My first hate mail at the office… and a convo

So I got my first piece of hate e-mail at the office a couple of days ago. It was kind of funny in one sense, but terribly serious in another.

“Pastor Billy Ball” is the leader of Faith Baptist Church and “SONSOFTHUNDR” street ministries. Like the near-Charlotte Operation Save America, “SONS OF THUNDR” and Ball’s church often protest at events around the South. In 2007, they protested (and got arrested, I think) at the Pride Charlotte festival.

Here’s the mail:

YOU SICK , PERVERTED SODOMITES BETTER REPENT OR YOUR GOING TO HELL !!

LUKE 13:3,5
Pastor, Billy Ball - Rom.1:16
WWW.SONSOFTHUNDR.COM

I immediately wrote back:

Pastor,

My name is Matt Comer. I am the new editor of Q-Notes. I was hired in September and started Oct. 1. I am 21, attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and am a native of Winston-Salem, N.C. (although I’m currently living in Charlotte to work at Q-Notes).

I must inform you that I am already saved and believe fully in the power and message of Christ. He is my Saviour and my Lord. I have no need to repent for something that is not sin.

Furthermore… do you really, honestly believe that you will be able to convert people by calling them names? Christ would not approve.

I went to church this morning and my good ole’ Baptist preacher’s message was based on God’s commandment to love Him and your neighbor. He also spoke of Paul’s instruction regarding love and life. One can have all the world, but without love that man is nothing.

Thanks and feel free to stay in touch.

Matt Comer

Kill’em with kindness, they say. I have no need to sit and directly call someone horrible slurs or names (unless, of course, it is a horribly hypocritical, needs-to-be-exposed anti-gay politician - that’s a different matter).

The rest of our exchange is below, starting with Ball’s email responding to my first reply to him:

“PASTOR : BILLY BALL” wrote:

Thanks for responding Matt. It is obvious though that you have been decieved into believing that sodomy is not a sin. You , like myself will have to repent of your sin before you can be saved. It matters not whether it’s adultery ,fornication or sodomy. Please read 1st corinthians 6 and you will find your sin listed there, as well as romans 1. I will pray for you in our service tonight sir. please repent before it’s too late Matt

Pastor, Billy Ball - Rom.1:16
WWW.SONSOFTHUNDR.COM

Anyone notice how he immediately went to be more polite when I called him out on it? Keep reading and pay attention to that.

Pastor,

Thanks for your response. It is clear that we will likely never agree on the finer points of Scripture, theology or the exegesis of God’s Word. We both, however, can be united in our love for Christ.

I will not debate Scripture with you. It would be a futile effort for both you and I. I will remind you once more, however, of Paul’s teaching: A man can have all the knowledge, all the prophetic power and all the faith in the world, but without love, that man gains nothing.

Matt Comer

_______________________________________

“PASTOR : BILLY BALL” wrote:

But the problem is Matt, that 1cor. 13 declares that charity ( LOVE ) rejoices not in iniquity but in truth ! I tell you the truth because I do love you and God loves you more than I possibly could, but you must repent of your sins to be saved. Please read the first 5 chapters of romans. We prayed for you at church tonight .

Pastor, Billy Ball - Rom.1:16
WWW.SONSOFTHUNDR.COM

_______________________________________

So, you tell me the truth because you love me. How does your love work when it comes to degrading other people and calling them childish names? How does that fit into Christ’s model of love? Christ would not approve of calling people names or degrading them with slurs. You tell me to read the first five chapters of Romans (trust me, I have… many times). I tell you to remind yourself of the model Christ set forth in the Gospels and through the witness of St. Paul and other early church leaders. You are not living up to Christ’s model of love and you know it… that is why you immediately stopped with the name-calling after I called you on it from your first email.

Matt Comer

_______________________________________

“PASTOR : BILLY BALL” wrote:

The name I called you is SODOMITE and that’s the name GOD gave you if you are a HOMOSEXUAL. It shouldn’t seem strange that people who are perverted in their view of sex would also be perverted in their view of LOVE !

Pastor, Billy Ball - Rom.1:16
WWW.SONSOFTHUNDR.COM

_______________________________________

And you went right back to name calling. Shame.

Sodomite is not the name God gave us.

Ezekiel 16:49, 50
“Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.”

Why so vague? There are certainly more than one type of abomination, so don’t even try to say that Ezekiel includes homosexuality in what he says when he says “abomination.” Also… homosexual RAPE is something quite different from a relationship between two consenting adults. I hope you can see the difference.

Also… We both know that when Jesus spoke, he knew exactly what he was speaking about. Every word that came out of his mouth, every parable he used, every comparison he used was used exactly the way it should have been used.

Why then, would Christ use an unrelated story of supposed “sodomy” to relate to the experience of inhospitality toward His disciples? That doesn’t make sense, huh?

I still don’t understand the name calling. Christ would never approve. You know it. Like I said in my last email, I know you know that your name-calling is wrong because you immediately stopped when I called you on it. Unfortunately, when you were afraid of being wrong you reverted back to what was comfortable.

The Gospel According to John, 13:34, 35
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

If you are so blinded by your hate, that you cannot see why name-calling is something Christ wouldn’t approve of, then I will pray for you and hope that Christ makes you a new person, opening your eyes to the radical love He Himself embodied while on earth.

I’m not telling you to change your mind about homosexual sin. I’m asking you to show love, so that others may know you are a Christian, and quit giving me and all your other Christian brothers and sisters a bad name because of your unloving, definitely un-Christ-like use of derogatory slurs and names.

Matt Comer

After my last reply to Ball, on Tuesday morning (11/27), I haven’t heard back. I wonder if I’ve hit a nerve. I should be hitting a nerve. No Christian follower in the world can deny the words I’ve spoken about love. Unlike Ball, I’m firmly on the right side of the issue of love and kindness. In fact, I’m on Christ’s side.

The ante has been raised, Ball - the “ball” is now in your court.

P.S. - The website for Ball’s church and street ministry, sonsofthundr.com (which I will not link to directly… no need to increase their Google rank), looks absolutely horrible and needs a major clean up and organization. That isn’t even mentioning all the fake, trumped up “medical” and “psychological” “evidence” about the “destructive forces” of the “homosexual lifestyle” provided by “Doctor” Paul Cameron. Blah.

Technorati Tags: Anti-gay, gay, Christian, Billy Ball, Faith Baptist Church, Primrose, Georgia, Sonsofthundr

Posted in Anti-LGBT, LGBT, Religion, Sexuality, United States |