No Joke: Christians Can't Participate in Homosexual Celebrations

There is an aggressive attempt to normalize homosexuality, especially during the month of June,  being inundated with wokeness. It is neither normal nor Godly. 

This season, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty called out  five Tampa Bay Ray's  players for refusing to wear LGBTQ Pride uniforms,  calling it an "absolute joke ".

Whats obvious about this is that Flaherty, who calls himself a Christian,  knows nothing about what Christians believe on homosexuality or doesn't care.  It's a fact that Christians take their faith seriously.  No Joke!  Religion is more than just going to Church on Sunday.  Christians practice their faith everyday in the public square.

While Christians believe that homosexual actions are a sin, comments on social media websites  have  been making Christians out to  be  homophobic bigots. This would mean that Christians hate or dislike gay people showing prejudice against them.  That couldn't be further from the truth!

Bishop, Joseph Strickland, head of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, said that preaching the truth of the Gospel is not homophobic, that sexual intimacy is for a married man and woman "for the procreation of children," and that this is "simply reality."

As Christians, we are taught to love the sinner but hate the sin. From a Catholic perspective, "they must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition." (Catechism of the Catholic Church  2358)

One of the common statements is that Jesus Christ = Love.

True love of Jesus Christ doesn't mean that it's okay  to look the other way when someone sins.  Jesus Christ didn't look the other way when He turned over the tables of the money changers in the temple.  When a woman who was accused of adultery was brought before Him,  He didn't look the other way.  He told her to "go and sin no more".

We wouldn't look the other way with  people who murder, rape, steal,  or commit adultery.  So why does society have different rules for the sin of homosexuality.

Pope Francis calls the church a hospital for sinners.  We are all sinners.  As Christians we are taught to repent and ask for forgiveness no matterwhat our sins are.

We must recognize that we have done wrong.
We must have true remorse for doing wrong and for the pain and problems we've caused. We must be committed never to repeat the act regardless of the temptations or situation. We must repair the damage we've done, or at least do what we can to apologize directly to the injured party.

Jesus Christ died a horrific death on the cross for all of our sins. Christ does indeed = Love, but true love of Jesus Christ is not giving people the green light to commit  sinful acts.
True love is offering His Mercy and Forgiveness. Jesus Christ will forgive everyone who asks. Our job as Christians is to get to heaven and to take as many people as we can with us.  Only when we offer the Mercy  and forgiveness of Christ do we accomplish that. We shouldn't force it on them,  but at least offer it to them. 

Love is not condoning a sinful lifestyle, love is helping them out of sin and helping them understand why its a sin. Love is telling people the truth.  I dont ever want God to ask me, "Why didnt you tell the truth?"

So why can't Christians wear the Gay Pride uniforms or take part in the celebrations of gay people as a sign of unity. Are Christians hiding behind their religion?
One comment I've seen is that Jesus Christ would have worn the uniforms.  That's probably not true.

St Paul  tells us that it is also a sin to approve the sinful actions of others or participate in their sins.
Romans 1:26-32
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. 29 They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them.

Also  1 Timothy 5:22
22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor participate in another man’s sins; keep yourself pure.

For this reason  a baker can't bake a cake for a homosexual celebration, a florist can't provide flowers for a homosexual celebration and a baseball player can't wear a Gay Pride uniforms.  That would also be a sin.  Why would you want to force anyone to go against their beliefs? Why would you want to force someone to sin?  Wouldn't that be reverse discrimination against the Christian? '

Homophobic  prejudice  would  be refusing to hire a gay person, rent an apartment to a gay person, or serve them at a restaurant because they are gay. Those situations would be wrong because those aren't sinful  actions. The Christian isn't participating in another person's sin. The Christian isn't taking part in the celebration. See the difference?

What if on Easter Sunday all players would be asked to wear a cross on their sleeve to symbolize the resurrection of JesusChrist? Would it be ok for players to refuse because of their religious beliefs or lack of them? Of course! Would you ask a Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or Atheist to wear that cross or participate in a Christian Celebration? Some MLB teams have Christian day at the ballpark.   What if MLB and its teams incorporated the Crucifix or the Christian fish symbol  into its logos for a month, like they do with the Gay Pride Rainbow? Do you think that maybe non-Christians such as Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, or atheists would be offended? 

