Dear Rev. Jim

[Rev. Jim Cunningham]

From: don (Original Message) Sent: 6/27/2006 1:38 PM

Rev. Jim, I was raised in home where [life is about] "God, country, and prusuit of happiness", and my folks were middle class, and we as a family went to church every Sunday, and the church we attend was a strict church, and it had the Westminister cathecism. It was a Presbyterian church locked into the idea that being gay was wrong and that the Bible supported it. Also my folks belong to the Orange and Oddfellows and Masonic Lodges and my mom belongs to the Lady Orange and Rebekah and the Eastern Star. So Rev. Jim, my sibling and I had a strict upbringing and being gay back 40 years ago wasn't heard of. So, you see where I coming from.

[Rev. Jim Cunningham]

From: Manager Rev. Jim Sent: 6/27/2006 9:07 PM
Dear Don,

I am confused as to how your parents could consider themselves to be Bible believers and pay such strict adherence to the Scriptures while at the same time submitting themselves to such wickedly satanic cults as the Freemasons and Eastern Star. But now having an insight into the way of thinking that your parent's raised you in, I can more fully understand your anti-gay views. However, you must bear in mind that just because your church and parents "sincerely" believed that homosexuality was a sin against God does not make it true. Throughout this site you will find clear proof that the Bible in fact does not condemn homosexual identity and that churches and people who teach anti-gay doctrine are teaching falsehoods.

But after you have read the proof I provide on our site, if you still insist that the Bible is anti-gay, I would like to ask you to show it to me in the Scriptures. I would like for you to show me why you disagree with what I have said on the site. If you just say, "Homosexuality is a sin", that is not going to convince me. You can say "eating grass is a sin" too, but that doesn't make it true unless you can prove it from God's Word, because only God can say what is and is not a sin. Otherwise, it is merely your opinion, which no one is obliged to observe. If you are going to accuse someone of committing a sin, you will need to provide clear Biblical support for your judgment. Since I have already shown that the story of Sodom, and the Levitical laws in chapters 18 and 20, and Pauls comment in Romans 1, and the comments made by Paul in 1st Corinthians and 1st Timothy, do not even slightly refer to homosexual identity, you will need to provide new evidence against homosexuality in the Scriptures.

I am not angry with you for having your opinions and beliefs, but as your brother and fellow servant of the Lord our Father, I expect and require that you be careful how you so absentmindedly fling out condemnations without substantial Biblical evidence. We are required by biblical law to be very careful about bringing shame and disgrace on God's name and Word because it could turn people away from Jesus and salvation, and I'm sure that is not what you want to do. I do not want to believe that you think that you are doing God's will by coming into our group and insulting everyone. That is not what you intended, is it? It is written that "it is the GOSPEL that leadeth to salvation" - it doesn't say "it is HETEROSEXUALITY that leadeth to salvation." It is not anyone's place to try and convert people away from what we perceive to be a sin, but rather it is our duty to PREACH THE GOSPEL. And IF someone is living in sin, WHEN they come to Jesus the HOLY SPIRIT will show them their sin, as it is written by Jeremiah the prophet,

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a NEW Covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah - NOT according to the Covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt.... But THIS shall be the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, I will PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR INWARD PARTS AND WRITE IT IN THEIR HEARTS, and will be their God and they shall be My people; and they shall teach NO MORE every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, "KNOW THE LORD!!" For they shall ALL know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more."

The New Covenant will not involve shoving the Law down people's throats and demanding others to know the Lord. God Himself will write the law in the hearts of His people and they will know whether they live in sin or not. While we are obligated by the Word of God to contend for the faith and debate God's Law and to discuss doctrines among ourselves so that the Body of Christ can benefit from a circumspect understanding of God's will, we however are NOT ordained to take an unproven religious tradition and beat Christians over the head with it out of self righteous anger. Your family and church were wrong about their views of homosexuality and I sincerely grieve that you were forced to endure that abuse. It was wrong of them to make you feel that who you are is a sin against God. But these are not the old conservative days where you are forced to hide who you are and condemn your own identity. Now is the time when you can stand up for the truth and come to the realization that God does not hate you for being homosexual NO MATTER WHAT anyone says. And the reason why it doesn't matter what anyone says is because the only view that matters is God's, and GOD does not condemn homosexuality.

Your brother in Jesus,
Rev. Jim