Fisking a Turnip, Part 4: Homosexuals, Slanders, and Reversing Jesus

In Martin Luther’s Large Catechism, the eighth commandment is as follows:

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

What does this mean?

Answer: We should fear and love God so that we may not deceitfully belie, betray, slander, or defame our neighbor, but defend him, <think and> speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything.

The most recent publication of Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions – A Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord explains further in the Large Catechism notes:

However, when the proper authorities call upon us to speak to the matter, we will do so honestly. Also, if we are aware of something that requires the attention of public authorities, we will share it with them. Luther clearly states that civil magistrates, pastors, and parents must act upon hearing of something requiring their attention. Luther carefully distinguishes between secret sins and open, public sins. Secret sins should not be made public. However, when the error is open we have every right, even the duty, to speak publicly about it and to testify against the person involved. Speaking publicly about another person’s public error or sin is not bearing false witness, nor is it a violation of Matthew 18. – Concordia, p388

On the one hand, if Ryan, Mahler, and Woe were genuine in their representation of Scripture, and their criticisms based upon fact, Scripture, and plain reason, their actions would be laudable. As we have seen so far in this series, they are frequently in error, heterodox, or blatantly heretical. As such, being public sins, it is our duty to publicly oppose them.

It is particularly important to note that there is no limiting factor on how a Christian is to observe the 8th Commandment. We are not to refrain from false witness or offer the most charitable interpretation only for fellow Christians, or only for those whom we like, respect, and admire. I need to make this point because today’s portion of Ryan Turnipseed’s podcast veers into open slander, but those whom they slander are often unrepentant sinners. I am under God’s command, therefore, to defend these unrepentant sinners from the Turnipseed podcast slander. This does not mean that I approve of their lifestyles acting on sinful sexual desires any more than I can approve of Ryan Turnipseed, Askeladd, Mahler, and Woe acting upon their sinful hatreds, suspicions, and repulsion.

We have a Great High Priest who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, but without sin (Hebrews 4:14-16), therefore he does not share my outrage over the Turnipseed slanders any more than he shares Turnipseed’s bigotries and hatreds on the other side. We all stand as sinners before the perfect and holy Lord Jesus Christ, and we must routinely look to our cross to find grace in dealing with the sins of others that do NOT tempt us, for they HAVE tempted Christ, and He has compassion on us all. It is Christ we must emulate in all things.

In Ryan Turnipseed’s podcast, around the 33 minute mark, Askeladd takes over from Mahler and things get hateful and prejudiced very quickly:

ASKELADD: I think there’s also a danger here of inculcating a sense of tolerance with these things as well, where you have a situation: Christian hears this, and depending on the Christian mind that we’re talking about, the conclusion has to be that, “Well, the homosexual couple that moved in next to us and has eyes for our children, they’re no worse sinners.”

1] SLANDER: There’s no evidence that homosexual couples commit childhood sexual abuse at higher rates than heterosexual couples.

The Journal of Child Sexual Abuse released a 2005 study by Monique Tardif and Hubert Van Gijseghem that repeated the same results found elsewhere: Homosexual (as clinically diagnosed, not as an adopted lifestyle) are no more likely to commit child sex crimes than any other group. They did find that perpetrators of CSA were far more likely to have been victims of sexual abuse in their own childhoods, but that was the only identified deviation.

2] LAWLESSNESS: As long as Ryan’s guests are slandering gay people, the 8th commandment doesn’t apply any more than it applies to Askeladd slandering the LC as promoting tolerating sin. The wording of the LC is that we deal with our own sin first, not that we do nothing about someone else’s sin. The end goal of Matthew 7:1-5 is that, log removed, we can help our neighbor with our speck.

3] IRONY: The truth is that confessional Lutherans have maintained the longest-running ministry in the world to deliver homosexuals from lifestyles of sin, and that ministry reports that when homosexual form accountability groups to support one another, straight men start asking to join to get help and encouragement. But don’t let facts get in the way, Mahlerites, just because forgiven homosexuals are obeying Matthew 7:1-5 better than you are.

In the same way, as we will see repeatedly, Ryan and the Mahlerites state that the language used in the LC is a danger and a victory for the lawless socio-political left. They are ignorant of or are concealing the fact that the Christian ex-gay movement was using these terms openly for a solid generation before the left in the west took them up.

ASKELADD: In our desire to increase in ourselves our own awareness of sin, in speaking like this, I find that what often happens, is that we decrease the sins that bind – so to speak – our neighbor in a way that causes us to turn a blind eye, because they’re no worse than us.

33:58 RYAN: Right, and that’s something that I see. Once again, this is a catechism. You’re not dealing with theologians. You can’t just deal with what was is directly on the page and what was intended. You have to deal with how people will understand this and learn it.

34:05 RYAN: I’m sure many of us, including everyone in the audience, can think of times when, in order to free themselves of their own sins, to absolve themselves, instead of saying, “I repent” someone will say, “Well, you know, my sins are no worse than yours”, or “My sin is equal to yours”. It’s all sin. We’re all sinning.

34:37 RYAN: The reason that’s a bad thing, whenever you try to absolve yourself of sin, instead of going to God and saying, “I repent.” Instead of being absolved by your pastor, instead of being absolved at all, in a real manner people will instead just say, “It’s sin, and sin is sin. No sin is worse than another”, which we’ve already dealt with here. You know, so, “I’m not really as bad as I think I am.” This is really concerning because, as a good member of our chat pointed out, with the subjects discussed in this, it seems to be normalizing pedophilia.

1] Nowhere in the text Ryan is SUPPOSEDLY critiquing does it ever say that. So: slander, lies, and a straw man argument.

2] The two examples in Ryan’s imagination, that he puts forward as evidence within MINUTES of saying that you can’t just judge the Large Catechism by its word and intentions – how biased can you openly get? – these two examples are the DIRECT OPPOSITE of what Christ gave when He spoke divine truth about someone else’s sin. Jesus warned us of the Unforgiving Servant (Matt 18:21-35), the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14), and the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 6:13-14). EACH TIME Jesus mentions our sins and someone else’s, Jesus’s example is about someone who takes God’s mercy on themselves and has no mercy upon That Sinner Over There. Like extras in a Sunday school lesson, Ryan, Mahler, Woe, and Askeladd have just jumped at the chance to prove Jesus right. They are living out Jesus’s warnings as they cry out loud, how DARE you say that THEIR sins are on par with MINE?!

To be continued…