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On February 23, 2012 Jim Rigby posted “Ten Things I Wish The Church Knew About Homosexuality” and it quickly went viral. Here are the list of ten things that Jim Rigby wishes the church knew about homosexuality.
1. If Jesus did not mention a subject, it cannot be essential to his teachings.
2. You are not being persecuted when prevented from persecuting others.
3. Truth isn’t like wine that gets better with age. It’s more like manna you must recognize wherever you are and whoever you are with.
4. You cannot call it “special rights” when someone asks for the same rights you have.
5. It is no longer your personal religious view if you’re bothering someone else.
6. Marriage is a civil ceremony, which means it’s a civil right.
7. If how someone stimulates the pubic nerve has become the needle to your moral compass, you are the one who is lost.
8. To condemn homosexuality, you must use parts of the Bible you don’t yourself obey. Anyone who obeyed every part of Leviticus would rightly be put in prison.
9. If we do not do the right thing in our day, our grandchildren will look at us with same embarrassment we look at racist grandparents.
10. When Jesus forbade judging, that included you.
Jim ended up with many conservatives sending rebuttals for what they considered to be errors in his thought. He said that some were respectful, others not so much so, but he wanted to honor the time all of them took to respond by giving answers to their rebuttals. Jim is giving his answers in a series of posts titled “Answering the Rebuttals to “10 Things I Wish the Church Knew About Homosexuality” So far Jim has posted part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4. There should end up being 10 parts in the series.
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Jim Rigby is a Presbyterian Minister in Austin Texas. In 2007, Jim was named “Texas Public Citizen of the Year” by National Association of Social Workers for his work on gender, economic, and racial issues. Jim has written for Huffington Post, Common Dreams, and other sites, but now his focus is on his blog, as a place for a deeper discussion of the relationship between religion and politics. Is it possible to affirm our different religious (and nonreligious) worldviews in ways that do not lead to intolerance and oppression, or does religion lead inevitably to superstition and sectarian violence? Can we affirm the core values of our own group, and yet, still be good citizens of the world? It is an open question. Jim’s site will argue it is possible, if all religions are willing to go through radical reformations to allign themselves to the best science available, to learn to honor artistic expression however different, and to serve universal human rights.
Serendipitydodah 
My response to Jim Rigby’s “Ten Things I Wish the church Knew About homosexuality”:
TEN THINGS I WISH JIM RIGBY (AND HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVISTS) KNEW ABOUT THE CHURCH
1. “If Jesus did not mention a subject, it cannot be essential to his teachings.”
Nonsense! Jesus never specifically mentioned pedophilia, bestiality, rape, pornography, sex trafficking, or a host of other issues related to sexual sin, but that doesn’t mean that He doesn’t care about those issues or that they are unimportant. He did mention that every single bit of Scripture is true, authoritative, and unbreakable (see Matt. 4:4; 5:18; Jn. 10:34-36), and the Scriptures clearly identify homosexual behavior as sinful in the eyes of God. ALL Scriptural teachings about sex and sexual brokenness are essential to Jesus’ teachings. And just as Jesus lovingly told the adulteress, “neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more,” He lovingly says the same thing to any person ensnared by homosexual sin.
2. “You are not being persecuted when prevented from persecuting others.”
Let’s get real. If you want to see what persecution of homosexuals really looks like, go to an Islamic nation. The church is NOT persecuting homosexuals. Resisting the radical agenda that seeks to force everyone to accept homosexuality as normal and healthy isn’t persecution. Telling homosexuals that their lifestyle is unnatural and unhealthy isn’t persecution. Telling homosexuals that they don’t have to remain trapped in homosexuality isn’t persecution. Telling homosexuals that Christ wants to set them free from homosexuality isn’t persecution. Warning all sinners, including homosexuals, to repent of their sins and be reconciled to God through Christ isn’t persecution. It’s the Gospel—the Good News of Jesus. But on the flip side, Christians are increasingly being targeted by homosexual activists and their sympathizers, being maligned, being harassed, being fired, being falsely accused of hate crimes, being arrested, being denied freedom of religion, and being denied freedom of speech.
3. “Truth isn’t like wine that gets better with age. It’s more like manna you must recognize wherever you are and whoever you are with.”
Okay, let’s go with the manna analogy. Jesus said of himself: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty…I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (Jn 6:35, 51). He also said, “I am the way and the TRUTH and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6, emphasis added). So, Jesus is bread from heaven (aka “manna”), and He is truth. If you want TRUTH, it’s found in Him, the Living Word of God, and it’s absolute and eternal, not capricious and temporal. Whatever His Word says is true. Period. His Word says that homosexual behavior is sin, so it’s sin. End of story. Anyone who says otherwise is denying TRUTH and speaking a lie. “Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar” (Rom. 3:4).
4. “You cannot call it ‘special rights’ when someone asks for the same rights you have.”
