Talking Out Of Turn

8 Comments

1. Mannequin
   Posted 3/9/2007 at 10:41 am | Permalink

   I never realized how old he was. He was in his 70’s… He never looked as old as he was during the filming of “Are You Being Served?”.

2. Charles Sebold
   Posted 3/9/2007 at 12:24 pm | Permalink

   …which fact in itself was the point of many of the jokes.

   He looked, well, quite a bit different when he was in KETC’s studios doing fundraisers for PBS.

3. Mannequin
   Posted 3/9/2007 at 12:32 pm | Permalink

   I don’t remember any of those. How long ago are we talking here?

4. Charles Sebold
   Posted 3/9/2007 at 12:56 pm | Permalink

   Not that long ago (assuming you’re talking about the fundraisers). Say 5-10 years.

5. Mannequin
   Posted 3/10/2007 at 5:25 am | Permalink

   Sorry, yeah, I was talking about the fundraisers.

6. Ren73
   Posted 3/12/2007 at 7:09 pm | Permalink

   ah yes, our dear lovable John. Many times I have been entertained by the ‘Free’ one’.The Lord holds much love for all of his children. Before we are anything, we are Jehovah’s child. I’m sure he’s getting to know the Lord right this minute. :)God Bless

7. Tracey Sebold
   Posted 3/13/2007 at 9:52 am | Permalink

   REN73,

   I am not exactly sure what your statement, “Before we are anything, we are Jehovah’s child” means.

   The Bible says that we are all sinful, and that in order to be in a right relationship with God we must “repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). A true child of God mourns over their sins, and comes before the Father in repentance. A true child of God puts their faith in Christ above everything else in their lives.

   The Bible says:

   For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

   It is always sad to me when someone (like John Inman) whose work I have enjoyed, dies. It saddens me even more when the person showed no fruit of salvation. We cannot know someone’s heart, and it is possible that before John died, he repented and believed the gospel.

   However, even though we cannot know someone’s heart, the Bible does say that we can know believers by their fruit. Unfortunately, even though John may have been a nice man, and a talented man, he was also an openly homosexual man who entered into a “civil union” with another man in 2005, after having been involved with him for over 35 years.

   Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. –1 Corinthians 6:9-11

   This does not mean that someone who practices the things in this list cannot become saved; rather, it says “such WERE some of you,” which shows that once God saves someone from their sins (which may include some/all of the sins listed here) they no longer practice them.

   I know that God is gracious and merciful, and that grace is a gift He gives to whomever He chooses. It is only through His abundant mercy that He has saved me, and it is certainly possible that on his deathbed John repented of his sins and had faith in Jesus Christ. But based on the lifestyle he lived prior to his death, he was not repentant of activities which the Bible clearly states are sinful.

   We must know the Lord BEFORE we die in order to go to heaven; otherwise the only thing we will be “getting to know” is the wrath of God for our sins.

8. Patrick Chan
   Posted 3/14/2007 at 7:07 pm | Permalink

   Wow, Tracey, now that was excellent! You should seriously post on the front page more often!