tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33985846400942175372024-02-20T03:31:15.050-08:00Questioning Right Wing Christianity: My Journey from Fundamenatlist Conservative to Leftist LiberalMy blog to promote my new book "Confessions of a Heretic: How a Right Wing Conservative Pastor Became a Leftist Liberal Heathen", and to discuss the problems I as a former pastor developed with the Christian religion and conservative right-wing thinking.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-81006006586357070322013-03-31T15:31:00.001-07:002013-03-31T16:55:59.604-07:00Some thoughts for Easter Weekend<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: small;">I was living in the Northwestern United States on May 18, 1980 when Mt. St. Helens erupted. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The eruption was a very strange event for everyone in the Northwest. We were on our way to </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">church the morning of the eruption. When we left our house, it was light outside, but by the time </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">we arrived at our church, the sky had grown completely black and there were frequent lightning </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">strikes. I’m sure many people in the vicinity thought at first that Jesus was returning for the Day </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">of Judgment. I remember my father turning on the radio in our car to get news about what was </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">happening. The announcers on the radio reported that St. Helens had erupted and that citizens of </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">our town should immediately head inside because scientists were not sure what effects breathing </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">in the ash would have on the human body. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">For the first and last time in the history of my family, we immediately left the church without </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">attending services and went home. As we headed home, ash began falling out of the sky like </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">snow. Over the course of that day, my hometown received six inches of ash. My child’s mind </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">had a difficult time processing what was happening. I wasn’t scared at all simply because I was </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">too young to understand the danger of my situation. I found the whole event exciting and </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">interesting. Since the day of the eruption, I have had a deep interest in geology. Eventually, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">despite the ash, we got home safely and locked ourselves inside our house as the scientists had </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">advised. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">At some point my mother realized there were probably homeless people out in this seemingly </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">apocalyptic landscape, so she loaded us all into the car, and we went looking for people who </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">needed help. We eventually found two drunk, homeless men and took them to our house to wait </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">out the eruption until it was declared safe to go outside. While we were driving to our house, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">one of the young men asked my mother why she was helping them. She replied she was helping </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">them because she was Christian, and she believed God wanted us to help each other. Even </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">though I was barely five years old at the time, I will never forget the homeless guy’s response to </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">my mother’s statement. His response was something to the effect of how he could not follow </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Christianity because he could not follow a God, who was so violent as to require the death of His </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">own son in order to forgive people of their mistakes. I found his statement shocking because I </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">had NEVER heard someone question Christianity or God. I remembered being worried for this </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">young man because obviously he was going to go to Hell. Up to this point I had felt like my </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">mother was crazy for bringing strangers into our home, but now I realized she was right. If she </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">hadn’t brought this young man into our home, he might have died as a non-Christian, and then he </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">would have gone to Hell for sure (at least, this is what I thought at the time). We all stayed up </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">that night watching the news together, and eventually when it was declared safe to go outside </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">with a mask on, my father dropped these two young men off at the local shelter. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">As I grew up, I simply accepted that God must be an angry God. If God were not angry, then </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">why was He/She always wiping people out in the Bible? If God wasn’t an angry God, then how </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">did you explain Uzzah, Sodom and Gomorrah, Nadab and Abihu, and all the other stories where </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">God was getting pissed and striking people dead? I knew God had a violent temper. I had heard </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">it preached over and over as a kid, and as I got older I read about God’s anger for myself. I was </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">thankful Jesus had died on the cross for me to protect me from such an angry God because I </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">didn’t want to have to be punished by the God I had been taught about growing up. I never </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">questioned the belief that Jesus died for our sins in order to keep God from wiping us all out and </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">sending us all to Hell; I was simply thankful somebody was willing to take my punishment. I </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">never thought about what it meant about God that He/She needed a human sacrifice in order to </span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">forgive humanity. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">For the majority of my life, actually, I never really thought about the crucifixion and what it said </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">about the God I followed. I preached for years the same things I had heard growing up. I </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">preached God was a God of love, but He/She was also a God of justice, who cold not just let our </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">mistakes go unpunished. God wanted to forgive us, but He/She also required justice. So at some </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">point along the way, Jesus and God came up with a plan for Jesus to die in our place as a human </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">sacrifice so that God could forgive us and yet still get the justice He/She demanded. I remember </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">even preaching at times about what the conversation must have been like between God and Jesus </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">before God even created humanity. I spoke of them discussing creating humanity, knowing </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">humanity would mess up, and realizing that something would have to be done about all of our </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">mess-ups. At some point in the conversation, Jesus (motivated by his love for us), said, “I will </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">die for them when the time is right.” </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I loved teaching and preaching about this conversation because I loved the picture it painted of </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Jesus as this loving, self sacrificing God, who would do anything for us. We as humans are so </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">desperate to be loved that the message of Jesus being willing to die for us is very comforting. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">We want to feel loved and important, and what better way to feel loved than to have someone </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">willingly die for you? If Jesus died for me, then his love was perfect; it knew no bounds. And it </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">was the only consistent love I had ever experienced in my life. I never thought to look the gift </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">horse of Jesus dying for me in the mouth. I needed for the story to be true. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">As I began to heal from my emotional scars and self-hatred, I learned how to love myself and </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">forgive myself for not being perfect. I also learned how to forgive others for their imperfections. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Eventually, I even learned to see humanity’s imperfections as a natural, beautiful part of who we </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">are. I wondered if we were actually ever meant to be “perfect” people. I grew to love myself as </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I was, and I grew capable of loving others for who they were, too. I didn’t take my new-found </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">love fest as an excuse to not work to be a better human, but I could finally love myself in my </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">imperfection while I learned to be a better human being. I learned over time that I was a good </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">person. For the first time in my life I loved me and “liked” me, as well. I guess feeling loved </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">allowed me to begin questioning the only other source of love I had felt before: the love of Jesus, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">which was proven by his death on a cross. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Like the young man my mother had rescued from the eruption, I began to wonder what kind of </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">God would be as violent and abusive as to require the sacrifice of one of his children in order to </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">be able to forgive His/Her other kids’ mistakes. I knew I was treading on dangerous ground for a </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">pastor and a Christian, but I could not shake the feeling that something was wrong with the </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">picture of God painted by the crucifixion. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Suppose a father, who is supposed to be the epitome of love, comes home to his house one day </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">and walks in on a party at his house where there is drinking, dancing, sex, and even drug abuse </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">going on. In his frustration, anger and “love,” the father stops the music and sends everyone </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">home except for his own kids. He tells his kids they have been behaving unacceptably. He </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">explains to his children how he loves them very, very much, but because he is a just Father, he is </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">going to have to kill them all because they have made themselves impure. He says he deeply </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">regrets the fact that he has to kill them, but really they have left him with no choice. He pulls out </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">a gun and takes aim at his children. At this point the oldest brother, who has been at work </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">instead of joining in on the debauchery, steps through the door. After finding out what has taken </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">place, the oldest brother falls on his knees before his father and begs the father to be merciful to </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">his brothers and sisters because . . . after all, they are only human, and they “know not what they </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">do.” </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The father explains to his oldest son how he would love to be able to forgive his children, but he </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">cannot unless at least one person dies in order to appease his anger and his sense of justice about </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">the wrongs, which his children have committed against him. The oldest son says, “Well, if </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">somebody has to die, then kill me.” At this point the “loving” father turns the gun on his oldest </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">son and blows his son’s brains out. The high velocity blood spray from the blast covers all of his </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">children in blood. Upon seeing the blood, the father’s anger and sense of justice are appeased. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">He embraces his children and tells them how much he loves them. He tells them that from now </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">on if they mess up, they can just show him their brother’s blood when he is angry at them, and </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">their brother’s blood will appease his anger. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">What kind of Father would do such a thing? Any of us in our right minds would say the father in </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">the story was at the very best crazy and at the very worst just flat out evil. But most Christians </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">worship and proclaim this type of God as a “good God.” It has become no shock to me that </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Christians can be so harsh, judgmental, and cruel to each other . . . because they serve a harsh </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">and cruel God. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Jesus taught us we should forgive people unconditionally and at the very minimum up to 490 </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">times per person (Jesus seems to be calling for infinite forgiveness, actually). Jesus’ followers </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">are expected to be forgiving people; yet their perfect, omnipotent God of love can’t forgive us </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">even one mistake without bloodshed?! What type of sick, abusive God are people following? </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Jesus was a forgiving person, and he claims to have been the fleshly representation of what God </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">is actually like. If this is true, then why is God incapable of forgiving me and you without </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">somebody dying? These questions troubled me deeply. Eventually, I just decided like the young </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">man from my childhood that I could not follow such a violent God. I didn’t abandon faith of any </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">kind; I just didn’t believe in the God taught about in the majority of Christian churches. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Historically, Jesus of Nazareth was crucified because he was a threat to the religious and the </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">powerful of his day. The truth of the matter is this threat is likely the only reason Jesus was </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">crucified. He was most likely killed not to appease God, but to appease the leaders of his day. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">This statement creates problems for people (like me, actually), who believe Jesus was more than </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">just a historical figure. If Jesus was God’s son or even God himself in the flesh, then his death </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">had to have served some sort of greater purpose, right? Surely God’s son wouldn’t have died on </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">a cross unless he had chosen to do so for some significant reason. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">If you need a reason for the divine to be found hanging on a wooden cross, let me paint for you a </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">different picture of the cross, which fits more with the character and nature of the good, loving, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">forgiving God, whom Jesus himself taught about. Imagine again the conversation in Heaven I </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">used to preach about, except this time we’ll change a few things. God comes to Jesus and says, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">“I’m thinking about making a whole planet full of children for you and me to love.” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Jesus smiles and says, “Sure, I would love to have several billion brothers and sisters. It gets </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">kind of lonely being your only child.” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">God then says, “I think I will make them imperfect, though. It’s not all that fun to love </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">something perfect. The best part of love is being able to forgive and seeing the beauty in </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">imperfection.” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Jesus responds, “I agree with you completely. Perfect would be boring! The only problem with </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">them being imperfect, though, is they are going to hurt each other and treat each other badly. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The pain will be hard for us and for them to deal with.” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">“Yes,” says God. “I had thought of the pain, both for them and for us. But there will also be </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">great joy when they love each other!” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">“Yes,” Jesus replies. “It won’t be easy, but I think you are right. And the beauty of the good </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">will outweigh the bad. But I see another problem, Father/ Mother.” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">“What is the problem you see, son?” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">“Won’t they feel insecure in their imperfection?” Jesus asked. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">“Yes, you are right about that, as well, my son. They will feel insecure, and they will often feel </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">unloved by me. They will invent all kinds of crazy ways to try and make themselves acceptable </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">to us.” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">“Like what?” Jesus asks. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">“Oh lots of things. They will sacrifice animals to us. They will try to give us their children, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">crops, and money. They will starve themselves for us and spend hours in prayer begging for us </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">to love them. They will invent laws and rules, which they must follow, in order to be pleasing to </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">us. Many will feel they must sacrifice everything just for us to care about them. It is sad </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">because all we would want of them is for them to love each other and for them to take care of the </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Earth and the things on the Earth, but they will not understand this. Many of them will be </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">convinced they must live to serve us.” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Jesus frowns. “Why would they think a God, who could create them and the universe they live </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">in, would need anything from them?” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">“I know; it does seem silly, but it will happen. They will commit terrible atrocities, both against </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">themselves and others, simply to try to please their creator. They will come to view us as terrible </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">task masters, to whom they must sacrifice everything. The more I think about it, the more I think </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">maybe we should not create children; it is not worth it.” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Jesus’ eyes light up once more. “Maybe I could go and show them that we are not task masters. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I could show them how good and loving we are and how precious they truly are to us. If my </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">teaching them and trying to show them how much we care doesn’t work, then I could actually </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">serve as their sacrifice for them. I could take all their laws and rules upon myself. I could die </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">instead of some animals. Then maybe they would be convinced of how much we love them. I </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">could die in order to prove to them once and for all that they are okay in our eyes just as they </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">are.” Jesus pauses and then continues, “It would suck to die, but you could just bring me back to </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">life, anyway, right?” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">“Of course I could bring you back to life, but son, that’s a lot for you to undertake. And even </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">after that, many will still not understand. Do you really think this will be worth it?” </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">“Yes, I do. Let’s go create a universe, Mom/Dad.” </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Is this scenario what really happened? The truth is I have no idea. This theory is simply </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">something I thought of on my own. But if Jesus is truly divine and not just a historical figure, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">who died at the hands of the powerful, then it seems much more likely that the God he </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">represented would be like the God I’ve depicted than the God I was shown as a child. In my </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">version the cross becomes not about appeasing an angry God, but about a God, who sacrifices </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">part of himself in order to appease our own fears and insecurities about our identity . . . and our </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">value. I like this version of God much better. This God seems much more like a God of love to </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">me. Upon reading this book, many will accuse me of trying to make God into man’s image, and </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">to some extent the accusation is true. I am trying to make God into the image of one man: Jesus </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">of Nazareth. Such a God is clearly a God of love, forgiveness, and tolerance. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Whether or not my version of the cross is truthful and accurate, I hope it inspires people to </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">question a God, who demands death in order for forgiveness to take place. Loving parents </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">discipline their children in order to help them have safe and happy lives, but they would never </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">kill someone so their own senses of justice could be appeased. In the story from before, about the </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">father who caught his children in a “debaucherous” party, a loving father would have many </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">options for dealing with what his children had done, but killing one or all of them would not be a </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">loving response; it would be an evil one. I believe that if Christians and other religions are going </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">to have any God, then He/She should be a God, who is never evil. Unfortunately, the God I was </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">taught about is not a good God; He/She wouldn’t even make a good person! </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">People should look at the Gods they serve and determine if those Gods behave in good ways </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">before we mindlessly label them as good. We should look at our Gods and see if they behave in </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">loving ways before we call them love. If our Gods do not behave in good ways, we either need </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">to stop calling them good, or we need to find a God, who is truly good. I challenge you the </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">reader to look at your God and His/Her actions. Are those actions truly good? Allah may indeed </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">be a good God, but the Allah of Osama Bin Laden is not a good God; I can tell by Osama’s </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">beliefs and actions. God, the Father of Jesus, may be a good God, as well. But the God of the </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Church, who orders the crusades and calls for death in His name, is not a good God, either. Just </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">because the Christian God orders the killing doesn’t make it any better than when Allah does. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Like I have said before, if a behavior is evil, then it is evil—no matter what God or group of </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">religious people does it—nobody is exempt. If killing my own son is evil for me, then shouldn’t </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">it be considered evil, as well, for God to demand the death of His/Her son? I believe that either </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">we have made God up, that God is a twisted, abusive force we need to rebel against and not </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">blindly serve, or that we have simply misunderstood Him/Her (which I hope is the case). </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Self sacrifice is a beautiful thing. The sacrifices of Oskar Schindler to save Jewish people were </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">beautiful, but if he had been forced to sacrifice in order to save his employees, the beauty would </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">also be tainted. Gandhi gave up his life for peace in an amazing way, but if he had felt like he </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">had to give up his life in order to appease one of the many Hindu Gods, then his sacrifice would </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">have been deeply disturbing as well as beautiful. What if we said that Martin Luther King Jr. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">gave himself as a sacrifice so God could forgive African Americans of their many sins? We’d </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">probably get lynched. As Dr. Stephen Finlan points out in his book Problems with Atonement, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">"The problem is not what all this says about Jesus but what it says about God: if God wants to </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">save, why is such intercession necessary? Why should Jesus' pleading for humanity only be </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">effective after he had been murdered? It does us no good to perceive Jesus as heroic if we are </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">forced to view God as sadistic." </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">There is no significant historical question as to whether or not Jesus of Nazareth died on a </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Roman cross. The million dollar question is why did Jesus die on the cross? He either died as a </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">martyr for his cause against the rich and the powerful and their oppression of the outcast, he </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">died to show us how much God cared about us to convince us we are okay with God, or he was </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">forced to die in order to protect us from God’s wrath. No matter what, Jesus was an amazing </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">person, who should be praised for his life, but if he died in order to keep God from destroying us, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">then there is also something very dark and sick about his death. We should question whether or </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">not a truly good God would need bloodshed in order to forgive our mistakes.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-51934278149873553252012-12-17T11:08:00.000-08:002012-12-17T16:45:56.642-08:00Mass Murder and Mass Insanity: What's the Problem?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There is something desperately wrong with our country. In the wake of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, I have been calling for change on my Facebook and Twitter accounts. The problem is people are so entrenched in their positions on either side of the gun control debate that they cannot have frank and honest discussions. We can't seem to honestly look at anything. All of the "conversations" I have seen go something like this, "Guns are bad, Guns are for killing." "No, it's not guns, it's people. People are bad. We have lost our moral compass because we have turned from God. In fact, we need more guns to protect us from the Godless heathens." Then both sides go round and round making the same old tired arguments and nothing changes. While we argue our children, our mothers, and our brothers die senseless deaths. The truth of the matter is both sides are very much wrong.<br />