I am a St. Louis Cardinals fan,  and I like Jack Flaherty as a baseball player, he has a lot of talent, but I don't like the way he or MLB divide the fans. Sports is supposed to bring people together. Not divide them.  Christians take their faith seriously. Gay people take their lifestyle seriously.

You may  not agree with the beliefs of Christians but you should always respect them and  their right to believe just like Christians should respect gay people.  But society should never expect anyone to celebrate the lifestyle or beliefs of anyone else.

This is why MLB should stay out of politics.  Stick to what you do best.  Play Baseball! 

 

7 Quick Takes – My First of Hopefully Many

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This is my first venture into the 7 Quick Takes arena. Hopefully there will be many more. Let me start by introducing my self. My name is Terry Brennan. Everyone must come from somewhere. Even though I was born in West Virginia, I have lived in Kansas since I was 9 years old so I call myself a Kansan. First and foremost, I am a Catholic and a Christian. I am also a 3rd degree member of the Knights of Columbus. My faith is important to me. I am also a sports fanatic. I am a die-hard St. Louis Cardinals fan. I am also interested in politics and consider myself to be a conservative.

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Why am I doing this? As you can see from my blog, I have been neglecting it lately. This is an attempt to jump start something that I enjoy doing. I probably won’t be here every Friday as I also have a 9-6 job. But hey, at least it’s a start.

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If you haven’t noticed, Wichita and Kansas have been in the news recently. I am proud to announce to this community that as of last week, the Catholic Diocese of Wichita will have a new bishop. We have been without a bishop since April of 2013 when now-Archbishop Michael O Jakels was named head of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa. Msgr. Carl A Kemme of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois will become the 11th bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wichita on May 1st. Welcome to Wichita Bishop-elect Kemme!

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If you are a sports fan, then you might have noticed that a basketball team from Kansas is now the only undefeated team in the country. No it’s not the Kansas Jayhawks, although they are also having a good year too, having clinched at least a share of the Big 12 title for the 10th straight season. It’s the Wichita State Shockers. After a final 4 run last season, the Shockers are 30-0 so far this year. Coach Greg Marshall recently spent a day on the ESPN networks, and last week they showed up on the cover of Sports Illustrated beating the famous jinx by winning their next two games after that issue came out. Actually it was Syracuse who lost their first game of the season the day that the issue came out. I can’t predict when this team will lose their first game, but in Wichita, we are enjoying the ride

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Recently, the Kansas Legislature attempted to pass a bill that would give conscience protection to Christian business who refused to do business by participating or validating the marital choices or civil union choices of their customers. This is a right that is protected by the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution. But in many states, Christians businesses, and churches have been sued for refusing to do business with and participating in homosexual marriages. The house passed the bill but the Senate decided not to pursue it because it was too broad. I am hoping that the Senate will take up the issue at some time maybe with a bill similar to the one in Arizona as we really need to protect our freedom to exercise our religions as we want, not as some government official or activist group thinks we should practice it. Here’s a great article that tells why this legislation is needed. http://m.cjonline.com/blog-post/contra-mundum/2014-02-14/why-hb-2453-needed-now

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Speaking of homosexual marriage, I have always known that according to the Bible it is wrong. Until just recently I have never had the occasion to defend the teaching of the Church on this subject. At some point I hope to do a more extensive blog post on this subject. In the meantime, here are some excellent links to articles and resources that would help a Catholic or Christian in defending these attacks on the Sacrament of Marriage.

http://www.catholic.com/documents/gay-marriage

http://streetevangelization.com/homosexuality/

https://www.osv.com/TabId/735/ArtMID/13636/ArticleID/8254/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/21/archbishop-cordileone-gay-marriage-catholic-church/2001085/

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While watching The Journey Home this week on EWTN (a show on Catholic television where converts or reverts to the Catholic faith are interviewed about their journey) the guest, Rick Fee, a former Lutheran, said that he set out to prove the Catholic Church wrong. I'm not sure how many times I've heard converts say that same thing only to find out that the Catholic Church was the one and only true church founded by Jesus Christ. I challenge anyone who thinks the Catholic Church is wrong on any one of their teachings to do the study and research. But beware. You might be surprised to find out how wrong you have been.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Pujols: To Walk or Not to Walk?

