Bill O\u2019Reilly, Fox news host, suggested on his show.<\/a><\/p>\nWhat would you do if someone got in your face about something they didn\u2019t like about you, about who you are, what you believe, what you have done, or how you live, and told you that you will burn in hell for those things?\u00a0Is telling someone to burn in hell commendable Christian behavior or condemnable Christian behavior?<\/p>\n
Love in the Margins<\/h2>\n All of my life I\u2019ve had friends who many have considered on the margins, the outer edges of society \u2013 LGBTs, homeless, prostitutes, addicts, murderers and other criminals, and you-name-it. I love these people. I mingle with them. I talk with them. I hug them. I walk arm-in-arm with them.<\/p>\n
Because of my close association with people on the margins, people who don\u2019t know me often assume I\u2019m one of them.<\/p>\n
There have been times when my friends and I have been sitting and talking, when someone approached us with their Bible verses and called us disgusting. We\u2019ve been walking arm-in-arm when we were told we\u2019d burn in hell. We\u2019ve been bullied because people thought we were gay. We\u2019ve been threatened with physical harm because of who or what people thought we were.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve experienced hatred directed at us by people who do not know us. We\u2018ve seen anger, red faces, bulging blood veins, and waving fists. We\u2019ve experienced fear for our safety. All of this behavior was frequently accompanied with Bible verses and numerous references to Jesus.<\/p>\n
What would you do in such a situation? Would you go home, or spend more time with your homeless friends? Would you avoid Gay Pride day or march in the parade with your gay friends?<\/p>\n
Or would you join the people holding enormous signs telling everyone else they\u2019re going to burn in hell?<\/p>\n
Don’t Tell Me to Burn in Hell<\/h2>\n If you\u2019re Hindu and think godly people shouldn\u2019t eat beef, then you should live that way. But I\u2019m not Hindu and don\u2019t care and don\u2019t agree. If you have any sense, you\u2019ll keep your religious opinions to yourself and not tell me I am going to burn in hell because I eat beef.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re vegan and think people shouldn\u2019t eat animal products, then you should live that way. But I\u2019m not vegan and don\u2019t care and don\u2019t agree. If you have any sense, you\u2019ll keep your opinions to yourself, and not tell me I am going to burn in hell because I eat meat.<\/p>\n
If you believe I\u2019m lazy and good-for-nothing because you think I live on the sidewalk downtown, then keep your opinions to yourself. I do not need to know what you think. If you can\u2019t show me Jesus by saying a kind word, giving me a sandwich or a hug or helping me in some way, keep your Bible verses and religious opinions to yourself. I don\u2019t care what you think and don\u2019t want to hear it. Consider the possibility that in a few years the situation may be reversed and I\u2019ll have a good job and you\u2019ll be sitting in front of me asking for a job.<\/p>\n
If you think your holy book says I\u2019m an abomination because you think I\u2019m gay, and that I\u2019m going to burn in hell forever, please keep your opinions to yourself. If you can\u2019t show me Jesus by getting to know me, saying a kind word, hugging me, and loving me, then please, please go to your religious meetings with people like you and leave the rest of us alone.<\/p>\n
If you can\u2019t show me Jesus by the way you act, by the way you treat me and others like me, go away. Go hide behind the walls of some building, sing your silly songs, and read your holy book. Please stay there and leave the rest of us alone. There is no need for you to come out from behind your walls, wave your signs, and shout curses upon us to go burn in hell.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t know me. Until you spend time with me \u2013\u00a0lots of time \u2013\u00a0and walk with me, sit with me, love me, understand me, you should not try to\u00a0tell me anything about what I should do or how you think I should live.<\/p>\n
You will think what I am about to say is irreverent, but here goes \u2013 Fix yourself first. Fix your own screwed-up life, your own messed-up family. Look in the mirror. Who you see is the person you need to fix. Leave the rest of us alone. I think Jesus said it this way: “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”<\/p>\n
You have no right to try to fix us, to try to change us. You have no right to assume anything about us. You have no right to judge us or condemn us. You definitely have not right to tell us to burn in hell. Who do you think you are \u2013 God? That position is already filled and not by you.<\/p>\n
Read your holy book and see what Jesus really<\/em> did, how he really<\/em> treated people. Treat me like that.\u00a0Once I know you care about me and love me, maybe I\u2019ll ask why, since your kind have never cared about me or loved me. I\u2019ve been spit on, called names, threatened with eternal burning, threatened with your fists, and threatened that your god is going to do terrible things to me.<\/p>\nI know you hate me and you think your god hates me too. I don\u2019t want anything to do with you or your god. Both of you are mean, evil, and nasty.<\/p>\n
Hanging out with Jesus<\/h2>\n Jesus I like. I want to see him. I want to sit with him, and talk with him. But you \u2013 you repel me. Go away. Leave me alone. Until you\u2019re ready to love me, Goodbye Mr. Christian, Mr. Bible-verse-quoter, Mr. \u201cYou\u2019re disgusting. You\u2019ll burn in hell.\u201d Goodbye and good riddance from all of us.<\/p>\n
This Jesus fellow says that if you believe him you\u2019ll do what he says. That\u2019s in your Bible. You missed that part, huh?\u00a0Jesus was such a good friend to the people in the margins, to the “sinners”\u00a0\u2013 the traitorous tax collectors, the terrorist zealots, the promiscuous prostitutes, the drunks, the thieves, the liars, and murders \u2013\u00a0that those religious people who hated these “sinners” also hated Jesus.<\/p>\n
Have you ever thought that by telling the people you think are sinners to go burn in hell, you are telling the same thing to Jesus?\u00a0Because he’s one of us. No, he’s not a sinner, but he hangs out with us. He loves us. He sits and talks with us, hugs us, and dances with us. And you, because you never got to know us, didn’t realize Jesus was among us when you told us all to go burn in hell.<\/p>\n
I won’t say the same thing back to you. I won’t tell you to go burn in hell. I wouldn’t pronounce that curse on anyone. You may think I am an abomination, but notice that I don’t think the same thing about you.<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Go burn in hell! Have you ever had anyone say that to you? I have. It usually comes from people who claim to follow Jesus. But this is not the Jesus I know. The Jesus I know hangs out with sinners and loves those who are rejected by the religious right. So if you tell a group of people you think are sinners to go burn in hell, you are saying the same thing to Jesus, because he hangs out with sinners. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1381,19,1258,1336,1383,1227,1262,1384,1382],"class_list":{"0":"post-20031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"tag-burn-in-hell","8":"tag-discipleship","9":"tag-gay","10":"tag-guest-post","11":"tag-hate","12":"tag-jesus","13":"tag-lgbt","14":"tag-prostitute","15":"tag-sinners","16":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n
You're Disgusting! Burn in Hell!<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n