What Petition Would Jesus Sign?

Since my early morning Google fail kept me from going to the church I wanted to, I ended up going to Lifegate Church instead.

Even King of Kings didn't have people directing traffic.  But Lifegate did.  It was an adult man and two kids.  One of the kids had a sign directing guests to turn on their flashers.  I declined to go through the "let's indoctrinate the new guy" bit this trip.  I decided I would have to come back later & see what that's all about.  

I'm glad I opted to skip the VIP treatment (that's really what they were calling it)  because, I when I got inside, I found this.

"The object of this petition is to adopt an ordinance to delete sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes within the City of Omaha and in City of Omaha contracts."

It's a petition to overturn the LGBT protections passed by the Omaha City Council earlier this year.  They say their goal is only to bring it up for a vote of the people.  The people I asked about it were all very careful to not say they opposed LGBT being protected along with all the others discriminated against.  Although, one woman did let it slip a negative statement about the fact that it was the Democrats who passed it.

I wanted to challenge on them on it, but I'm determined to not cause a scene on these trips.  I wanted to tell them I was there the day it was passed, with a rainbow on my sleeve.  I wanted to ask what the purpose for putting it up to a vote was, if it wasn't solely to get it overturned and allow the discrimination it is meant to prevent.  I wanted to ask if they had seen the recent speech at Springfield, Missouri's City Council meeting on the same thing.

I wanted to tell them the existence of this petition is exactly why such protections are needed.  It's pretty obvious they want employers to be able discriminate against homosexuals.  On the bright side, they're afraid to say it.  And they should be.  They're wrong.  And unfortunately, Lifegate isn't alone in being wrong about this.

The first 25 minutes of the service was pure music.  It was all modern songs, instead of the boring hymnal stuff.  It turns out that making music that sucks more modern just makes it modern sounding music that sucks.

After the music finally finished, the preacher started talking.  It was all pretty standard.  "God loves us."  "God has healing magic."  He pointed out an individual and told him "God wants to give" to him and, "God says 'Ask a little bit bigger.'"  I wonder how much that guy will ask for in the prayers that won't be answered.

Then there were more songs and the "say hi to random people" bit every church does.

A different, younger pastor came up next.  He made another push for the VIP treatment.  It comes with a free t-shirt.  He followed that by bringing up the petition, careful not to say what it was or telling people they should sign it.  Although, he did mention the main pastor spoke about it a few weeks before. 

In announcing the passing of the collection plates, they say a prayer and told their god it time to "return to you that which is yours".  Subtle.  Apparently all money is God's.  I wonder if all debt is God's too. I decided to hold onto "God's money" a little while longer, much to the chagrin of the guy who gave me a dirty look when I sent the plate by me without adding to it.

While the plates were going around, they had videos playing.  One mentioned a Prayer Night event they're having on November 5.  It's probably just a coincidence that it's the bight before Election Day

The main pastor came back after the money had been taken from people and immediately pushed the petition again. These people seem to really hate both gays and the Separation Of Church and State. When the sermon finally began, almost an hour into this thing, my attention span waned. This is when I noticed the flags hanging from the ceiling. King of Kings had the same thing going on. 

It was interesting that when he called for people to pull out their Bibles, there were not any provided. People have to bring their own Bibles in this place. It was interesting because of how much money this place clearly has and because maybe 5% of the people I could see had one with them. 

In talking about people admiring new stuff they had, he mimed a woman holding a dress up to herself, which  got a laugh. A guy wearing a dress is amusing, but we must repeal the LGBT protections. 

Then he told a story of a woman he had helped years ago, whose husband had been hitting her. He advised her to have him arrested. Hmm. He actually gave her good advice instead of telling her to pray over it. It's almost like he knew prayer wouldn't do a damn thing to help her. 

He finished up with an almost cleverly disguised recruiting drive. He was telling these people that it's their fault some people they know are going to Hell because they're not inviting them to come to church. But I'm here, and I'm still going Hell. Well not really, but this guy thinks I am. 

At that point, I wasn't surprised he worked in one last thing about voting.  He was chastising them for keeping their votes secret. "I don't keep my faith secret," why should voting be secret? I'm sure they would never hold the "wrong votes" against anyone. "No one can take your choice away from you." Really? What if I vote for the wrong guy? What if someone in the congregation wants or needs an abortion?

This thing started with nice "We love God" music and ended with threats of Hell and inappropriate behavior regarding voting.

On the bright side, I did end up deciding to stop by the VIP thing & get my free t-shirt.  Now I've got a new shirt to paint in.