Prop 8 - A CHALLENGE TO ALL GOOD CHRISTIANS!

Many of you have heard me tell the story of my time within the Christian mainstream in the seventies.

Yes, I was a Jesus freak.

It was common for us to hit the streets and "Preach Jesus." I enjoyed this part of the "outreach ministry" and I sincerely wanted people that were facing periods of intense insecurity to pray; To ask Jesus to enter their lives and offer them guidance and salvation. I did not ask them to join my church, to come meet with my group or to take my advice as to where they might begin to look for spiritual guidance. I made the mistake in believing that God was big enough, that Jesus was capable of, helping and guiding someone who had enough faith and hope to just ask for it.
I guess this approach was frowned upon.
I was told by my church elders that the reason I was out there preaching was to direct them to my church, my group. I wasn't supposed to understand or to ask questions. I was in God's Army! As is true with any soldier that is enlisted in the service of the Army he is to follow orders without reserve and without question and that is how God wanted it.

I think not.

Whenever anyone, anywhere, takes a moral position or any position based upon some supposed spiritual authority and then tells you to accept it without question, you should be as cautious as a fat man on thin ice. If they take a position of indignation, anger or hate, you should run as fast as you can in the other direction.

In the time of Jesus there were two groups that closely resembled our modern day "Religious Right." They were the Pharisees and the Sadducee's. The former held to the formal Jewish oral tradition and the latter to the Five Books of Moses. Both felt as though they understood what God wanted for his people. Like all good religious groups, they agreed to disagree on many subjects but Jesus was ostracized by both.

Often, those of strong authoritative opinions are blowhards ( my professional technical term inspired by the likes of Rush Limbaugh) and lack any semblance of love and compassion Someone with compassion leads; he or she does not beat or intimidate people into submission. Jesus took the time to meet and eat and speak with people that were reviled by the religious authorities of his time. And he was hated for that.

Christians preach, “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." It also states in the Bible that even though you speak in the languages of men and of angels and have the gift of prophecy, that you understand all mysteries and have all knowledge and have all faith; enough to remove the largest of obstacles, and even though you give away all your goods to feed the poor and offer your body to be burned as some great and noble (or perhaps even patriotic) sign of Godliness - If you do not have love, compassion and loving kindness, you are worth nothing. You profit nothing. You mean nothing.

So what is it with "God Hates Fags" protests? Why is so much money being raised by these "God fearing Christians" to make sure that marriage stays within the bounds of tradition: that marriage is between "Adam and Eve and not Adam and Steve!"

From my experience, most of the anti gay people that I have known fall into three categories.
"The Bible doesn't support gays," kind of people.
The "I hate fags," kind of people.
And the, "As long as they don't bother me, I don't care." kind of people.

It is driven by ignorance, fear and apathy. The same engine that drove Hitler to close to world domination. Where is the love? Where is God?

"Hate the sin. Love the sinner," states the more liberal of Christians.

You gotta love that one.

Get off your royal high and righteous thrones! Without judgment and without agenda, I challenge ALL GOOD CHRISTIANS to walk in love, to minister in love, to comfort in love, the gay community and see what happens.

I think that you'd be surprised as to what could be created through such a noble effort. But you won't. You cannot. You ARE ignorance, fear and apathy.

And I weep........