Church Sign in Mandarin about Gays

[TheCat]

Turns out the father of Geoff Youngblood is the Pastor of the church.

Geoff Youngblood is running against former Mayor Tommy Hazouri for At-Large Group 3.

This is the story:

http://www.news4jax.com/news/church-sign-causes-a-stir-in-mandarin-neighborhood/32921186

[TheCat]

You can read Rev. Gene Youngblood's three page response here. 

http://www.news4jax.com/blob/view/-/32922796/data/2/-/t0ho7xz/-/Youngblood-issues-statement-pdf.pdf

[TheCat]

From Florida Politics:

The Rev. Gene Youngblood, father of Jacksonville City Council At-Large Group 3 candidate Geoff Youngblood, says a message posted on the marquee outside his First Conservative Baptist Church is "reacting to current events" and corresponds to Scripture.

The sign reads "Homosexuals must repent or go to Hell." It has sparked a petition response at the website www.change.org, which calls the message "homophobic and bigoted" and calls for its removal.

"In John 13:34, God said: 'A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.' NOWHERE in the Bible does it mention gays and hell in the same sentence. There is no place in Jacksonville for such an ignorant and hatred-filled sign- REMOVE IT IMMEDIATELY!!!" reads the petition, which was started by Cate Dobbins,  a resident who lives a couple of miles from the church.

Dobbins was reportedly stopped from delivering her petition to the church on Sunday by church members.

Youngblood tells FloridaPolitics.com that the message on his church's marquee is changed weekly. He adds, "We message based around what is happening in the news, and the message is in accordance with Biblical scriptures."

Youngblood's son, business owner Geoff Youngblood, is in a runoff race against former Jacksonville mayor and Duval County School Board member Tommy Hazouri for the City Council's At-Large Group 3 seat. Youngblood, a Republican, and Hazouri, a Democrat, have clashed repeatedly on the campaign trail at various forums. One issue where the two diverge is on whether Jacksonville should expand its human rights ordinance to cover LGBT citizens. Hazouri is a strong supporter of an expanded HRO; Youngblood is not.

Meanwhile, Jacksonville lawyer Jimmy Midyette, chair of the Northeast Florida LGBT PAC, had this to say about the church marquee.

"The Constitutions of Florida and the United States guarantee both religious freedom and freedom of speech. This fundamentalist church has every right to discern and express its beliefs in any lawful manner, including through its sign. Our diversity is one of Jacksonville's many strengths. As we develop into a 21st century city, what we need now is constructive dialogue that helps us to build bridges between us, not hurtful words that foster division and mistrust."

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/182921

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Hahahahaha....  Now that I've read his letter, I see that I came to the same conclusion a few days ago when I saw this. 

The rest of you are so worried about someone else being offended, you ignored the ACTUAL message and read what you wanted to read.  That's not to say that this guy wasn't intentionally baiting, but geez.

My reply to a friend's post from FB who was all up in arms:

T.S.:   But it's true. If that's your belief, then everyone must repent or they're going to hell. Why should the gays get an exemption?

(Hint: it doesn't say they're going to hell for being gay, even if that was the intent. To be a smartass, you have to be smart.)
Like · Reply · May 10 at 6:56pm

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I'm not condoning any of it, but you literally can put any noun in the place of Homosexuals and the message is the same.

I get the underlying intent, but (in my head) that entire thing has the potential to backfire all over the place; I would have every christian gay in his congregation next Sunday to repent.  He's obviously worried about that certain group of people that he feels the need to call them out specifically.

Someone needs to shepherd the wayward, same-sex-loving flock to his pasture for a solid hour of kumbya, repentance and some good ol' fashioned soul saving with a more diverse group of people than he's used to.

[TheCat]

Hahahahaha....  Now that I've read his letter, I see that I came to the same conclusion a few days ago when I saw this. 

The rest of you are so worried about someone else being offended, you ignored the ACTUAL message and read what you wanted to read.  That's not to say that this guy wasn't intentionally baiting, but geez.

My reply to a friend's post from FB who was all up in arms:

T.S.:   But it's true. If that's your belief, then everyone must repent or they're going to hell. Why should the gays get an exemption?

(Hint: it doesn't say they're going to hell for being gay, even if that was the intent. To be a smartass, you have to be smart.)
Like · Reply · May 10 at 6:56pm

Sure. Except that these signs never say the following....

