abhorrent behaviour

A couple at Carrabba’s Italian Grill in Kansas City did not tip a 20-year-old server after their meal despite his excellent service. Instead, they scribbled this message for him:

“Thank you for your service, it was excellent. That being said, we cannot in good conscience tip you, for your homosexual lifestyle is an affront to God. Queers do not share in the wealth of God, and you will not share in ours. We hope you will see the tip your fag choices made you lose out on, and plan accordingly. It is never too late for God’s love, but none shall be spared for fags. May God have mercy on you.”

- (source)

Sigh. If there ever is a reason for the increase in anti-christian discrimination in the West today, it is this. And many other similar acts of self-righteous preachments. One also wonder how the couple knew the server was homosexual. Did the couple see him kissing and groping another bloke? I think not.

The couple seemed to be ignorant of biblical verses like these:

“There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devices wicked plans, feet that hurry to run to evil, a lying witness who testifies falsely, and one who sows discord in a family.”

- Proverbs 6:16-19 (NRSV)

“All those who are arrogant are an abomination to the Lord; be assured, they will not go unpunished.”

- Proverbs 16:5 (NRSV)

“If a man is righteous and does what is lawful and right – if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her menstrual period, does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, does not take advance or accrued interest, withholds his hand from iniquity, executes true justice between contending parties, follows my statutes, and is careful to observe my ordinances, acting faithfully – such a one is righteous; he shall surely live, says the Lord God.

If he has a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things (though his father does none of them), who eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor’s wife, oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, takes advance or accrued interest; shall he then live? He shall not. He has done all these abominable things; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself.”

- Ezekiel 18:5-13 (NRSV)

“Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers – none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.”

- 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NRSV)

Historical contexts and interpretative judgements aside, a cursory reading of these texts suggests there is much more that “displease” God than homogenital acts. This may seem self-evident, even to a non-christian, until one witnesses the obsession with homosexuality among conservative christians these days. Why the preoccupation with homosexuality and adultery or fornication? There is also individual and corporate greed masked under the guise of modern-day Wall Street capitalism. There is also rampant religious pride and arrogance veiled as moral and righteous anger. What about gluttony – overweight pastors abound in the North American church – and caffeine addiction? What about the numerous sex crimes committed by Roman Catholic as well as Evangelical clergy?

In a sense, we are all guilty. That is our primate heritage. Whether or not one opines that homosexuality as we know it today (the ancient world in which the disparate texts of the bible are a product of did not have a concept of homosexual orientation in the modern sense of the word) is a sin, one cannot escape the moral fragility of our human condition. The Christian symbol which explicates this is original sin. All of us have sinned (to err is human) and come short of the glory of God.

We welcome sinners into the church. We welcome the short-tempered, the irritable, the domineering, the impatient, the proud, the arrogant, the money-faced, the lazy, the hyper-sexed up and of course the LGBT too – you name it – the church comprises all of these. Christians are human beings, aren’t they?

One’s views on homosexuality is not the issue. Call it a sin if one so feels compelled, but do stop and reflect if one has not committed any sin as well. Self-righteousness is a sin too.

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