I know what my problem is. I need to write. That's always what my problem is. So here goes. Instead of being chicken and waffling, I'm going to share my thoughts on Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.
Mike Huckabee's campaign to get people to voice their support of Chick-fil-A makes me sad. What if back when it was illegal for black people to marry white people my friends and loved ones made plans to gather at a restaurant that came out in vocal support of racial purity to show their appreciation and support? I think I'd feel the way I feel now. Sad. And alone. Like some kind of fucked up weirdo who thinks consenting adults should be able to have a legal contract and declare their love for each other like all other consenting adults, no matter what color, what gender. With marriage, we're all grownups here. Why does my country still feel like a schoolyard with bullies in charge of the game? And I'm way out in left field, wiping the mix of dusty tears and sweat from my cheeks, sick of playing the game.
***
I feel better now. Will just got home from the grocery store. He's making chicken tacos. I have the best husband. He is so right for me. He gets me. Like when I rant to him about how I don't understand not wanting all adults to have the right to have what we have if they want it. I'm going on and on and on. Rosacea flaring. Getting in the way of his trying to put away the perishables and get dinner started. Waving my arms in the air and making Katie laugh at me and ask, "What's that mean?" at my every other word. This is how my calm, cool, magnificent husband responds to my rant:
"You know what I think?"
"What?" Katie and I say at the same time, excited. When Will talks, which is not that often, it's usually important.
"I think Jesus wasn't chicken."
"Yes!" I shout out and slap his hand. "Those are my thoughts exactly!"
Will wipes out a skillet I hadn't quite gotten all the way clean, tossing some crumbs into the trash can and says, "Yeah, Jesus was about going against what everybody else was saying."
There's my courage.
I don't remember reading about Jesus asking the apostles to gather together to support the fight against the right for people to love each other. The quote I remember most of His is to "love your neighbor as yourself". If I am deserving of marriage to another adult with whom I share mutual romantic love, why isn't my neighbor?
Jesus wants us to love each other. It's as simple as that.
Loving your neighbor does not mean you have to promote or condone sin. You can hate the act of stealing, while loving and having compassion for the thief. Are we wrong for supporting a fellow Christian who has fallen under attack for stating his convictions? And I may be wrong but the Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day wasn't created as a statement; it was created as a response to a ban created by the Gay/Lesbian community. That particular group initiated this media nightmare. If your neighbor or someone in your family had fallen under a vebal attack with the potential to cause extreme financial harm, would you not stand up for them and have their back. I will be there August 1st and in this way I will be showing love for my neighbor.
ReplyDeleteHi, Jamie. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.
DeleteIn the whole scheme of things, I think causing a billionaire financial harm is less offensive than going out of your way to prevent your neighbor from marrying someone s/he loves.
At any rate, I don't think homosexuality is a sin, just as I don't think eating shellfish is an abomination, even though it is considered so in the Bible. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+11&version=NIV
The Bible has many rules modern people no longer follow. And anyway, Jesus taught us this:
Mark 12:28 "One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, 'Of all the commandments, which is the most important?' 29 'The most important one,' answered Jesus, 'is this: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 31 The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2012&version=NIV
Love God. Love your neighbor. Jesus commands it.
Another one of my favorite quotes attributed to Jesus is this one, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." http://bible.cc/matthew/7-1.htm
I wrote further about this topic here: http://thisambiguouslife.blogspot.com/2012/05/judging-judgmental-people.html
Again, thanks for your comment. I disagree, but I respect your courage to try to challenge my convictions. Much peace and love to you.
Thank you!! I was hoping someone had already put my feelings into words, since I don't seem to be able to do so. I also feel very sad, but now at least I don't feel so alone! Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteDyLinn, your comments made my day. I too no longer feel so alone. Peace and love to you.
DeleteThank you for being so gracious with your response; I fully expected you to either not post my comment or respond in a negative manner. I completely understand why you believe what you believe, and I don't presume to change your mind in one blog entry, but here goes: The law about shell fish was Old Testament law along with the stoning of rebellious sons and adulterous women. The reason we have the Old Testament is for us to understand that God is a God of justice and for every transgression, there is a penalty, very much like our own legal system. Even Israel, as a Nation, was punished when it became corrupt and immoral, but the purpose of the punishment was always, always to bring them to turn away from their sins and back to God. He loved them so much and he loves us so much. The purpose of the law and punishment for some sins being death was to make us realize our need for a Savior. That Savior was Jesus Christ and when He died on the cross; He paid the price for all sins: past, present, and future (Matthew 20:26). However, we could not understand all of this without the Old Testament. So does this mean that we should just go out and commit any sin we want because Jesus has already paid the price (Romans 6:1)? NO! Why? Because that salvation is only available to those who have accepted who Jesus is and what He did and for those who have decided to live for him. Once you have given Jesus your heart (much like a marriage) and given Him control of your life, you will begin wanting to please Him and this includes sinning less(Romans 9:9-10). None of us are perfect (Romans 3:10)But the more you know Him and love Him, the more of these things you understand and the less you want to hurt Him by going against His rules. The Bible does say specifically that being with the same sex is not natural and an abomination to God and this is in the New Testament (Romans 1:27) He also clearly states it in Leviticus 18:22 and He destroyed two entire cities in the Old Testament because of it (Sodom and Gomorrah). With all that being said, my sister (and best friend in the whole world) was in love with a woman and in my mind her love for this lady (who I also love dearly)was no more wrong than me being in love with the wrong man. When we are out of God's will, whatever we are doing grieves Him. My sister was saved, she just had some strongholds, as do I, that she could not overcome. (By the way, she passed away 4 years ago and I miss her very much) Being a homosexual does not send you to hell; not coming to know Jesus Christ, not receiving His free gift of payment for your sins, and not putting Him in charge of your life is what keeps you out of heaven. I overeat. This is a problem for me. I know that God will forgive me, but I need to be working on fixing it. And I fully intend on doing that right after I eat a great big Chicken Sandwich from Chick-Fil-A for lunch today. Ha ha (If we keep loving Jesus and loving our neighbors, I think we're going to be okay)
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry for the loss of your dear sister. I too lost a dear brother recently, just last year. May peace be with you.
