I have known people who have been abused by priests.
Almost to the man, these people blame "the church" for the attacks, and project that blame onto all who use the name Christian.
AND almost to a man, these people are supporters of the current movement for tolerance of homosexuality.
This, I find a confusing pair of positions to take.
Let me explain why.
First of all, in general these atrocious crimes are committed by Catholic church Priests. This is an important point, in that it is actually very easy to show that the Catholic church does not follow the Bible, and is therefore not actually Christian. To then use this as the basis for rejecting the Bible and Christ, is not only unjust, it is also stupid.
Catholicism has very little to do with Christianity and even less to do with the Bible.
The Bible clearly condemns such practices, and anyone who commits such crimes does so not because they area Christian, but because they reject Christian teaching.
So the perpetrators of these horrible crimes are not even Christians, and do not follow Biblical teaching.
To therefore blame Christianity and Christ for these crimes is wrong and unfair.
Add to this that the Catholic church as a group does not follow Biblical teaching, and you can not even apply the blame which rightly belongs to that organisation, to Christians in general or to Christ in particular.
Make no mistake - I am not in any way trying to minimise the crimes committed by such people, or the continued crimes of the organisation in covering up and protecting such evil men. The men and the organisation should be held 100% accountable for their crimes.
I also recognise that while the majority of such crimes are involved in the Catholic church mechanism, they are not the exclusive holders of such men or such cover ups.
But it does not change the fact that such crimes are done by men (primarily) who are not following the commands of Christ, but are in fact going against specific directives in God's Word.
So to blame all of Christianity for the crimes of some who call themselves Christian, but who by their actions clearly prove they are not, is both irrational, and unfair.
But it gets even more confusing when these same victims who blame all of Christianity for these crimes, then turn and support homosexuality and the tolerance of it as an alternative lifestyle.
I find this amazing because, by the very definition of the actions, the perpetrators are homosexuals.
And they are participating in homosexual actions.
Why then, do these victims not blame "the homosexual community" in the same way that they blame "the Christian community"?
After all, I can easily display for you how the perpetrators are not following Christian principles and are in most cases not even Christians according to the Bible.
But it is plainly clear by their actions that these men ARE part of the homosexual community - by the very definition of the acts.
I am not suggesting for one minute that ALL homosexuals are paedophile predators - not in any way shape or form. But it is clear that these particular perpetrators ARE homosexual.
On the other hand, almost to a man, the victims of these clearly homosexual predators DO in fact apportion blame to ALL Christians.
They say that it is Christianity that is to blame for their trouble.
But in fact, these predators are not Christian at all - but they are homosexual - as proven by their acts.
I am not suggesting that the whole homosexual community is to blame for this, but I am suggesting that it appears to be acceptable to place that blame on the whole Christian community.
I would simply like to see some equity.
If these men were actually Christians, they would not perform such crimes.
Crimes, I will note, that are committed by homosexuals, but not by real Christians.
Put the blame where it actually belongs - with the individual homosexual men who commit the crimes, and with the false "Christian" organisations that unjustly protect such men.
But not with Christ.
Not with the Bible.
And not with real followers of Christ.
