Eastbayri.com

You can say one thing about Ed Collins, pastor of the Eusebeia Bible Church: He’s not one to shy away from a controversial subject — as long as it’s addressed in the scriptures.

The topic of one of his regular Bible classes on Thursday, Dec. 29, was “The Truth About Homosexuality Stated Without Prejudice.”

He started the evening by showing a brief video clip from “Oprah,” in which two church leaders on Ms. Winfrey’s panel high-fived each other after one of them stated, “Being gay is a gift from God.”

Pastor Collins said the thoughts expressed on the show disgusted him because they clearly went against what’s stated in the Bible — that homosexuality is a sinful abomination.

“Blaming God for sin — what a mistake,” he told about 30 people who attended the drop-in class. (They’re normally held from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and are open to all.) “No person is born a homosexual. Homosexuality is born of the perversion of the flesh.”

Being gay, however, is just another sin — such as drug addiction or getting drunk — and doesn’t condemn someone to hell, he said. “I’m not interested in judging a homosexual; I just teach the word of God,” he said, adding that you can “hate the sin but not the sinner.”

In fact, he said, according to Romans 2 in The Bible, to arrogantly judge others is considered to be a bigger sin than being gay.

It’s all in a day’s work for Pastor Collins, who has led the church since its inception nearly three years ago — first at its Rehoboth location and then at its more spacious digs on Taunton Avenue in Seekonk. Eusebeia Bible Church describes itself as a “non-denominational Christian ministry dedicated to the communication of the word of God through the exhaustive study of the Bible.”

An engineer in “high-tech” for 20 years, Pastor Collins said he “got the calling” about 12 years ago to teach God’s word.

His congregation numbers about 70, but online — Pastor Collins is a self-professed “techie” — his flock is “global,” he said.

“People come (to the website) from all over the world,” said the 42-year-old ordained pastor, who has a wife and two sons, one of whom is serving in Afghanistan. Videos of his sermons can be found at http://pastoredcollins.org.

In addition, the church has a separate outreach program called “Here It Is” (www.here-it-is.org), organized by Scott Grande, an evangelist with the church.

“Here It Is” programs are held intermittently on Saturdays and are also open to everyone. Each program picks a tough question many people have and attempts to provide a straightforward answer according to what’s taught in the Bible.

Among the questions tackled so far:

• “Why a virgin named Mary?”

• “Are there good people in hell?” and “Are there ‘bad’ people in heaven?”

• “That jerk’s rich, I’m broke. Where’s God?”

Those are provocative questions to ponder, but Pastor Collins relies on The Bible for answers. As he told his class last week: “If you have a problem with what was taught tonight, you have a problem with the word of God, not me.”