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The truth is guns really are not the problem. There are other countries with as many guns and they do not have these types of issues. Switzerland proves that the issue is not just a gun issue. They have tons of guns and very little gun violence. As we have all heard over and over (ad nauseum), "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." There is a logic to this statement which cannot, and should not be ignored. Many, many people own guns their entire lives and never have any violent events occur. Policemen carry guns their entire careers and the majority of them never even draw their weapons in the line of duty. So, let us all concede that guns themselves, while they may be scary, are not the cause of the problems (I will get back to the issue of gun control in a moment though.)</div>
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The flipside of the "guns are not the problem" argument is, if guns are not the problem then they cannot be the solution either. I have heard several people say we need to arm our teachers to protect our children. I will admit that arming teachers would likely reduce the amount of school shootings and would very possibly reduce the severity of a shooting if one did occur. There is a reason these gunmen choose schools and theaters, and not biker bars and gun shows. My wife is a teacher and after the recent shooting she said, quite candidly, that if she were allowed, she would carry a concealed weapon at school now. Twice a year my wife is asked to go through drills, with her children, for how to deal with a shooting when, not if, but when, one of these shootings occurs. The school district has taught her to be prepared to die to save the lives of her children, and she would. My wife believes in non-violence and hates guns, but she would rather be armed than to have to face a gunman with nothing at all. I cannot blame her. This is the situation our nation finds itself in. The problem is where does it stop? </div>
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So, we arm our teachers. But, what happens next? Then the gunmen just go somewhere else and commit these heinous acts at movie theaters, hospitals, old folks homes, and anywhere else which is easy pickings. I can hear the response of the pro-gun lobby now. "Great, then we will arm everybody!" Fine, but I don't want to live in a country where everybody has to carry a weapon just to feel safe. Please ask yourselves if that is really what you want the United States to become. Are we really so far gone? Other countries do not need to carry guns for safety! Countries which do so are countries at war. I don't want my kids going to schools where teachers are armed. Our kids are stressed out enough as it is. Now you want to add guns into the mix? Is this really the best solution? I wouldn't be able to relax in a classroom where I knew the teacher was carrying a weapon which could kill me or seriously injure me. Each year some five hundred kids are killed by gun accidents. If everybody is packing, these numbers will rise dramatically. Arming everyone is no solution, it is simply giving in and accepting the evil. Guns may not be the problem, but they are not the solution either.</div>
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So, what is the problem? I have heard lots of answers, but I do not think any of them are right. The first answer I have heard is that the guns themselves are the problem. I have already said that I do not think guns are the problem. Having said this, let me now say, I actually am in favor of stricter gun control. Just because guns are not the problem does not mean we should just allow them to be purchased by anyone, anywhere, at any time. Guns are dangerous. Guns may not kill, but they sure as hell can make it easier for a mentally unstable person, or a criminal, to kill more quickly and more effectively. Yes, I understand that regulations will not completely fix the problem. Guns can be gotten illegally. I am not ignorant of this fact, but let's not use that as an excuse to make it easier for lunatics to get guns. Please people, let us all at least support making it harder for someone intent on doing harm to innocent civilians to get a gun. More gun regulations are necessary, period. Having said this, I do, once again, admit the root problem is not guns and even with stricter gun laws these events will still happen, but hopefully not as often. But, in the end I do admit, guns are not the problem.</div>
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The rest of the answers I have heard as to what is causing the violence in our country are utterly ridiculous, but I will still address them briefly. Here are a few of the things I have heard as the causes of the violence in our nation: 1) We have turned from God. I hate to break it to you, but the United States is one of the most Christian nations on the planet. European nations long ago rejected God and have way fewer Christians than the U.S. Yet, they do not have even close to the levels of violence which the United States has. So, we must look elsewhere for our answers. 2) It's because we have lost our morals and allow things like gay marriage and marijuana usage. Sorry, but other countries allow gay marriage, and the smoking of marijuana and they have not seen any rise in violent crimes. 3) We allow abortion which teaches us to devalue human life. While I agree that we Americans do not value life like we should, this is not the answer either. Other countries allow abortion as well and they have way fewer violent crimes than the U.S. 4) It is our violent TV shows, movies, music, and video games. Nope. Other countries play the same games, watch the same shows, watch the same movies, and listen to the same music. </div>
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So, I ask again, what is the problem? I think the problem is the United States itself. If you are still reading after that last statement, please do not get so offended that you stop reading now. We Americans have got to be honest with ourselves. Our country is not doing well, and it is time for us to take some honest, hard looks at ourselves. Simply saying our nation has wandered away from God is not going to fix anything and is ignorant of the realities of the rest of the world. The United States has the second worst rate of poverty for children of any industrialized nation. We have some of the worst education of any industrialized nation. We have some of the worst healthcare of any industrialized nations. We are the third most violent of industrialized nations behind Mexico and Estonia. The gulf between the rich and the working class is growing at an alarming rate. There was a time when most families could make it on a single income, but that time has passed us by. Both parents are having to work and sometimes work multiple jobs and our children are being left to raise themselves or being left with strangers. Middle class people can barely make it, and the rich just keep getting richer. The problem is not guns. The problem is socioeconomic. People are going massively into debt to go to college to get a job, and then when they get out they cannot find a job making enough to pay off their debts. We cannot even afford to make sure we can stay healthy. </div>
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The majority of people in our nation live on the edge of constant economic collapse and we are starting to buckle under the pressure. The stress of not knowing we will be okay tomorrow is wearing down our psyches, and many are snapping. Once we snap there is nowhere to turn, because we don't take care of our mentally ill any better than we take care of anything else. We must stop thinking the United States is the greatest country in the world. We may have been at one time, but we are not any longer. Other countries take better care of their children, provide better healthcare, keep their citizens safer, and provide better educations than we do. About the only things I can say we do better is let the rich hoard money, play sports, and buy guns. These are not things to be proud of. We must look at what other countries are doing and fix what is broken in our country. They have less violence than us, because their people are happier, safer, and live less in fear of tomorrow. "We have met the enemy...and he is us." We can fix our nation, but we have to stop focusing on peripherals and get to the real problems. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-22006795531072010492012-11-19T13:26:00.000-08:002012-11-19T13:27:17.201-08:00You might be a conservative if...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The other day I got a post on my Facebook news feed which I really took exception to. This post was called "You might be a liberal if..." The post went on to list several things about liberals which conservatives see as ridiculous and dichotomous. The problem was most of the "jokes" were not accurate and some were just plain offensive. I even admitted at the time there was some validity to a few of the points made in the post, but most were wrong and some were offensive. I showed the post to several liberal friends and most felt the same way I did. They acknowledged the logical failings of some liberals (and even themselves) but they also felt like most of the list was ridiculous and even offensive. In the spirit of examining logical fallacies I (a former conservative pastor) have assembled the following list of conservative fallacies of thought. I asked my liberal friends to help me and they came up with some wonderful ones (and they did), but those do not belong to me so I will not post them here. I do open the floor to you as well, my reader. In the comments section please feel free to add any others you can think of.<br />
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YOU MIGHT BE A CONSERVATIVE IF...<br />
<br />
1. <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104648105124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104648105124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]."><span id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104648105124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0]">you 'pray to end abortion', but fight against birth control which actually prevents abortions.</span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">2. <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104648875124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104648875124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]."><span id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104648875124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0]">you believe the US government spends too much money and then vote for a candidate who wants to spend 2 trillion more on defense.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">3. you watch Fox News and think it is actually "Fair and Balanced."</span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">4. y<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104686830124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104686830124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]."><span id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104686830124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0]">ou
whine about socialized medicine and then send your kids to public
school, collect your mail, and go to the public library all in the same
day.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">5. <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104687805124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104687805124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]."><span id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104687805124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0]">you think people who use drugs are evil, shiftless criminals while you are popping valium and drinking martinis.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">6. y<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104689355124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104689355124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]."><span id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104689355124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0]">ou
don't want the central government telling you what you can and can't
do, but do want them telling LGBTQ people what they can and can't
do.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">7. y<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104696230124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104696230124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]."><span id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104696230124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0]">ou talk about freedom of religion and then put a "vote out the muslim" bumper sticker on your car.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">8. y<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104705335124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104705335124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]."><span id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104705335124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0]">ou
believe God has called you to be "a good steward of his gifts" and then
fight against environmental concerns and deny global warming.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">9. y<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104728355124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104728355124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]."><span id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104728355124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0]">ou get your undies in a bunch about people being "unpatriotic" and then when you lose the election you say, "Screw the USA. I am seceeding." (A friend helped me with the wording of this one)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">10. y<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104732200124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104732200124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]."><span id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104732200124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0]">ou think teachers are lazy and overpaid, but think the wealthy need tax cuts.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">11. y<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104813790124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104813790124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]."><span id=".reactRoot[467].[1][2][1]{comment10151104646540124_10151104813790124}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0]">ou follow a Jesus who said, "Render unto Caesar, what is Caesar's" then accuse the government of extortion for collecting taxes.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">12. <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[493].[1][2][1]{comment492617764092146_492622637424992}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[493].[1][2][1]{comment492617764092146_492622637424992}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]."><span id=".reactRoot[493].[1][2][1]{comment492617764092146_492622637424992}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0]"> you are for protecting the health of children up until they leave the uterus after that they are on their own.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">13. you follow a Jesus who said "love your neighbor as yourself" and then you chant "let him die, let him die" when asked what to do with someone who does not have insurance.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">14. <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[493].[1][2][1]{comment492617764092146_492624970758092}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[493].[1][2][1]{comment492617764092146_492624970758092}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]."><span id=".reactRoot[493].[1][2][1]{comment492617764092146_492624970758092}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0]">you vote for a candidate because they are pro-life and they go and kill 100,000 innocent Iraqis.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">15. you "support the troops"<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[493].[1][2][1]{comment492617764092146_492662264087696}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[493].[1][2][1]{comment492617764092146_492662264087696}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]."><span id=".reactRoot[493].[1][2][1]{comment492617764092146_492662264087696}..[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]..[0]"> but yell at begging vets to "get a job" when they are homeless with PTSD and ask for some change.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">My friends and I came up with well over fifty of these and I am sure we will come up with more. The point here isn't just to bag on conservatives though (althought I can't deny it IS kind of fun). While doing so can be fun for me it really doesn't achieve much. I once was a very conservative person who thought I knew everything. Now I know I really don't know much. Things I was so certain of 5 years ago, things I would have offensively argued over, are now things I don't even believe anymore. So, before you rudely attack someone stop and take a good look at yourself. What inconsistencies of thinking do you have in your life? Even if you don't have inconsistencies do you really want to hurt people over ideas which you may not even believe in a few years? Ideas and politics are all well and good, but people are more important. Treat them well, even if they are crazy conservatives or wacko liberals. ;)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"></span></span></span></span> </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-1112903269866178412012-11-09T13:49:00.001-08:002012-11-11T06:54:04.447-08:00Free Stuff<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I cannot count how many times I have heard recently the latest elections were about free stuff and not freedom. When Democrats won heavily recently, I heard the reason they won was because most Americans simply want free stuff. Rush Limbaugh said, we Americans are just like kids waiting for Santa Claus. According to Rush, we went to the polls looking for handouts like children go to their trees on Christmas morning. This election had absolutely nothing to do with free stuff, and it angers me to hear people say it was.<br />
<br />
Last night I had something strange happen to me. We got a call from the local Rotary club letting us know that our youngest son had been chosen to receive $100 dollars worth of free clothes. Apparently once a year they go through the list of children who receive free and reduced lunches at the local schools. They then randomly select fifty children to receive the clothing. While very nice of the Rotary club, I did not feel like we had hit the lottery. I wasn't thinking "alright, finally I get my free stuff." I am incredibly thankful for what the Rotary club did. Our child did need some clothing but there was nothing about this event which felt like Christmas. In fact the whole experience made me a bit sick to my stomach. It made me feel like a failure.<br />
<br />
Most people do not like to be in positions where they are not able to fully take care of themselves or their loved ones. I personally hate it. I am not a lazy person. I did not choose to get into a financial situation where we need help, nevertheless this is still the position which I find myself in. I got sick and lost a year. Once I got healthy my son was diagnosed with cancer. I had to stay home and take care of him. He needed twenty-four hour care and nobody was going to pay for a nurse, so the hospital trained me to do the job. Our children were placed on Medicare to take care of the immeasurable amounts of money it was going to take in order to save our son (I have blogged about this before so I won't go into too much detail here.) We also racked up a lot of debt from dealing with tons of hidden expenses which came along with the diagnosis of the cancer, the treatment, and the recovery. <br />
<br />
Once our son was placed on medicare we were really placed in a terrible situation. I wanted to go back to work, but as a former preacher, with a youth ministry degree, who was having a faith crisis, my job options were very limited. I was offered a few positions doing menial labor (which while not ideal would have been fine), but the pay was so low that to take the job would give us enough money to be kicked off of Medicare, but not enough money to be able to pay for the insurance we would need to make sure our son stayed cancer free. He requires frequent check ups as there is always a chance the cancer could return. It was actually financially better for us if I did not go back to work, so I went back to school to get a second degree (one which will be more marketable). Once I go back to work I will be happy to pay for my children's insurance, but right now, I can't. I need help.<br />
<br />
I voted for Obama not because I want free stuff, but because I have been in places where I was not able to do it on my own. In those times I needed help. I am so thankful there were policies in place to help my family and I. I am doing everything I can to get our family to a point where we will no longer need any assistance. I will graduate in a year and a half and I plan to go immediately back to work. When that time comes I will be more than happy to pay for my family. I will also be more than happy to even pay a little bit more in taxes to make sure other people get the help they need in times of trouble. This seems only right and fair to me. There may come a time where you will find yourself needing help as well. I voted for Obama because if that time comes I want to make sure you and your family have all the help and support you need.<br />
<br />
This election was not about free stuff, for me it was about caring for your fellow people (women, men, children.) The very best way to do this is for us all to pitch in and help out. There is something wrong in our country when we we praise people who squirrel away millions and billions of dollars made on the backs of the poor and then when those same poor people need help we make fun of them, call them lazy, and say they just want a hand out. They do not want a hand out, they simply want enough to know they will be okay. Let us not attack the poor. Instead let us take a lead from the Jesus so many Republicans claim to follow and "not store up for ourselves treasures on earth." It is evil for some to have billions and others to work just as hard and not be able to make it each month, Some people need to sacrifice a little to make sure we are all okay. As Gandhi said, "there is enough for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed." This is why I voted for Obama. This election was not about free stuff, it was about fairness, equality, and making sure all people get the help they need when times are tough.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-24697963572724579042012-11-04T11:42:00.000-08:002012-11-04T11:44:49.670-08:00Some Poetry<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I had to write poetry for my Creative writing class, these were the result. Keep in mind poetry is not really my genre.<br />
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<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">NARCOLEPSY</span></u><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I sat myself down today,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And gave myself the news<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“We have narcolepsy, friend.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Narcolepsy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s
that?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“A disease where we cannot keep,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ourselves from falling asleep.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Wake up!” “Huh? What?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“We’ve just done it again!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“What happened? I’m confused.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“We fell asleep again.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“The Narcolepsy?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Yes, that’s it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Wow, how long have we<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Been sleeping these sleeps?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Forever I think, not really sure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s been a common occurrence,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That much I know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Just look at our home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Air conditioner busted<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s getting so hot<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Looks like several storms <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Have come through as well<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And maybe a fire or hundred.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“I see it quite clearly now<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Our home is falling apart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">All because we can’t stay awake?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Yes, exactly so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Narcolepsy, see?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Wait, where are our people?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Well, They got in quite a row.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Several of them got killed.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“What? Where the hell were we?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Oh, wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Asleep, huh?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Yes, it’s the curse of narcolepsy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We sawed logs, while Rome burned.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“This cannot keep happening,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We must keep our senses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">No longer can we indifferently sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But, How do we stay awake?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“We must fight, struggle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Strive to remain conscious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We must realize the danger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One, two Freddy’s coming for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Wake up, my friend, wake up!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">STOLEN<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He was quite young when it happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So young he didn’t even know,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It was ripped from his hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Had he only been older, he would’ve known.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Would’ve fought, screamed, kicked, bit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Instead he let it happen, not knowing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The consequences. The pain. The loss.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The child felt shame and guilt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The adult feels anger, bitterness, longing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Longing for what could’ve been<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But will never ever be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Too late.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Some things, once stolen<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Will never, can never, be replaced.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">HERALDED<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m not asking for much<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But to simply be touched.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And perhaps to be heralded too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Like Jordan, have my name on a shoe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Being quite rich would be nice<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">To have a billion bucks twice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A yacht, a car, a nanny, giant house,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A maid, Paulette, and a butler named Klause.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m not asking for much<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But to simply be touched<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And perhaps to be heralded too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-64902474866208106852012-11-01T08:28:00.000-07:002012-11-01T08:41:43.640-07:00The Misfits: Chapter 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In honor of National Novel Writing Month I submit to you the first chapter of a novel I am working on, but will not finish by the end of this month.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Jason Gregory had not been sitting in Eric’s diner,
on Fifth and Viola, long before he knew he was falling in love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was not falling in love with a waitress,
or the cook, or any other person in the diner, but with the diner itself. He
rarely allowed himself to think about concepts like love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He simply had too much time for such things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, Jason could not help let his guard down
in this diner. Jason was simply amazed by the perfection of this restaurant
which he had, up until yesterday, never even heard of. Normally things which
seemed perfect scared Jason, but not Eric’s. As soon as he had stepped into
Eric’s the aromas of perfectly seared beef, fried chicken, French fries and
gooey, sticky, sweet, crimson cherry pie did a jig in his elated
olfactories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">The enchanting waitress with the licorice rope hair
and the Emerald Isle eyes said, “This way, Hun.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jason chuckled and muttered, “Hun…perfect.”
He loved when women he did not know called him pet names.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe hearing those words filled just a
little bit of the gaping void of human companionship he so desperately needed
but would never again allow himself to have. “What’s that sweetie?” the waitress
asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Oh nothing,” he replied. Jason
smiled a Cheshire smile at the words “hun” and “sweetie” and drank in his
surroundings. He was shocked at how impossibly nice this diner seemed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">The very word “diner” normally brought forth images
of greasy fry-cooks with two-day stubble and stained aprons which look like the
inside of a toddler’s underwear, waitresses with Iguana skin from years of
smoking and hard living, torn naugahyde booths, a slightly sour smell caused by
using the grease in the fryer about 100 too many times, and a thin layer of
what can only be called “muck” blanketing every possible surface. Eric’s was
nothing like the prototypical diner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
booth seats were genuine leather, the lollipop red tables were spotless, and
all the chrome was clean enough to check your hair in the reflection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">On the surface Eric’s was perfect, but Jason decided
to reserve his final judgment of this place until he had tried the food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jason wished he had found this place earlier
in his stay in Bakersfield. He knew he would likely be leaving today one way or
the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was probably for the best
he had not happened upon this paradise earlier in his sojourn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jason hated making connections, to a person
or a place, only to have those bonds torn away every time he was forced to move
on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">As Jason plopped himself down into the booth seat he
had been led to and picked up his menu, he actually hoped the food in Eric’s
diner would be awful. He realized if he fell in love with this place, he would
have an even harder time leaving Bakersfield. Whether he wanted to or not, he was
going to have to leave, he always had to leave eventually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His proverbial winter had arrived and it was
time to fly south. He was tired of his perpetual motion. It hurt too damn
much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Jason had learned, through his years of solitude,
when you deny yourself human connections for a long enough time you find
yourself much more easily attached to places, foods, even smells.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes, Jason would find himself becoming misty
eyed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>over a missed smell, the damp
woodsy smell of Lufkin, the smell of cherry blossoms in Hood River, the smell
of freshly tilled soil and dried corn stalks in Ames. He had decided humans for
whatever reason simply needed something to ground them, to remind them they are
real, they belong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jason was no longer
sure he really was human, but he knew he still had very human emotions and
needs to be a part of something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
needed to belong. Jason wondered how many more times he could possibly be
displaced, uprooted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The thought made
him shudder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Have you found what yer lookin for yet, Hun?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Jason looked up and saw his redheaded waitress had
returned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Looking for?” Jason asked in a puzzled tone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Yes, have you found what you want to eat in that menu
you have been staring at for the last five minutes?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Jason panicked for a second when he realized he had
become lost in the labyrinth of his own thoughts and forgotten to actually look
at the menu.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had picked the menu up
and stared at it, but his brain had never engaged its contents enough to make
any type of decisions as to what he would eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Uhhh, What’s your biggest burger?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“The Destroyer.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“The Destroyer?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jason asked through a chuckle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Yep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two
half pound patties, four slices of thick cut applewood smoked pepper bacon, two
slices of American and two slices of smoked gouda, and then each layer is covered
in sautéed onions, mushrooms, and jalapenos.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Well, it sounds like it lives up to its destructive
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>moniker there.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">With a gleam in her eye the waitress looked at Jason
and smiled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Yeah, I told Eric he should
call the damned thing something different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I said he might as well call it the ‘The Myocardial Infarctionator,’ but
he told me that men have a need to feel like they are facing up to some danger
or challenge, or they simply do not feel alive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I guess he must be right, because people order it more than any other
item we sell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently, this burger is
one of the only dragons some men can find to slay anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They come in here in groups after work or a
softball game, and challenge each other to see who can finish one of ‘em and a
basket of fries off the fastest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe
they feel like they are not only beating the burger but death itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know. Men have never made any sense
to me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Myocaradial Infarctionator?” Jason asked with a
furrowed brow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Yeah, it’s just medical terminology for heart
attack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in Medical school at the
University of Houston for awhile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
where I met Eric actually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was just
finishing up when I was starting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
never finished.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“So, in your professional opinion this burger could
kill me?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“I didn’t finish remember?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cannot legally have a professional
opinion,” she said through a smirk. But, I would say if you ate it like once a
year or so you should be fine, but if you ate it very often, then…maybe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You look like you are in good enough health.
I don’t think a a young gentleman in his mid-twenties or so should have
anything to fear.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“There are very few things I fear anymore and
myocardial infarction is nowhere on the list. So, after your wonderful sales
pitch there Red, I think I am going to have to mount my trusty steed and face
up to the Destroyer.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Feeling the need to take on a Dragon, Hun?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Not really, dragons got nothing on me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have beaten the worst they have to offer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just like a good burger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go ahead and give me the fries as well…and
how are your milkshakes?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“They are way too good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to limit myself to one a week, so I
don’t turn into the Michelin Man… or Michelin Woman, I guess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The best one is the Mama’s Mountain Berry
Medley.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“That sounds perfect. Lemme have one of those as
well,” Jason said has he handed her the menu.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Alrighty, Sweetie. I will be back with your food in
about ten to fifteen minutes, ‘kay?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Jason nodded and thanked her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Red,” as Jason had taken to calling the engaging
waitress, came back with his food even quicker than she had promised. Jason
closed his eyes and offered up a mock prayer to a God he did not believe in,
“Please let this food taste of dung and cause Exorcist-like projectile
vomiting, Amen.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eric smiled over his
insane prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did not understand why
he still felt the desire to pray at times even though he had lost faith in the
existence of any type of divine being many years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some habits die hard he guessed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His mother had made him pray before he could
eat anything as a child, even just a snack. He guessed subconsciously after all
these years, somewhere he still wanted to please his mother. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Unfortunately, the food was more than good, it was
heavenly. The burger had proven to be a St. Helens of juiciness as soon as his
teeth had pierced its seared skin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
beef was perfectly cooked and seasoned. This was one of those burgers where you
have to wipe your chin after every bite, because it is marking its territory. Jason
moaned a little with each bite. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The
Destroyer,” was not simply food it was art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The shake and the fries were every bit as good as the burger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were masterpieces. Jason wondered if
Eric had sold his soul in order to be able to create food of such caliber.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">The food was so delectable Jason imagined husbands
and wives had probably divorced from the arguments over who got to eat the
leftovers when they got home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With each
bite of burger and fries, and each pull from the straw of the shake Jason felt
a sense of calm sweep over him. The food was having an ambrosia- like effect
upon him. He was being washed clean and redeemed by “The Destroyer.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jason laughed at the irony.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">The burger, shake, and fries even washed away the
very reason why Jason had come to Eric’s Diner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jason’s memory was soon ripped back into reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Jason was halfway through his conquest
of The Destroyer, the door of Eric’s diner opened and two mismatched men
stepped in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Upon seeing the two men
Jason was torn from the security of the Diner’s womb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jason’s stomach suddenly became the Gordian
Knot. These had to be the men whom he had been summoned to meet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had received a cryptic e-mail a day
previous which said, “We know who are and we would like to talk to you about an
opportunity to belong to something worthwhile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Please meet us at Eric’s Diner on the corner of Fifth and Viola on the
28<sup>th</sup> at 7 p.m.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Normally, Jason would have simply packed his bags
and moved on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These types of meetings
never ended well for him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people who
tracked him down always wanted something from him, something “only he could
do.” He was tired of being used.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tired
of being told about his duties to humanity or whatever other bullshit pitch
they used to convince him he would be a terrible person if he did not accept
their offer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The word “belong” had
entrenched itself in his mind and even as he packed his bags, he could not help
but heed the siren song of belonging.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">And so, he had come to Eric’s, despite his
trepidations, to meet, he assumed, the two men standing at the entrance. The
man on the right was tall, impossibly skinny, with wiry dirty blond hair
stuffed under an old dingy fedora. His hair shot out in all directions from
under the hat as if his hair was trying its damnedest to escape and find
another head to place itself upon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
was dressed in an ill-fitting wrinkled olive green suit. Jason immediately
thought of the villain “The Scarecrow” from Batman as he absorbed the sight of
the man. Jason laughed as he looked at the second man despite feeling sick and
angry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second man looked exactly
like a penguin to Jason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was short
and round, dressed in black with white cuffs. The penguin man even rocked from
side to side like a penguin as he shifted his weight repeatedly from one foot
to another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though the man did not
really resemble “The Penguin” from Batman (no top hat, no umbrella, no
impossibly long pointy noise, no monocle) Jason decided henceforth these two
men would be known as “The Scarecrow and The Penguin.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">As Jason looked more closely, he realized The
Penguin’s outfit was actually the garb of a priest. Jason pursed his lips and
gritted his teeth wondering if it had been the Catholic Church who had tracked
him down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe, the offer to belong was
just some religious ploy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He cursed
himself for his frailty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He could not
fathom what the Church might want with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He didn’t guess it really mattered, for he wanted nothing to do with
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Were these really the men who had summoned him to
this Nirvana?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jason found himself
wanting to hate both of the men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
had briefly given him the gift of escape by leading him to Eric’s, and then
they had untimely ripped him back into reality, simply by their arrival at the
door. Jason laid his burger down and fought back the nausea which was quickly
overtaking him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He watched as they
scanned the room looking for him and stopped when their eyes alighted upon
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They both began their trek towards
his booth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Penguin still rocked back
and forth even when he was walking. Normally, Jason would have laughed at the
site, but he could taste the bile in his mouth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">The Scarecrow reached Jason’s table first and
attempted to fold himself into the opposite side of the booth table. The Penguin
did his best to insert himself into booth next to The Scarecrow but do his
rotund stature it was a tight fit and took a little effort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“I am glad to see you here Mr. Gregory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I calculated the odds of you showing up at
32.89 %.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have already beaten the odds
simply by getting you to show up. I am pleased.” said the Scarecrow with a
smile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Penguin said nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He only sat and glared at Jason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I am Dr. Emil Christopher. But, you can all
Emil or simply “M” as the others do. I will allow my associate to introduce
himself.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Penguin turned and
glowered at the Dr., Jason could see the muscles in his jaw twitching. After a
moment of staring at the Dr., The Penguin turned his gaze back toward Jason and
continued staring. Jason squirmed a bit under the stare, The Penguin made him
feel anxious. “My apologies to you on behalf of my associate, Jason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is not really a very happy or nice
person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also seems to have taken some
sort of vow of silence sometime within the last week in another vain attempt to
get his God to remove his abilities.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Abilities?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jason asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Yes, Mr. McCann he is like you, well at least
somewhat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is able to do things which
most humans cannot.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“What do you mean by abilities?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Jason, you know what I mean.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Jason stared mouth agape for a moment shocked to
hear there were others beside himself. He collected himself and said, “I wouldn’t
call what I have an ability,” Jason said as he crossed his arms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Oh, what would you call it then?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“I don’t know. For me, I would say it is more of an
inability than an ability.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“That is very true, Jason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, tell me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How many times have you actually died?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-33133930580164606832012-10-09T11:07:00.001-07:002012-10-11T10:13:29.060-07:00Frog in a Pot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">The
human body does not always respond to pain as quickly as it should. The other
day I was cubing up chicken and sliced off a small piece of my left index
finger before my mind could tell my body, “Wait a minute Hoss, that’s not
chicken you’re cutting anymore.” I felt the pain instantly, but it took some
time for the “cease and desist” order issued by my brain to reach the muscles
in my hands and arms. <u1:p></u1:p>It may take a while but usually our brains
respond to pain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">Sometimes
though, we can be in pain and never even realize.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the pan is always there our brains will
compensate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like the proverbial frog
placed in a pot of water which is slowly brought to boiling won’t jump out, we humans
can be placed within painful situation and never get the message we need to hit
the eject button. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While not literally true, the boiling frog
metaphor is an example of something real which happens to humans called
desensitization. When it comes to constant dangers our minds can betray us.
Sometimes, instead of getting out, we adapt. I spent 33 years as the frog in
the pot of fundamentalist religion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was in terrible pain and I never even knew until a few years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">________________________________________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">I
knew as soon as the phone rang and it was a colleague from the church I worked
for calling, I was in trouble. It was a holiday (Labor Day, maybe?) and he
would not have called unless something was wrong. It could have been any number
of things, being a pastor to the homeless was loaded with calls at inconvenient
times to deal with emergencies, but I knew in my gut the call was about
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe, I had been expecting it.
Maybe, I was psychic (I’m not psychic). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<u1:p></u1:p>
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">“Brent, I
am gonna need to come to my office and talk with us.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<u1:p></u1:p>
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">“Okay.
Can’t we just talk over the phone?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<u1:p></u1:p>
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">“No, I need
you to come here to talk with us.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<u1:p></u1:p>
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">“Well, can
you at least tell me what it is we need to talk about?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<u1:p></u1:p>
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">“I really
can’t.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<u1:p></u1:p>
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">I heard the
distress in my colleague’s voice and I knew I was to be hauled in for an
inquisition. <u1:p></u1:p>Even though I had been expecting this moment my mind
bounced around like a fishing bobber on a windy lake and my stomach felt like I
had been eating metal shavings for breakfast instead of Kashi Go Lean. I was
nauseated and panicked. I was a paper cut awaiting the lemon juice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<u1:p></u1:p>
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">I
drove to the meeting nervously wondering which specific heresy they would
castigate me for. It really could have been any number of things honestly.
Almost everything I had taught during that time period was “heretical”. I had
taught against the doctrine of sacrificial atonement, denied hell was a place
of eternal punishment, disavowed the belief only Christians would go to Heaven,
publicly said I saw nothing wrong with homosexuality, and to put a nice cherry
on top of my apostasy sundae, my wife and I had begun broadening our sexual
horizons together. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<u1:p></u1:p>
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">We
both had grown up under the oppressive weight of believing there was something
bad about sex, with added damage from both of us being survivors of childhood
sexual abuse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After years of counseling
we both decided could be a very good thing and we had been missing out on just
how good it could be. We wanted the freedom to explore our sexuality and redeem
what had been taken from us in childhood. I will not tell you exactly what we
did in our sexual exploration (this is not that type of story, sorry.) I will
tell you everything we did was responsible, legal, and done together as a
couple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, what we did were definitely
not things fundamentalist pastors and their wives are allowed to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">I
had given my accusers plenty of ammunition for their firing squad. In truth it
did not really matter which of my “sins” they would castigate me for, the
results would be the same. I was not going to be a pastor much longer. I had
made my heretical stands and now I would pay the heretic’s price. I would burn
on a pyre.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<u1:p></u1:p>
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">I
paused in my minivan when I reached my destination and tried to calm my nerves
before heading in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually, I realized
the futility of this attempt. There would be no calm for me and I knew it. Like
a lemming to a cliff, I headed to the office. Two of my church colleagues were
there waiting. They told me they were worried for me because they were aware of
some things I had been participating in which were “ungodly”. I did not deny the
charges. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<u1:p></u1:p>
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">I
did for a brief foolish moment try to defend myself, try to show my point of
view, but I spoke a foreign language. They had, what they believed to be, the
inerrant words of God on their side. How could I argue with such thinking? I
became a monolith, not moving or speaking; just waiting, listening. They wanted
me to repent. I thought of my ancestor John Proctor who was murdered by zealots
in Salem. Maybe this was fate. I desperately wanted to tell them to go fuck
themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to stand my ground
and burn. Instead, I told them how sorry (I wasn’t sorry) and repentant (I
wasn’t repentant either) I was. I had a wife and kids I needed to care for.
Heretics do not make much of an income. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<u1:p></u1:p>
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">Because
I repented, I was not immediately forced out. They allowed me to retain my
position in name only (clearly they could not trust me to teach anymore). They
gave me a few months to find a job. The young man I trained to take my place (I
had already made plans to leave the church) would just have to step in about
six months earlier than expected. I got up to leave, and thanked them for their
“mercy”. They begged me not to lose sight of who I once had been. I left. I
stepped through the door and into the sun. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<u1:p></u1:p>
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">I
stood, shocked. I had give all of me for ten years. Ten years, I cleaned up
after drunks who would stumble in and piss on the floors. Ten years, I broke up
fights. Ten years, I helped addicts try and fail, and try again. Ten years, I
put their God before my wife and children. But, now I was only broken rules and
doctrines, a “sinner”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realized the
scales upon which religion judged were imbalanced. I felt the cut of religion thirty-three
years too late, and I finally recoiled. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<u1:p></u1:p>
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">I
realized when it came to religion people were of less importance than God.
