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 Anderson Cooper's coming out provoked the author to send a tweet that triggered some strong reaction.
July 5th, 2012
01:11 PM ET
My Take: Will there be gays in heaven? Will there be fat people?Editor's Note: Craig Gross is the pastor and founder of XXXchurch.com and is the author of seven books. He just turned 36 and is no longer a hip 20-something pastor from California. By Craig Gross, Special to CNN After Anderson Cooper came out this week, I posted a link on Twitter to a story that included this quote from Cooper: “I love and am loved.” As I said in my tweet, Cooper is one of my favorite journalists. I was honored to once be on his show. After I tweeted I got e-mails and a direct message asking the same question: "You still like him now?" I was saddened by that reaction and started thinking: What would happen if we read the Bible and, instead of highlighting certain passages, we took it all for what it is - truth. In 1 Corinthians, the Bible says don't indulge your body with food or sex: “‘Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food,’ and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” My Take: The Christian case for gay marriage I deal with people who indulge their bodies with sex. I’ve done it for 10 years with XXXchurch.com, helping people caught up in porn addiction. If you indulge your body with sex via pornography, affairs, strippers or hookers, and your secrets are exposed, you will not be preaching on Sunday. Sexual sin is not tolerated in our churches. If clergy are caught in these things, they’re disqualified. What if you indulge your body with food? Well, then you can pastor some of the largest churches on the planet and have the most successful broadcasts on the religious channels and sell a lot of books. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories Same biblical passage, same sin. Why is one accepted and one rejected? Why is it that religious folks want to camp out on a few things rather then all things? Why do they believe that the gay guy goes to hell but the fat preacher who builds some of the largest churches in the world makes it to heaven? I have no problem bringing my fat friends to church; they fit right in. Our Los Angeles church has doughnuts to eat during worship service, which makes the hymns we sing sound so much better. My Take: Why many Christians focus on homosexuality I coached my son's soccer team last year. My assistant coach is a lesbian. My son became great friends with her son, and my wife and I have become good friends with his mom and her partner. We played on three teams this year with them and have spent time in each others’ homes. Could I bring them to church? Absolutely not. Most evangelical Christians don't have gay friends. We just have gay stereotypes and we base our beliefs on a few biblical passages, ignoring passages about things that people in the church really struggle with, like food and other addictions. The problem is that the church has only one answer for homosexuality: Don't be gay. Come as you are, but you'd better not be gay. But you can be fat. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter Most Christians believe you should just help your friends to not be gay when, in all honesty, only Christ can do that. I love my lesbian friends. Let’s say I share Christ with them and they accept Jesus - or maybe they already have. Where do they go to church? There is no way I would send them to an evangelical church, because not everyone would treat them the way they should be treated. But if they attend a gay church many Christians look at them as crazy. People will push you to take a stand one way or the other on homosexuality, but no one has ever asked me to take a stand when it comes to fat people. The goal shouldn’t be to change anyone's sexuality. Ultimately, I believe homosexuality gets blown way out of proportion in our churches. If we would all see gays as fellow sinners instead of “others,” there wouldn't be a need for gay outreach, because they would already be incorporated into our community based on a shared need for Christ. God loves gays and Jesus is for them. God loves the fat preacher. Homosexual activity and overeating are both sins - just like speeding, gossip, lying and cheating. I think I did all of those just today. All are forgivable in Christ and, with the leading of the Holy Spirit, can be changed. Just remember that change does not happen overnight. Have you ever seen someone lose 100 pounds overnight? The process takes time. When it comes to the Lord, it’s nothing less than a journey of sanctification. And wherever you are at on that journey, I think there should be a place for you at church. Because there’s probably one in heaven. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Craig Gross. |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Funny how in people's vision of the afterlife, have them still pursuing things of this life. If its Heaven why would it matter, are there better things to do in Heaven... its freaking Heaven for Heaven-sake!
You will all be able to go to heaven after you send me some money. I'll let you in.
...
We don't care what your `take' is. Why so condenscending to gays? Think about what they do together. Is this normal in your eyes?
Do you think it is normal to believe in talking snakes and donkeys?
