Run, John, run the law commands,
But gives me neither feet nor hands;
Far better news the gospel brings:
It bids me fly; it gives me wings.
law
I’ve been thinking about posting something related to this bill for a while now. As a person in Christian ministry who has supporters who cover the whole spectrum of social conservatives to social progressives, I have felt that weighing in here for the world to see may be a bad idea. I’ve talked about it in conversations where I can talk through the nuances of my view at length, but things on the internet can blow up in ways that are often uncontrollable.
After seeing this, I had to.
This video outlines the points of the bill that talk about the death penalty that is associated with it. I’ve been opposed to the bill since I first heard about it, but as someone who is not Ugandan and doesn’t know any Ugandans I didn’t feel that it was an opinion that I could do anything with. But, now I wanted to post this in light of the video post I added the other day where pastor John Piper talks about the fact that Christians have no basis to impose the death penalty for offenses against morality. This bill is being backed by a number of “Evangelical” leaders from the United States!
Even if I wasn’t opposed to the banning of homosexuality on a legal level, the vagueness of the bill and its obtuse range of offenses that can lead to the death penalty makes it nothing less than a travesty of any country’s legal system.
The principle of love has been found to possess very great power over men. In the infancy of history nations dream that crime can be put down by severity, and they rely upon fierce punishments; but experience corrects the error. Our forefathers dreaded forgery, which is a troublesome fraud, and interferes with the confidence which should exist between man and man. To put it down they made forgery a capital offense. Alas for the murders committed by that law! Yet the constant use of the gallows was never sufficient to stamp out the crime. Many offenses have been created and multiplied by the penalty which was meant to suppress them. Some offenses have almost ceased when the penalty against them has been lightened.
It is a notable fact as to men, that if they are forbidden to do a thing they straightway pine to do it, though they had never thought of doing it before. Law commands obedience, but does not promote it; it often creates disobedience, and an over-weighted penalty has been known to provoke an offense. Law fails, but love wins.
C.H. Spurgeon, The Doctrines of Grace Do Not Lead to Sin.