Religion often hurt people, who undeniably exist, for love of a God, who may or
may not exist. Humanity is Isaac, and religion is Abraham. People had too often
been placed on the altar as a test of faithfulness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<u1:p></u1:p>
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New";">I
hadn’t hurt anyone. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had loved people
deeply and helped many. I hadn’t embezzled funds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had sacrificed immensely monetarily. I had
broken no laws. I had simply thought and behaved differently. Religion had not
seen me, it saw only my sin. The unfair judgment had woken me, and I finally jumped out
of the pot. I am lucky, many frogs never make it out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span><o:p></o:p><br /></span><br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-41243160902576032042012-10-04T20:00:00.001-07:002012-10-04T20:00:24.601-07:00A Bit of Fiction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I had to write a short story in one page for my writing class, this is the result:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Shut up
you little fucker!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If your crying brings
the coach, next time we will make it much worse on you.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blue wakes with a start. He lays his face
against his rolled up coat and tries to dam up his tears.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He used to call this “making a Hoover” with
his son. He wonders if it will hurt forever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He wonders if his son still exists somewhere other than here in this
cold place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blue hopes he is happy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wonders if all these memories will forever
haunt him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dam breaks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blue sits up pulling his knees deep into himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He must go to Tiny’s and get some shit, but
knows he cannot. He owes Tiny and Tiny lacks compassion; “Heartless fucker.” Blue’s
hands shake as he stuffs his life deep into his dark dingy backpack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He must think of something. He steps over
Zero, still sleeping. Blue stops midstride, sees the smiling gleam of the blade
peaking out beneath Zero’s pillow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blue
smiles back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Bitch,
gimmee everything in the register” Blue howls, wielding his sharp metallic
savior. “Freeze!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blue wheels and sees
the cop, gun drawn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Drop the fucking
knife.” “I caint; knife’s gonna save me.” The gun shouts twice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blue feels searing heat as his chest is two
times torn. Blue cascades to the ground. His pain sprays, and then pools on the
floor of the Circle S. Mr. Cop stands over Blue remorsefully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blue laughs a gurgling laugh and smiles, says
“Thank you, it don’t hurt.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-60038054318612630622012-09-18T07:50:00.002-07:002013-01-03T18:43:36.098-08:00The Fiction of Theology<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I find theology to be a very interesting topic. I love looking at and talking about all things religious and spiritual. I know people who have devoted their entire lives to the subject of God and studying the various interpretations of God which men have come up with. I have to say though that I find the very word theology to be funny. Theology simply means the study of God. The problem for me with the word is how does one actually study God? <br />
<br />
If you are a biologist you study life. Life is all around us. It can be seen, felt, tasted, touched. Biology studies that which can be known. Astrology studies the cosmos. The cosmos is a known thing even though it is vast and much of it is not able to be seen with our current technology, but we can look up in the sky every night see the stars and know for sure that there are planets and suns to be explored. Proctology is the study of...well, maybe we should not go there. The point is that if you slap the ending "ology" onto a word it means the study of that particular word which you have added "ology" onto. Thus, as I said earlier Theology is the study of God (derived from the Greek word theos which translates as God).<br />
<br />
This is where things get a little bit confusing for me. How does someone study something which may or may not be there, and cannot even be proven to exist. Now please don't get really pissed at me here; I am not at all saying there is no God. What I am saying is that even if there is a God, he/she/it is not present and accounted for. Where does one go to "study God"? What tools have been made for exploring God? How can theories on God be tested? What evidence will a theologist present to prove his theories upon God to be accurate? How does one truly study what cannot even be seen? When was the last time some busted out the old Godoscope and had a look-see?<br />
<br />
If one wanted to become a Brentologist at least this would make sense, because I am physically present and can be watched, explored, poked and prodded, and studied. I would not recommend studying Brent as I am scary and you might not like what you find, but if you really wanted to, you could. My point is that you cannot really study God, because God (if there is a God) is not corporeal and therefore cannot be studied. The best anyone can do really is guess. So, for all the different teachings on God, and all the different books and theories on the subject, none of it is verifiable. At its very best all theology is fiction.<br />
<br />
Wait, before you freak out and try to kill me, understand (again) that I am not saying there is no God. I am not saying that God is fiction, I am saying that the study of God is fiction. If someone were to say they were studying God they would not be being entirely truthful, because even they would admit (I hope) that God cannot actually be studied. Theologians do not study God, they theorize about God. They should not call themselves theologists because they do not study God. Theology is a misnomer. Theologists should call themsleves God theorists. They think a lot and come up with ideas which sound plausible to them and then they write those ideas down and share them with others. They literally create works of fiction. Now, there is nothing wrong with fiction. Fiction is a wonderful and powerful tool which can motivate and inspire people and change humanity. Fiction is also often true. Just because someone comes up with an idea does not mean that the idea is false. There can be truth in fiction. But, fiction is not fact.<br />
<br />
So, what is my point? My point is simply this, fiction is not worth killing over. Fiction is not worth preventing homosexual people from marrying over. Fiction is not worth making people feel guilty, worthless, or valueless over. Fiction is not worth judging other people over and saying my version of fiction is better than your version of fiction. People fight and bicker over things which cannot even be proven true or not. Something has really gone wrong with us when our fictional theologies become more important and valuable to us than the tangible people on the planet whom we know are here and real. Something is really wrong when we will cause real hurt and pain to real people over made up theories about God. Even if God is real, are man-made theories really worth hurting people over?<br />
<br />
If you have found a theory about God which works for you, I am happy for you. I have no desire to take your theories away from you (unless those theories are causing harm to you or others, because I like people more than theories). Your theories may carry truth for you which works in your life and I celebrate that fact with you. But, never forget that while they may be true and valuable for you, they are still just theories.<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-65747767694017015982012-09-12T11:11:00.003-07:002012-09-12T18:12:27.994-07:00Softening Our Religion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It has been a while since I really wrote anything on here. I am back in school so most of my creative energy gets sucked into other endeavors. I am sure many will be happy to not have to hear from me so often. But, I will try to get on from time to time just so the world knows that I am still alive and still questioning.<br />
<br />
I am deeply troubled today. Seeing the news about Americans being killed in Libya in response to a movie about Islam sickens me. I cannot help but wonder how many people will need to die in the name of God and religion before we as humans wake up and see that something is terribly wrong. What is the point of religion? What is religion truly achieveing for humanity? Is the world any better off for having religion? <br />
<br />
In theory, I guess relgion could be fine. I have no problem with people believing there is some sort of divine force. I have no problem with people worshipping said force. It seems though that most times people have to take their seeking of a god to a very sick and unhealthy place. If we could all just simply let our views on god be our views on god, and let others be free to believe and think differently, then religion would be no problem for me. Sadly, the ability to let others think differently than us is not very common among many religious people. Why must so many humans become so fanatical about their spiritual beliefs? <br />
<br />
I think a lot of it has to do with with how inconsistent and scary life on this planet can be. Life is unpredictable and just when we feel like things are making a little bit of sense we get thrown another curve ball. Our brains have a natural tendency to want to make sense of all the chaos we see around us. Our brains, in an effort to keep us alive and whole, tries to find patterns to make life safer and more manageable (this has been scientifically proven). We naturally seek out order. In our desires for order relgion can make a lot of sense to people. Religion gives us an answer to the tough questions, and that answer is God (in whatever form).<br />
<br />
The problem is for there to really be order in the chaos your religion (order) must be the right one. If not, then it is all still just chaos, and chaos is scary. So, it is no wonder people get so freaky when it comes to religion. To threaten someone's religion is to threaten the very thing which makes life make sense to them. Threatening religion threatens to push the mind of the religious back into chaos, and chaos is just flat scary. <br />
<br />
I understand fully the desire for life to "make sense". This desire is why I stayed in religion as long as I did. If you need God and religion to get you through, fine. If you need to think that you are right, that's okay as well. Just know that others are having the very same struggle as you; they are trying to make sense of all the chaos they see around them. If they find a different order in the universe than you do, just take a deep breath and remind yourself of what makes the world make sense for you. Don't freak out. Don't judge. Don't fight over whose answers are the best. Just enjoy your anwers and let them have theirs. Who knows maybe both of your answers are somehow right. Maybe you are both wrong. No matter what, our answers are not worth hurting, fighting with, and killing each other. In the end, for me I am uncomfortable with answers. I think I will stick with questioning and just ride the wave of the chaos around me, but I do understand the desire for religion and order. Let's just try to remember that we are all in the same boat; we are all looking for comfort and security. I do not begrudge you your answers. Please do not begrudge others theirs. In doing so maybe we can bring a little bit of our own order into the chaos.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-84044493224136648592012-08-27T19:49:00.002-07:002012-08-27T20:19:46.715-07:00What The Hell Is Up With Hell. (An Excerpt)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Another, and probably the last I will post here,excerpt from my book)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> What the Hell Is up with
Hell? The Doctrine of Eternal Judgment</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When I was in the midst of having
the worst of my anxiety attacks, a friend asked me to read a book for him
because he wanted to know what I thought about it. The book was called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Last Word and the Word after That</i> by
Brian D. McLaren. The book shares a fictional account of a preacher, who
begins to question the church’s traditional teaching on the doctrine of eternal
punishment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The book isn’t designed to
give the reader any answers, but instead to get the reader thinking and asking
questions about the subject of eternal punishment. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The book did for me exactly what it
was trying to do, and after I read it, I began to ask a whole lot of questions.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reading this book was truly a pivotal
moment in my life. I had never seriously thought about the doctrine of
eternal judgment and its effect on my life, not to mention its effect on my
views of God. I had heard about Hell my entire life, and if you hear enough
people telling you there is eternal punishment, you believe it. I never considered
whether or not that doctrine really made any sense; I simply accepted it as
fact.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mr. McLaren’s book rattled me deeply
as a result. Not only did I have to admit that I had never really
questioned the church’s thoughts on Hell, but I also had to admit to myself
that I had never really thought about the church’s beliefs about much of
anything. For someone, who had the reputation of being a radical thinker
in the church, I had to face the fact that I had swallowed most of the church’s
doctrines hook, line, and sinker without really giving them any thought. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One particular scene in the book
really stuck with me. In this scene a preacher (who is the main character) and
a friend of his visit a Holocaust museum in the Washington D. C. area. As
they view the displays, the preacher is struck by the horrific cruelty and evil
committed by the Nazi regime in the concentration camps. At one point he
walks into a room containing the shoes of all the prisoners, who had been
burned in the gas chambers. The preacher sees the shoes of men, women,
and children. He is nauseated by the sheer number of shoes and the sheer
horror of the fate, which befell the wearers of those shoes. He has to
leave the museum, run outside, and vomit.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If I remember correctly, the book
draws no direct correlation between the evil of the Nazis and the judgment of
fire, which God would eventually impose upon most people, but this horrifying
correlation was all I saw in that scene. What kind of God would send
people to Hell to burn forever and ever? The atrocities of Hitler and his
henchman could never compare with what the Church taught God would one day
do. Even worse was the fact that God wasn’t just going to kill people in
a horrific fashion; no He/She had devised a crematorium for people where they
would suffer these atrocities FOREVER. How could such a God be viewed as
forgiving, patient, loving and a good parent? </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As I thought about these issues during
the next several months, I had to admit that the doctrine of eternal punishment
made no sense to me at all, but at that time I wasn’t capable of simply accepting
logic. I had to have scriptural proof. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I began to research Hell. What I
found truly surprised me. First, I found that the Old Testament basically
has no mention of Heaven, Hell, or the afterlife in any way at all. This
fact was very puzzling to me. I began to wonder what Jewish people had historically
believed about the afterlife. I bought several books and began an in depth
study. Apparently, early Jewish believers saw death as final. Their
traditional beliefs contained no heaven, no hell, and no resurrection from death.
God doesn’t mention anything about this miasma one way or the other in the Old
Testament, either. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then suddenly, just before the
inter-testamental period, little hints pop up that the Jews were starting to
think there might be an afterlife. Historians think these beliefs sprung
from two sources: the first source was the Persian Empire, which committed horrible
atrocities against the Jewish people. These atrocities appear to have caused
the people to start thinking that surely a righteous God wouldn’t let them be erased
from history by the Persians. Surely, a good God would either bring them
back to life later or take them to a place where they wouldn’t have to suffer
such atrocities anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second
source of these beliefs seems to be the teachings of Zoroaster, whom the Jewish
people would have been exposed to while in Persian captivity.
Zoroastrianism appears to be the first religion to include a belief in a Heaven
and Hell. While in captivity, the Jewish people seem to have adopted the
parts of Zoroastrianism, which they liked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These beliefs took root in Jewish
teachings over time, but not all Jewish people accepted these new beliefs about
the afterlife. The debate about these new beliefs caused two different
sects to develop within the Jewish religion: the Sadducees and the
Pharisees. The Sadducees were a hard-line, fundamentalist, by-the-book
kind of religious group. Because the Sadducees could find no proof of any
type of afterlife in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Jewish
scriptures), they refused to believe in any type of afterlife. On the
other hand the Pharisees came to believe that one day the righteous would be
raised from the dead and live on the earth under the reign of the
messiah. Apparently, they also believed that once we died and until we
were resurrected (or not), we would either be sent to Heaven (Gan Eden), or we
would be sent to Hell (Gehenna). </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to the Pharisees, only
those, who were perfectly righteous and pure, would enter directly into Heaven;
most people would have to go to Gehenna for a time of punishment and
purification. Hell (Gehenna) was primarily described not as a place of
torture, but as a place where we faced the evil acts we had committed during
our lives along with the pain those evil actions had caused other people.
Once we had learned our lesson in Gehenna, we would be granted access to Heaven
(usually this time of purification is described as twelve months in duration .
. . maximum).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And then the “burning” question
seems to have arisen of how the Jews could tell whether or not they were one of
the righteous, who get to go straight to Heaven . . . or if they were
unrighteous and would have to undergo purification in Gehenna. So the
religious leaders decided that the best way for people to tell was by how
blessed they were in the present life. If individuals were wealthy, owned
lots of land, and had lots of children then obviously they must be righteous
because why else would God bless them so richly? This line of thinking
apparently worked the other way, as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If people were poor, sick, homeless, and had no family, then obviously
they were very unrighteous, or else why would they be so cursed by God? </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Inevitably, if something bad happened
to a person or country, it was punishment from God because of unrighteous and sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the Romans came not long before Jesus showed
up on the scene and took control of Israel, the poor and sick (and thus, the
sinful) would almost certainly have been blamed for the Roman invasion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God was obviously punishing the people of
Israel with the Roman occupation . . . kind of like the religious in America blamed
homosexuals, drunks, and “bead girls” (how people could think that God could
punish women for showing their breasts I will never understand) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for Hurricane Katrina.</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So into this scene steps one radical
Jesus, and he starts talking a lot about Hell (really, for the first time in the
Bible). But if you look at how Jesus talks about Hell, it seems likely
that he is simply trying to deconstruct Jewish beliefs about Hell, rather than
making a theological statement. Just think of the text of the rich man
and Lazarus. In that story a rich man dies and ends up in Gehenna, while
a beggar, who sat at the rich man’s door, dies and ends up in Heaven (Gan
Eden). How radical this teaching must have seemed to the people of Israel!
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesus seems to have been trying to
turn the religious leaders’ beliefs back on them, not primarily teaching about
Hell. Perhaps he was trying to help the Jewish people to see that God was
not concerned with how much wealth they had . . . but with how they treated
people. Another example of this deconstruction occurs in the text where
Jesus says, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter Heaven.” Jesus’ followers are so shocked by a
view in such obvious opposition to their traditional teachings that they ask,
“Who then can be saved?” The meaning of their question is clear: if the
rich (who are righteous) can’t get in, then who can? Clearly, Jewish
people thought that you could tell who was going straight to Heaven by how
wealthy they were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus said that the
rich were actually in worse shape than everyone else. All of Jesus’ teachings
on Hell are more about getting people to see their actions—not their socioeconomic
standing—as the true indicator of how they fare with God. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But even for the worst of people in
Jewish belief there is hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Hitlers, Stalins, and Dahmers of the Jewish people would only suffer in Hell
for a period of time, not for all eternity. It is also debatable whether or not
Jesus and his followers believed Hell was eternal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus refers once in all of scriptures to Hell
as being forever, and this text can be translated as Hell being for a period of
time just as easily as it can be translated forever. Even the
apostle Paul seemed to view Hell as a temporary place (see 1 Corinthians 3:1-5).
So, at the culmination of my scriptural studies, I began to see that the
concept of Hell being eternal was not a solid, Biblical concept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It appears that Jesus and his contemporaries
saw Hell as a temporary place of correction, not a place of eternal punishment
and torture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When Jesus handed the reins of the
church over to its early leaders, his probable view that Hell was a temporary
place of correction continued as the dominant view among believers. The
early church seemed to believe not only that Hell was temporary (this seems to
be where the Catholic Church got the doctrine of purgatory), but also that
eventually all people would go to Heaven (there’s pretty good scriptural
support for this belief, as well). One of the early church fathers,
Origen, not only believed that all people would eventually go to Heaven, but he
also believed that even Satan and his angels would eventually be taught the
error of their ways, repent, and end up in Heaven. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The view that hell was a temporary
place and that all would go to Heaven was widely accepted in the church until good-old
Augustine came along and wrote that universalism was heresy. Universalism (the
belief that all people will eventually go to Heaven because Hell is only a
temporary place of correction and repentance, or simply that all people will go
to Heaven) fell out of favor with the church almost as soon as Augustine
denounced it. Universalism was officially labeled as heretical at the
council of Constantinople, and as a result, many of the writings of the universalists
were burned (once again, I was reminded of Nazis).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All this research helped me to see that not
only did the doctrine of eternal judgment contain some logical problems, but it
also had historical—and even Biblical—problems. I was beginning to wonder
if Hell was just a tool of fear used by the church to keep people in
check. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My changed beliefs on eternal
punishment immediately began to improve every aspect my life. I stopped
feeling scared of God. I stopped feeling like God was out to get
me. I stopped feeling the constant pressure to be perfect all the
time. I felt at peace with whom I was and whom I was beginning to think
God was. These changes helped me to see that even if I couldn’t prove it
biblically, I knew this belief in eternal punishment was simply not a good
belief. If I was happier and more adjusted without the belief, then how
could I ever return to the illogical, fearful place where I had been before?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Of all the beliefs I have jettisoned
over the past three years, I am happiest about the doctrine of eternal
punishment, and it is the one I needed to abandon the most. The belief
that there was going to be an eternal punishment in Hell was a purely
destructive force in my life and the lives of my wife and kids. I lived in
constant fear of God and in fear of myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My entire belief system had been based upon fear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No wonder I experienced anxiety and panic
attacks all the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was terrified of
everything: God, myself, my wife, my kids; I mean, everyone I cared about could
end up in Hell . . . almost everyone, who ever lived. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could not accept that God would send the
majority of the people, who ever lived, to burn forever and ever in His/Her perpetual
crematorium; if He/She intended to, then I did not care to follow Him/Her,
anyway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As time has gone on, eternal
punishment has made less and less sense to me. What kind of God would let
Jerry Falwell (an angry, bigoted man) into heaven but send Gandhi and Mother
Theresa (yes, some Protestants think that even Mother Theresa was not “saved”)
to Hell? What about those individuals, who never heard about Jesus . . .
are they doomed to Hell (some Protestants would say they are)? What about
the mentally disabled? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would they burn
forever because they were not capable of accepting Jesus? What about
victims, who were so abused in childhood that they grew to hate God and the
church, and as a result, they never accepted Jesus’ “sacrifice for their sins?” What
about all the people of Islamic, Jewish, Taoist, Buddhist, Mormon, and whatever
other faiths? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are they all condemned to
Hell because they were very good people of the wrong flavor? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do they burn forever and ever? What
about those people, who lose their faith because they were abused by someone,
who was tied to the church?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do they burn
because their pain keeps them from being a part of Christianity? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What kind of God are we really
following if the answer to any of these questions is yes? Is that God
fair and just? Is that God truly holy? Could you describe that kind of
God as “love?” We must take a serious, honest look at our beliefs—whether
they are Christian, satanic, or atheist, and see what effects those beliefs
create in our lives (and the lives of those around us). Ask yourself, “Am
I better off for believing what I believe?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If your dogma hurts you or others, then why continue believing it?
