I'm going to try to be as respectful as possible with this post so bear with me. At the beginning of the year, For Today guitarist Mike Reynolds made some controversial statements about gay people that eventually got him removed from the band.
For Today have been under my radar since then until yesterday when the band released a new music video.
MetalSucks brought the video to my attention, which tries to shine a light on human trafficking:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaDSvzFZqoI[/youtube]
The band attached the following message to the video:
“’Fight The Silence’ has a strong social message and proceeds from the sale of this song and forthcoming album will go to support the A21 Campaignto help shine a light on the issue of human trafficking.”
In the MetalSucks post, Axl Rosenberg makes the point that it's hard to take it seriously because "eleven months later, the band still has yet to publicly declare that homosexuality isn’t a sin."
Well, I did a little Googling and frontman Mattie Montgomery's personal site, filled with sermon podcasts and blog posts, already discussed the hot-button in length last summer in an entry called "Homosexulaity and the Rebellious Church."
Update: Shortly after this story was published, the post was removed from the site. Guess what, Mattie? Google Cache still had a copy of the post. Screenshot of the entire page at the end of the post.
The whole post is very rambling and it was hard to follow a lot of the points. There was an apology to the LGBT community:
[M]uch of the violent polarization of right and left wing crusaders, both for and against homosexual relationships has come from major failure within the church. So, I’d like to address the homosexual community and their advocates on behalf of the Church once and for all:
To the LGBT community: I sincerely apologize that, with our actions, we have said that WE can marry whomever we want, but you cannot. Our wrong motives have been exposed by the staggeringly negative success rates of our marriages, and we have no right to demand that you live to a standard that we have not been willing to honor.
Don't get too excited, the following paragraph pretty much shuns these relationships:
I refuse to lower the standard of perfect obedience to which scripture calls us to accommodate anyone for any reason. Therefore, I can advocate NO relationship that exists for the sake of self-gratification, be it heterosexual or otherwise. If it is not a direct result of the command of God, it is sin, and should have no legitimate place in human life.
I think the basic point he was making was that he believes we do not chose who we marry, God chooses for us:
I married my wife because God told me to. Yes, I think she’s beautiful. But she’s not the only beautiful woman in the world. Yes, she and I get along great! But, I get along with many other women who are just friends of mine. I choose to love my wife, not because she earned my love, but out of obedience to the Word of God spoken to me 5 years ago, in which He said, “Candice will be your wife. I’m calling you to marry her.”
So, with that said, I’d like to make my stance on homosexuality/homosexual marriage crystal clear: I cannot support the homosexual agenda in our nation. This is not because people call it an “abomination,” or because I’m some sort of homophobe or bigot, but because every argument in support of that act is based on one fundamental misconception; and that is the flawed idea that we should be able to marry whomever we want.
I have never heard a homosexual couple tell me that the reason they are together is because, out of a place of devotion to the Lord in prayer and scripture study, He commanded them to be together. And, until that happens, there really is no discussion to be had. They will receive the same response I would give to a straight couple that is together for carnal or selfish reasons: You are in disobedience to God, and you have made an idol out of yourself. Repent. Leave this relationship, and commit yourself to hear and obey the spoken Word of God.
So not only the gays are sinners, but people who marry those which God has not chosen them to marry are sinners as well. And then this:
As I said near the beginning of this essay, I am in no position to institute legislation regarding civil unions or “marriage.” I exist as an oracle of the Kingdom of heaven, not the United States of America. And as such, in regard to the issue of marriage (gay OR straight), I can say only this: The spoken Word of God must remain paramount to us. If rebellion and self-centeredness continue to infect the minds of our culture (both Christian and secular), we will position ourselves for a painful judgment at the hand of Jesus–the One whose words we’ve twisted to coddle ourselves in our treason. Revival begins in the Church.
I'm not quite sure what he's trying to prove here, but then I took a step back and realized I am reading far too into what a 27-year-old evangelist from Mobile, AL is saying.
Here is the screenshot of the original page, that has since been deleted. Click it to view it in fullsize:
