Pastor Rick Scarborough, the preacher who earlier this month threatened to set himself on fire in his fight against marriage equality, has now said that his comments should not have been taken literally, reports The Advocate.
On June 16th, Scarborough said “we are not going to bow, we are not going to bend, and if necessary we will burn.”
However, the homophobic Vision America founder has released a statement:
“I made that comment to paraphrase a spiritual song, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in which the three were given a choice – to bow to the image of Nebuchadnezzar or burn in a furnace.
“‘We will burn’ means that we will accept any sanction from the government for resisting [the] Supreme Court decision. We do not support any violence or physical harm.”
The bible passage reads in part:
“If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
The ‘fiery furnace’ in the passage is generally interpreted as an actual fire from which God saves his true believers.
Listen to Scarborough’s original threat below.