No matter how sacred a belief seems, we need to question its validity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it only causes pain, problems, guilt,
shame, hatred, and judgment of self and others, then it needs to be gotten rid
of—no matter where that belief comes from. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I think a lot of what Jesus of
Nazareth was trying to do was the beginning of belief examination. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He tried to take the most damaging beliefs of
his culture and turn them on their heads in order to set people free from
religious oppression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the same
thing needs to be done with religion today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We need to seriously investigate the things we believe, and if those
beliefs are destructive and harmful, then those beliefs need to be dismissed,
despite what any scriptures say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think
for yourself!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t let any book,
preacher, teacher, or guru think for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yes, we need to be open to listening to people, but we cannot simply
believe everything we hear. If there is a God, then He/She gave us minds to
think with, so let’s start using them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
have started to think for myself, and I honestly think that the doctrine of
eternal punishment is an evil doctrine . . . and any God, who could do such
things to His/Her own people, would probably be evil, as well.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-86377557367939768252012-08-16T23:53:00.004-07:002012-08-17T22:45:14.700-07:00A Modest Proposal 2012 (With Apologies to Jonathan Swift for My Thievery)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Author's Note: (If you have not read <u>A Modest Proposal</u> by Jonathan Swift, you might want to before you read this blog.)<br />
<br />
After much consideration I have decided that I am wrong and the Right truly is right. My approach toward the Bible has been very wrong-headed. Mea culpa. I foolishly chose to reject much of what the Bible teaches in favor of being kind, loving, and accepting. I stopped viewing the Bible as the literal and inerrant word of the Almighty, because of this I lost all direction and all sense of what is truly right and moral. I got lost, but I have now found my way back into the fold. Forgive me, and allow me to make amends by helping to fix our country.<br />
<br />
Our country is clearly slipping into the clutches of the Devil. We are becoming more accepting of homosexuality, we are more tolerant of sex outside of marriage, we have someone who may very well be the anti-Christ functioning in the role of President. No wonder our country has become so violent, we have lost our moral base, the Bible. We have sown the wind and now we are reaping the whirlwind. In the face of all this immorality which we are having pushed upon us by the liberals and the media of our country; some have proposed that we amend our glorious constitution to officially define marriage as between a man and a woman. Getting this amendment ratified would make homosexual marriages of any kind illegal in our great nation. I think we should definitely support such an amendment my friends, but we must also admit that one amendment will clearly not be enough to fix the immorality in our nation.<br />
<br />
So, my brothers and sisters, I am calling today for us to not simply ratify into the Constitution the Bible's views on homosexuality, but the Bible's views on all things. We need to ratify the entire Bible as an amendment to the Constitution. Clearly, since all of our forefathers were Christian, this was their intention anyway. It is time for us to make the Constitution complete by adding all the commands of the Bible to this great document. Doing so will ensure that our country does not slip further into the immorality which it currently finds itself mired in. In order to create a ground swell among Christians to call for our future President Mitt Romney to help us make this necessary ratification to the Constitution I will be starting a website called ratifythebible.com. I ask you to join me there as we begin the fight to save our nation.<br />
<br />
We must understand that this will be a long and hard fought battle. The liberal media will fight us at every turn. There will be much resistance from the lost of our country who desire to remain in their sin and darkness. We will likely not be able to get the entire Bible ratified all at once (unfortunately). But, if we push for ratification of the entire Bible, then we can seem like we are compromising when we get our marriage amendment passed. After this we will simply push for one more amendment at a time, until eventually we are able to get the entire Bible made a part of the laws of our land. After we make homosexual marriage illegal, we can just start picking which commands we will push to add to the Constitution. We can all vote on the website as to which Bible command we will get added to the constitution after the amendment defining marriage is added.<br />
<br />
I personally feel it might be good to start with adding an amendment which demands that women dress modestly. The Bible states that it is necessary for women to dress modestly. This amendment goes hand-in-hand with defending marriage by making sure that women are less appealing to men. Doing so will reduce the number of men who are tempted to stray from their wives and commit the sin of adultery. If we play our cards right we can possibly even kill several birds with one amendment. We could have an amendment which defines decency for women: no dressing immodestly, no jewelry, no make-up, and no hair cuts. In one amendment we could fulfill four commands! Think of all the marriages we will save by forcing all of these immoral women to adhere to Biblical standards when it comes to their appearance.<br />
<br />
After we get the decency for women amendment passed we could go for any number of other amendments. We could stick with the marriage theme and get an amendment passed which says people who get married cannot divorce for any reason except for marital infidelity. I realize that this amendment would force women (and sometimes even men) to stay in abusive relationships, but the women probably deserved the abuse anyway, and the abused men are simply being punished for not following God's rules about ruling their household. Speaking of which that is another amendment we would need to get passed; defining men as the head of the household and assuring that women must obey their husbands. Having the man as the head of the house and the woman obeying are principles taught explicitly by the Bible which our country has clearly fallen away from. If we are going to define marriage my brothers and sisters, we need to go the whole way and define how those marriages are supposed to function. Just think of all the good we will be doing for families, putting men and women back in their proper places!<br />
<br />
Eventually we will run into some stiff resistance Brothers and Sisters, even among so called Christians. Some of the rules of the Bible have been neglected for so long that even most Christians refuse to follow them. Just, because these rules will chafe against our consciences brothers and sisters does not mean that these rules are wrong. The discomfort we will feel at these rules just shows how far we have fallen as a nation from God's standards and from the Christian nation our Christian forefathers clearly intended to establish. It will be difficult but we must not waiver or we will be lost in immorality just as the heathen left is lost now, and as I was lost (just yesterday). We will have to pass an amendment demanding all the wealthy to sell there possessions and give them to the poor. I know that this sounds a lot like socialism and like some kind of insane tax upon the rich, but it is a command of the Bible and we must follow. Just consider it God's version of trickle-down economics; God's way just trickles down faster. The rich selling their possessions and giving them to the poor should not be confused with the devil Obama's calls to increase taxes upon the rich. The difference is the rich would willingly have to do this (because Jesus said so) and the money would be distributed through the churches instead of through the government. When the government takes some of your money and gives it to the poor its socialism and it is evil. If God takes all of your money by way of the church to give to the poor, then it is good, right, and pure. I hope you can all see the clear differences.<br />
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Eventually, we will have to overturn some amendments which already exist though, or at least change some wording. See, the Bible clearly teaches that there is only one God and He alone must be worshiped. This command is extra important because it is repeated in both the Old and New Testament. Unfortunately, our constitution guarantees freedom of religion. Now the liberals have taken this amendment and twisted it to suit their own immoral ideologies saying that this amendment guarantees people the right to believe and follow whatever religious practices they desire. Obviously, this is not what our Christian forefathers intended when they wrote this amendment. At the time of the writing of this amendment our nation was an entirely Christian nation. Clearly our forefathers had no idea that one day we would have Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, and who knows what other religions living among us. Our forefathers intention was obviously that people be free to be whatever type of "Christian" they wanted to be. Our forefathers had come from England and other European countries where people were forced to be a certain type of Christian. This practice was clearly unacceptable to our forefathers. So, they said there must be freedom of religion, but what they meant was freedom of "Christian" religion. We will simply need to add the word "Christian" here or there and take out a few phrases and we will have fixed the problem. We will have to decide, at some point, whether Mormons are actually Christians, but we can wait to do that until Romney is out of office.<br />
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We will also have to completely remove the amendment which makes slavery illegal, because slavery is clearly acceptable in the Bible. God even gives rules on how to treat slaves fairly. The problem when we had slavery before in the United States was that we did not follow God's rules when it came to slavery. As long as we treat our slaves well (as the Bible teaches), slavery should be acceptable. Also, slavery should not be just for people of African descent, but for all foreign people as it was in the Bible. I know this may make some of you balk brothers and sisters, but remember that we are not capable of deciding for ourselves what is good and moral. We are fallen, sinful beings incapable of making the right choices. I know slavery may seem wrong to you, but God says its okay; and if God says it, that settles it. We must "trust in the Lord and lean not on our own understanding".<br />
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Obviously, I will not be able to go over every rule we will need to ratify eventually from the Bible in this post, because the Bible contains thousands of commands. Let me just mention two other amendments which I think we should think about ratifying immediately. The first, is a personal favorite of mine which I hope to one day soon see ratified. I hope that one day we can have the death penalty, by bear, instated for people who make fun of bald people. Any innocent bystanders who happen to be standing around, while the insults are being hurled at the bald man, will be executed by bear as well. The final amendment which I think we should consider immediately ratifying is that Fig trees should be grown in greenhouses and parks year round and every town should have at least one fruit bearing fig tree growing at all times, because apparently Jesus really, really likes figs and gets kind of cranky if he can't have them. Since we do not know when Jesus will return, I think we should maybe focus on this fig one right away.<br />
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If we begin working together now, brothers and sisters; I am confident we can ratify the Bible to the Constitution and then we will finally have the type of country the faithful deserve! <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-59407247082820887652012-08-15T12:28:00.001-07:002012-08-17T09:36:52.137-07:00Hateful, Ridiculous Things I See on Facebook: Chick-Fil-A, Obama, and Poverty <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Before I really get started with my latest rant, let me just say that I promise to make my next post more positive. I would like to start having one post a month where I highlight some of the positive changes people are making environmentally or in other ways. If you have made some positive environmental changes, or you are making positive changes in the world in another way and would like to do a guest blog post please send me an e-mail, or let me know in the comments. Hopefully we can all learn from each other some practical ways to make the world a better place. :) Now on with the ranting!<br />
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So, I have to say that I kind of hate Facebook. Sure there are some good things about it: connecting with old high school friends (and other friends as well), being silly with my wife, being able to keep tabs on my kids, and Texas Hold'em. Mostly though Facebook is simply a tool of frustration. I can't really be myself there for fear of people freaking out at me. The few times when I am really honest, there is always backlash. I don't really mind backlash so much; I have come to accept that when I post my opinions I should expect people to become upset with me. So, in those situations I am prepared. What always gets me though, is the unexpected, ignorant, and often hateful posts of others. It is a daily occurrence that I have to see posts which are simply mean and very narrow-minded, and often just plain wrong. I would love to make comments on these posts, but I truly have no desire start any wars with people on Facebook. If you are my friend on Facebook, it is because I know and love you. I do not desire to argue with you. I also believe that everyone is entitled to their opinions. So, I hold my tongue (mostly).<br />
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But it has been so bad lately that I am busting at the seams. So, my solution is this blog. I have decided that once every couple of weeks, I will simply come on here and vent my Facebook frustrations. This is my venue, and my forum and I have the right to think and say whatever I want here. While the fact that I have written a new blog post may appear on your Facebook page, just know that you do not have to actually go read the blogs. This way you do not have to be frustrated with my thoughts. Lately, there have been many things frustrating me, but I will spare you from having to here my full and complete rant today. Let me narrow it down to just a few things for you: Chick-Fil-A, Obama, and poverty.<br />
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So, unless you have been under a rock somewhere, I guarantee that you have heard about Chick-Fil-A and their defense of traditional marriage. I actually don't mind Chick-Fil-A having and financially supporting their opinions.* One of the things I love about our country is the fact that we have the right to believe in and support (or not support) whatever causes we want. But, please don't get all up in arms when people want to boycott Chick-Fil-A because of their agenda. Boycott's are a part of society. If you support Chick-Fil-A's view on marriage, then great; go eat their chicken and be merry. I have no problem with you having different views than me. There are two things about all this that really get my goat though. I actually saw people say things on Facebook about how the right does not get all upset and boycott when a company holds views which they don't agree with. What? Are you kidding me? The Christian right boycotts something every week! Christians have called for boycotts of Harry Potter, Dungeons and Dragons, a plethora of video games, Circle K, Marilyn Manson (and many other musicians), Disney, The Golden Compass, Spongebob Squarepants, Amazon.com, and like a billion other individuals or companies. "Hello Kettle? This is Pot, umm your black." Come on people. Think before you post.<br />
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The other thing I heard people say about Chick-Fil-A which absolutely drove me up the wall is that they were going to go to Chick-Fill-A to eat, not because they supported Chick-Fil-A's views, but because they supported the right to free speech. You support free speech? Great, I do as well. Free speech lets me write my blog and my books. But, I have a question for those who posted such things. Would you go to a gay pride parade to support free speech as well? Would you go and support free speech at an Eminem concert? Do you see my point? Unless you are willing to go to a place where they are saying something you disagree with to support free speech, then you are not really supporting free speech. You are simply showing support for someone who has the very same opinions as you. If you would be willing to go to an establishment or art exhibit which you would not normally support or frequent, and which holds different views than you, in order to support free speech, then congratulations. You truly are a defender of free speech and I applaud you. If you would not do these things though, then be honest with yourself and everyone else; you went to Chick-Fil-A because you do not like gay marriage, not because you support free speech.<br />
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Moving on to the next topic: Obama. Poor Obama, this guy cannot catch a break with the American people. The left has been disappointed with him because he has been too conservative and the right actually think he is the most liberal President we have ever had. I have seen the absolutely most ridiculous and hateful things posted about our President on Facebook and most of them are simply flat out inaccurate. The biggest one though is that Barack Obama wants to tax the pants off of everybody and send us all into the poor house. Please people, stop listening to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, or whichever other lying, hate-spewing person you are listening to. Barack Obama has not raised taxes on a single household in the United States, look it up. The only things he has placed taxes on are things like tanning booths and cigarettes.<br />
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I have actually seen people say that they miss George W. Bush! Are you kidding me? Have we forgotten when this recession started? During W's tenure the Dow dropped from 14,000 points to 8,000 points when he left office. The dow now stands at 13,179. We are climbing out of a deep hole which the policies of GWB put us in. Let me offer you a quote from Ronald Brownstein of <i>The Atlantic</i>, "On every major measurement, the Census Bureau report shows that the
country lost ground during Bush's two terms. While Bush was in office,
the median household income declined, poverty increased, childhood
poverty increased even more, and the number of Americans without health
insurance spiked. By contrast, the country's condition improved on each
of those measures during Bill Clinton's two terms, often substantially." Is this really what you want to go back too?<br />
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Finally, the thing which I think upsets me the most is the attacks against the poor which I have seen on Facebook. There have been so many hateful things said against poor people that I do not really know where to start. I have seen people say that people should get jobs to pay for their own healthcare and for their children's healthcare. If you can great, but what about the single mother who's daughter is having to undergo chemotherapy a second time because her leukemia has come back. The mother cannot be at work because she has to stay home with her very sick daughter. What do we do with these people? I saw this exact thing while I was taking care of Noah (my son) in the hospital (Who was also on Medicaid, by the way; medicaid which Paul Ryan proposes to cut while giving tax breaks to the rich). I think people have the impression that there are all these able bodied people out there living off the government tit, but this simply is not true. I worked for 13 years with poor and homeless people. In that time I can safely say that I only met about a dozen people who were milking the system. The rest were people who had severe physical, mental, or psychological disabilities. They are people who need help and can't make it on their own. It is easy to say that they should not be taken care of with taxpayer dollars, but what should be done? Where is your compassion? Stop judging those whom you do not know and whom you have absolutely no idea what their stories are.<br />
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Okay, I feel better now. I am sure I will have more Facebook rants soon though. :)<br />
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*After I wrote this a very astute reader pointed out why I was incorrect to state this opinion the way that I did. She is correct. I refer you to her comments below. She posted as "Mistress..."<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-30364200065760290112012-08-11T16:00:00.002-07:002012-08-11T16:03:57.521-07:00My Changed Thinking On Homosexuality an Excerpt From My Book<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, my last post has started some interesting discussions for me on Facebook and in other places, because of these discussions I felt that it might be worthwhile to share the chapter from my book where I discuss my transformed thinking toward the issue of......</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Homosexuality (Chapter 29)</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">“War. Rape. Murder. Poverty. Equal
rights for gays. Guess which one the Southern Baptist Convention is
protesting?” </span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The Value of Families</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Among political issues in the United States today (and especially among
politically conservative Christians), gay rights is still one of the most
controversial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure why this
particular issue creates such panic among Christians (there are many unbiblical
“acts” taking place in this country, but those topics are never even broached
in churches).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Regardless of why, homosexuality
(as well as providing equal protection under the law to homosexuals) is clearly
upsetting to a large percentage of Christian believers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps it is because Christians have big
problems when it comes to any form of sexuality, not to mention a form of
sexuality they view as expressly forbidden by God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the majority of my life I was disgusted
with homosexual behavior, and until two years ago I had no question in my mind about
homosexuality: it was a sin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Part of my
disgust with homosexuality (I now realize) was simply a hangover from my
childhood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I was growing up, you
couldn’t call someone anything worse than a “fag.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I heard this insult thrown around by the boys
in my school, by my brothers, and by my cousins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I was young, I had no idea what a “fag”
was, but from the way my brothers used the word I could tell it was a bad
thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once I learned the meaning of the
term—that it referred to homosexuality—I recognized the social and religious
stigmas behind the insult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Added to these
stigmas was my personal fear that I might be homosexual (because of the sexual abuse
I had suffered as a child).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had been
molested by two different members of my family, and both were males.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my mind I had participated in homosexual
acts, and doing so had possibly made me homosexual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I was
terrified for most of my youth that somebody would find out about the things,
which had been done to me by other males, and I would be labeled as a “fag”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stigma attached to the words fag, queer,
and homo created constant fear in me and led me to hide the abuse I had
suffered as a child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of my abusers
had threatened to hurt me if I ever told what he had done to me, but he needn’t
have worried because I would never have told for fear of people knowing I was
actually a “fag” or a “queer.” (I realize these are very offensive terms, but
these terms were a big part of my issues with homosexuality so I use them only
for the sake of explaining).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">So take a
terrified, sexually abused kid, who lives in a society where homosexual
signifiers are the worst insults of all, and who fears that his sexual abuse
means he is homosexual; then heap religious teachings on him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Guess what happened?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I became even more terrified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The church taught me that homosexuality was
an abomination in the eyes of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
I heard this teaching, part of me became hopeless because I knew I was a
homosexual as a result of the abuse I had endured.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believed I was an abomination in God’s
eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So to protect myself, I decided I
would be as un-homosexual as I could possibly be from then on. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In order to become so, I buried my childhood
