The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Using my deductive reasoning skills after years of reading The Nassau Guardian columnist who goes by the nom de plume Front Porch, I have concluded that the main writer is an educated feminist who is possibly a lesbian. She is also a liberal Roman Catholic and a journalist by profession who harbours deep antipathy for evangelical Protestantism and for anyone lacking a PhD degree from an ivy league school. Her latest op-ed (or hit piece) on Bahamas Christian Council President Delton Fernander is eerily similar to a September 2014 op-ed on the late Bahamas Faith Ministries founder, Dr. Myles Munroe, in which the latter was ruthlessly excoriated for daring to oppose a proposed gay event via a newspaper press release titled, "Homosexuality - Phobia or Principle." In another broadside titled "Pope Francis, Dr Munroe and the Gift of Mercy," the late evangelical televangelist was taken to task by Simon, who I believe is Front Porch, for criticising the Roman Catholic Church leader, Pope Francis, for refusing to condemn gay priests. Ironically, Munroe, along with eight other passengers, died a mere two months later in a plane crash in Grand Bahama after the first condescending broadside by Front Porch. Perhaps out of guilt for castigating the fallen Bahamas Faith Ministries pastor, Front Porch mentioned his tragic death in a November 13, 2014 op-ed on the life of Free National Movement founding father, Warren J Levarity. The overwhelming majority of Bahamians stand firmly in the corner of Fernander in his opposition to the planned gay pride parade of the Bahamas Organisation of LGBT Affairs. Front Porch quoted extensively from a 2017 "Brain before Bible" dialogue between one Juleus Ghunta and the Rev Sean Major-Campbell, rector of Christ Church in Kingston, Jamaica, in which both men spoke in a condescending manner about evangelical Christianity. Like the Bahamian columnist, the Anglican churchman is unashamedly pro-gay and pro-abortion.

Despite being an Anglican clergyman, Major-Campbell's liberal beliefs conflicts with the fundamental tenets of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England. In an October 2017 opinion piece in The Jamaica Gleaner titled "Misunderstanding Sodom and Gomorrah," Major-Campbell employed faulty hermeneutics in his interpretation of Genesis 19 by completely ignoring the obvious issue at play in Sodom. This is what the late American philosopher James Sire called twisting Scripture.

According to Major-Campbell and Front Porch, the Sodomites were guilty of being inhospitable to the two heavenly guests of Lot. Accordingly, homosexuality was not the issue. This is the same LGBT hermeneutics that argues that the Old Testament figures David and Jonathan were intimate partners. Major-Campbell's liberal interpretation of the Sodom and Gomorrah narrative conflicts with the traditional understanding of verse 5 of Genesis 19 of the NIV, which reads: "They called to Lot, Where are the men which came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them." The translators of the NIV were correct in their translation of the text in question, seeing that the Hebrew word for sex is "yada." In the Authorised King James Version, the word used is "know," instead of sex. However, a simple cross reference of the same Hebrew word in Genesis 4:1 would immediately remove all doubt as to what the biblical writer was intending to convey. Moreover, 2 Peter 2:6-7 and Jude 7 affirms the traditional understanding of Genesis 19, which was held by noted Patristic fathers Augustine, Cyprian of Carthage, Novatian, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, Eusebius, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Anorbius and the Didache; and by Protestant luminaries Martin Luther, John Calvin and others. This bit of historical information is crucially important, as it undermines the LGBT position of Front Porch, who seems to be laboring under the false assumption that the fundamentalist position on human sexuality of Fernander is a novel one. In both of her opinion pieces on Messrs Fernander and Munroe, Front Porch sat in her ivory tower as she arrogantly questioned the academic qualifications of the two Bahamian evangelical leaders, conveniently ignoring the fact that Munroe was educated at the prestigious Oral Roberts University and the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. This is the same Christophobic posture I detected in Major-Campbell's interview with Ghunta towards Jamaican Christian fundamentalists. Judging from this snobbish attitude, if you're not pro-LGBT, you are stupid. I am shocked that the Anglican communion in Jamaica has allowed Major-Campbell to continue feeding its flock, seeing that he doesn't hold to Scripture as God's final authority, among other heretical beliefs he proudly embraces. He should be defrocked.

Interestingly, homosexuality is also condemned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church –- the very church Front Porch is apparently fond of. The book was edited by none other than Joseph Ratzinger, known to the world as Pope Benedict XVI. In light of his conservative position on human sexuality, are we to believe that Pope Benedict is academically deficient?

Whereas homosexuality is condemned in the Genesis 19 narrative, as well as in Romans 1:24-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10, heterosexual, monogamous marriage is affirmed in Genesis 2:22-24, Matthew 19:4-6 and Ephesians 5:31. Due to the dietary and ceremonial injunctions given to Old Testament Israel, which was a theocracy, I have made the decision not to reference the book of Leviticus and its prohibition against homosexuality. Individuals such as Front Porch and the Jamaican Anglican clergyman seem to be hellbent on not understanding the epoch in which Moses and the Old Testament Israelites lived in. Be that as it may, the main bone of contention with the Alexus D'Marco event is that it appears to be a move to ram homosexuality down the throat of the Bahamian people. It's not enough that same-sex relations between consenting adults has been legalised in The Bahamas since 1991. We don't see heterosexuals marching down Bay Street in celebration of their sexual orientation. So why should homosexuals be allowed to do so?

If this event was going to be a private one, why then was it publicised?

Why risk the backlash? The Bahamian LGBT community has been holding events in this country for years. I sincerely believe that by initially publicising the event, D'Marco and her LGBT colleagues were attempting to gauge the mood of the Bahamian people towards homosexuality. Front Porch is annoyed with the Christian Council leader for proposing to hold a counter protest, as if heterosexuals do not have the right to voice their concerns about homosexuality. I have read Fernander's statement to press; I have a difficult time detecting any semblance of homophobia or bigotry in his statement. The Bahamas Christian Council does not hate homosexuals; it hates homosexuality. Anyone who believes that Fernander is attempting to incite violence against homosexuals is being naive and unremittingly dishonest.

Fernander must continue on with his plans for an anti-gay rally. Don't be intimidated by Rights Bahamas or Front Porch.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama

October 27, 2019.