched his younger brother die from AIDS. No one is impervious to sin and it's painful consequences. Somehow the cause doesn't matter anymore when the life of one you love is withering away before your eyes.
Peace,
S.B.G.
Edited by - S.B.G. on 01/21/2003 08:53:23 AM | | Back to Top | | |
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graygirl
Registered Member
Date Joined Aug 2001
Total Posts : 78
| Posted 1/21/2003 6:27 AM (GMT -6) | | what is wrong with people? i just don't understand how some can take things SO far. it is just beyond me. what in the world?!
confounded,
GG
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honorman
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2002
Total Posts : 1137
| Posted 1/21/2003 10:07 AM (GMT -6) | | It breaks my heart that people on this site are so willing to castriate the church and so unwilling to post on some of the wonderful things that church does. "A house divided against itself cannot stand," a wise man once said. Pointing out the odd thing here and there does nothing but add fuel to the fire of non-christians who would like nothing better than to ridicule the church. Let's all get together and wonder "what is wrong with these people" and how the "Taliban isn't just a Islamic phen..." and other such wonderful insights. Maybe then we all might look in the mirror, find out how human each of us are and be less likely to be so judgemental. Then again, maybe not...
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graygirl
Registered Member
Date Joined Aug 2001
Total Posts : 78
| Posted 1/21/2003 10:20 AM (GMT -6) | | oh well....excuse me for reacting with a "what's wrong with these people?"....i guess stoning people in this country is something that should elicit a more docile response.
i think what great about the church is the ability to say that wrong is wrong. psycho is psycho.
what is so heartbreaking about that?
i agree that we should start a thread on what's right with the church today just as much as we start those that highlight the ugly side. If the exposure was never there - things that shouldn't be just will continue as they are.....don't you think?
GG
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S.B.G.
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 143
| Posted 1/21/2003 10:43 AM (GMT -6) | | There is an unsettling reality that "the church" continues to get involved with politics. If we are uninformed, certain groups will forge ahead in their attempts to merge church and state. In doing so, they create their own form of justice and do it in the name of the body of Christ. This is tragic.
I wish the media covered more of the love and grace in churches, but frankly, in this world, it's just not as news worthy.
Just one opinion.
S.B.G.
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Springs
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 636
| Posted 1/21/2003 6:26 PM (GMT -6) | | I agree Graygirl. Evil flourishes when we do nothing. I don't want to contribute to this thread except to say, ewwww. I just wanted to come on and tell you I have been blessed by reading your posts.
Springs
"When all was over, and the last key turned, I sought my pillow, thankful that God had appointed a season of rest for the weary." Harriet Jacobs | | Back to Top | | |
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ReasonableDoubt
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 655
| Posted 1/22/2003 5:06 AM (GMT -6) | | This brings to mind, why are these people so eager to enforce Old Testament law? For one thing, we are not ancient Hebrews. For another, why pick and choose which ones to enforce? There's no easy answer about the difference between "ritual" and "moral" laws.
Exodus 20: 16 "If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. 17 If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins.
18 "Do not allow a sorceress to live.
19 "Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal must be put to death.
20 "Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the LORD must be destroyed.
21 "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.
22 "Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. 23 If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. 24 My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.
So from this reading, we should say that victims should be forced to marry their rapists, fortunetellers should be killed, anyone who does not worship the Hebrew God of the Jews should be killed, and God himself will kill those who take advantage of a widow or orphan, so I suppose we should help God out by killing them ourselves.
"A house divided cannot stand"- tell me, are these people actually IN the house of Christianity? (or common decency, even?)
"I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of
doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not
even mine."
Bertrand Russell | | Back to Top | | |
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ReasonableDoubt
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 655
| Posted 1/22/2003 5:06 AM (GMT -6) | | This brings to mind, why are these people so eager to enforce Old Testament law? For one thing, we are not ancient Hebrews. For another, why pick and choose which ones to enforce? There's no easy answer about the difference between "ritual" and "moral" laws.
Exodus 20: 16 "If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. 17 If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins.
18 "Do not allow a sorceress to live.
19 "Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal must be put to death.
20 "Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the LORD must be destroyed.
21 "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.
22 "Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. 23 If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. 24 My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.
So from this reading, we should say that victims should be forced to marry their rapists, fortunetellers should be killed, anyone who does not worship the Hebrew God of the Jews should be killed, and God himself will kill those who take advantage of a widow or orphan, so I suppose we should help God out by killing them ourselves.
"A house divided cannot stand"- tell me, are these people actually IN the house of Christianity? (or common decency, even?)
"I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of
doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not
even mine."
Bertrand Russell | | Back to Top | | |
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S.B.G.
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 143
| Posted 1/22/2003 6:46 AM (GMT -6) | | Excellent points Reasonable Doubt. When Jesus walked the earth, He had ample opportuntiy, and reason to punish and condemn---if that were His mission. But He didn't. Again and again, He chose to forgive, heal and lovingly instruct. Jesus' real mission was to teach us how to love, and for some this was much harder to do than to judge. The only people Jesus DOES rebuke and condemn are the religious fanatics...interesting, don't you think?
Now we have to learn how to love, and not judge the "pharisees" !!
Complex God, Complex love
S.B.G.
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