abuse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I grew older and I began to
learn about God for myself, I luckily realized that God must love homosexuals—just
like he loved all other “sinners.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Once I
realized that God loved homosexual “sinners” just as much as any other
“sinners,” I became very uncomfortable with the way most members of the church
responded to those, who “struggled” with homosexuality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed to me this sin (and any other
sexual sin) just didn’t get a fair shake in the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Churchgoers overlooked sins like greed,
gluttony, and even substance abuse, but sexual sins—especially
homosexuality—drew the immediate wrath of the church body.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I became an advocate
very early in my Christian life for “sinners,” arguing that the church should
be a place where all “sinners” were accepted and treated with kindness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believed deeply in the “hate the sin but
love the sinner stance,” even for homosexuals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Clearly homosexuality was a sin in my mind, but it was no worse than any
of the other sins people in the church dealt with on a daily basis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I still struggled with a deep sense
of disgust when I was around any homosexual male (I did not have the same problem
with homosexual females—such a guy response!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think the disgust was a lingering fear response from my childhood
abuse (which I now know had nothing to do with homosexuality).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I continued believing the Church should love
the homosexual “sinner” but hate the homosexual “sin” for years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The first
crack in my foundational beliefs about homosexuality came one night while I was
watching Bill O’ Reilly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His guest that
night was Rosie O’ Donnell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She and Bill
spoke of many things, but obviously the topic of her homosexuality (she had
just come “out of the closet”) was discussed in great detail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rosie’s religious beliefs came up during this
segment of the interview.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>O’ Reilly
asked her if she believed in God, and Rosie told Bill she did believe there was
God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>O’ Reilly then asked her what she
thought God would have to say about her lesbianism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her response shook me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She replied something to the effect of, “I think
God would be proud that I am able to love at all after what happened to me as a
child.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that moment I realized for the first time
in my life that my view of homosexuality was completely messed up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had always viewed homosexuality (just like
most Christians) as a sin people chose to commit, and they simply needed to
make better choices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If Rosie had not experienced
trauma in her childhood, I wondered, would she have felt the need to be with a
woman instead of a man?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suddenly,
homosexuality was no longer a black and white, right or wrong issue for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I began to think maybe a lot of homosexuals
were homosexual because of deep emotional issues with which they
struggled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How horribly uncaring and
uncompassionate Christians were to label them as “sinners” and summarily
dismiss them from membership in the church! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My first stage of changed thinking after the
Rosie O’ Donnell interview still wasn’t healthy or fair to homosexuals because
this view makes homosexuality seem like it is a disorder . . . as if
homosexuality is something people need to be healed from, but this event started
me on a journey of change in many of my beliefs, and especially in my beliefs
about homosexuality.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The next
crack in the foundation of my beliefs about homosexuality came when I read the
book (which I have already mentioned in the chapter on Hell) <i>The Last Word
and the Word After That</i> by Brian McLaren.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One of the characters in this book is a lesbian “woman,” who was
actually born a hermaphrodite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hermaphrodism
is actually a reasonably common occurrence in human births.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until the discovery of DNA testing, which
allows doctors to determine which gender an individual is on the genetic level,
doctors chose to surgically remove the penis and make all hermaphrodites
“female” because removing a penis is simply easier than removing a vagina. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">In McClaren’s
book the lesbian character’s doctor took the easy road when she was born and
removed her penis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, this
lesbian woman was actually more male than female and should have been raised as
a boy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her attraction to females was not
sick, deviant, or “sinful” in any way; it was actually quite normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in the book her hermaphrodism was not
taken into account by the church, and she was rejected by the Christian
community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could not help but feel the
injustice this character had suffered at the hands of the church, and although
she was a fictional character, I realized there were very real people out there,
for whom this fictional story was real life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It broke my heart that anyone should be treated so callously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a result of reading the fictional story, I
began to view homosexuality (and equal rights for homosexuals) as a much more
complex issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I finally
realized that we humans are a mess of bundled genes and DNA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of us are born with long toes, short ear
lobes, more hair, less hair, and all kinds of other variations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are so many things, which can happen
with our genetics, and we have absolutely no control over these things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, some people are actually born with
both a penis and a vagina!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I began to
wonder if it wasn’t possible for some people to truly be born homosexual.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If a person can be born with both a penis and
a vagina, isn’t it possible for a “male” to be born with a fully operational
penis, but internally for him to be “wired” more like a female?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In essence such a person would be a female
trapped inside a man’s body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would be
male on the outside but have natural sexual desires for males; he might even be
more interested in roles and activities, which our culture traditionally labels
as “female.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my mind many variations
of genetic possibilities indeed became a great possibly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe it was even possible for people to be
born kind of straddling the gender fence, and they could easily go either or
both ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The more I
thought about these concepts, the more I realized the church’s answers as a
whole when it came to homosexuality were woefully inadequate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realized I could never look at homosexuals
as “sinners” ever again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it was even
remotely possible for someone to be born with homosexual desires, then homosexuals
must be treated like any other normal humans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Treating them as something less would be like judging me for being born
with a predisposition for baldness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
believe this obvious problem is why conservative Christians fight so vehemently
against the scientific argument that someone can be born homosexual; that
argument makes them look like the freaks for being bigots.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Many
Christians argue that God would never create a child with a mixed or confused sexual
identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This belief is based on a deeper
belief that God directly controls the genetic result of human mating, that
He/She creates each of us exactly as we are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This belief is based on a verse from the Psalms, which fundamentalist
Christians love to quote: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Traditionally, this belief is followed with a
statement that God’s creations are all perfect exactly as they are, so
obviously He/She wouldn’t create homosexual children in the womb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this view poses an extremely troubling
question: If God is creating all of us in the womb, and we are all supposed to
be perfect when we pop out, then what the Hell went wrong with so many of
us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did God “form kids in the womb” with
predispositions for heart disease, cancer, or obesity? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did God make me with an overdose of the bald
gene?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what about children, who are
born with physical or mental disabilities?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Why are some born with Down’s Syndrome? Why are some born without a
limb? Did God make them the way they are? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I doubt that God is in charge of exactly how
people are born.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I would like
to clearly state right now that I am not insinuating homosexuality is a defect
of any sort; I am simply trying to show how diverse we all are genetically and
how ridiculous it is to say that God personally creates each of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A loving God wouldn’t intentionally create
children with physical or mental defects, so He/She must not be very involved
in the process of conception.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Honestly,
I’m trying to say that Christians can’t have their argument both ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>THEY think homosexuality is a defect, and
they say God wouldn’t create babies with defects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, guess what, folks?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot of humans are born with defects, so the
argument won’t fly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Are
Christians really going to tell the parents of a child born with severe mental
disabilities that God made the child that way on purpose?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if God really doesn’t like homosexuality
(I don’t think God has any problem with homosexuality), it does not mean some
males are not born attracted to men and some women are not born attracted to
other women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it is even a remote
possibility that some people are born attracted to the same sex, then
Christians need to begin seriously adjusting their views of and treatment of
the homosexual community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Imagine if the
Bible forbade you from having sex with the gender you were attracted to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many of us could follow such a rule every
day for the rest of our lives?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the
Bible had forbade me from being heterosexual I would have never been able to
follow that rule.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The final
blow to my traditional Christian views about homosexuality came when I was
watching an episode of the Morgan Spurlock’s <i>30 days</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For those of you who do not know him, Morgan
Spurlock is a documentary maker, who critically examines social and societal
issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My wife and I love his movies
and find them very thought provoking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When we found out he was producing his own television show, we set our
DVR and tuned in!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The premise behind the
show <i>Thirty Days</i> is to have either Spurlock or someone else put themselves
into an unfamiliar, uncomfortable situation for thirty days (essentially, to
“walk a mile in someone else’s shoes) to see what the person learns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Spurlock has
gone to prison for thirty days, lived on minimum wage for thirty days, and
lived with a Native American family for thirty days (I am sure he has done more,
but these are the episodes I have seen).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In one episode of the show he sent a conservative Christian, who
believed homosexuality was a sin, to San Francisco for thirty days; the young
man lived with a homosexual man in his apartment and totally immersed himself
in gay culture.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will not tell you everything that took place
during the episode (you should go watch it for yourself). But at one point the conservative
Christian and a group of homosexuals got into a debate about whether or not their
homosexuality was a choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In tears, one
of the homosexual men stated something to the effect of, “Why on earth would I
ever choose to be a homosexual?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am
rejected by my family. I am mocked by society. People drive by and throw stuff
at me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would never have chosen to be
like this, but this is what I am!” </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I believe the
Christian in this episode was deeply affected by this poor man’s statement, but
even if he was not affected, I most certainly was. I realized how easy it is for
me as a Christian to sit in my church and judge the world and cling to my
narrow-minded beliefs, but if I would only get to know other people and try to
understand them, I would see the world is not nearly as easy to pigeon hole as
the fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible seems to make it.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I have now
come to a place where I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with
homosexuality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe the only reason
the Church has a problem with homosexuality is because the Bible seemingly
condemns it because our culture is so deeply rooted in religious conservatism,
our entire society has come to see homosexuality as unacceptable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sad truth, however, is the Bible is
actually very vague when it comes to homosexuality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, the Old Testament is clearly against
homosexuality, but the Old Testament is also against mixing fabrics when making
a shirt. Do we really think any God cares if my shirt contains both cotton and
hemp fibers?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I doubt seriously if God
cares who we are attracted to, either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christians
must accept that some things in the scriptures are simply not applicable to
humans in the 21<sup>st</sup> century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Yes, we need
morals to guide us, but can’t we be guided by the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">principles</b> of scripture instead of following every obscure rule
found within the Bible’s pages? Why not follow the principles like “love your
neighbor” and “do to others as would want them to do to you?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If Christians are to follow either of these
principles, then they owe the homosexual community an apology because
Christians as a whole have not loved the homosexual community, and they have
not treated homosexuals as they themselves would like to be treated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">These commands
to love should be the overriding principles of all scriptures, which is why
Jesus himself said, “One command I leave you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Love as I have loved.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love, it
seems, should be the only rule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Homosexuality
does not seem to violate this overriding principle of love, and therefore,
should not be considered evil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes,
there are some evil actions, but they are all actions, which are not of
love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can think of no reason why two
men or two women being in love with each other would violate the law of
love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, having lots of unprotected
homosexual sex could be seen as unloving, but so could having lots of
unprotected heterosexual sex . . . or being greedy, for that matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">When it came
to homosexuality, I eventually realized (as with many other “sins”) that the
only real problem one could have with homosexuality was the group of six
scriptures in the Bible, which seemed to condemn homosexual activities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if those scriptures were not debatable
(which they are), I personally decided those six scriptures were simply not
enough for me to abandon the greater principles of love, forgiveness,
tolerance, and kindness taught by Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I choose to treat homosexuals how I would like to be treated if I had
been born in their situations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I choose
to love them like I know Jesus would.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
I am wrong, then when one day I stand before God (if there is a God), He or She
can kindly show me my error, but if I am going to err, I always want to err on
the side of love and never on the side of hatred and judgment.</span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-26566608193752065212012-08-09T21:50:00.001-07:002012-08-10T10:46:15.262-07:00Homosexuality, the Bible, and Me.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have only really ever heard two arguments against homosexuality: 1) Homosexuality is wrong because the Bible (God) says it is wrong. 2) Homosexuality is weird and I don't like it, so its wrong. There may be other arguments, but every argument I have ever heard really boils down to these two arguments at their core. If you will give me a moment of your time, I would like to address both of these arguments.<br />
<br />
I have two major problems with simply saying that homosexuality is wrong because the Bible says it is wrong. The first problem I have is that most of the passages which supposedly condemn homosexuality are of questionable translation, and may not be referring to homosexuality at all. The second problem I have with this argument is that the Bible says lots of things are sins which 99% of Christians simply choose to ignore. Let me give you a list of things listed in the Bible which are sins which Christians do all the time: Wearing a shirt or dress made out of two different types of fabric, eating shrimp, harvesting the edges of your fields, seeking revenge, planting a field with more than one type of seed, eating fruit from a tree that is under five years old, cutting the hair on the sides of a male's head or trimming the sides of his beard, getting a tattoo, not standing up when an elderly person walks by, and not loving foreigners who move into your land as you love yourself. I could do this all day, but I will stop here. These are all sins from the Old Testament which Christians simply ignore, but in the same couple of chapters in Leviticus with the sins listed above it says a man should not lay with a man as if he was lying with a woman. Many Christians ignore the verses surrounding this verse but they are sure happy to quote this verse on homosexuality. Why? Did God say somewhere else in the Bible that all of those other rules could be ignored, but not the homosexuality rule? No.<br />
<br />
I can hear the argument of many Christians now. "Brent, we no longer are under the Old Testament laws anymore, Jesus delivered us from those laws, but homosexuality is condemned in the New Testament as well." Okay, great. I have no problem with this argument. Let me just say a few things about it though. If we are no longer under the Old Testament law, then please stop quoting the Old Testament in your arguments against homosexuality. So, if we negate the Old Testament passages and focus only on the New Testament, can Christians say that they do not do the same thing with the New Testament as they do with the Old Testament? Do they follow all of the rules of the New Testament, or do they pick and choose which commands they are going to treat as important in this part of the Bible as well?<br />
<br />
Let's look at a few commands from the New Testament which are commonly ignored by most Christians: "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out." The same rule applies to the hand. "Don't divorce or marry a divorced person unless their spouse was unfaithful." "Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the cheek turn to him the other cheek also." "Love your enemies." "Give to the needy." "Do not worry about your life." "Do not judge." "Freely you have received, freely give.""Sell your possessions and give to the poor""Don't call anyone father or teacher." "Live in harmony with one another." "Do not repay evil for evil." "Feed and water your enemies.""Do not go into debt.""It is a disgrace for a woman to cut her hair.""Men should cover their heads." Like I said before, I could do this all day. I hope anyone can see that there are many commands in both the Old and New Testament which the majority of Christians simply ignore and nobody treats this as a big deal, but not so with homosexuality. Christians take the three or four verses in the New Testament which seem to condemn homosexuality and insist that everyone follow them, but they have no problem with hating our enemies, even though this action is more condemned in the Bible than homosexuality is condemned.<br />
<br />
So, why does not practicing homosexuality get a special place as the command that must be followed, while other commands go largely ignored? I believe the reason for this discrepancy is because of the second argument I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. Homosexuality is just strange and scary to many people. I understand this fear; I feared homosexuals myself for many years. I was uncomfortable with homosexuals, but eventually I realized that the problem was not homosexuals, but me. My fears and my misunderstandings were the problem, not someone else's sexuality. I was the one who needed to change, not homosexuals. <br />
<br />
It is easy when you are scared of something to find reasons why it is wrong. Christians do not fear their possessions, so they have no problem keeping their possessions and not selling them in order to give to the poor. Christians find all sorts of ways around the commands they do not like or find impractical, but ask them to extend the same understanding to a homosexual person and they balk (and sometimes more than balk). I ask all Christian people everywhere to take an honest look at themselves and how they truly follow the Bible. If you can look honestly and realize that you do not completely follow the Bible or even the New Testament, then maybe you can also admit that condemning homosexuality is not as much about the Bible as it is about your own fears and discomfort. Acknowledging we are scared and the problem is our own fears and not homosexuality would be a very good start to making this world a better place; it would also go a long way toward fulfilling some of those often ignored commands of Jesus of Nazareth.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-63681070852257958432012-08-01T21:04:00.001-07:002012-08-05T06:54:39.442-07:00Morality Comes From Within, Not From Without<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Let me just come right out and say it, I'm not sure if I believe in God. Some days I do believe; days when I go out in nature and see the beauty and how well things work together in symbiosis. Also, when I read many of the words and teachings of Jesus I am often stirred, and part of me wants to hope that he really was God in the flesh. Other days I do not believe at all. These are the days when I have to hear another story of a child being sexually assaulted and the pains of my youth and my wife's youth return and haunt me. On days when I look at all the violence in the world, like the Aurora shooting, and how calloused we have become to it all, on those days I don't believe either. Then there are other days (most days honestly) when I can firmly place myself in the undecided category. Maybe there is a God, maybe there is not. I really don't know.<br />
<br />
