Terry Read
In his 2014 article “Why Stop at Refusing to Bake a Cake for a Same-Sex Marriage,” Bernard Goldberg (a political pundit seen as conservative and actually opposed President Obama) sees the issue of a business owner who does not want to cater same sex “weddings” as a civil rights issue.1 He states: “But when laws are based on deeply held religious beliefs, I get nervous.” He compares this to people using their religious beliefs to justify segregation and laws against inter-racial marriage.
First of all, Bernard starts out with a straw man argument saying “Let’s stipulate that reasonable people may disagree on whether business owners should have to serve gays if doing that violates their deeply held religious beliefs.” As far as I know, no florist, baker or photographer has refused to serve anyone because they are “gay.” Some of these business owners simply did not want to specifically cater so-called same sex “weddings.”
Secondly, as I stated in one of the comments that I made to that article, the Bible that tells me “Male and female created He them”2 is the same Bible that tells me “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.”3 As a Bible believing Christian, I understand that there is only one race – the human race. It is Genesis that teaches that we are all decedents of Adam and Eve; and more recently Noah and Mrs. Noah; so we are all a part of the same human family. But as a Bible believing Christian, I also understand that weddings and marriages are between a man and a woman, which is what this is really about. It is not that businesses are choosing not to cater a same-sex “wedding.” Catering a same-sex “wedding” is an impossibility because there is no such thing!
I use a lot of footnotes in my articles to show that I am not just making something up. But for what I am about to share now, I do not need footnotes; because I have my own personal, firsthand account of how ludicrous things have become. I went to donate blood on the last day of August. I was given something to read regarding meeting the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) requirements and being “welcoming” to all donors. To donate, I had to state what gender that I “identify as.”
God did not bless me with a nice baritone voice. Frequently, people have called me “ma’am” while talking with me on the phone. I hate that! But at least I look like a dude – a short dude – but still a dude. I have a full beard (trimmed short); but a full beard. I do not wear any makeup. The only jewelry I wear is my wedding ring and my school ring. I dress like a dude. I certainly do not take any hormones to change my appearance. I hope that everyone who sees me would agree that it is not hard to figure out that I am a dude. But I had to tell this lady working for the blood donor center that I am male. I asked the question: “If I state that I am a woman today, does that make me a woman?” The lady said “that is up to you.” I asked: “If I say that I am an elephant, does that make me an elephant?” I did not get a response. I would have said that I feel like a woman today just to pull their chain and show how ridiculous this is. But donating blood is serious business; so I stated “I am male.” The thing that is really scary is donating blood is something medical. It could be really important to know what sex a person actually is.
Goldberg’s article was written in 2014 and people like me at the time knew where this was going. We may not have known specifically that the next step was this idea that people could choose their own sex. But we knew once you say that a marriage could be between two dudes or two gals, anything goes. Things were just going to get more and more ridiculous. And we were shrugged off by Bernard and people like him. Why is it simple people like me could see this coming and highly intelligent people like Bernard Goldberg could not?
The answer to that question gets to the bigger issue. People who believe the Bible could see this coming. We understand that there is a truth. Truth and righteousness are not just whatever you want them to be. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that when you deny this, you are a fool – “Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools;” and then states: “They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.”4 Interestingly enough, Paul then has a litany of sins starting with homosexuality; then he goes on listing sins – some of which we are all guilty of. Yes, we are all sinners! Terry Read is a sinner. But we are a fool to not admit what sin is and we are all guilty of sin; because then we miss out on the remedy for sin – Jesus!
But this is where I get so frustrated with church leaders. As I keep saying: You cannot expect people to have biblical values if they do not believe the Bible; and if you do not believe the Bible starting with Genesis, you do not believe the Bible. Goldberg stated in a 2011 article “On Science and Blasphemy …” “The Earth is not 6,000 years old no matter how many true-believers think it is. It’s not 6,000 years old even if the Bible says it is. The anti-science nature of these people brings me down – that is when I’m not falling down laughing at how silly they are. Why can’t they believe that a God that can create heaven and Earth and all the planets and stars can also create … evolution!” Then he writes: “A conservative running for the GOP nomination for president may do quite well in Iowa believing in religious fairy tales.” Then lastly he writes “Anyone who feels the same way should pray that no journalist asks any of the Republicans running for president: Do you think that dinosaurs walked the Earth side by side with humans?”5
I cannot make the connections between people not believing the biblical creation account in Genesis and people believing that two dudes can be married any better than Bernie Goldberg has. We have got to teach people that they can believe the Bible – without compromise and without mental contortions – starting with the creation account in Genesis. As long as church leaders continue to ignore this issue; we will get more and more of the same. If you do what you have always done; you will get what you have always got! So if you are a church leader reading this, we are here to help. Contact your nearest biblical creation organization. Any parishioners reading this, ask your church leaders to contact the nearest biblical creation organization.
Terry Read
- https://bernardgoldberg.com/stop-refusing-bake-cake-sex-marriage/
- https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+5%3A2&version=KJV
- https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Acts-17-26/
- https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+1&version=NLT
- https://bernardgoldberg.com/on-science-and-blasphemy/
