Rev Barry Lynn

Rev Barry Lynn, President of Americans United has written, “The goals of Christ and the goals of the Religious Right seem to have little in common. Christ did not spend his time trying to forge a faith-based government. He did not obsess over the sexual habits of people. Were he here today, I find it inconceivable that Christ would parade in front of abortion clinics screaming at teenage girls or picket a gay man’s funeral hoisting a sign with a hateful homophobic message.”

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11 Comments

  1. Amen.

  2. I couldn’t agree more.

  3. My sentiments exactly. I am from the South (Virginia) and let me share with you, that Christ, would probably stop there first. lol

  4. So true. Just beginning a book by Tony Campolo entitled “red letter christians”. Looks really good. Having been raised in midwest-conservative-pentecostal thought, struggle with accepting sexuality issues in myself. Hope to live and continue to teach my sons better. So inspired by your courage in activism, living your life as a christian AND a democrat ( once was the prevailing thought that we couldnt be both!). BEST to you as you continue physical therapy for knee. As a nurse i will encourage you to not be so brave…if you have pain, take the meds please! take care

  5. Thank you Jane for mentioning Rev. Lynn.
    Your heart seems always balanced and open.
    Rev. Lynn’s website at American United for Separation of Church and State rocks.
    If people could open their hearts and stop all the role playing. Just be yourselves not what you think you should be. We’d all be loving one another.
    Balancing the female/male within us and enjoying our unique selves is what I feel our higher selves wishes for us. How can we be the creators we were meant to be if were to busy playing a part thats not our true selves.

  6. correction- Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

  7. If Jesus is truth then nothing he says or does or would do would ever contradict the love he taught. On abortion if God is love, and every baby is from love then no baby conceived should be discarded. One must ask is God the creator or not? When people disobeyed by disrespecting the temple he threw a fit. He physically drove them out (Mark 11:15). That, relatively speaking was a minor offense compared to killing babies. Most who protest at abortion clinics feel great pain for the mothers to be and do not harrass mothers them.

    John the baptist, who Jesus says a holy man (Mark 6:20) was beheaded (mathew 14:10) for telling truths.

    Truth is not comfortable. If truth was comfortable then Jesus would not have been crucified.

    We ignored slavery in this country. Thank goodneess for Abraham Lincoln. Even though slavery ended we violated our African American’s rights. Martin Luther King stood up to the biggest most atrocious crimes against humanity. Thank you Martin Luther King for your bravery.

    We need heroes to stand up the most horrible crime against society. It appears there are few who want to defend the defenseless.

    I can see the sweetness of the Rev. Barry Lynn as well as his love of Jesus. You cannot, in defending the life of the innocent be disrespectful to the mother. You must protect the innocent (Mathew 25:40) while loving the mother.

  8. Life begins at conception. The zygote only needs time and nourishment to grow just like a 1 year old. The fetus in the womb is a child in nature’s safest place-his mother’s womb. We have twisted nature. I think that you may be deceiving yourself. Jesus would be very compassionate with the mother but he would save the child….We have evolved to be the only creatures where a mother will choose to have the baby she is carrying, the fetus, ripped from her womb. She even pays for it and fights for the right to murder her unborn child so that she will not be burdened with it even for 9 months. I am not judging the person…I am not innocent; but I am judging the act and calling it out for what it is-MURDER! Just because you may not think it is or be aware of the facts does not change the facts. As a man of God, I think you may need to reevaluate your conclusions. You may be wanting to fit in or be brainwashed by relativism(like I have been). Why do many pro choicers feel a need to be mean to those who disagree with them or call them names?A man of God should do as Jesus did—Love the sinner-Hate the sin. I know people here will disagree and probably be nasty. I expect childish replies rather than a discussion, though it would be nice to be pleasantly surprised. What will you say to God if when you see him face to face , he disagrees with you…
    Jesus loves the little children and he says to let them come to him…
    God is the author of life. Abortion is refusing his greatest gift. In all of civilization,people rarely planned a child or for that mastter were ready or wanted it at first but they were thankful after they had this gift in their hands. Now, we throw it back in God’s face. Or Rev, do you not believe that God is a gift? If you are wrong, wouldn’t that mean you are working against God. Noone wants a religion based govt(except, maybe, a few Muslems) but we do want life protected . We believe that is from conception till natural death. How can you fight so hard for the trees(Nothing wrong with that,I agree) but not the unborn human life. The complete person is there except for time and nourishment . The only difference from the 2 year old is the fetus needs the mother’s body to grow but the complete person is there lacking only time and nourishment, like any of us. I believe it is God’s greatest gift with His Son Redemption . We only have rights to the line that meets the others rights. We do not have the right to murder.I think we are selfish and blinded because we want sex with no consequences so we suddenly say a fetus is not a baby . That will not change the fact that it is. The right to choose comes when you choose to have sex or not.–and not AFTER the baby is in the womb. Are you sure you are truly serving God.? Are you perfect and cannot be wrong? At least consider this since you have the power to lead people to God or away from God. Be sure their trust is well-placed. Pray for me, if you will…
    Peace, love, and prayers,
    plato