@nal s.ex? Yeah that is pretty normal.
"Think about what they do together. Is this normal in your eyes?"
You do understand straight people have the same type of sex right? 😉
You don't know what the word 'condescending' means, do you?
From p. 13:
Of course, those gays who belong to Abrahamic religions supposedly abide by the rules of no ad-ultery or for-nication allowed.
And because of basic biology differences said monogamous ventures should always be called same-s-ex unions not same-se-x marriages.
To wit:
From below, on top, backwards, forwards, from this side of the Moon and from the other side too, gay se-xual activity is still mutual masturbation caused by one or more complex se-xual differences. Some differences are visually obvious in for example the complex maleness of DeGeneres, Billy Jean King and Rosie O'Donnell.
As noted, there are basic biological differences in gay unions vs. heterose-xual marriage. Government benefits are the same in both but making the distinction is important for census data and for social responses with respect to potential issues with disease, divorce and family interactions
Matthew 16:22 Then Peter took him, and began to go down on him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: he shall not c u m on thee.
Amen..
And the gays and lesbians will wreak havoc throughout the world, spreading disease , immorality and lust to all that welccome them. After a lifetime of that, they will ask for forgivenss in their dying breath to make up for their worthless life, and how they ruined other's lives. Then you will see hell for sure.
"And the gays and lesbians will wreak havoc throughout the world, spreading disease , immorality and lust to all that welccome them"
Wow are you one prejudice bigot who has no clue on the real facts about the gay community. Heterosexual behavior and homosexual behavior are normal aspects of human sexuality. Despite the persistence of stereotypes that portray lesbian, gay, and bisexual people as disturbed, several decades of research and clinical experience have led all mainstream medical and mental health organizations in this country to conclude that these orientations represent normal forms of human experience. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American School Counselor Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the National Association of SocialWorkers, together representing more than 480,000 mental health professionals, have all taken the position that homosexuality is not a mental disorder and thus is not something that needs to or can be “cured."
Social science has shown that the concerns often raised about children of lesbian and gay parents—concerns that are generally grounded in prejudice against and stereotypes about gay people—are unfounded. Overall, the research indicates that the children of lesbian and gay parents do not differ from the children of heterosexual parents in their development, adjustment, or overall well-being.
I just love being reduced to a horror movie monster.
van, what havoc are gays 'wreaking' on the world? Are you really that fvcking stupid?
The one silly lie atheists always tell! Pascal's Wager has been refuted! No it has not! An ethical GOD like Yahweh is the only one you need fear! Any other god cannot deny you heaven!
So you believe in multiple gods?
To live in fear is to be a slave.
@Nii
1) The abrahamic god is not ethical.
2) If you religion is wrong, one of the others can still be correct. You have merely thrown out another False Dichotomy of, all gods exist, or none.
Man you are really bad when it comes to logic.
Pascal's Wager is moronic.
Are you kidding me? You mean the way I struggle with food is the same as being gay? That is crazy talk. That's like saying being black is a sin and we need to just slowly change them to be more white. Life is much more complicated. Your logic sucks.
The correlation between food (gluttony) and seex (lust) is actually closer than you might imagine at first glance. Both eating and loving are basic human functions. It is only when they are perverted from their purposes that they become sinful. In America, we turn a blind eye to the seexual sins of heteros while condemning gaays, all in a society saturated with innuendo. At the same time, we revile overweight people who are immersed in a "Super Sized culture". There is more commonality than you know between these two areas of sin.
People are born black and science indicates many are born gay. Nobody is born obese.
@John
Ever heard a 23 lbs and 12 oz baby boy at birth?
Easy to answer this one. There is NO HEAVEN! Get over it. Move on. Join reality before you die. Stop wasting your life on BS. You're only here once, make the best of it.
Sorry you feel that way. But the day you take your last breath, you will see that you did have a chance to see heaven only then it will be to late. Take a chance and read the bible, because what if your wrong>
Instead of worrying about heaven and hell, why don't you spend your time worrying about people who worry about heaven and hell and whether or not they are waisting their time..... Genius
@Kim, maybe you should take a chance and read the Q'uran, what if you are wrong? In fact you could spend a lifeteime reading ridiculous and conflicting religious texts. A better answer is to be rational and realize that all organized religion is bullshit.
