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Are We Going To Get In Trouble For Quoting Scripture? The Garden City church of Christ, in Garden City, Georgia seems to have found that quoting scripture on their church sign can be dangerous. Actually, the sign paraphrases part of 1 Corinthians 6.9. It read, "Homosexuals, drunks, adulterers shall not inherit the Kingdom of God." A local resident contacted the local news media and wanted them to cover this story. One person interviewed from the community said it is in the Bible, but they would not feel welcome at that church. (That says more about that person and what they think of the Bible than anything else.) They went on and said that everybody deserves to be in the kingdom of God. A gay rights activist pointed out that “the community has been promoting tolerance and some translations do not include the word ’homosexual’ in the passage.” He also said they should have quoted the whole thing. I looked at some other translations and here is want I found. The King James contains the phrase "abusers of themselves with mankind." According to the Mike Willis' commentary on First Corinthians, the phrase refers to homosexuality. It also uses the word effeminate which means soft. The New Living Translation reads, "or male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality." The New International Version says, "males prostitutes or homosexual offenders." The English Standard Version says, "nor men who practice homosexuality." Frankly, I do not know of a creditable translation that will not condemn homosexuality. As far as quoting the whole verse, that is comparable to not liking the color of the sign. I am sure the homosexual would not like what the rest of the verse says either. Now I realize that we have to be smart in how we teach the Bible and sometimes tact is the greater part of valor. As Colossians 4.6 says, "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one." How should we answer a homosexual, a thief, a drunkard, an adulterer? Should we tell them to not worry about it because everyone deserves to be in heaven? Or, should we tell them the truth? Our society has become so politically correct that it is better to lie in order to make people feel good than to tell the truth and hurt their feelings. God is kind, loving, just, and wants everyone to be saved. We should also be kind, loving, just, and desirous of everyone being saved. However, God is not politically correct and we are not obligated to be either. -- Dennis Tucker |