  9. As a Christian, thank you for posting that

  10. HES SAID THERE IS MORE THAN 1 WAY TO HEVEN??????WHAT THE HECK IS THE BRAINIACK IDEA IS THAT. JESUS SAYS I AM THE WAY AND THE LIGHT.PERIOD NOO ONE COMES TO GOD BUT THRU ME. WAKE UP KIDS . I FOUND THAT CRAZY STATEMENT IN THE BIBLE.

  11. I honor whatever someone honestly believes. It is when they criticize and condemen and judge and try to make or force others to believe as they do, then I get enraged.
    I know or understand that people think and believe according to how they are taught and trained as well as according to their own natures and psychologies.
    When people say that their religion and conclusions based on that religion and religious training are “TRUTH”(absolute truth) and what others believe is not truth but error, and they MUST be converted or changed or punished for not believing as they MUST believe, then that is when I get enraged.

    Why can’t people just communicate what they believe and NOT tell others what they MUST believe? Why do people think they have a mandate from God to force people to believe as they think all people MUST believe?

    My answer is not “sweet”, but it is what I have seen over and over again: such people’s minds and hearts are closed and rigid and they cannot comprehend that other people and other schools of thought; other religions, other socieities, other social systems are just as legitimate as their own.
    And frankly, such people break my heart into many many pieces; they fill me with enormous pain. I can accept them as they are; they cannot accept me or anyone they deem to be not like themselves. Quite frankly, the spirit of Jesus’ teachings and the spirit of truth that blankets this world does not lead people into rigidity but into openness and freedom.
    We live in a society that prides itself in “freedom of thought”. Let’s all be sure we accept that right in all people not just those who are like us and agree with us.
    We are only humans; we are not Gods. We cannot apprehend absolute truth. We can only comprehend according to our intelligence, our life experiences and openness to revelation and insight gained or gleaned from prayer and meditation and contemplation—–“direct cognition of the divine ground of being” (Aldous Huxley).
    COMPASSION
    All religions teach:
    live and let live
    do unto others as you would have others do unto you
    love God and seek to be like God and to commune with God
    life is sacred
    serve your fellow humans
    do not judge people
    be open

    Jesus was non-violent at all times.
    Jesus was non-judgemental at all times.
    Jesus never once forced anyone to believe what he taught.
    Jesus never taught us to be closed minded to protect ourselves from “evil”.
    Jesus taught us that we are protected by his spirit (“the spirit of truth”), thus we can be open and receptive to the guidance of that spirit; we have nothing to fear.

    Again: we understand only according to, our life experiences, (including to our
    service to our fellow humans), our intelligence, our natures, what we are taught to believe, our experience of the Presence of God…etc.
    TRUTH is “inconcussible”: it cannot be shaken.
    In part, (only “in part”), that means, to me, that people can interprete a teaching in an infinite number of ways yet that teaching remains and the truth it is imparting remains. Whether we understand or not; no matter what we are taught, and no matter what we already believe.
    SO: beware what you deign to be absolute truth and the only way to God; and beware what you insist others must believe; and beware what you insist is right and wrong and what people MUST feel, what they must do, how they must live: YOU COULD BE WRONG.

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