Sorry; as accepting of gays as this pastor is, he still views their behavior as sin. His beliefs are misguided. At least his love seem genuine
if his love is genuine then he is not misguided.. 🙂
I am not as accepting of gays as he is , because from what I've been hearing from them isn this great arguement is that there is nothing wrong with their behaviour... 🙂
An abusive parent's love is usually genuine but misguided as well.
I'd rather live life believing there is a forgiving God who gave us his Son for the redemption of our sins rather than live my life like there isn't one and find out in the end there is a GOD! GOD will forgive me, it is his trade!
So you are believer due to fear, at it's most basic level. You're afraid of the punishment described. I don't blame you. I really don't. Sounds horrible. So why would such a caring God think of such a thing as a punishment? Why not just create a lower level in heaven? Why must they burn eternally? He is God, that wasn't nessessary if he didn't want it to happen. Ahhhhhhhh...... but he does, per the book. Create us to punish us for eternity.
Unless you are worshiping the wrong god. Thor is not known for his forgiveness.
Pascal's Gambit was refuted long ago. Your problem is that you assume it's a one-off proposal. It is either your god, or no god – so the best option is to believe in your god. It isn't. We've invented tens of thousands of gods. The version you have choose to worship is no more, nor no less special than any of the others.
So, if the Allah version of god is the real god, you are as screwed as those you have damned to hell. If Amma is the real god, you are screwed. If Bumba is the real god, you are screwed. Ra? Thor? Zeus? All the same.
will you ask for forgiverness in your last breath for all that your life has wrought?
@Primewonk
It's called a False Dichotomy. Sound a lot more impressive lol.
Believer you have no true faith
@HeavenSent
And no one cares what a psychopatic, sociopathic, sadistic, evil, worthless human being like you thinks. Wow you really are like your god. Grats, you have modeled yourself after an evil character in a book of fiction.
You do the Devil's bidding
Amen.
Let's be real. Nobody knows what awaits us when we die. We will all die, so it's not worth worrying about. Put that energy into making your time here count.
punishmenrt is necessary averageJoe ...a littel sin builds into montersous behavior... SIN is rebellion agsinst your creator...even we throw trahs in the garbage.....when we build great ships ... we throw the scraps in the trash or recycle what is left... 🙂
@HeavenSent
Prove it. But please, continue to prove my point, continue to give me more and more examples of the damage religion does to a persons mind.
It is outlined in God's letter to us. I have nothing to say to a follower of the Father of lies. You will burn and suffer forever.
Amen
@HeavenSent
Yes keep going. Show everyone how useless you really are. I truly do feel sorry for any other human being within a 50 mile radius of you, expecially if they're family.
I laugh at you. Don't worry about my family and friends, they know I am a heaven sent. Foolish Atheist.
Amen.
That's right. Drink the Kool-Aid or burn in hell forever!
@HeavenSent
Continue to laugh, but your blind idiocy and inability to show anythign resembling compassion is the real tragic joke here. Just keep going, and people will continue to see what religion can do to a persons mind.
@HeavenSent
"It is outlined in God's letter to us. I have nothing to say to a follower of the Father of lies. You will burn and suffer forever."
please tell me you aren't refering to the bible? it has been contested on here and proven again and again to only indicate circular logic.
atheist: how can you believe being gay is a sin?
theist: the bible tells me it is.
atheist: how do you know the bible can be trusted?
theist: the bible tells me i can.
lmfao looooooovvvvvvvvveeeeeee it.
Refreshing article. Thank you.
The real question should be "Will there be a heaven?"
BTW Gay is not the Way!!!
"BTW Gay is not the Way!!!"