Not so! Let’s take handicap parking for example. Handicap parking spaces are regulated by civil government. But not everyone has the right to park in a handicap parking space. If I meet the legal criteria to park my vehicle in a handicap parking space and get a permit for handicap parking, it becomes my right to park in a handicap parking space. If someone else asks for that same right but doesn’t meet the criteria, he should not expect to be granted that right. That person might complain and scream “discrimination” because he’s being denied a right that I have. And, in fact, if he were given the right for handicap parking without meeting the criteria, that would be a “special right.” It isn’t likely that he would be successful in getting that “special right.” Likewise, marriage is regulated by civil government. But not everyone has the right to get married. You have to meet certain criteria to be given the right to marry. Same-sex couples do not meet the criteria for marriage. To be given the right to marry without meeting the criteria for marriage would, indeed, be a “special right.” However, just because same-sex couples don’t like the fact that they don’t meet the criteria for marriage, and they scream “discrimination” and act like their feelings are hurt, and claim that those who disagree with them hate them, that doesn’t justify compromising the criteria of marriage and actually changing the true definition of marriage just to satisfy them.
5. “It is no longer your personal religious view if you’re bothering someone else.”
In other words, you’re saying that Christians need to shut up and keep their views to themselves, especially as it relates to homosexuals. Unfortunately, however, what you’re suggesting is a violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and it’s also a violation of fundamental principles of the Christian faith. Followers of Christ are mandated by Christ to be his representatives in the earth, to communicate his good news (aka “gospel”) throughout the world, to make disciples of all nations, and to teach people to obey all of his commandments. (See Matt. 28:18-20.) Granted, some people don’t like it and consider it a bother. Others get really angry. Sometimes it gets really ugly and there’s even bloodshed. But this is what Christians do.
6. “Marriage is a civil ceremony, which means it’s a civil right.”
Marriage is regulated by civil government, and civil government has the authority to grant a person the right to marry. But it isn’t a “civil right” in the sense that everyone has the right to get married just because he’s an American citizen. It just doesn’t work that way. Consider also our right to bear arms, a right that is regulated by civil government and guaranteed by our Constitution. In spite of the 2nd Amendment, not everyone has the right to carry a concealed firearm just because he’s an American citizen. Some citizens are given the right to carry a concealed firearm, but they have to meet certain criteria to become licensed and obtain that right. Anyone else who carries a concealed firearm without being licensed is breaking the law. The same is true of marriage. Certain criteria must be met before that right is given.
7. “If how someone stimulates the pubic nerve has become the needle to your moral compass, you are the one who is lost.”
This is a strange statement. Not quite sure what it means, but perhaps the idea being conveyed is that Christians who believe they have an accurate moral compass that enables them to tell others the right path to take are actually the ones who are lost. Whether I’ve interpreted the statement correctly or not, let me simply say that anyone who truly follows Jesus will never be lost. The Christian’s moral compass is God’s word, and it never leads us astray. We wholeheartedly agree with the psalmist: “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path” (Ps. 119:105).
8. “To condemn homosexuality, you must use parts of the Bible you don’t yourself obey. Anyone who obeyed every part of Leviticus would rightly be put in prison.”
The same Old Testament Scriptures that teach us that homosexual acts are an abomination also teach us the Ten Commandments, as well as what Jesus confirmed as the Greatest Commandment: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:5) and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). But it isn’t just the Old Testament that condemns homosexual behavior. The New Testament also clearly teaches that homosexual behavior is sinful. (See Rom. 1:18-32; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; Jude 1:7). It’s all Scripture. Granted, nobody obeys it perfectly, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). (That’s why we all need the Savior.) However, our failure to obey it does not nullify the truthfulness of it.
9. “If we do not do the right thing in our day, our grandchildren will look at us with same embarrassment we look at racist grandparents.”
Don’t confuse the Civil Rights Movement with the campaign by gay activists to force everyone in America to accept homosexuality as a normal, healthy, and morally good. It’s an apple/orange comparison, and most African Americans are insulted by it. Skin color is one thing; sexual behavior is quite another. But we do, indeed, need to do the right thing in this hour, and that is simply to speak the truth in love, even when detractors call it hate speech. The Bible warns us that in these last days there will be false teachers and false doctrines—doctrines of demons—leading people astray (1 Tim. 4:1). Beware! “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Is. 5:20).
10. “When Jesus forbade judging, that included you.”
In Matthew 5:20 through 7:6, Jesus warned his followers against the practices of the Pharisees, who judged others self-righteously according to the letter of the Law rather than the spirit of the Law. In Matthew 7:3-5, his intent regarding judging is obvious in his metaphor of the splinter and log. If we judge someone for a little splinter in his eye while we have a log stuck in our own eye, we’re being hypocritical. So, Jesus forbade hypocritical judging. That’s an essential distinction, because in that same chapter, he taught how important it is to judge a tree by its fruit (Matt. 7:15-23). He also taught us to evaluate / judge / discern / test EVERYTHING to see if it’s of God or not, so that we won’t be deceived (1 Thess. 5:21 and 1 Jn. 4:1). Homosexuality is no exception. When we evaluate homosexual behavior honestly in the light of God’s word, common sense, and nature itself, we see it for what it really is: unnatural, unhealthy, ungodly, and totally unacceptable. It doesn’t work, and it never will. It’s a lie. It’s counterfeit. It’s deadly. And Jesus is the only one who can fix it.
ALLEN QUAIN’S RESPONSE ON FACEBOOK . I do no want to take credit for his ability to simplify the subject at hand