Fear in Largo, Florida


It was reported in the local paper that the city manager of Largo, Florida is to lose his job because he plans to have a sex change operation. I'm not going to pass judgement on the firing. The city is closer to the situation than I am, and may have information I don't have.

Reports indicate a crowd of 500 people showed up to the City Commission meeting to express their opinions. One was a Baptist minister. Here's how our paper reported his comment:

''If Jesus was here tonight, I can guarantee you he'd want him terminated,'' said Pastor Ron Saunders of Largo's Lighthouse Baptist Church. ''Make no mistake about it.''

Is he talking about the Jesus who dined with sinners? Is he talking about the Jesus who let a sinful woman wash his feet at a dinner party?

I don't think so.

I don't think Jesus would have put someone out of a job they had executed faithfully for fourteen years for this.

What I see in Largo, Florida is nothing more than fear of the unusual. There is nothing inherently sinful or immoral about a sex change operation. Its not anything that I understand or can relate to in any way. I'll grant you that its darned wierd. But wierd is neither a crime nor a sin.

If the city manager feels he is a female soul in a male body, he certainly has a problem. What did Jesus do when he encountered someone with a personal problem? Did he condemn them? Did he tell them to go away?

NO!

In every case, he healed them. Without judgement.

Pastor Saunders should do the same. If his spiritual understanding is not up to the task, he should get out of the way and let the man work out his own problems. The good pastor doesn't need to add to them by putting him in the unemployment line.

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