Zondervan and Nelson Publishers are being sued by self-proclaimed Bible expert and self-affirmed practicing homosexual, Bradley LaShawn Fowler. In all, he says he is owed $70 million for the emotional pain and trauma he has suffered. 1 Corinthians 6:9 is the focal point of his complaint. (I wonder where he got the idea of focusing here....) Feel free to take a look at the Greek behind it.
Now Mr. Fowler is surely an intellectual powerhouse to be reckoned with - as a quick review of his website will show. He also is a self-published author
of Reconciliation with the G.O.A.T., God of All Truth. (Please, no goatse jokes.) And - tremble, O Zondervan and Nelson - he's representing himself in court. (I don't know why: the ACLU, GLAAD, GLF, GMAD, and others would probably provide pro bono homo legal counsel.) I'm sure that it's tort claims like these that our founding fathers intended to take up the time of the justice system.
of Reconciliation with the G.O.A.T., God of All Truth. (Please, no goatse jokes.) And - tremble, O Zondervan and Nelson - he's representing himself in court. (I don't know why: the ACLU, GLAAD, GLF, GMAD, and others would probably provide pro Also, would anybody be interested in helping some death-row murders file a tort against God and the Bible publishers for that whole killing / murder confusion in the Decalogue?
14 comments:
Oh, thats just embarrassing for him.
Wonder if Jack Rogers will file an amicus brief. He seems to have sadly and tragically slipped into this nether world of making stuff up to prove the heterodox point.
dm
Shouldn't he be suing Paul instead?
No, Tim. He should be suing all of us white male heterosexists who even remotely imply that homosexuality might be (even just statistically) a deviation from the norm.
Look...when you're mad at yourself and uncomfortable with yourself, the only answer is to force everyone around you to tell you how wonderful you are. It works for Mugabe...and the LGBTQxyz forces at work in academia, in our government, and in the church.
Ok- it must be "Lets sue God" day-- The truth is stranger than fiction...
dm
Why did he go to the surgeon or sue when he could have just gone up front and been healed?
I grew up with this kind of stuff. While some of it is real, a lot of it is showmanship and group-psychology. It teaches people to seek out a djinni deity. When the big promises fail, they get angry and often turn away from the real gospel (as though they were inoculated). Granted - the elect will come to faith, but society is better off having people who've understood the gospel and rejected it than with people who've been given a half-truth and accepted, then rejected, it.
I think we're getting a glimpse into the future with the lawsuit originally referenced. But, if God can be with the Russian Baptists during seventy years of Soviet harassment and persecution, and with the underground Chinese church through their trials, He can be with the western church in whatever may be thrown our way in the future.
And as much as I hope that my glimpse is an overactive imagination brought on by lack of sleep, too much coffee, and the Tim LaHaye culture we live in, it could also be the best thing that ever happened to the western church.
"Burning off the dross" kind of stuff.
I really wouldn't make much of this lawsuit. I think major legal groups aren't supporting it because it is doomed to failure and pretty stupid in its conception. We live in litiginous society, yeah.
I also think, Chris, that comparing Mugabe to LGBTQ activists is right on the money. That's a really astute comparison that meaningfully contributes to our understanding.
I wonder why LGTBQ folks would be uncomfortable with themselves. Hmm. Could it be a steady stream of jerks telling them they're going to burn in hell? No, because that's just loving rebuke, right?
So very loving.
Chester,
May the day come when people actually suffer for being Christians instead of just being insufferable nominal Christians.
Doug,
I'm not worried about the lawsuit. It's frivolous and wrongheaded. But I'm worried about the trend - people suing one another over the legitimate exercise of 1st amendment rights. Look at the recent court cases in Canada & Europe (cf. Mark Steyn, Stephen Boissoin, and Ake Green). Imagine, if you will, people suing you for speaking out in defense of the environment - and making you pay or do prison time for going to the public with your case. It's despicable.
Also, despite my scores on the MAT & GRE, it doesn't seem I can make any comparisons without you claiming hyperbole. That's okay, man. It's your style.
Now, shall we get a lobby going for sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, greedy persons, drunkards, revilers, swindlers, and anyone else who doesn't like that mean old Iron Age morality being foisted on them by narrow-minded churchinoid bigots? How about helping them get over the ordination humps that bar them from sharing their gifts?
If there's one thing the book of Corinthians shows us, it's that Jesus calls some mighty strange people "friends" and gives the Spirit's giftings to folks that simply aren't meant to be leaders in the church (though their membership is affirmed by the gift).
I think the fact that he is "representing" himself says it all... He has a fool for a lawyer.
The ACLU, et. al. are NOT and WOULD NOT be involved. The ACLU stands up for religious freedom.
Alan,
I know that the ACLU takes some high-profile religious liberties cases in order to prove their bona fides. However, their bias (like that of the hierarchies of most mainline denominations) is shown in what they don't prosecute compared to what they do. For instance, why hasn't the ACLU stepped in to fight the publicly-funded Islamic school in NYC (Khalil Gibran International Academy) as a violation of the establishment clause?
Oh yeah...they're too busy telling valedictorians that they can't mention God in their speech (if they mean the Christian God) and haranguing tolerant governors.
Chris:
You'd make it easier on me if you made comparisons without using hyperbole :p
Also, could you have made the comment without showing off your MAT/GRE scores? That's Epic Tacky. You're just begging me to punk you, but I shall not, for I have a sermon to write, and I need to stay on my high horse to do it.
Thanks Doug Hitle...er, Hagler. ;p
And I definitely need some humility lessons from folks that think they can tell the rest of the Christians of the world (both past and present) that they are ignorant fundies for actually taking those claims of virgin birth, etc literally.
Chris, if you're going to link to my blog posts, you should probably read them first. Did I say ignorant fundies? No, I said that the virgin birth wasn't important to me, and I explained why, and I said that if its important to you, that's fine. Do you want sky-writing or something?
What does the Virgin Birth mean? It's not that God could do an mazing thing to signal the incarnation of the Son. So what is it? What hangs in the balance?
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