Hateful Legislation?

H.R. 254, or the David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act, is another one of those pieces of proposed legislation that could snake through the judiciary process and become actual law. How many Americans are aware of it to any degree? I wonder. The term, "hate crimes" has been debated quite a bit over the last decade or so. This act, if it became law, could implement policies that would, in the guise of preventing "hate crimes," create a set of restrictions on free speech, free press and penalties for any "anti-hate" violations.

H.R. 254 is a proposal from Democrat and Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee, from Texas, and I believe that it will meet with little opposition from her fellow democrats now in the majority position in the House and Senate. I'm hoping that there will be enough members who are a little bit circumspect about passing the proposal because of the way it could drastically change the face of freedom in America. Hard to say.

On the surface, a bill like this may appear only to empower to prosecute at the federal leveI, those crimes that are motivated by bigotry and hatred. That would be a fine thing if that were the case, but that would not be the reality. The reality is that such a bill would redefine what such a "crime" consists of. As things are now for example, I think that most of us could get behind the fact that gay-bashing is wrong and that those who beat up gay people because they're gay should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. However, if H. R. 254 does get passed, there are a lot of observers who say that a pastor in his pulpit could face fines and even jail time for example, for saying that the Bible condemns homosexuality, or that a homosexual lifestyle will send a person to hell. That would mean that pastors would have to delete certain clear Bible passages from the text they are teaching to avoid being penalized.

What is the body going to say to their pastor when he is being handcuffed and hauled from his office after speaking his "crime?" "Be warmed-----be filled!" I don't think there will be a lot of people willing to speak up and go to jail with him. If this sounds a bit sensational, then you must have missed the headlines about Australian pastors Daniel Scot and Danny Nalliah, who were convicted under similar hate crime legislation for "vilifying" Islam. http://www.acl.org.au/vic/browse.stw?article_id=13138

Pastor Scot was commended by his peers for standing up for the Word, but I wonder, as penalties increase, how long the support will last, and how many will continue to stand with him. Pastors in Canada face the same sort of legal strong-arm threat under the legislation presently enacted it that country, if they read certain Biblical passages identifying homosexuality as a sin.

The money and numbers backing pro-homosexual lobby groups make them a powerful influence in Washington. If those who live as fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, sodomites, thieves, coveters, drunkards, extortionists and "revilers" had the cohesiveness of the gay lobby, shouldn't they create powerful lobbies of their own? Would they be able to enact legislation that criminalized condemnation of their behavior? What is it about homosexuality that separates it from these other sins in the eyes of the public?

There are several elements contained in the answer to that question, but it boils down to pride. While America was birthed in a fight for certain independence, I don't think that should extend to everything. Freedom to misbehave for example, is a bad idea. Those who are seeking the right to behave sinfully are fighting to infringe upon the rights of those who disagree with them. Their fight to see to it that their behavior becomes acceptable are putting their bad behavior in full view of the children of parents who want their kids to be as far from homosexual behavior and influence as possible. Those in the homosexual movement say that that decision should be up to the children. Who gave them the right to trump the rights of the parents?

Someone might be saying, "Remember, judge not, lest ye be judged." To that I would reply what I heard someone else say, "Twist not Scripture, lest thou be like Satan." "You're being too harsh," someone else might say, "Why do you have to talk about homosexuality being wrong anyway? Can't you just leave it alone?"

My pastor doesn't bring the subject up every time he speaks. In fact, it usually only comes up when we are studying a passage that speaks about it. True Christians don't hate those in the homosexual lifestyle. We have compassion for those who embrace it, and they want to see them healed and regenerated by the love of Jesus Christ. This kind of twisted, illogical legislation won't stop Christians from reaching out with that love to their homosexual friends.

My suggestion to you, if you are going to witness to a homosexual friend is this; don't talk about homosexuality. Lovingly use instead, the law of God as a mirror to their sinfulness to show them that they need Jesus to reconcile them to God. Show them that the penalty for breaking God's law is hell. Show this to them, and let them examine themselves before the cross of Christ. Let the Holy Spirit do the rest.