Hey baseball fans, here’s a question for you. Most of you who know me know of my love of baseball, especially the St. Louis Cardinals. If you are a true baseball fan, you are aware of Albert Pujols and the great year he is having. My question is why do so many teams let him beat them? Why don’t more teams pitch around him and walk him intentionally? Take their game last night for instance. Pujols came to bat in the 8th inning with the Cardinals down 3-0. The bases where loaded and two out. The book says you pitch to him which is what the Reds did. The result was a grand slam home run and the Cards led 4-3. If you are the Reds, why not walk Pujols? Even though you walk in a run, you still have the lead, and then take your chance on the next hitter, in this case Ryan Ludwick. Ludwick isn’t near the hitter that Pujols is, and Ludwick hasn’t been hitting the ball well for the month of June, a weak .200 batting average with just 3 home runs. You get Ludwick out and you escape with a 3-1 lead. Will we ever see something like this, a team giving Pujols the free pass, even though it would mean walking in a run? I’m glad a team hasn’t done this yet because I really like seeing Albert bat with men on base. Oh, by the way, the Cardinals ended up winning the game 7-4.

Sports Bits

NCAA Football – Florida was crowned National Champions based on their record and 24-14 victory over Oklahoma in the National Championship Game. Not to take anything away from Florida, but I am still not convinced that the system used is the best method to pick a National Champion. Who’s to say that Florida was any better than USC or Utah? USC had the same record and Utah was undefeated. I like many believed that both had legitimate claims at least to a share of the title. Wouldn’t a better way to choose a champion be through a playoff system such as an 8 or 12 team bracket. I would much rather see the argument be who’s number 8 and who the number 9 team is that didn’t get a chance to play for the championship………………National Signing day is past and according to Rivals.com the Ohio State Buckeyes had the third best recruiting class in the nation. Other Big Ten Teams: (7) Michigan, (16) Michigan State and (25) Penn State. In the Big 12: (5) Texas (13) Oklahoma (22) Texas A&M (28) Nebraska, (31) Kansas, and (95) Kansas State.

NFL Football – The Super Bowl this year was just that. Super! Although KC is my favorite team, I have enjoyed watching the Steelers since Terry Bradshaw and the days of the “Steel Curtin”. Those teams were good offensively but it was the defense that carried them. It looks like they have that formula back again. I was one of many that jumped on the Arizona Cardinals bandwagon during their playoff run. Warner, Fitzgerald and company and their high octane offense were fun to watch. But in the end they made too many mistakes and the Steelers defense prevailed……………….Speaking of the Cardinals, the Kansas City Chiefs should have a new look in 2009. The move to replace Carl Peterson was past due. One has to like the move to bring in Scott Pioli. Kansas City fans will be hoping that he can duplicate the successes he had in New England. I don’t know enough about Todd Haley other that what I saw during the NFC Playoffs and the Super Bowl, however his Cardinals were 4th in overall offense in the NFL last season. Maybe this will be just what the Chiefs offense needs to get well. It will be interesting to see who they bring in as assistant coaches and which players stay.

NCAA basketball – At the beginning of the season I said that KU at times would be fun the watch and at other times it would be difficult to watch them. This week we saw both. On Monday at Missouri, it was their game to win and they blew the lead. On Saturday, even though it wasn’t pretty, it was their game to lose and they managed to take advantage to some breaks and pull out the victory. This team is young and inexperienced. That being said they have some talent in the right spots, but don’t have the depth that they have had in the past. The last 6 games will be a good warm up going into the post-season. The game at Oklahoma will be the most difficult and an almost certain loss for the Jayhawks.
The games at home against Nebraska, Missouri and Texas won’t be easy. I could see KU going to the sweet 16 this year but not much further. A repeat of last year is definitely not in the works this year……….Sorry K-State fans but you will have to wait at least one more year to go dancing. Your strength of schedule is too weak. A win over the Jayhawks might have saved your season. I thought your season was finished after the embarrassing loss at Nebraska, but the Cats finally got it rolling with key wins at home against Missouri and on the road at Texas. The Purple could still salvage the season if they win out the remainder of their games including a home game with Missouri.…………..Wichita State is finally starting to show some hope and potential of what they might be under Greg Marshall. They could finish in 5th place in the Valley which is saying a lot with the start they had to the season. They have some good young talent and plenty to look forward to for next year……………….Have you noticed the emphasis on swinging elbows lately? One thing I noticed is that the defensive players tend to guard so close so when a player pivots or swings his body, the elbows follow making it look more violent than it really is.

