Kyle Mantyla's blog

Back in 2010, John Hagee released a book entitled "Can America Survive?: 10 Prophetic Signs That We Are The Terminal Generation" which he then used as a basis for several sermons at his Cornerstone Church. 

In one, entitled "The Death of the Dollar," Hagee cited Deuteronomy 28, which lays out signs that a nation is being cursed by God, to declare that America was most certainly under the judgment of God, citing violence in our cities, our struggling economy, the emergence of new diseases, our military losses in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and a high divorce rate:

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Matt Borges was recently named as the new executive director of the Ohio Republican Party and this is not sitting well with Ohio-based Linda Harvey, primarily because Borges previously served as a lobbyist for the gay rights group Equality Ohio.

Borges reportedly lobbied on behalf of anti-discrimination legislation in Ohio, which Harvey attacked in her radio message today as nothing more than an effort to "give a stamp of approval to immoral and sinful behaviors and a tool for lawsuits to defend behavior people should not be doing in the first place."

As such, Harvey declared that it was "unacceptable" to allow Borges to run the Ohio GOP "unless he renounces his past support for the goals of homosexual activism" because it is "one of the major forces for youth corruption, religious discrimination, and moral disintegration in our country":

Matt Borges is unacceptable at the present time to lead this party unless he renounces his past support for the goals of homosexual activism. And let's be realistic, homosexual activism is now one of the major forces for youth corruption, religious discrimination, and moral disintegration in our country. We need to oppose it with every legal, spiritual, and civil means at our disposal and this is, in my opinion, the duty of every Christian in this country.

This is simply an in your face insult to Ohio Christian families and voters. It's also terribly foolish strategically when people with strong values should be united against the re-election of Barack Obama.

• Benjy Sarlin @ TPM: Donald Trump Lets Loose With Birther Rant After Romney Reaffirms Support.
• Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Another missed opportunity to lead.
• Simon Maloy @ County Fair: Trump's Birtherism Fueled By Breitbart Reporting.
• Noah Rothman @ Mediaite: MSNBC Anchor Blasts Conservative Guest Who Compares Trump To Joe Biden.
• Scott Keyes @ Think Progress: Dirty Tricks In Wisconsin: Secret Group Shuts Down Phones Of Scott Walker’s Democratic Challenger With Spam Texts.
• Andy Kopsa @ Religion Dispatches: A New Goal for Anti-Choice Activists: Targeting “Sex-Selective” Abortion.

• Tony Perkins has reportedly accepted an invitation from Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of a the Family Equality Council, to join her and her wife for dinner.
• Ralph Reed invites you to the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference.
• Beware of Gay Day!
• Pat Robertson and Lou Engle teamed up for The Call Virginia.
• David Barton raises money for congressional candidate Kevin Lundberg in someone's kitchen.
• Finally, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops is warning congregants that "we may need to witness to the truth by resisting the law and incurring its penalties" by opposing the contraception mandate.

Last week, Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis spoke at the Family Research Council's "Watchmen on the Wall" conference where he warned that the failure to embrace a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis is undermining "the doctrine of marriage" and leading to things like gay marriage.

As luck would have it, just last week I bought a copy of "The One Year Chronological Bible" and had begun reading through it in conjunction with my copy of The ESV Study Bible.  Ham's assertion that a literal interpretation was required in order to understand the true nature of biblical marriage was in the forefront of my mind as I began working my way through Genesis, especially once I realized how much polygamy and incest the book contained.

In fact, outside of Adam and Eve, and Noah and his wife, just about every major patriarch engaged in either polygamy or some form of incest, and often both.

According to Genesis 16, Abraham slept with and married his wife's Sarah's slave because Sarah was was unable to bear children. On top of that, according to Genesis 20, Sarah was also Abraham's half-sister and he later took at least one more wife.

Abraham's son Issac was married to Rebekah, who, according to Genesis 24, was the daughter of the son of Abraham’s brother, which would make Rebekah the daughter of Issac's cousin, or Issac's first cousin, once removed.

