Yesterday, an Evangelical woman named Jessie Castleberry, stopped by to leave five comments on the post titled Southern Gospel Singer Kenny Bishop is Now a Gay United Church of Christ Pastor. This is the only post she read on this site. It is also clear that she either didn’t read or ignored the comment policy. Evidently, the only thing that mattered to Castleberry was putting a word in for her peculiar version of God.
What follows is the text of Castleberry’s comment. All spelling and grammar in the original.
Comment One
Bruce God don’t have to show up. He is every where and He has givin us his word to live by. I commend Bobby [a fellow Evangelical homophobe] for telling all these things that God has said about homosexuality and unclean living. God loves us each and everyone. He will open the gates of he’ll and all these that.defile themselves with this harlot into it. He’ll is very real and he is trying to get all that live this worldly life to except his word, the only real truth.
Comment Two
Dear sage I really real for you. Even though you spew out hatred for God and his people he still loves you and He commands all Christians to love you. I don’t know what or who has turned you from God so terribly bad but I pray before you leave this world that you will see Gods light and decide his love is so real. Us Christians are not perfect but we are forgiven be cause we have believed and we have asked God for forgiveness and professed.our sins to him. Like the their on the cross beside Jesus who ask Jesus to remember him when Jesus came into his kingdom. Jesus told him today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
Comment Three
Sage, could you for just a moment please try and realize we only appeal to you as Jesus did to see his truth. He is the one that sends us to you thru his love to try and convince you that he loves you. We can do nothing of and in our selves. Only he can change you and only if you believe in him. He does love you so much. Jesus gave his on life for that you might believe and receive him. He would rather you believe and except him so you might live with him in eternity but he won’t force you to. It hurts him and us to see people deny him and go to he’ll for eternity.
Comment Four
Zoe, we don’t have to worry about that. We know his word and his word is truth.
Comment Five
Cyndi, you’re reacting the wrong way. You don’t have to throw away his tapes. That doesn’t show him love. You do have to pray for him though.
Castleberry defended and supported comments by two fellow Evangelicals, Bobby and Pamela.
Bobby said:
1 Cor 6:9,10 states, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Gal 5:19 says, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Rev 21:8 says, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur…”
Your issue [Bruce], as well as Kenny’s is not with Evangelicals, but rather with God! I am praying for the both of you right now.
Pamela added:
your comments cut me to the bone… how far people have strayed from God Almighty… all i can say is to be GAY is wrong.. to be proud of being an atheist , how low can one be .. it just hurts.. my prayers will always be for myself as a christian who sins daily but knows forgiveness is just a prayer away..and i strive to be better… my prayers are for the gays and atheists also…one day WE ALL WILL BOW before God… and answer for our sins..
There’s much I could say about Castleberry’s comments, but I want to focus on a comment left by Sage and Castleberry’s response.
Sage wrote:
All you have to do is go live your life and leave us to live ours. I don’t care if you are a christian and believe in god and you should not care who or what I am. Christians always want to change me, but all I want to do is coexist. Why is that so hard for you? Why does everyone have to live by your rules.
Is it really so hard to live your life and let others live theirs??
Sage has spent much of her life being judged, harassed, and ridiculed by Evangelicals. Her comment reflects her desire to just be left alone. You would think Evangelicals could respect Sage’s wish and leave her alone. How hard could that be? Kenny Bishop wishes the same for him and his husband. Why can’t Evangelicals do their thing and leave atheists, LGBTQ people, and non-Evangelicals to do theirs? Why are Evangelicals insistent on getting up in the grills of anyone and everyone different from them — earning them the label as one of the most hated religions in the United States?
Let’s take a look at Castleberry’s tone-deaf response to Sage:
Sage, could you for just a moment please try and realize we only appeal to you as Jesus did to see his truth. He is the one that sends us to you thru his love to try and convince you that he loves you. We can do nothing of and in our selves. Only he can change you and only if you believe in him. He does love you so much. Jesus gave his on life for that you might believe and receive him. He would rather you believe and except him so you might live with him in eternity but he won’t force you to. It hurts him and us to see people deny him and go to he’ll for eternity.
