Thursday, November 11, 2021

By Their Fruits

 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

Matthew 7:15-20

    I read a comparison in which the false prophet who bears bad fruit was akin to people who preach and deny LGBT people, casting them out as sinners, and the bad fruit that their teachings spread as depression, suicide, self-hate, etc. Supposing this to be true (I leave it up in the air), false preaching bearing bad fruit in Matthew can be equally compared to unneeded repentance in terms of the fruit-bearing metaphor seen in Luke. 

"Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." 

Luke 3:8-9

    Bearing good fruit in terms of repentance means to not only say you are sorry for sinning, but to make up for your sins by deeds. For an example, a tax collector in the gospels is persuaded by Jesus' presence to give back to all whom he stole from five times the amount that he took from them. This is a good fruit that was born out of his genuine repentance, which spurred on great deeds. And Jesus was pleased with him when he did this. 

    But repentance for homosexuality does not bear good fruit actively. There is no activism that can be done against it. There is no good deed that can be done for other people to remedy the "sin" of being gay. Preaching against homosexuality yourself as a self-hating, celibate queer Christian does not bear good fruit either, it harms others in the same way a straight preacher would preach against you, except it is made worse by gay people actively hurting themselves and their own communities. There is no good fruit that comes out of repentance for being queer. There is no good fruit that comes out of preaching against queerness. 

Interpretations of Paul's Epistle to Titus

From chapter 1 of Titus, verses 10 through 16:   For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially th...