Israel Folau stands by anti-LGBTI comments and says he shared them “with love”
Image: Image: Israel Folau / Instagram.
Controversial rugby star Israel Folau has stood by his statements that he believes gay and trans people are destined for hell, even after Rugby Australia has stated they will likely terminate his multi-million dollar contract over it.
Folau last week met with Rugby Australia over a series of posts that breached his social media agreement.
He had tweeted that Tasmania’s new birth certificate laws were a sign that people must “repent and turn away from your evil ways”, and later posted an image on Instagram warning that “hell awaits” gay people.
The posts are the latest in a series of religious anti-LGBTI messages by Folau.
Folau was yesterday “unrepentant” for his comments, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
“Absolutely not,” Folau said.
“I’ll stand on what the Bible says. I share it with love. I can see the other side of the coin where people’s reactions are the total opposite to how I’m sharing it.
“But in Ezekiel, chapter 33, verse 11, it says that ‘God has no pleasure in the person that’s living in sin’ … He’s a loving God and he wants people to turn away from what they’re living in and he’ll give them life.
“That’s the message that I’m trying to share, even though it comes across as harsh. I can’t change what the word of God says.”
Rugby Australia and New South Wales Rugby Union last week distanced themselves from Folau’s comments with a joint statement.
“Whilst Israel is entitled to his religious beliefs, the way in which he has expressed these beliefs is inconsistent with the values of the sport,” it said.
“We want to make it clear that he does not speak for the game with his recent social media posts.
“Israel has failed to understand that the expectation of him as a Rugby Australia and NSW Waratahs employee is that he cannot share material on social media that condemns, vilifies or discriminates against people on the basis of their sexuality.”
‘coz he himself is gay but could not get out of the closet, simple as that! insecurity from others who have the courage to go out from the closet made him give that kind of statement..
It just goes to show how little Folau knows about the Bible. Yes, in Leviticus there is one small phrase amongst all the garbage which states that a “man should not lay down with another man as he would with a woman” and that is it. The entire Bible, including the New testament – allegedly written by men, with the exception of Luke the doctor and possibly the Tax Collector Matthew, who could neither read nor write – remember Education was limited to Rabbis, Scribes and Pharisees at that time – much as in later years only Priests within the Christian Churches read and understood the Bible.
Allegedly, Jesus taught us that we should “Love each other as we would ourselves be loved”
The Bible, with the exception of the alleged giving by God of the Ten Commandments to Moses, was written by ordinary men, a semi-historical publication, It is written by males for males and clearly stated that women were the property of their fathers, then husbands and if they did not marry of their brothers. Should their husband die they were to marry his brother. If they committed adultery then they were to be Stoned to death. There was no punishment for men if they committed adultery!. Women were nothing more than men’s chattels – along with “Their pots and pans, their ox, their ass and anything else that was theirs”.
The Bible specifically allows men to own Slaves.
The Bible also tells us that “God made man in his own image”. God made everything in Heaven and on Earth – including all Viruses, Bacteria and God gave us Polio, Tuberculosis, All forms of Cancers, Cholera, Diphtheria – you name whatever scourge you can think of and God created them all.
Some have claimed that Folau is exercising his Right to Freedom of Speech.
When does Freedom of Speech become Vilification, the promotion of Hatred? – both are Criminal offences in Australia and across the civilised world.
So Folau condems folks to hell “out of love” and claims to know the word of God.
No sincere Christians do these things. Pharisees, sure. Arseholes, definitely.
What a fucking arsehole this guy is proving himself to be.
One can only guess what skeletons Folau has in his closet – drunkennesss, sexual misconduct and, adultery, lying, fornication, theft, atheism and idolatory. Or has he never sinned????
Why bother with his closet ? He has tattoos clearly visible and also spoken against in his book of fables.
He is just another christianist hypocrite