One of the biggest concerns people often raise when I tell them that I don't know if there is a God is, "How will you know what is moral or not if you do not have a God?" This question always throws me. I understand the question, but the thing for me is that the question does not ultimately make any sense to me at all. If our morality is only based upon a God, then which God should we get our morality from? Also, just because a belief is supposedly from God does this make the belief truly moral and right? Osama bin Laden felt that he was carrying out the will of God when he ordered his followers to fly jets into the twin towers, the Pentagon, and the White House. Does the fact that he believed this attack was the will of God make it a moral decision? The Salem witch trials were carried out in the name of God and based on portions of the Christian Bible (one of my ancestors actually was killed in these trials, John Proctor). Were these trials moral because they were based upon the teachings of God? Obviously, neither of these examples should be considered moral, but really who are we to decide? Maybe God really has ordered people to kill. He did so many times in the Old Testament. Why would He suddenly stop? I personally,don't believe God, if there is a God, orders killings. I am just making the point that just because God supposedly orders a killing this does not make the action moral or right.<br />
<br />
There is a quote from Westboro Baptist which I use in my book. The quote goes like this, "Why do we preach hate? Because the Bible preaches hate. For every one verse about God's mercy,
love, compassion, etc., there are two verses about His vengeance, hatred,
wrath, etc." The sad truth is Westboro Baptist is right. There is far more hatred and and violence taught in the scriptures than there is love, grace, and forgiveness. If we are to simply turn off our hearts and minds and simply look to God (through the Bible) for our morality, it is easy to see how we get so much violence in the name of God. Westboro Baptist chooses to focus on the violent verses, but others try to follow both the verses of hatred and the verses of love and forgiveness. I believe this creates a spiritual schizophrenia for many Christians. They are supposed to love their neighbors as themselves (even the homosexual ones), yet God seems to say he is going to burn homosexuals in a lake of fire forever and ever. So which ethic towards homosexuals should they choose? Do they love homosexuals and help them get their rights or do they view them as evil, as God supposedly does? Which morality do they follow? It seems to me, there is a constant struggle within Christianity between this love and hate which is so clearly evidenced in the Bible. So, (many) Christians end up being pro-life when it comes to unborn children and have no problem with our nation bombing and killing innocent Iraqi's at the same time. They live with these dichotomies of thinking because their morality is based upon a God who is a dichotomy. He is both love and hate, forgiveness and vengeance, compassion and judgment. So, many of His follower end up walking contradictions themselves.<br />
<br />
Because the God found in Christian (and other) scriptures is such a dichotomy, ultimately we all end up making our own moral decisions anyway (whether we realize it or not). There is no hard and fast Christian (or any other religion) morality. Some Christians choose to defend life in the womb and not defend it outside of the womb by ensuring that all people can get quality medical care. Which of these decisions is based upon their God? Maybe both, remember, their God can be compassionate one day and then order the slaughter of an entire people group the next. The point of all this is simply this, God has not spoken clearly enough in the Bible to be a consistent source of anyone's moral beliefs; followers of the Bible end up picking and choosing what to believe (just like atheists and agnostics). <br />
<br />
This constant imbalance and inconsistency in the picture painted in the Bible of God is one of the major reasons I have left organized Christianity behind. I know it is hard for many to believe, but I actually think I am a more moral person today because of my decision. I no longer need to try to follow a confusing and schizophrenic God. I look for truth wherever I can find it. When I find something I think is interesting and might lead me to be a better and more moral person, then I think about it, meditate upon it, and try it out in my life. If the results are good then it is a morality I adopt and make a part of my life. If the results are dark, painful, and bad then I choose to leave that teaching or way of thinking behind no matter what (or who) the source of that teaching may be. Ironically, I have chosen to follow many of the teachings of Jesus. I find the teachings of Jesus to be life-giving and beneficial. Jesus is a large part of my personal morality. "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." "Love your enemies." "Do to others as you would have them do to you." "Love as I have loved." "Give to the poor." These teachings are life-giving, so I follow them. They produce a comfort and peace within me, and I like the good things they seem to bring to the lives of others as well.<br />
<br />
There are other teachings contained in the Bible though, which I do not like the results of following. Those teachings do not produce life or happiness, so I refuse to follow those teachings. I will not treat my wife as less than myself. I am not the head of my house. We both lead together. I will not treat homosexual people as less than myself or as sinful people. This just seems wrong to me. It is not loving, or kind, and it definitely is not how I would like to be treated if I was in their shoes. I reject the parts of the scriptures which seem on the surface to teach those things (and many other teachings as well).<br />
<br />
Does this make me an immoral person? Maybe. But, I am happier being free of the spiritual schizophrenia. I think my morality is more consistent, beautiful, and right, now. <br />
<br />
(My apologies to anyone who does suffer from true schizophrenia).</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-63170932064365066282012-07-18T20:28:00.002-07:002012-07-18T20:33:45.823-07:00Inconsistencies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
One of the things which has really begun to bother me about conservative thinking is the major inconsistencies which I see in the logic of their platforms and thoughts. They clamor for fiscal responsibility in the government, but then they support a war with Iraq which pushed our nation deeply into debt. This is inconsistent. They jump on Obama for doing a bailout, but bailouts were also something which Bush did. Inconsistent. They are pro-life and yet they will not support the ACA an act which will help living people stay alive (I personally do not support most abortions either by the way). They say they do not want the government telling them what to do, and then they support amendments which tell people who they can and cannot marry. Once again inconsistent.<br />
<br />
Conservatives get really angry when the government wants them to pay a little bit more in taxes to provide health care to the poor and impoverished of our nation, yet many of them worship Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus taught "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's" (i.e. pay your taxes), "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions," and to "freely give" to the poor. Yet mostly all I hear when people complain about ACA is, "That's my money and you are not going to take it from me! Mine, mine, mine". Inconsistent. I hear them say we should be "good stewards of what God has given us"; then many of them sit back while we pollute and some even fight against efforts to help protect our planet. Do they not think God gave them the Earth? Inconsistent.<br />
<br />
If you want to hate taxes, fine hate taxes, but you should hate them all the time. You should hate them when they are used in wars, to build roads, to put out fires, to pay the teachers who teach your children, to deliver your mail, and to provide policemen for your protection. If you want to be pro-life (a good thing to be by the way), be pro-life. Be pro-life for the poor as well as the unborn, be pro-life for people in foreign countries not just the U.S.A,and be pro-life when it comes to the death penalty. If you want to support the government not telling you how to live your life, great! But, if you don't want the government telling you what to do then don't call for that same government to tell gays, lesbians, and bisexuals what they can and cannot do. If you believe we should be good stewards of what God has given us, awesome. The Earth is something that God gave you, take care of it. Be consistent.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-6776795456849842512012-07-05T19:50:00.002-07:002012-07-13T06:51:54.911-07:00Why Socialized Medicine is a Great Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Just a little over two years ago our oldest son was diagnosed with Burkitt's Lymphoma (or as I like to call it now, "fucking cancer!"). I cannot even begin to tell you how emotionally devastating and traumatic our son's diagnosis was for our family. The only good news for us was the fact our son qualified for Medicare, because one of us could not work due to his illness. The type of cancer our son had required really aggressive chemotherapy. The chemotherapy completely destroyed his immune system, so he pretty much became a bubble-boy. He required 24 hr. care, dressing changes, administering of medications, cleaning up vomit. He could not go to school, to the movies, to the store, it was a living hell.<br />
<br />
During this time the stress in our family was beyond description. Some people have suggested to me that I need to write about the experience and how my views of God were changed during this time, but to be honest the pain of the experience is just still to real, and I do not know that I could find the words. Our family fell apart in the course of our son's illness. My entire life became about taking care of him and trying to stay strong for him. I had no time for anything or anyone else. I had to drive him to Albuquerque ever three weeks for eight to nine day hospital stays for his chemotherapy. Then when we came home he was so sick from the poisons they were pumping into his body that I had no time to do anything but try to take care of him.<br />
<br />
My poor wife had to stay in town and work. She had to hold our household together financially and with the day to day stuff. Our relationship became non-existent and my wife fell apart under the strain. She had already had such a horribly hard childhood (She has PTSD from repeated sexual abuse in childhood) that when this pain came up it took her to a very dark place. She was in constant pain and blamed me (she had nobody else to blame). We almost divorced. She became angry, belligerent, and suicidal. Our other two children did not fair well either. They basically lost their parents and had to fend for themselves through the entire process. They still bear the effects of the neglect, fear, and frustration of the hell we all lived through.<br />
<br />
Not only did we have to deal with all the other issues, but we had to deal with financial strains. One parent working, driving back and forth to a town three hours away for our son's treatment, having to buy a car to get back and forth to Albuquerque for the treatments, buying food and entertainment for our son to try and distract him as much as possible from the hell he was going through. If we bought things for our sick son we had to also buy them for our other children or they would complain and we just didn't have the energy to argue with them (plus, we felt guilty because we know they are getting a really raw deal anyway). We would also buy him whatever he wanted to eat, whenever he wanted to eat it, because he was often nauseous and only wanted certain foods. Our credit card bills became astronomical. We are still trying to recover financially.<br />
<br />
The one and only thing we did not have to worry about through the entire ordeal was, how we were going to pay for this procedure, or how we were going to come up with the money to pay for the deductible on this? Not once were we asked for money from a single doctor, we never saw one single bill. If we had been left to cope with the added strain of having to deal with an insurance company, deductibles, getting approval for procedures, or any of those types of things I do not think we would have made it.<br />
<br />
The reason I have a cancer free son today, the reason I have a marriage, the reason our other children have their brother and parents back is...socialized medicine; healthcare paid for by the tax dollars of the American people. So, the next time you get frustrated because the new Affordable Care Act is gonna cost you a little more money (if you are wealthy enough to afford to be taxed more), just remember that the extra money you are giving to your "tax and spend" government is saving the lives of cancer patients, saving marriages, and even saving families. Yes, ACA will cost our nation some money (although not as much as some would have you believe). Our family is hear to tell you one thing, "Its worth it."<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-18832772918850493852012-07-01T11:53:00.000-07:002012-07-05T09:11:09.068-07:00Reducing Our Carbon Footprint<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The environment is quickly becoming my wife and I's favorite cause. I address fundamentalist Christianity's lack of concern for the environment in my book and as a result I have had a few people question me about my views. Because of these questionings I have spent some more time researching. I was challenged to really look at the scientific data and not simply listen to the media. So, I did. Not only did my research not lessen my concern about the environment it has increased my concern and convinced me that we all need to begin doing more for the Earth immediately (some of the information I have been studying I shared in a recent post so I won't go into the scientific stuff again).<br />
<br />
Motivated by our recent studies, my sexy lady and I have started looking again at our carbon footprint and ways we can reduce our negative impact on the environment. Some of the ways we would love to begin making a difference is by adding solar panels, getting an electric car (or 2, or 3), and set up a grey water reclamation system for our home. Unfortunately, there is no way we can afford any of those items currently. Maybe if my book sells like crazy, or if we win the lottery we can look into some of these options, but for right now these changes are simply not realistic for us. So we have started researching other, cheaper ways we can begin making a difference (So, I guess technically buying my book would be a way to help the environment as well...lol).<br />
<br />
I realized as we were researching ways to make some positive changes in our lives for the environment, that others might be in the same position we are; wanting to make changes but not having the money to make some of of the better publicized changes. So, I thought maybe I would share some of the changes we have started making and some of the changes we are looking at making.<br />
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1) Planting fruit trees. Not only do trees remove some of the CO2 we humans put into the environment, but providing some of our own fruit keeps us from driving to the store and keeps us from buying fruit which has been shipped in on trucks.<br />
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2) Building raised garden boxes. This functions in much the same way as the trees. The plants remove CO2, keep us from having to go to the store, keep us from buying foods which have been trucked in. Raised boxes are also more water-wise.<br />
<br />
3) We are starting to raise our own chickens. The chickens provide us eggs and meat, so we once again do not have to go to the grocery store as often, and don't buy things which have been shipped to our town.<br />
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4) When we can't eat food which we have grown ourselves, we try to buy from local farmers and local farmer's markets. (no shipping)<br />
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5) We have switched completely to energy saving light bulbs.<br />
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6) We compost as much of our waste as we can. This reduces the amount of of garbage we make, (Garbage dumps release methane) and provides fertilizer for our plants.<br />
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7) We have switched from a gas-powered mower to a man-powered push mower. No gas emissions, gets us in better shape, actually keeps our lawn nicer, cheaper, and more reliable.<br />
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8) We water our lawn using grey water. Our clothes washer sits right on a back wall of our house. It was easy to disconnect the drain from the sewer and set it up to drain directly into our yard.<br />
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9) We use reusable cups when we get coffee (saves trees).<br />
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10) We use only cold water to wash our clothes. <br />
<br />
We have many changes in the works , but these are the ones we have implemented so far.<br />
<br />
Here are a few more we are planning on making over the next few months:<br />
<br />
1) We are going to put in a clothesline. Saves tons of electricity<br />
<br />
2) We are going to switch to Kindles instead of books. We love books, love the smell, love the touch, love having shelves of books to look at, but paper requires trees to be cut down.<br />
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3) We are going to switch out our shower heads to water efficient shower heads.<br />
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There are many different ways to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we humans produce. My wife and I will continue to work on it in our household. What will you do in yours? Remember that most of these changes are inexpensive, easy to implement, actually save you money, and are good for our planet. No matter what your political or religious beliefs, these changes are great ideas which save you money and help our planet. Why not go ahead and see what changes you can begin making today?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-37052268458952555652012-06-28T23:54:00.003-07:002012-06-28T23:54:34.754-07:00Where is God When it Hurts?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I
do not know where God is when humans suffer, and I don’t think Christians do,
either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have no great answers for a
question of this depth, and I will offer you no platitudes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you have been hurt and wonder where God
was, let me offer this: I am so sorry you were hurt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you were here with me, I would hold you
and let you vent your pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are a
good person, and you deserved better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
rather than just offering my apologies, let me offer a possible solution. I
believe if there is a God, then He/She lives inside of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If people are not experiencing God, maybe it
is because we are not letting God out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Maybe while my parishioners were being abused, God was next door
“minding her own business.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe while
a child was starving in Africa, God was eating in a five star restaurant at $250/plate
and driving off in his 150,000 dollar sports car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe while a child was being beaten by his
father, we never noticed because we were too busy sitting in church trying to
please God rather than serving God’s children. </span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-62375169774102773412012-06-24T09:47:00.001-07:002012-06-24T09:49:14.323-07:00Why Global Climate Change Deniers Are Wrong<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Okay, I am going to do my best to explain why the majority of scientists
believe man is responsible for the current warming of the Earth (CAGW),
and why it is not just a "natural cycle of warming" which the Earth is
going through. Just a warning, this post may end up fairly long. <br />
<br />
Scientists
have the ability to take ice core samples of the polar ice caps. These
ice core samples can tell scientists vast amounts of information about
the Earth's climate dating back hundreds of thousands of years (to those
people who think the Earth is only some seven thousand years old,
sorry). Here is a description taken from a NASA Earth Observatory
article of how ice core sampling works. This info. comes from the
following link http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features<br />
<div class="postContent" id="cdPostContentBox_Mx3JN33PPWWKNA3">
<wbr></wbr>/Paleoclimatology_IceCores/<br />
<br />
"Throughout
each year, layers of snow fall over the ice sheets in Greenland and
Antarctica. Each layer of snow is different in chemistry and texture,
summer snow differing from winter snow. Summer brings 24 hours of
sunlight to the polar regions, and the top layer of the snow changes in
texture-not melting exactly, but changing enough to be different from
the snow it covers. The season turns cold and dark again, and more snow
falls, forming the next layers of snow. Each layer gives scientists a
treasure trove of information about the climate each year. Like marine
sediment cores, an ice core provides a vertical timeline of past
climates stored in ice sheets and mountain glaciers."<br />
<br />
These ice
core samples have been able to tell us information about the climate of
the Earth dating back 110,000 yrs in Greenland and 750,000 yrs in
Antarctica.<br />
<br />
These core samples tell scientists the levels of
greenhouse gases which were present in the atmosphere by the quantity of
those gases which were trapped into the layers of ice through the
years. Here is a quote from the same article of how the process works:<br />
<br />
"As
valuable as the temperature record may be, the real treasure buried in
the ice is a record of the atmosphere's characteristics. When snow
forms, it crystallizes around tiny particles in the atmosphere, which
fall to the ground with the snow. The type and amount of trapped
particles, such as dust, volcanic ash, smoke, or pollen, tell scientists
about the climate and environmental conditions when the snow formed. As
the snow settles on the ice, air fills the space between the ice
crystals. When the snow gets packed down by subsequent layers, the space
between the crystals is eventually sealed off, trapping a small sample
of the atmosphere in newly formed ice. These bubbles tell scientists
what gases were in the atmosphere, and based on the bubble's location in
the ice core, what the climate was at the time it was sealed. Records
of methane levels, for example, indicate how much of the Earth wetlands
covered because the abundance of life in wetlands gives rise to
anaerobic bacteria that release methane as they decompose organic
material. Scientists can also use the ice cores to correlate the
concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with climate change-a
measurement that has emphasized the role of carbon dioxide in global
warming."<br />
<br />
These ice samples do point to times where the earth has
naturally warmed and cooled, but levels of greenhouse gases are now
higher than during any other period of warming for which we have record.
Dating back 420,000 thousand years the highest levels of CO2 which
scientists have found in the ice samples was 300 ppm
(http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/co2/vostok.<wbr></wbr>html). In 1958 our CO2
levels were at 315 ppm already higher than Earths normal warming
periods. In 2000 the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere were at 370ppm 23%
higher than we have experienced in any of the natural warming trends
we have already experienced in the past 420,000 years. Our current
levels of CO2 are basically 400 ppm (already 110 ppm and 33% higher than
normal warming periods). By 2058 our levels if we do not reduce our
greenhouse emissions will be somewhere between 446ppm (48.67% higher
than natural warming trends) and and 492 ppm (64% higher than Earth's
natural warming trends).<br />
<br />
So, what is the difference between this
warming trend and previous ones. Why are CO2 levels astronomically
higher than they have normally been in the past? Humans.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-26001785401231142722012-06-15T20:59:00.000-07:002012-06-22T14:54:51.867-07:00Book Excerpt: Part 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 200%;">I watched as government funding
dried up under the Bush regime. When I had
started at the Homeless Church, Bill Clinton had been in office, and there had
been much more money for social programs.
I could call drug rehab programs and get people into them without any
problem, even if they had no type of insurance.
By the time W. had been in office for a year, all of those programs had
begun to dry up. Social service agencies
began cutting case management positions, and more and more mentally disabled
people began to fall through the cracks.
Our mentally disabled membership among the homeless grew exponentially;
in our city alone, 95% of case managers working for MHMR (Mentally Handicapped
and Mentally Retarded) were laid off in a month’s time. Bush had said that the money was going to
filter through faith-based initiatives, but I worked for a faith-based
initiative, and we and others like us found all that assistance money impossible
to get. I was becoming disgusted with
the Republican party and fundamentalist Christians’ blind support of the
Republican party.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 200%;">How could people, who claimed to be
followers of Jesus, be as cold and calloused as to ignore the needs of the poor
around them? How could we be so greedy
that we would keep putting the Republicans into power just because they were
going to save us a little bit of money in
taxes (or a lot in taxes if you were wealthy) at the expense of the poor? I did not understand the church’s blind faith
in the Republican Party. But . . . there
was still that damned abortion issue. I
still did not like abortion; in fact, I hated it, but I could not in all good
conscious NOT vote for John Kerry just because he was pro-choice. I saw my dear friends suffering from
metaphorical abortions every day, and no one was stepping up to help them. I didn’t feel comfortable not voting because
I knew I needed to make a statement about the treatment of the poor with my
vote, but I also didn’t want to vote for a pro-choice candidate. A vote for John Kerry felt too much like I
was personally killing unborn children.
