In the “strange but true” category, some allegedly gay guy has sued Christian publishing behemoths Zondervan and Thomas Nelson for a total of $70 million. He claims his constitutional rights were infringed upon because these publishers deliberately caused homosexuals to suffer by misinterpretation of the Bible (deliberating interpreting 1 Corinthians 6:9 to include “homosexuals” in the list of those who are “wicked” and won’t “inherit the kingdom of heaven”). BTW, thanks to jcubed who posted this news story to the ConversantLife community submitted news under the heading “Bible Publishers Sued for Anti-Gay References.”
Here is the article
Some might think that I’m a good candidate to express on opinion on this case because I’m a lawyer. But that probably isn’t true. First of all, I’m trying not to be a lawyer, but I keep getting sucked back into it. Secondly, I’m not a very good lawyer. And, perhaps most importantly, I’m a probate lawyer – which means I’m better qualified to express an opinion about the plaintiff only after he is dead.
Nonetheless, I’m compelled to weigh in on this news story. I find the case bizarrely laughable. Here is a plaintiff who is complaining about infringement of his constitutional rights when he overlooks a little thing I like to call “the constitutional protection for freedom of the press.” That protection is so strong that I believe it would even extend to cover the plaintiff’s claim that Zondervan and Thomas Nelson intentionally sought to cause harm to homosexuals by intentionally misinterpreting the Bible. But the case won’t get to constitutional issues of law. At the outset, the plaintiff overlooks a minor detail. Neither Zondervan nor Thomas Nelson interpret the Bible; they don’t perform the translations. They simply published translations that were the work of someone else (for example, the NIV translation of the Bible is copyrighted by the International Bible Society).
Quick bottom line: Anyone can file a lawsuit. All you need is a few hundred dollars to cover the filing fee. You don’t have to have a meritorious case (or even something close to it) to file a lawsuit.
And before you go off on a rant about the shyster lawyer who would take on such a case, you should know that the plaintiff has filed his lawsuit in pro per. Which means he has no lawyer and is representing himself. Was it Ben Franklin who said that the person who serves as his own lawyer has a fool for a client? (Maybe it was Britney Spears.)
EMAIL THIS PAGE
PRINT
RSS
Comments
I'm sure your a fine lawyer. Hmmm... a lawyer with acting skill too. I recall you acting at EV Free church and you were good at acting as well.
I posted the news article because I wanted the community to know that this is where the erosion of our (Christians) rights begin. There are many such news worthy events taking place around the US. One seemingly ridiculous legal act leads to another and yet another, until eventually something sticks. The ACLU would love to get involved in anything that would cause further erosion of our (Christians) rights and prevents the furtherance of the gospel of Christ.
We are not too far from censorship of clergy sermons in places of worship. We are already experiencing discrimination law suits because churches will not hire people that do not adhere to their Christian beliefs. There is one lawsuit in which a women was hired based on her agreement with church doctrine, then she failed to adhering to the doctrine (more than once), for which she was either disciplined or even terminated as a result.
There is one positive impact of the "Emergent Church" movement and it is the return to home churches (as long as they don't try to become tax exempt). Unfortunately, that is a double-edge sword. The problem now exists where unsound, aberrant, or heretical Christian doctrine or practices are permeating the body of Christ like never before.
jcubed
Those comments are both well said and pregnant with truth.
More and more our nation turns toward being victimized. Apparently we're all victims and there's no place suggesting that the real problem is within.
All of this going on with suing over Bible verses, trying to take "God' out of the pledge of allegiance and the alleviation of prayer in school (not that I think this really matters) is purely satanic and nothing more. American grows more and more away from it's supposed Christian roots and all of which merits impending judgment from God in the end. If not nationally it will happen globally when Christ returns.
Steve Farrar has a great book called "Get in the Ark" that covers these things. Also Chuck Colson's "How Now Shall We Live" fits all of this as well.
Although I trust Christ and his handling on the affairs of the world, I'll have to admit stories like these frighten me because you don't know how far it will go and what America will deem legal.
Thank you for heads up on the two books.
In your last statement is where there is lots of conflict between Christians. I can't tell you the countless times Christians, even Christians in this community, have told me that since God is in control, Christians shouldn't get bent out of shape about things such as abortion, homosexuality, and the influential people that champion abortion, homosexuality, etc., or further the erosion of the other precepts of God and the Christian faith (by which our great nation was birthed).
If that were the case, then the body of Christ in England would not have fled to America to escape state regulated religion and forge a new nation with a government ordained by God. My family and my wife's family have Amish, Anabaptist, and Mennonite heritage for several centuries, which unfortunately or fortunately (depending on how I look at it) never made it to our parents (God has no grandchildren, only children). They escaped from all over Europe, migrated from Europe to Russia to North America (Canada and United States), to live in a nation that trusted in Christ.
Unfortunately, I believe we are reaping what we sowed in the last hundred years of our country's existence.
Thanks for providing your input. I appreciate it
Great post, Bruce. It's a great story and important to put in perspective. I know you don't want to be "the lawyer" but you do sound lawyerly when you use words like "meritorious." I think the issue is laughably bizarre or bizarrely laughable (which ever the case may be) but it's also sad. Sad that he is getting press. I'm sure that the motivation is probably not winning the case against Zondervan but rather publicity to promote his cause.
On another note: please refrain from expressing an opinion about me for the foreseeable future! (I'd like to stay around a bit longer.)
At the risk of getting into theological debates I'll unpack my opinion on evil and God's role. I'll preface everything with the fact that I'm not a Calvinist.
I don't subscribe to the theory of "let go and let God." I think He's made this world into a two-way street. He's established His will and now we must adhere to it. The blanket answer for why evil runs rampant while the Bible declares God as good and just is because He's fashioned this world for mankind to steward.
We're given a choice of whether we chose to be of God or not. I say this because we have a role to play in our society to try to bring the world back to Christ. We're to pray, witness and live our lives in such a way that people will know God exists by our actions.
I don't know what exactly spurred this thought, but a previous post made me think about it. Abortion is wrong, gay marriage is wrong, destroying our planet because of luxury is wrong, declaring that there are all sorts of ways to heaven in wrong. It's our job to declare truth and back it up with our lives.
God has done his part, now we must do ours.
Just some thoughts.