Confessions of a Pilgrim

Bart McQueary has run afoul of the Commonwealth of Kentucky by taking the new logo and using his First Amendment rights. Mr. McQueary can say whatever he wants using the logo and I don’t think the threats levied against him by the Commonwealth will ever amount to much. It’s odd that I agree with him on this because apparently there’s little else I would agree with him on.

His site (barely work safe and NOT appropriate for children) is nothing but unadulterated hate nicely shrouded in a veil of Christian rhetoric. I don’t know the man’s heart and can hardly judge his Faith but Jesus tells us:

Matthew 7:16 (Read the chapter here so you get the full context)

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Mr. McQueary begins his site with a bullet item list of ….stuff. Among them is:

God hates the sinner, not just the sin

Let’s go back and look at what Jesus said again…something about sin and stones…here it is…

John 8:7 (Read the chapter here so you get the full context)

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

Now, Mr. McQueary, are you sinless? Jesus was talking about a woman accused of adultery asking the Pharisees to stone her to death if they were sinless. Also on your site you say about one Valerie Mullins:

She has committed adultery and thus violated a law that carries the death penalty.

Would you have tossed the stone at the adulterous woman by Jesus? In Jesus’ time there was a civil law prohibiting adultery and the penalty was death by stoning. I’m not aware of a civil law in Kentucky carrying that penalty…let alone a city ordnance in Danville.

*sigh*. What can ya do with people like this? When I talk with people about the Faith they sometimes bring up people like Mr. McQueary. How do you respond except to say that while they CLAIM the Faith, they certainly don’t live it.

Political discussions with another friend of mine usually come down to him saying “Jesus was a liberal” to which of course I counter with, “No Bryce, Jesus was a hardcore Red State guy”. Our jabs are casually made as friends will do but sometimes thing get more serious, particularly when it comes to social issues where Conservatives lean toward a harsher world where actions bring civil repercussions and Liberals lean toward a softer world where compassion rules the day. I usually get the question, “What would Jesus do in that situation?” regardless of the situation. I usually rip something off the top of my head that fits neatly into my own ideology but the fact is that I have no idea what He would do. I DO know that Jesus wouldn’t go about screaming at adulterous people how much he HATES them or homosexuals afflicted with HIV that it’s God’s judgement on them.

Come on Mr. McQueary….God’s love is going to get you closer to people than the lie that God hates them.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

My wife and I can’t have kids so the thought of actually having a son and surrendering him to MY OWN CREATION to be brutally sacrificed is so far beyond my comprehension that…well…no words. God WILLINGLY gave up his Son, heaped all my sins on His shoulders, and allowed him to be nailed to a cross. Not because He hated me for my multitude of sins but because He loved me IN SPITE of my ever growing multitude of sins. Jesus was killed as the supreme sacrifice for my sins so that in God’s eyes I am viewed as sinless. Jesus would make an incredible salesman if he can convince God that *I* am righteous.

Same is true for you Mr. McQueary. Even with all your hate God LOVES you. Let some of that love be reflected on your site eh? What kind of WITNESS of GOD’S LOVE is that garbage up there now?