Fundamentalist street preacher, tract distributor and general nuisance, Bob Hutton, shared his thoughts this week on the assassination of Irish journalist, Lyra McKee. According to Bob, Lyra’s death was tragic on two counts. First, because she was made in the image of God and God regards all life as precious. (You’ll be hard pushed to find this in the Bible, never mind in reality.)
Second, Lyra was gay and this, for Bob, is a tragedy on the same level as her murder:
her death was tragic because of the life she led. It is an undoubted fact that her lifestyle was in accord with what the Bible refers to as unnatural perversions (see Romans 1 v 24-28). Moreover, we read in 1st Cor. 6 v 9-10 that people who engage in this kind of activity “will not inherit the kingdom of God”. If we don’t inherit the kingdom of God when we die then there is only one other place we can go, and that fate is too horrible to bear thinking about. I don’t know if Lyra McKee repented of her lifestyle before she died; I truly hope she did – God is merciful to all who truly repent of their sins and accept Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour.
In 1st Cor. 6 v 11 we are told of people who formerly engaged in all manner of perversions being transformed by God’s power. It is my sincere wish that McKee came to experience the joy and forgiveness from God that comes from knowing Christ.
Finally, let us remember, that although God is merciful to those who repent and accept Christ, the day of Grace does not last forever. Anyone who is involved in a sinful lifestyle is gambling with their souls, and could be called to the judgement seat of Christ at a moment’s notice.
You’ll note, I’m sure –
- the condescension and judgement implicit in buzzwords like ‘lifestyle’, ‘sinful’, ‘unnatural’, ‘perversion’;
- empty evangelical cliches such as ‘repentance’, ‘knowing Christ’, ‘merciful’, ‘joy and forgiveness’;
- how ‘the Kingdom of God’, which Jesus and Paul predicted was coming to the Earth in the first century, is conflated with the much later but equally muddle-headed concept of Heaven;
- how all of this sneakily condemns not only Lyra McKee but all gay people, as well as those who have had the good sense to avoid or ditch the Jesus scam.
This callous, superficial and ever so ‘umble twaddle is what passes for the ‘gospel’ in the Christian bubble these days. Yes, Lyra’s death was terrible and wasteful, but not because a non-existent deity regarded her life as precious, and certainly not because she was gay.
What I find really tragic is that there are still millions of people like Bob, who think magic salvation spells and empty promises about ‘eternal life’ are what make life meaningful.
rejectingjesus, 
I’ve looked at your details and, it seems to me, you have rejected Jesus and the Gospel becuae your love your sins – John 3 v 19. I would also draw your attention to 2nd Peter 2 v 20-22.
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It would seem that way to you, Bob, because it always does to Christians who are unwilling to examine their faith critically, who don’t recognise that the bible is a flawed, altogether human book, who refuse to see that their supposed saviour was nothing more than a failed apocalyptic prophet, and are blind to the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever for the supernatural. No, it has to be that others love their sin so much they reject ‘the gospel’.
Two further points: i) it is futile referencing the bible to those who don’t accept it has any authority. ii) I have published your comment, which is more than you did mine when last I visited your blog.
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2 Peter is a known forgery, only the extreme conservative scholars cannot accept that because their faith will not allow them to accept the evidence. John was written by a few authors, maybe even up to four. No evidence suggest this was John, son of Zebedee, that is just “man’s tradition.” No need to reference either of those because they do not have any authority.
On top of that, that apologetic is really old and worn out. It is just an excuse to dismiss someone who has left the faith. No need to look at the argument, simply dismiss it out-of-hand because, “they just love sin,” or “who hurt you.”
Surely there is not an intellectual argument to be made, no, that is not possible. Somehow, someway, dead saints getting out of their graves and cruising through Jerusalem did not make it to the ears of contemporary historians. Somehow no contemporary historian made note of a man who was doing miracles, not just claiming to do miracles, actually doing them. That is just the tip of the iceberg.
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Yes, agreed. It’s all preposterous – and yet millions of people buy into it. Unbelievable.
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