First, Castleberry is theologically and Biblically ignorant — as many Evangelicals are. Her theology is incoherent and reveals a lack of understanding about the nature and history of the Bible. How does she know what Jesus said about anything? All we know is what the anonymous authors of the gospels said Jesus said — maybe. We have no evidence that the words attributed to Jesus were uttered by him. Further, Jesus left no writings, and the red-letter words in the Bible don’t mention LBGTQ people one time. For all we know, Jesus himself was gay. After all, he traveled around Palestine with twelve men, most of whom were unmarried. Maybe J-zee and his merry band were a traveling group of LGBTQ magicians. Look at all the tricks they did: walking on water, “healing” blindness with spit and dirt, walking through walls, turning water into wine, making lame people walk, deaf people hear, and blind people see — just like Oral Roberts, Jesse Duplantis, and Leroy Jenkins would do centuries later.
Second, Castleberry thinks she is acting just like Jesus. Really? Where, in the Bible, do we find anything that says Jesus went on the Internet, searched for dirt on Southern Gospel singer Kenny Bishop or Ray Boltz (Evangelicals and the Gay Closet: Is Ray Boltz Still a Christian?), and told them to repent of their deviant, evil sexual perversion?
Third, Castleberry believes Jesus sent her to this site to share the “truth” with us. Bullshit. Castleberry was looking for dirt on Kenny Bishop (one of my favorite southern gospel singers). She consulted God (Google) and came upon this site. Unable to live and let live, Castleberry decided to expose her homophobia for all to see.
Fourth, Jesus is dead, so I doubt Sage’s sexual orientation hurts Jesus in any way. No, it’s Castleberry that is “hurt.” You see, Castleberry finds gay and lesbian sex repugnant. She thinks a man and a man or a woman and another woman or a non-binary person having sex with a man and a woman is icky. And because she thinks it’s “icky,” Castleberry uses her Bible-based moral code as a cudgel towards anyone who fucks differently from the way she does.
Castleberry concludes her comment with a threat: Sage, you are going to burn in Hell forever if you don’t repent of your sins and let Jesus feel you up. I’m sure Sage sarcastically thought, “wow, an Evangelical Christian threatening me with Hell. That’s a first.” I don’t know about Sage, but I am immune to such threats. Hell? Hell is being anywhere near Castleberry and her fellow homophobes. Why would I ever want to spend eternity in Heaven with the likes of her?
I hope Castleberry will reconsider her boorish behavior. I know, I know, not going to happen. But, sometimes it does. I once was a homophobe, and now I am not. What changed? I saw LGBTQ people as fellow humans with the same wants, needs, and desires I have. I came to see that LGBTQ people should have the same freedoms and equal protection under the law as I had. And most of all, I became friends, neighbors, and acquaintances with LGBTQ people. Castleberry sees LGBTQ people as prospects for Heaven, targets for her evangelistic efforts. Until she sees them as fellow citizens, worthy of her kindness, love, and respect, she will continue to be just another Asshole for Jesus.
You can read Castleberry’s comments in context here.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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it is a mystery as to why evangelicals are so concerned with sex
Yeah, Maura, they think about sex WAY more than non-fundies do!
I’ll repeat something I’ve quoted before, from William Blake:
Prisons are built from stones of law
Brothels from bricks of religion.
I can think of two explanations for the fundangelicals’ obsession with sex.1.) If they really are denying it to themselves, it’s probably all they can think about. 2.) Paranoia–They are worried that someone will find out about their fetishes, infidelities or their real desires.
Ms Castleberry: you can come here and be smug and judgmental, or you could do some reading about atheists, some reading about the LGBTQ community. What’s that? They are evil so no, I don’t want to understand them. So here’s something you can understand: FUCK OFF. Don’t bother to claim you’re offended and sad about it. You are happy if you can dish it out, but I bet you can’t take it. Oh, and people who know me IRL know what kind of person I am. But fundies and evangelicals like to come on Bruce’s blog to gleefully pull out the hell card and shame Bruce and his commenters. Well, we aren’t interested in your religious ideas.