Baseball – With just two returning starters and 14 lettermen, this will be the least experienced team that WSU fans have ever seen. If these guys can show some hope early, an attractive home schedule against Pepperdine and Long Beach State might be fun………….”Pitchers and catchers report” are the four words that a baseball fan looks forward to all winter long. Saturday, February 14th was that day. Forget the ground hog, for a baseball fan, it means that spring has sprung. The Cardinals have a lot of question marks. (1) The biggest is the health of Chris Carpenter. Carp has pitched only 21 innings over the last two seasons. There will be a lot of tests on his arm this spring. (2) Albert Pujols had off-season elbow surgery. Will he be ready for opening day? (3) Troy Glaus had off-season shoulder surgery. It has already been announced that he won’t be ready for opening day. Who will fill if for him till he’s ready to return? (4) The Cards released Adam Kennedy last week. Who will be the second baseman? (5) The team still hasn’t signed a closer. Who will be the man out of the bullpen in the 9th inning? Should be a fun spring keeping it all straightened out. Keep posted.

March Madness Final Four Picks

Here it is, the night before the dance begins. And I thought it was fitting that if I am going to be sharing my opinions on this blog, I would stick my neck out on the line and put up my final four picks. I also welcome each of you to do the same. Just click on the comment section below.
I have Tennessee, Kansas, Texas, and UCLA making it to the final four and Kansas beating UCLA in the championship game. Let the games begin!!!

March Madness and the KU Jayhawks

I am a die hard baseball fan and if I had to choose one sport over another, I would definitely, take baseball over all the others. Having said that, the first week of March Madness is one the best weeks in all of sports. From “Selection Sunday” when everyone is glued to their TV sets to see where their favorite teams will end up or in some cases if their team will be chosen, through the play in game, now officially called “the opening round game” through the final buzzer on Sunday, when the field has been whittled down from 65 teams to the “Sweet 16”, it doesn’t get much better.

For the casual fan to the die hard fan, it’s all about filling out your bracket to win the office pool. Each has their own method to predict the winners. Some by the color of the uniforms, some by the team mascot, and others use more scientific ways.

Every fan and every team has a dream at this time of the year. The slate has been wiped clean. It’s a new season. The big story that everyone is looking for is which team will be the next Cinderella. It’s all about who will have the biggest upset in the tournament. Being from Wichita, Kansas what an exciting tournament it was two years ago when our beloved Wichita State Shockers made it to the Sweet 16 only to get beat by another team on a Cinderella run, George Mason. The only problem was that there was just one slipper. The Shockers went home and George Mason went on to the final four.

Last year the tournament wasn’t quite as exciting. Seems the selection committee did too good of a job in seeding the teams and there were only three upsets. The average is 8.5 upsets per year.

Being a KU fan, we have been on the other side of the fence all too often. What other team in America has that much talent but can’t make it to the final four. Last year, the Jayhawks made it to the Elite Eight before bowing out to UCLA 68-55. The two seasons before that, they lost in the first round. KU fans do, you remember Bucknell and Bradley? Which KU team will show up this year? This team is loaded with talent, and Bill Self has them playing at their best. Yesterdays’ game vs. Texas in the Big 12 Championship will be one to remember. This team, if they show up, has the talent to beat anyone in the nation. Sometime it takes them a while to get it going. Sometime they don’t get it going. Most KU fans would tell you that anything less than a final four appearance would be a failure. Which KU team will show up? Let the Madness begin!