DeleteI personally plan on ordering a large water at Chick-fil-A after watching this great post about the Biblical definitions of marriage: http://thisambiguouslife.blogspot.com/2012/08/chick-fil-for-thirsty.html
Peace and love to you.
You say you have a "problem" with overeating. A book that has changed my life for the better is "Health at Every Size" by Dr. Linda Bacon. Your public library should have a copy of it. I've battled disordered eating my entire life - from anorexia to binge eating - as a result of being sexually abused as a very young child and having post traumatic stress disorder - but this book changed my attitude toward food and health. Thanks again for your comments.
DeleteThank you Becky, for letting me fill up your page with my babbling. I am also sorry for your loss. I think you're very intelligent and very witty. I have enjoyed the interaction.
DeleteI'm enjoying the interaction too. Don't feel like you're babbling. Feel free to talk about whatever you like on my blog. I don't censor and I'm open to all kinds of insight and ideas. Thank you so much for the compliments. I really appreciate your taking the time to read and comment on my odd thoughts. :)
DeleteI think you and Jamie have made the most positive and insightful comments I've seen thus far, Becky - thank you both. The fact that we as a society can't have a civil discussion anymore troubles me even greater than whichever side of an argument you support. Just so you know, I am a Christian, and I am a sinner. But I still accept God in my life, and recognize Jesus Christ as my savior. I also believe that we all exist as part of God's plan - gay and straight, black and white, Christian and atheist. And if you believe that He is a God of love and forgiveness, is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipowerful, and transcends all that exists in this mortal coil, then you would also have to accept that nobody is here by accident. And if you accept Jesus' tutelage, I agree that it is not your place to judge that which the Lord has made. In short, if you do believe that homosexuality is a sin, then it is a matter between the sinner and God. In fact, I believe that if I were to presume to judge others who are still part of His plan, then I am guilty of arrogance, and committing an affront before God. To paraphrase Dan Cathy, I do not presume to know more than He does - and that includes deciding whether homosexuals have a moral or spiritual right to be with one another.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do see same sex partners as being treated unfairly by our society. I believe it is unjust when your partner is hospitalized and you have no say in that person's care. I believe it is unjust when you devote your life to a person, and then have no legal rights when they pass away. I believe it is unjust if you love your same-sex partner as much as your neighbor loves his opposite-sex partner, but their love is recognized and celebrated, and yours is not. Who am I, as a Christian, to deny you those things? If the Lord does not wish for you to have them, then He will make it so - it is arrogance for me to speak for Him, or to presume that I know His intent by making it so.
Am I really being a good Christian if I know that others are being treated unjustly, and I am complicit in it? Am I not being hypocritical if I turn a blind eye towards accepting their beliefs while actively espousing mine? Why do practicing your beliefs and accepting the beliefs of others have to be mutually exclusive? If you do not accept others on the basis of their beliefs, how can you ever profess to be a good Christian or to follow Christ's teachings?
Do I believe that Dan Cathy has a right to his opinion? Absolutely. Do I believe he has a right to express it? Without a doubt, even if I don't agree. If his company really does donate to causes I don't agree with (and groups which indirectly discriminate for any reason are as bad as those which do so directly), I have the right not to eat there. I also think that political leaders do not have a legal or moral right to threaten Chick Fil A for their CEO's comments - that punishes other, innocent people for his personal expression. But I also think it's hypocritical for any "Christians" to claim persecution in this matter. "Christians" indirectly persecute others all the time with their intolerance of alternate belief systems, and only play the victim when someone calls them on it. I do believe that we will ALL be judged by God, at a time of His choosing. But part of His judgement will also be in how we've treated each other - and maybe that's why we face these challenges of acceptance and tolerance in the first place.
It is when I feel like the lone voice in times like these that I also feel the closest to God.
Wow, Joe. Just wow. Incredibly well said. It's funny how when we humans feel the most alone we often turn to God for comfort. But I'm also glad we have ways to connect with each other and to let each other know that although we don't always agree, we try to understand each other. Peace and love to you.
DeleteAs someone who has come to view American Christianity as poisonous through their adamant desire to control non-believers via government, this really impressed me. You, sir, give me hope for Christianity. This view is the true meaning of a religion, that is, that life isn't about telling others what to do as much as it is about spreading the good word and letting people be happy. Legal control simply seems like such a petty way to practice your religious beliefs.
DeleteOnce again, thank you Joe. These past few days the religious right has made me nothing short of infuriated with their arrogance and self-righteousness, but you are a shining light and an example to be emulated. Thank you for putting me at ease finally, and I now know there are TRULY GOOD Christians out there. Not the kind who THINK they're good because of their adherence to The Word, but someone who is attempting to make the world the happiest and most fantastic place it can be. THAT is a true Christian, and I applaud you my friend.