1) "greedy businessmen repent or else...
2) "Racists repent or else...
3) "Patriots repent or else...
4) "Love your enemies or else...
5) "Bless those who curse you or else...

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

So they just personified Islam?  lol  Does that make the Christianity Chuck Norris?

As a clarification, Allah does condone the use of deadly force just as much as God does in the Old Testament.  I'm pretty sure the Christian god wiped out numerous cities, killed the firstborn sons on Passover and even tried to kill off all but a few of humanity with a flood.  Not exactly the 'forgiving type'. 

Jesus' teachings are about peace and forgiveness.  He obviously didn't agree with his father's way of doing things either.

[Tacachale]

This shouldn't be surprising. Gene Youngblood was... vocal about his adamant opposition to the Human Rights Oridinance in 2012. He called LGBT people "sexual deviants", that the bill would force people to "embrace the sin of sodomy", and such.

Gene Youngblood is also president of Conservative Theological University, an unaccredited school located somewhere in Jacksonville.

If you're wondering how close Geoff Youngblood's ideas are to his fathers, his website states that he earned his bachelor's degree from his father's college.

In other words, vote for Tommy.

[Jimmy]

^^^ Have to agree with everything said by the right and honorable Tacachale. 

(Here comes the "but.")

But I don't think we should let Lenny Curry off this hook, either.  One of Mr. Curry's biggest supporters in town in Dr. Gene Youngblood.  As you can see above, Dr. Youngblood has been in the news this week for putting up a hateful sign at his church, which is something he often does - and which I admit and agree that he has every right to do.  He was hateful to Muslims during the Parvez Ahmed controversy.  And he was hateful to gays in 2012 and now. 

Somebody tell me how you can say there's no discrimination in Jacksonville (as Mr. Curry does) when one of your biggest supporters has a sign up - that children and everyone can see - that perpetuates an atmosphere of discrimination and bias against LGBT people in Jacksonville.  And against Muslims.  And only God knows who else over the years.  Either discrimination is a thing and we need to find a legal remedy for it, or not.

Lord, have mercy.

[Tacachale]

Please. Youngblood isn't even close to being one of Lenny's "biggest supporters". In fact, don't think I've ever seen their names connected at all until that post. Indeed, some of Curry's top supporters include HRO supporters like Peter Rummell, Ed Burr, Gary Chartrand, and more recently, my old man, John Delaney.

Alvin's got plenty of fools supporting him, too. Shall we stop letting him off the hook, too?

[Jimmy]

Touché!  No, I don't advocate letting the Mayor off the hook.  But he's at least pulled his head up and acknowledged that we do have a problem.  Election-year gimmick?  I don't know.  But it is a point of separation between the candidates.  Something the Times-Union, though they've endorsed Mr. Curry, is having trouble finding.

[Tacachale]

  Election-year gimmick?  I don't know.   .

Really? You don't know...

Hey, maybe he will lead on this issue regardless of the reason. But let's be honest with ourselves here. I've read enough of your posts to know you are neither naive nor lacking intelligence.

+1000

[Tacachale]

many of them supported alvin as well, though.  They were wrong once already, apparently. 

Presumably they did what a lot of other people did, myself included, and supported Brown because they reckoned he'd be better than Hogan. Was Brown the wrong choice then? Maybe. Is he the wrong choice now? Definitely.

Are they supporting Lenny because he's going to go out and hit a home run for the HRO?

Because they might not actually be listening to what he's actually saying.

Yes, many people, myself included, feel we have a better chance getting an HRO through with Curry at the helm than Brown. My impression from meeting Curry is that he's much more moderate than his flyers and campaign are making him seem, and we already saw what happened in 2012 under Brown. We shall see; neither of them are a slam dunk on this issue, which is pathetic. But what says more, a Republican who won't oppose an LGBT bill, or a Democrat who won't support it?

At any rate, to bring the discussion back to the something that's actually connected to the topic of the thread, I hope the media don't stop asking for a response about this debacle from Geoff Youngblood, who's a week out from potentially sitting on the City Council.

[coredumped]

I was on the fence about who to vote, but this pretty much decided it for me.

[FSBA]

https://www.youtube.com/v/2bwGsOBTlhE