I suspect the ad staff saw nothing wrong with the ad until very vocal gay rights organizations started to flood the publication with intimidation. No doubt using the opinions of liberal science that denies the efficacy of the Word of God as counter positioned to the opinion of the AMA and whatever the psychiatry and psychology version of the AMA is called.
Therefore Citizen-Times.com ate crow and apologized for offending a group of people, viz. homosexuals. What a bunch of politically correct hogwash!
Homosexuality as a practice is deviant. The group is by and large multipartner and corrupt of godly morals. Yes I realize there may be a few homosexuals with their heads screwed on right as far common sense right and wrong, nonetheless my experience of my youth does not prove that out.
In my pre-Christian days I had a lot of homosexual friends (yes I was strait). Why? My goal in life in pre-Christian days was to party hearty. The crowds I ran with were mixed but had one thing in common: lots of alcohol, lots of drugs and lots of sex. We all sinned together - strait and gay. The homosexuals in this group were blatantly promiscuous that often rubbed those of us that were strait the wrong way. But hey, back then a little hooch in the blood tended for all to put their differences aside for laughs in groups and separation in private.
Thank God I have been delivered from the party crowd lifestyle. It certainly would have been a journey to jail. Something I will always remember nonetheless: Homosexuals are promiscous and care little of moral or physical consequences until it catches up with them. Then they reach out for the "O pity me for my circumstances, I could not help the I am." And it is hogwash!
The politically correct cowards attempt to justify their apology with the words of Christ slanted to the Lord never said anything specific about homosexuality. Yes Jesus became incarnated as human flesh because of John 3:14-21,
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but[b] have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Jesus Christ did not end the Law but fulfilled it becoming a higher law. Somewhat like the law of lift is a higher law than the law of gravity.
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:17-19 (NKJV)
Jesus Christ is the very Word of God and the New Tesatment is the Word of God.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend[a] it.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’” 16 And[e] of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son,[f] who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. John 1:1-5, 14-18 (NKJV)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,[a] for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”[b] Romans 1:16-17 (NKJV)
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:18-21 (NKJV)
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting Romans 1:24-28 (NKJV)
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On homosexual issues, Christians should heed greatest commandment
published March 11, 2006 6:00 am
Citizen-Times.com
A two-page advertisement condemning homosexuality and announcing a rally supporting the right of Christian and conservative businesses to refuse to employ gays and lesbians ran Thursday in the Asheville Citizen-Times. Many members of the community called to denounce the newspaper for publishing the advertisement.
We strongly support the right of all citizens to publicly present their opinions, whether or not we agree with them, and it was that paramount value that caused us to accept the advertisement for publication.
In doing so, we failed, however, to live up to another value that is equally central to our ability to function with integrity. For that, we would like to express our remorse and offer an apology.
In allowing the use of the word “sodomites,” we allowed an entire group of people to be referred to with disrespect and contempt.
We would have permitted the use of other words expressing bigotry only in the rarest circumstances, such as when essential to understanding an important news story. We would not have allowed them in an advertisement of this type, nor should we have allowed this word to be published in this context.
For having done so, we are truly sorry.
While we regret the use of inflammatory and disrespectful language, we believe we made the right decision in allowing the individuals, businesses and churches who sponsored the advertisement to speak their minds, even though the publisher and editorial board of this newspaper fervently disagree with their position and have and continue to support the rights of all citizens, including those who are gay.
The correspondence we have received regarding the publication of the advertisement clearly demonstrates that many others, including many Christians, also disagree with the advertisement’s arguments that gay men and lesbians should be denied equal rights in the workplace and denied the right to marry.
As we have noted before, a strong body of evidence suggests that homosexuality is a natural variation of human sexuality, an intrinsic part of a person’s nature caused by genetic or environmental circumstances beyond the individual’s control.
The evidence suggests that like left- or right-handedness, homosexuality is a natural characteristic that cannot be fundamentally changed, though, like handedness, it may be manifested with stronger or lesser degrees of preference from one person to another.
Beyond any scientific evidence, there is the testimony of gay men and lesbians themselves, who share stories of experiencing same-gender attractions from adolescence.
Many tell of having tried for years, without success, to change their gender preference.
If this scientific and anecdotal evidence is valid and gender preference is not a choice, and if you believe that God created humanity in his own image, it seems disrespectful of God and his creation to take the position that homosexuality is sinful.
But even if you don’t give credence to either the evidence or the witness of gay men and lesbians, for Christians to condemn them and to advocate that they be harmed by being discriminated against seems to fly in the face of everything Jesus Christ preached and practiced. There are very few references to homosexuality in the Bible and none attributed to Christ.
But in Matthew, Chapter 7, verses 1-3 (King James version), Christ says, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”
And in Mark, Chapter 12, verses 29-31, he is quoted thus: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
There are no exceptions in that commandment for neighbors of whose gender preference one disapproves. It would seem that these unequivocal words from the mouth of Christ himself would outweigh all else.
We respect the right of those who believe that homosexuality is sinful to hold that view. But we do not believe their religious beliefs, with which many others — gay and straight — disagree, should be allowed to prevent gay men and lesbians from having equal rights before the law.
More to the point, in the instance at hand, we believe in a free and open debate, in a free and open society, and the right of people on both sides of the issue to try to persuade others to their point of view.
We believe those arguments are more persuasive when they stand on their own merit without resorting to name-calling and labeling in an attempt to discredit those whose viewpoint is different.
Copyright 2006 Asheville Citizen-Times. All rights reserved.
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