[Vision2020] (Vision 2020) keely answers doug

[keely emerinemix]

"Moscow's most beloved and well-known evangelical" ??????  Really, Doug, you 
must get out more.  I may be well-known, but I'm hardly beloved in all 
circles -- yours, for instance.

Let's call this for what it is, shall we?  You have no real interest in what 
I believe.  You're absolutely dying to have me say something that will 
either confirm your view of me as a waffling, spineless syncretist, or to 
reveal something that you think will make "all of Moscow" hate me for being 
a bigot.  I'm going to disappoint you, I'm pretty sure.  (No, I'm not going 
to answer with "yes" and "no," and if you crow about the Pauline command to 
"let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no,' " I'll be forced to remind 
you that the context is regarding oaths, not honest answers to probing 
questions, no matter how insincerely asked they may be).  If you were 
interested in an honest dialogue, you would phrase your question with 
respect.  I respond to you now only because others deserve an answer, if 
they’re interested, and I will gladly follow up with them if they ask.  It 
should go without saying that I am responding as an individual and not a 
representative of any governing body, church, or organization.
.
1.  I don't believe that people need Christ because they're homosexual.  I 
believe people need Christ because they live and walk and sin in this world.

2.  I will not presume that someone who is homosexual does not love the Lord 
Jesus, and I will not presume that someone who holds to a traditional, 
conservative view of homosexuality is a better Christian than anyone else.  
I will assume that Christ alone knows His own, and many of His own have been 
viciously hurt by some of His followers.

3.  I will not elevate what Christ has not spoken of to a position of 
"imperatives" for Christian belief; I will hold to the primacy of love over 
secondary issues, always.

4.  Everybody has sinned in many ways.  Even if I held to a rigidly 
conservative view, I would nonetheless be far more conscious of my own sin; 
if I embraced a more liberal stance, I would still be struck by the weight 
of my own sin.

5.  When something in the Word is unclear or difficult, I want to know that 
I've wrestled with it as a disciple submitted to the Teacher.  I couldn't 
care less if my conclusion is conservative, liberal, popular, or despised.  
I care what Jesus thinks of me, and I care that I act in love at all times 
-- when I'm sure, when I'm not, when I'm right and when I'm wrong.

There you have it, Doug.  I am not interested in being a participant in your 
flamethrowing, but I won’t hesitate to answer honest questions posed by 
respectful, sincere neighbors.

keely

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