Homosexuality is not a sin according to the Bible. Any educated Christian would know that. Scholars who have studied the Bible in context of the times and in relation to other passages have shown those passages (Leviticus, Corinthians, Romans, etc) have nothing to do with homosexuality. These passages often cherry-picked while ignoring the rest of the Bible. The sins theses passages are referring to are idolatry, prostitution, and rape, not homosexuality. That’s why Jesus never mentions it as well. There is nothing immoral, wrong, or sinful about being gay. Jesus, however, clearly states he HATES hypocrites. If you preach goodness, then promote hate and twist the words of the Bible, you are a hypocrite, and will be judged and sent to hell. Homosexuals will not go to hell, hypocrites will. This is very similar to the religious bigots of the past, where they took Bible passages to condone slavery, keep women down, and used Bible passages to claim blacks as curses who should be enslaved by the white man. People used God to claim that blacks marrying whites was unnatural, and not of God's will.
A way to what?
BTW, it's chance, not choice.
Matthew – You couldn't be farther from the truth.
"Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespa-ss against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." (Numbers 31:16-18)
What a nice gesture giving the soldiers all the pre teen little girls they could want, truly a Loving God.
There will be no unrepentent ho-mos-exuals who engage in ho-mos-exual behavior in heaven. I love it when ho-mos-exuals try to justify their depravity by pointing to other sins. As if that excuses their per-version.
Are you back again? Have you educated yourself yet, or do you still stick your fingers in your ears when you hear something that might pop the little bubble of religious delusion that comprises your thought process.
"There will be no unrepentent ho-mos-exuals who engage in ho-mos-exual behavior in heaven. I love it when ho-mos-exuals try to justify their depravity by pointing to other sins. As if that excuses their per-version."
Seeing as you have really bad reading comprehension skills I'll post it again. Heterosexual behavior and homosexual behavior are normal aspects of human sexuality. Despite the persistence of stereotypes that portray lesbian, gay, and bisexual people as disturbed, several decades of research and clinical experience have led all mainstream medical and mental health organizations in this country to conclude that these orientations represent normal forms of human experience. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American School Counselor Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the National Association of SocialWorkers, together representing more than 480,000 mental health professionals, have all taken the position that homosexuality is not a mental disorder and thus is not something that needs to or can be “cured."
Duh!
A sin is a sin, is a sin, is a sin. I don't know about you, but I tend to take the Bible as a whole and not just pick out the stuff that I agree with and throw the rest away. And by the way, a bigot is defined as someone who is intolerantly devoted to their own views and prejudices especially those who regard to treat members of another group with hate and intolerance. Art thou a bigot?
Are you in charge of the Pearly Gates ?
@Evan
Please chose one of the following...
1. I am of normal weight.
2. I am pleasantly plump.
3. I am overweight.
4. I am obese.
5. I am morbidly obese.
6. I need a forklift to get in the back of the pick-up truck.
7. Doesn't matter, I am going to hell for many other reasons.
Tell the truth now under the following oath: If you are a man that you swear you never coveted another mans asz and certainly did nothing about it if you did. If you are a woman you only used your tongue to speak kindly of your sisters.
@Believer
Then why aren't you out stoning gays, or burning witches. Did you stone your unruly kids? Are you wearing a cotton blend shirt? How about your tassels?
Matthew 16:22 Then Peter took him, and began to go down on him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: he shall not c u m on thee.
Amen
"A sin is a sin, is a sin, is a sin. I don't know about you, but I tend to take the Bible as a whole and not just pick out the stuff that I agree with and throw the rest away."
Is homosexuality a sin?
Self-indulgence is a sin. But the relationship of two people of the same sex may or may not be self-indulgent.
Abusing the neighbor is a sin. But the exploration of relationships among homosexuals as they search for partners, evaluate their existing formative relationships, and relate to each other may or may not be abusive.
Disobeying what God commands in the Bible is a sin. But, we have biblically-derived criteria for assessing and applying specific commands by reading them against larger themes.
Turning your back on God is a sin. Homosexuals are often among those who have turned their back on the church, and may be sinning because they also rejected the God they found in church. The church needs to be in mission to homosexuals with the message of Jesus and who God really is.
Yielding to your passions, even celebrating them is a sin. Homosexuals do include those who have done this. But it is not an inherent aspect of being gay.
Since we see people who have dedicated themselves to God, and for whom their gay sexual life is integrated into that decision and we see that their sexuality does not draw them away from church we must conclude that being and living gay is not a behavior in and of itself that produces pain to the neighbor and leads one away from God.