Rebekah then gave birth to Esau and Jacob.  According to Genesis 26, Esau married two Hittite women and then later took a third wife while Jacob married the daughters of his mother's brother, his first cousins, named Leah and Rachel.  Rachel was unable to bear children and so gave Jacob her servant to sleep with and take as a wife, to which Leah responded by likewise giving Jacob her servant for a wife.

In addition to these arrangements, Genesis 38 tells the story of Judah sleeping with and impregnating his daughter-in-law while Genesis 19 tells the story of God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah where only Lot and his two daughters were saved ... after which Lot's daughters got their father drunk and slept with him and became pregnant.

One of the arguments we hear most often from the Religious Right is that changing "the biblical definition of marriage" by allowing gay marriage will lead to things like polygamy and incest ... which is odd considering that, according to the Book of Genesis, polygamy and incest were predominant forms of marriage.

It has come as no surprise that the Religious Right has been up in arms over President Obama's recent announcement in support of marriage equality, but what seems to have really upset them was his citation of the Bible's "do unto others" teaching in explaining his views.

Today, on Liberty Counsel's "Faith and Freedom" radio program, Matt Barber blasted Obama for daring to cite the Golden Rule in support of gay marriage, saying that in doing so "President Obama has called Jesus a liar" and engaged in heresy: 

On today's broadcast of James Robison's "Life Today" television program, Robison featured Janet Porter, Jay Richards, and Mark Davis discussing "how Christians can bring about a new direction for America."

Not surprisingly, the solution the three advocated was for Christians to stand up in defense of the Bible and God's plan for mankind, which prompted Porter to declare that Christians have an innate advantage in this debate because "every shred of social science research" proves that the Bible is correct and the Founding Fathers created this nation for the purpose of spreading the Gospel and occupying until Jesus returns:

You know what I love about debating the issues of the day? If they're grounded in the Word of God, that they're going to basically bear out what God says. If I didn't believe in the Bible, I'd believe the Bible just by reading the paper. Because when you follow what God says, there are blessings; when you choose death, there are curses. That's the issue.

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We're supposed to, as his representatives, we're to occupy until he comes and that's really what our great commission is to go, we're to make disciples, we're to teach and to obey everything he's commanded us. That's really what this is based on, that's what our founders are basing our documents on and that's the joy of standing for what God says is because every shred of social science research bears it out to be true.

Earlier this month, the NAACP passed a resolution supporting marriage equality and declaring that it would "oppose any national, state, local policy or legislative initiative that seeks to codify discrimination or hatred into the law or to remove the Constitutional rights of LGBT citizens."

This move is not sitting well with Matt Barber, who is accusing the organization of making the announcement simply in order to provide political cover for President Obama and, in doing so, "thumbing their nose at their own constituents."  On top of that, Barber said the resolution was "offensive," declaring "how dare they demean and undermine and cheapen the genuine, noble civil rights movement" by supporting "deviant sexual behavior" especially since gays never had to drink from separate water fountains or were victims of lynchings: 

• Good As You: FRC awards Ron 'gays worse than maggots' Baity with 2012 Watchmen Award!!!!!
• Towleroad: Anti-Gay Bishop Harry Jackson Wants to Know if Obama Wants to 'Wipe Biblical Marriage from the Earth.'
• Neal Broverman @ The Advocate: Diaz Tells Followers that NAACP Was Wrong to Endorse Same-Sex Marriage.
• Scott Keyes @ Think Progress: Birther Congressman Admits That He Only Walked Back His Comments ‘For Political Reasons.’
• Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: The Trump case study.
• Alan Colmes: Preacher says Demons are Behind Gay Marriage.

• Harry Jackson claims he is launching a "new rainbow coalition" consisting of Religious Right leaders dedicated to defending DOMA and fighting marriage equality.
• On a related note, FRC warns that if the Supreme Court ever rules in favor of gay marriage, it will lead to a "divided nation, because orthodox Christianity simply will not waver in its support for marriage as it has always been defined."
• Also, legalizing gay marriage will end up legalizing gay divorce and ultimately "this will result in the destruction of marriage."
• GOPround is now attacking Meghan McCain for having criticized Andrew Breitbart. They sure know how to make friends, don't they?
• Finally, without a hint of irony, the folks over at Pajamas Media are handing out awards for the most "biased and dishonest" journalism.