{"id":56,"date":"2006-11-21T15:41:53","date_gmt":"2006-11-21T15:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/2006\/11\/21\/when-religion-loses-its-credibility\/"},"modified":"2008-01-23T14:21:27","modified_gmt":"2008-01-23T21:21:27","slug":"when-religion-loses-its-credibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/?p=56","title":{"rendered":"When religion loses its credibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an editorial<\/a> published in USA Today<\/a>
\non November 19, Oliver “Buzz” Thomas poses the question what would
\nhappen if religion were to lose its credibility. According to Thomas,<\/p>\n

“Religion’s only real commodity, after all, is its moral authority. Lose that, and we lose our credibility. Lose credibility, and we might as well close up shop.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thomas writes this piece over the subject of homosexuality. In
\nspeaking against homosexuality as a sin (and it is a sin), he writes
\nthat we’re almost shooting ourselves in our foot. Homosexuality is
\nforbidden in Leviticus 18 (“You shall not lie with a man as with a
\nwoman; it is an abomination.”) However, if you accept the Bible as the
\ninspired Word of God (as The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod does),
\nthen you would have to accept ALL<\/b> of the Levitical laws, such
\nas food laws, death penalties for certain actions and the like.
\nHowever, we do not punish people for breaking every Levitical law that
\nthere is. So one can make the argument: Who are you to judge me when
\nyou don’t even follow everything that the Bible says.
\nScripture is very clear that homosexuality is a sin. It is so great a
\nsin, that entire cities were wiped out because of their homosexual
\npractices. According to Thomas,<\/p>\n

“A better reading of Scripture starts with the book of Genesis and the grand pronouncement about the world God created and all those who dwelled in it. “And, the Lord saw that it was good.” If God created us and if everything he created is good, how can a gay person be guilty of being anything more than what God created him or her to be?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ask yourself this question: Would God voluntarily make you a sinner?
\nIf God made you to be homosexual, then you are made a sinner. Why
\nwould God arbitrarily make some people sinners while some are not
\nsinners? God did not make anyone to be homosexual because
\nhomosexuality is a sin. God made us all in His image, sinless.
\nHowever, when our first parents, Adam and Eve, ate from the tree in the
\nGarden of Eden, we became sinners. We lost the image of God and there
\nwas nothing that we could do to regain that image of God. The only way
\nthat we could regain the image of God was through the sacrificial death
\nof His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, who died so that we might have life
\nagain in His name.<\/p>\n

Are we sinners? Yes, we are sinners.
\nDid God make us to be sinners? No. How do we get rid of sin? We
\ncan’t get rid of sin. Jesus Christ has clothed us in His holiness
\nthrough His body and blood, shed on the cross for all of mankind. For
\nthat, we say Amen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an editorial published in USA Today on November 19, Oliver “Buzz” Thomas poses the question what would happen if religion were to lose its credibility. According to Thomas, “Religion’s only real commodity, after all, is its moral authority. Lose that, and we lose our credibility. Lose credibility, and we might as well close up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}