By the criteria the scripture sets for us for what is godly life, and by the reasoning scripture asks us to employ, homosexuality cannot be described as against God’s law.
If this seems like a rather quiet sort of justification for homosexuality, then perhaps it is because the grand clichés of this debate have been shouted at us for too long. But look at the Bible: it's demands and vision cut across all categories, not staying on the surface but penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart, rejecting all forms of self-justification, all forms of attack on the "other" and all forms of escape from God's assessment of our behavior. How on earth could we have ever thought that a series of flat rules was all God wanted to tell us on morality?
It's not a gay person's fault that you can't keep your mind off s ex. Don't blame others for your obsessions.
GOD are the aliens who study living creatures and human on earth.
The earth is a science experiments.
Them aliens sure are into a n a l probing.
You are going to hell. Enjoy heathen!
Amen.
Sorry to all you scared small minded religious hypocrits, but....
There is no god. No allah, mohammed, yaweh, jesus, zeus, or whatever.
A snake never spoke.
The earth is a little older than 6 thousand years.
No god-boy ever walked on water (except maybe in Detroit)
No god ever wrote a book.
No god ever told someone else to write a book.
There is no heaven.
There is no hell,other than what you religious idiots put the rest of us through.
The bible is not truth.
The Koran is not truth.
Bet you'll be frying in hell
At the judgement, you will find out there is a God but it will be too late then. God lives, and he is the supreme being.
@Christian – Will you be delighted to see the 'evil people' burn, as you watch, pointing and taunting from heaven?
My dad does't give a damn if you believe in him or not and certainly would't stick you in some firery hell, for whatever you believe. So if you don't mind leave him out of your posts. Party on dude, you only live once. Got to go I have a wine tasting, Bachus rules.
Friend,
There is plenty of literary and historical evidence to support the existence of both Jesus and Mohammed. There is also a significant scientific evidence to support that faithful people (be whatever that faith might be) live happier and healthier lives. The very statement of "the Truth shall set you free" is from the New Testament, which I suppose is your irony.
If you are going to blast faith and those who adhere to a faith system, please get your facts straight. You are most welcome to espouse that there is no God (BTW: "Allah" and "Yahweh" are Aramaic & Hebraic names for the same word "God"), although billions disagree with you.
In other words, if you are be an atheist, be an informed atheist. Your non-belief is riddled with inaccuracies. Makes one believe that you don't know what you don't believe.
BTW, There will not be gays, thiefs, gluttons or any other sinful act of nature in heaven. Beacuse the Holy Spirit will reign, and there is no way to be in the presence of God and have sin. That is the whole purpose of Christ's birth, death and ressurection, to redeem us sinners and provide a way to be in God's presence.
Will Santa Claus be there?
Do you even know who Santa Claus is. I know you just turned 13 and just quit looking for him on Christmas morning, but study a little harder little Johnny.
Yes derp Santa will be there sliding down a rainbow on a unicorn.
Amen
Yes Johnnie, Santa Claus sits at gods left hand side, which is why he's so fat. Dude never gets out of that chair except once a year, when he delivers cases of Coca Cola to all the rich white god-fearing republicans.
Spoken like a true Christian.
Awe, you poor children only got coal in your stocking and now are bashing Santa. He rode a reindeer idiot, not a unicorn.
" I know you just turned 13 and just quit looking for him on Christmas morning"
I love the snide remark about how you must be a 13 year old because you still believe in Santa comes from the serious believer in a magic sky daddy thats watching us when we sleep and when were awake and rewards us based upon the list he's making of who's naughty and nice and who has reservations at the big resort in the sky...
I think Derp is the only person in this thread with an IQ over 80.
"He rode a reindeer idiot"
He rode a sleigh idiot. It was pulled by reindeer.
Why include gay folks? If your god creates a group of people who will burn forever for a natural and harmless trait He HIMSELF have them, then he's not worth following.
This article is completely made up.
That is to be expected the man after all claims to be a Christian.
Yeah..he is acting like Hitler. Christian in words, atheist in deed.
*deeds rather.
Of course it is! After all, god is completely made up!