Maybe try reading the parts of the Bible that talk about love. I bet those parts would point you to a different path. Oh, I’m not loving? No, not to strangers who post here. Your words are vicious and the sad thing is, you will never know that unless you open your mind, not to disbelieve in your god, but open your mind to other people. I hope you don’t have non-Christians or LGBTQ people closeted in your family, because I imagine you would do everything to make their life a living hell.
Ah, x-tian love, there’s no hatred quite like it. I read an evangelical blog whose writer constantly exposes the sex abuses, the lies and wrongdoings of fundy leaders. My jaw drops, they post so many stories of these things, how they remain a x-tian really puzzles me. They posted on Phanatik’s deconversion and published the stream of comments on his FB announcement about his deconversion. They were exactly like the ones we’re all familiar with here, some sweary, all vitriolic, threatening, smug and arrogant. The blogger concluded the post with ‘Some of the most hateful folk I’ve ever met are evangelical x-tians,’ Oft repeated….but how on earth do these folk think they make their deluded fairytale beliefs attractive to anyone?
A similar homophobe to Ms C was lamenting to me not long ago about the sin of being LGBT+ and the marriage equality laws. ‘It’s so wrong,’ she opined with a shudder. ‘And I can’t even think about what they do in bed together.’ Lady, as Sage said,….it’s none of your damn business!
Oh shit, not the gates of “He’ll.” Better call J-Zee and the LGBTQ magicians.
Fair play though, as we say in Wales, fair play, at least she used ‘you’re’ correctly, unlike spaniard in his screed. That should get her through those pearly gates, surely.
Ha!, Matilda your hilarious! (take that!) 😉
It’s a bit of a family joke. A local tee-shirt company produced tops with the slogan ‘Happiness is knowing your welsh’. Teenage daughter did proof reading for a magasine, so picked up on this and wrote to tell them, apparently no one else had noticed. As a second-language welsh speaker, she won a national competition as ‘Welsh Learner of the Year.’ After the award ceremony, her sisters plastered the front of our house and garden with balloons and banners saying ‘Happiness is knowing your welsh.’ She did indeed…so well that she won a prize for it!
What folks like Castleberry forget is that most of us have read the Bible as much as, or even more than, they have.
For that matter, we’ve simply read more, if her language is any indication of her literacy.
Evangelicals spend an inordinate amount of time being concerned with other people’s sex lives. 🙄 It makes one wonder why….
Yes, well the Playboy unabridged dictionary defines “obscene” as anything a 70 year old Republican can’t do anymore.
Hi MS Castleberry,
You claim to believe in God. Why not try to have a compassionate understanding of God and relate to people with compassion, mercy and lovingkindness?
Your words lack graciousness and understanding of, and towards, atheists and same-sex oriented persons. Why don’t you get to know a few atheists and same-sex oriented persons? You might find that you like some of them.
I know that,at times, I lose my temper with Evangelicals.
What would happen if you chose to believe that God’s nature was love and that all God’s attributes were exercised in love, and only love? Well, I suppose that you would have to give up Fundamentalism and all that goes with it. If yiiou give up Evangelicalism, and were considerate of others, you would become a more humane person, whether you believed in God or not.
Thank you Bruce, your comments are correct and are appreciated.
I also am now immune to the manipulative words of evangelicals like Jessie use to control others, but there was a time such words would have a heavy impact on me. Implying that someone can simply “change” and be a cis gender straight person is not only wrong, but also can be devastatingly harmful to a person who struggles identity while suffering under the abusive nature of evangelical christianity.
There are many people who struggle with their sexual orientation or gender while trapped in the hateful, manipulative, emotionally damaging rhetoric of evangelical christianity. Sadly, many of these people will hate themselves and spend each day disgusted with the person that exists deep inside. People are cajoled into believing that they must choose to either beg god to “change” them into something “good”, or suffer the flames of hell. That is a great choice. Christians love to use their daggers labeled “abomination”, “reprobate, “deviant”, “pervert” to painfully cut at you until you give in to them and let them wrap you in their barb wire adorned chain of love. Sounds much better then hell fire, right?
Because her actions will cause suffering for some, when people like Jesse come to places where I exist, and begin foisting their christian manipulation on me ,or others around me, I will confront and expose their bigotry and hatefulness so all can see it clearly. I no longer remain silent, shake my head, and walk away thinking “that person is an idiot”.