I didn’t know what to do.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 200%;">As I was lying in bed one night
pondering all of these things, a thought invaded my meditations. “How many abortions did George Bush stop in
his years in office?” It was a light
bulb question for me. George Bush hadn’t overturned Roe V. Wade. I was sure just as many unborn children had died
under George W. Bush’s watch as under Bill Clinton’s. In fact, none of the Republican candidates,
who had been vaulted into office on the premise of stopping abortion, had done
much of anything to stop abortion. Honestly,
by cutting funding to programs that handed out contraceptives to the poor and
teenagers, these men had almost certainly caused more abortions! I started to feel like the religious right
had been duped for years. We had elected
Republican after Republican basically because of one issue—abortion—and the
Republicans had done nothing about that issue.
I realized it was highly unlikely that the Republicans would ever
overturn Roe V. Wade because then they would lose the one card that kept the
religious right voting for them. We had
been deceived. I had been deceived.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 200%;">I am a pro-life person; by that statement
I mean I am for all life. I think there
is nothing more sacred on this planet than life. Under the George W. Bush administration not
only had no unborn babies been saved, but other adult life had been treated
with utter disregard. How many innocent
American soldiers died under the Bush administration? How many innocent Iraqis died in a war, which
we should never have begun? How many
people could have been fed with the billions of dollars that our government
spent on killing? If the religious right
wanted to make the world a safer place, then why not help the people in the
Middle East, who were so hurt and angry?
We should have dropped food and aid . . . not bombs. All these thoughts flooded my mind as I lay in
bed that night, and I knew the decision had been made. I was going to vote for John Kerry. I was voting as much against the Republicans
as I was for the Democrats.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 200%;">The day I voted for John Kerry I
felt like I was probably going to Hell.
I spoke to a few of my Christian friends and family about what I was
going to do, and they all freaked out.
They acted like I was crawling into bed with the Devil, himself, by
voting for John Kerry. After a few
terrible responses to my new political ideas, I just kept my thoughts quiet
(hiding is generally the best policy when one finds oneself a dissenter to the
Church’s views—just ask all the martyrs).
I was actually afraid I might lose my job if enough people found out. I had been pressured to be a Republican by
the Christian powers-that-be. I had been
taught that to vote for anyone outside the Republican Party was to vote against
God. I don’t think this teaching is
right or Godly. I believe evangelists,
who use their pulpits to push one candidate over another, make people feel like
they will be voting against God if they vote anything other than Republican;
such pastors are simply abusing their power.
They are using fear to control people.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 200%;">I am not saying that if you really want
to follow Jesus that you have to vote Democratic in the next election (although
I almost certainly will). I am not
arguing that to be Republican is to be evil.
What I do want people to do is to think for themselves before they “get
into bed” with any political party. I
don’t think it is right for the church to push any candidate as God’s candidate
because doing so makes people feel like if they don’t vote Republican, then they
are sinning against God. In truth, I
think Jesus would probably have some pretty big problems with both of the major
political parties. I’m sure Jesus would
not have been pleased with Bill Clinton cheating on his wife (because of how he
treated his wife). But I am equally sure
that he would not be pleased with the Bush administration repaying evil for
evil (because of all the innocent lives lost).
The Republican Party is a flawed party with many ungodly beliefs, but
the Democratic Party is as well. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 200%;">In my opinion, God is not for or against
either party. I think God is for all
people, both Democrat and Republican. People should not vote for any party just
because James Dobson, Pat Robertson, or Franklin Graham tells us we
should. We should vote for the party
that best suits our individual beliefs on the most issues. No party will perfectly do so, but one
candidate or party will closer meet the issues that are important to you than
the other. When you find out which party
or candidate suits you best, then you should go out and vote in good conscience,
knowing that God loves you desperately and that you live within a flawed human
system where no candidate is truly God’s candidate.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 200%;">As a side note, my views on abortion
have now changed somewhat, as well. I
still do not like the practice on the whole, but neither do I believe that
abortion should be made illegal, either.
There are just too many times in my mind when abortion would be the
lesser of two evils. I don’t believe
that any rape victim or incest survivor should be forced to carry a child to
term just because the religious right wants them to. If they choose to carry the child to term,
great! But I can’t imagine how
impossibly difficult it would be to have to carry a constant reminder for nine
months of the horrors you had suffered.
To force anyone to do that is just cruel and lacking in any compassion. There are other situations where I think that
abortion might be a better option, as well. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 200%;">When I worked at the Homeless Church,
I got to know several drug-addicted street prostitutes. One of these girls, whom I will call April,
got pregnant five times in the course of my years as pastor of the Homeless Church. April’s drug of choice was crack cocaine, and
April was also mentally retarded. Every
time April got pregnant, she swore she was going to stop walking the streets
and stop using the crack, and every time she failed. Her children were all born severely disabled
and addicted to crack cocaine. Every
single one of them was taken away from her, as well, by social services. When I left the church, I heard April was
pregnant again. If April had come to me
asking for help with an abortion for that poor child, I probably would have
driven her to the clinic myself and figured out a way to pay for the
procedure. I think it would have been
more evil to bring that child into the world severely damaged and addicted to
crack cocaine than to have the child aborted.
It would have broken my heart, but I would have done it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">It is easy to sit in your four bedroom house
with five TV’s and four cars and say that abortion</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">is always wrong, but life is
not always as black and white as that. It may be easy to sit in a </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">comfy pastoral
chair and proclaim that a vote for anyone other than a Republican is a vote</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">against God, but once again I think the issue of who we need to vote for is
much more</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">complex than that. The poor taught me the world is not black and white, but a very colorful </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">and hard to
understand place, and I thank them for that.
While a black and white world</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">might be easier to navigate, it would not be nearly as beautiful and amazing. So
thank you,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Teddy, April, and all my other precious, poor, and homeless friends. I thought I was going</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> to save you, but I
think you saved me, instead.</span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-54808689174811204402012-06-13T22:26:00.000-07:002012-06-13T22:26:12.607-07:00Book Excerpt<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Growing up in a fundamentalist
church, I was taught that being a Christian was synonymous with being a
Republican.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently this marriage
began with Reagan, but since I was five when Reagan was elected, I can’t
remember a time when Christian and Republican didn’t go hand in hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never really thought about why we “Christians”
were “Republicans” until I was in college; being a Republican was just part of
who we were.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I never questioned the political status
quo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, I became a card carrying
member of the Republican Party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I even
listened to Rush Limbaugh in High School and college.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone I knew was Republican, as well
(except my Mom, but she was crazy).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
I went to college, I learned that one issue kept Christians voting Republican,
and that issue was abortion. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time
I became a junior in college, another major issue would be added: the issue of
gay rights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you were Christian, you
had to vote Republican because the Democrats sanctioned the murder of countless
numbers of unborn children and wanted to give equal rights to homosexuals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Occasionally, I heard people say they would
consider voting Democrat if it weren’t for the issue of abortion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But I just can’t vote for a candidate who
supports killing babies,” they’d forlornly explain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I completely agreed with this statement.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So all through college and the early
years of my adult life I staunchly supported the Republican Party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I continued to listen to Rush Limbaugh; and I
didn’t just listen, either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I actually
liked what he was saying and agreed with most of it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never questioned any of my political beliefs
until I started working at the Homeless Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I hadn’t worked long with the homeless, however, before I saw that a lot
of my political beliefs were harmful and damaging to the poor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is easy to say that the government should
not spend so much money assisting the poor when you have never really been poor
and never needed Government assistance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I remember listening to Rush
Limbaugh one day after a three-year hiatus, which I only took from Rush because
he wasn’t on Christian radio—and I ONLY listened to Christian radio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This shocking break from my routine took
place a few years after I had started working with the homeless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rush was talking about the Democrats . . . and
their spending <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>. . . and how they were
enabling the poor to stay poor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not long
into his speech, I realized that he had no clue what he was talking about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I doubted if he even knew a truly poor
person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew lots of homeless and poor
people, and some of them were my very best friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew what their lives were like, and I
didn’t know many of them, who wouldn’t work and improve their situation if they
could.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of them were not lazy people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, as a whole I’ve never seen a group
of people who work harder for less money than the poor and homeless of our
country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The poor people I worked with didn’t
stay poor because the government was helping them; they were stuck in poverty
because they didn’t have the skills they needed to be successful in normal
society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every single one of the
homeless and poor I knew had tremendous, often insurmountable obstacles to face
in order to make their lives “successful.” I knew they could not overcome these
obstacles on their own.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One example of these obstacles is
exemplified in the life of a gentleman I had worked with from the very
beginning of the homeless ministry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’ll call this gentleman Teddy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You wouldn’t have to be around Teddy for very long to see that something
is wrong with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The entire left half
of his face is scarred and misshapen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Teddy has no left ear, and the eye on his left side is made of glass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After I had gotten to know Teddy, he told me
his story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Teddy had once been a
successful house painter with a wife and three kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day while he was drinking some beers with
friends at an apartment complex, two of his friends began arguing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The argument escalated until one of the
friends left in a huff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few minutes
later the “huffy” friend returned with a shotgun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Teddy stepped between the two arguing friends
to try and keep somebody from getting shot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead, Teddy took a shotgun blast directly to the left side of his face.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Teddy died three times because of
the shotgun blast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He died once in the
ambulance on the way to the hospital, but they shocked him back, and then he died
twice more in the operating room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Miraculously, Teddy managed to survive the ordeal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What Teddy eventually found out, though, was
that the shotgun blast had not only taken half of his face, but it had also
taken most his life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pieces of the
buckshot are still lodged in his brain; it was impossible for the doctors to remove
every piece from his brain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a result
Teddy now has unexpected and uncontrollable seizures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He can no longer work or even drive a
car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Teddy’s wife eventually left him,
taking their children with her. At that point Teddy felt as though he had lost
everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had nothing to live for,
so he began to abuse alcohol and drugs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Teddy was hopeless, shot up, and strung out when Tina and I met him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We helped Teddy a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were surrogate family for him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was able to give up drugs and mostly give
up the alcohol, but no matter what we did for Teddy, we could never restore all
that had been taken from him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since Teddy was unable to work, he
was solely reliant upon social security/disability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I once asked Teddy how much he was getting
from the Government each month because I had heard all these stories about how
people on disability were taken care of for the rest of their lives, but Teddy
sure seemed to be struggling financially.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I can’t remember the exact figure he told me, but I do know it was in the
neighborhood of $750 a month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
devastated when I found out how little he was expected to live on; cheap rent
in our city was around $500 a month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
couldn’t imagine how he was keeping a roof over his head at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here all these rich Republican Christians
were driving around in their Lexus luxury vehicles complaining about having to
give the Government a little more money for people like Teddy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was crushed by how cold we Christians had become
towards the poor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have heard Fundamentalists
argue that it isn’t the government’s job to take care of the poor, but I don’t
see anybody else stepping up and doing anything about their situation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Teddy wasn’t the only disabled
person at the Homeless Church, either. I would say that 95% of the people I
worked with had either a major physical, psychological, or mental
handicap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The poor I knew were not poor
because they were lazy and wanted the wealthy to take care of them; they were
poor because they were sick, and the wealthy refused to lift a finger to
help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had heard all these stories
growing up of the poor milking the system to get rich so they would not have to
work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I actually found were
disabled people, who couldn’t work, but still had to take day labor jobs
because they did not receive enough assistance to make it at the end of each
month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I only ever ran across one couple
in my twelve years of working with the poor, who were truly playing the system,
and even they were just barely making it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I felt like I had been deceived by Rush Limbaugh and my Republican
mentors in the church.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I faced a true moral dilemma when it
came time to vote in the first George W. Bush election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to admit that the majority of my
beliefs were actually served better by the Democratic Party, but I could not
bring myself to vote for a pro-choice candidate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To this day I think abortion is a horrific
practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the time of the election,
gay marriage was also becoming a huge issue, and I didn’t want to support gay
rights, either, because I viewed homosexuality as sin and couldn’t vote for
sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was I to do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I decided not to vote at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the next three years I became a
conscientious political objector.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
could not in good conscience support any of the candidates, so I did not vote.</span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-85431211955671779642012-05-20T18:18:00.000-07:002012-07-01T16:31:17.694-07:00Just Let Jackie Robinson Play Real Baseball!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Before I start my latest rant let me just say that my book is officially available for download on Amazon (WOOHOO!)<br />
<br />
One of the biggest complaints I hear about same sex marriage is that marriage is a religious institution and therefor the government cannot decide whether gay and lesbian couples can marry or not. Unfortunately, marriage is NOT only a religious institution. If
it were simply a religious thing then there would be no real arguments
about this issue I believe for the majority of people. When people are
married in a church are they doing it in front of God and for religious
purposes? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Lots of people are married and
it has nothing to do with any God or any religion whatsoever. While for some it may be a religious
thing, for atheist heterosexuals I would imagine their marriages have nothing to do with religion at all. Even for the religious though, it is not ONLY a religious thing. The state (government) is very much involved in
the rites of marriage and so whether you wish it to be or not, marriage
is no longer a simply religious thing. Marriage has become the state
recognizing the rights of individuals to share property and wealth, to
take care of children brought into the relationship, and to receive
inheritances. This is why it is required for you to go to city hall and get an official state marriage license, because it is NOT solely a religious event but also a legal one. Clearly, if anyone really thinks about it, marriage is not purely a religious ceremony anymore. If you disagree, just try to go to a priest to get a divorce.<br />
<br />
So, some would say, "Then let the gays and lesbians get civil unions and they can have all of the legal rights, but not have the official title of being married". At first, this may seem like a reasonable solution and I will grant you that it is better than completely denying the rights of of gay and lesbian couples. But, better is simply not good enough. Better is still a lot like getting slapped in the face.<br />
A civil union is not acceptable simply because what it is saying is
that minorities (GLBT) are less valuable and do not have the right to receive the
same state sponsored (not simply religiously sponsored) rights which the
majority receive.<br />
<br />
Imagine if you owned a restaurant and you had only
daughters and lived in a time or place where women were not allowed to
inherit lands or titles. Now imagine, you knew that you were going to
die and you wanted your daughters to inherit and become the owners of the
restaurant but they were not allowed under the current laws to inherit
nor hold the title of owner of the restaurant. So, you go and begin a
campaign to get women the exact same rights as men. You are successful
in getting a great many to listen and agree with about how it is unjust
to treat people differently simply because of the genetic roll of the
dice of whether they were born with a penis or vagina. The leaders of
your state, country or fiefdom see that you are garnering support for
your cause and in an effort to calm the masses they offer you a
compromise. The compromise is this, they will let your daughters
inherit your restaurant and receive all of the same financial benefits
as a son would but your daughters will NOT be allowed to call themselves
the owners of the restaurant, because religiously (in both the old and
new testament depending on how you interpret the verses) men have to be
the head of a family or business. So they are giving your daughters
all of the legal benefits, but denying them the right to be called the
owners of the business. Would you be happy with that compromise? I
wouldn't. It is my restaurant and I worked hard to make it what it is,
and my daughters deserve the right to be able to call themselves the
owners of the restaurant.<br />
<br />
Civil unions are not an acceptable solution because what it says
essentially is we will give you the legal privileges but we are going to
deny you the title of "spouse" and "married" because somehow you are
less than everybody else and you do not deserve that title. It would be like telling Jackie Robinson, "Look Jackie, we will let you
play in the Negro Leagues in baseball, but not in the Majors. I mean it
is essentially the same thing right? They are still hitting, pitching,
stealing bases, throwing no-hitters, and even setting and breaking
records just like in the Major Leagues, right? It is exactly the same
game." But in all honesty it is not the same, because those three
letters MLB (Major League Baseball) make all the difference in the
world. Offering gay and lesbian couples the rights and privileges but
denying them the title of "married" is a lot like telling Jackie
Robinson that the Negro Leagues are good enough and you do not really
need the title of "Major League Baseball Player". It is simply not the
same. Without the proper title, you are being denied something special and valuable.<br />
<br />
I do have one last question for you religious folks (and I understand
your points as I used to be a christian pastor myself.
My question is this. if you believe that marriage truly is simply a
religious institution, then what you believe is that God at marriage
takes the two fleshes and makes them one "What God has joined together
let no man put asunder" correct? So, only God can really truly "marry
" people in your minds (which is why you say marriage is only religious
I would imagine),right? So here is my question. If only God can marry
people then why do you care whether lesbians or gays call themselves
"married" Surely, God is not actually marrying them and making them
one flesh if God does not not recognize their union. If you think they
are not truly married in Gods eyes then let them have their fun and
"pretend" (at least in your eyes) for now and if we all one day stand
before God and find out that they really weren't married, then oh well
what harm has really been done? When I work with tools I let my
kids pretend with fake hammers that they are building as well and it
makes them happy, but I know deep down that they really aren't building
anything. Now just because they say they are building something it does not
threaten me and what I am building, because I am the adult and I know
the truth. If you truly believe you are right and that gays and
lesbians are wrong then why not just be content in your "rightness' and
let them "play" at marriage and be happy, and you can sit there content
and smug in the fact that you are the one who is really married in
God's eyes (supposedly).</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3398584640094217537.post-43826317165983149652012-05-16T20:06:00.001-07:002012-05-16T20:06:36.483-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Well, here goes my first post in forever. I started this hoping to promote myself as an author but all of that kind of fell by the wayside when my son was diagnosed with cancer. My son is now better and my book is actually supposed to be available for download on most of the major online book distributors soon, so I thought I had better make a new post. I honestly have next to nothing to say in this post, but if someone does happen to purchase my book and then try to read my blog I just want to make sure that there is something at least somewhat current on it. Have no fear though if you happen to come here looking for information about me, future projects, or just to read some type of controversial rant from me, all of those things are sure to be forthcoming.<br />
<br />
If you did happen to purchase my book, let me first say thank you, and secondly let me say that I will be happy to discuss the contents with you on this site if you are interested. I am always happy to discuss things. My goal is simply to think for myself and help others to do the same. <br />
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12010074221580097405noreply@blogger.com0