Crossposted on Pam's House Blend
Brace yourself in advance folks, as I'm about to go into full-on rant mode here, and it WILL get ugly, with trigger potential.
Every day I putter around the net, reading everything I can find about subjects that interest me. Last week in my random browsing I came across this cartoon.
Go read that first. It's necessary to understand the context of what I have to say.
Now I really don't have any issues with that cartoon beyond finding it well-meaning, if a bit disingenuous at times. The cartoon's author has a few good points to make, if getting a little heavy-handed once or twice. And I fully expected to find a dueling bastion of "Praise Allah!/Fuck Allah!" in the comments. ANY time Islam becomes the centrepiece (FUCK you spellcheck, I'm Canadian, it's re not er you bastard!) of a conversation on the web, the one-note idiots come out in full force.
So I wasn't in the least inclined to care about the back and forth of one-dimensional bs flying about in the comments, as I thought that the cartoon, in spite of it's flaws, acheived the sentiment it was aiming for with a friendly warmth that's all too rare these days.
It was when I reached an out-of-place very long comment amongst the short back-and-forth that I felt compelled to add my voice to the discussion.
The comment in question was left by a guy identified by Disquss as "Don", a self-proclaimed "Nasty Bastard" according to his Disquss profile. The man has Tea Party written all over his comment. Again, I'll let you click the clicky and read his crap for yourself.
Throughout his whole rambling comment he attempts to come across as a rational voice shining a light of truth onto Islam, while subtly underlying it with the suggestion that Catholocism/Christianity is better or more right yadda yadda.
Let me preface the next part of this blog by pointing out that, as my written history has shown, I do not directly believe Islam or Christianity themselves as ideologies are inherently good or evil. I believe from reading the "Holy Books" of both that both espouse some very good messages, but also condone some very repugnant and deplorable things. I have several friends who belong to either faith, and those are of the camp of Muslims and Christians who live by the good messages of their faith while believing that the harmful messages are not valid or meaningful in today's world. I believe that there are also people on the flipside of that coin who intentionally twist and distort these books, who choose to live by the bad ideals in them, who are deplorable people NOT because of their choice of faith but because of how they so choose to employ it to cause others harm.
Keep this in mind as I use this moron's own words to paraphrase and dissect his vile and very targetted bigotry by turning it around on him.
And so my reply to this idiot, point by point.
********************************************************
Christianity is every bit as bad as Islam dear, it just hides it better behind a thin veil of respectability. So let's tackle YOUR bigoted assumptions shall we?
1) A woman enters a convent/nunnery of her own free will, a Muslim woman does not. At any time if the woman chooses she may leave the convent/order without penalty.
- Not true. A good majority of nuns were guilted or forced into the life by family members slut-shaming them, mostly over imagined promiscuity. Many who find the courage to leave convents do so in spite of intense psychological abuse, bullying, and being told they are damning themselves to hell, and a horrifying percentage of those who left were physically abused by older nuns. Willing nuns are highly outnumbered by the unwilling pressured into it, and abuse of all kinds is rampant.
2) Most Western women who choose to live at home and rear children are looked down upon and ridiculed by sneering left wing liberals who look at motherhood as an offensive form of enslavement.
- Common conservative bullshit. Liberals do not condemn stay-at-home moms. That's a statistic conservatives pulled out of their ass to vilify the competition. The only time a stay-at-home mom is chastised is when she does so because of religious pressure or she herself spreads the idea that it's the only acceptable role for a woman. I myself would happily be a stay-at-home mom were I fertile, but by my own choice, not because of religious dogma or spousal pressure, and nor would I demand all women choose likewise.
3) This link is to a typical Muslim student...listen to her as she speaks in admiration of Adolf Hitler....this is the sort of Muslim student that is most unwelcome, on campus or in North America.
- And THIS link provides a video of a Christian man spouting blatant and long disproven lies about homosexuality to sway a school-board AGAINST implementing a comprehensive anti-bullying program that would include homophobia education. Note all the old standbys like incest, pedophilia and disease being brought up just to add to the fire he's lighting in a crowded theatre.
4) Western children devout themselves to a particular subject or discipline for the betterment of medicine, technology, science, engineering and many other subjects. While it benefits the child, that devotion benefits Mankind and advances the human race.
- Timothy McVeigh. The Columbine 2. Ted Bundy. GOProud. Peter LaBarbera. Very often in Western society devoting oneself so young to a singular topic leads not to society's betterment, but to it's detriment. This is often fueled by extremist Christianity. It isn't Muslims murdering abortion doctors, blowing up clinics, driving teenagers to suicide or rigging elections through blatant lies and fearmongering in the USA. It's single-minded Christian extremists who devoted themselves to a particular subject.
5) There is no comparison to be made between defense of family and home and the hobbies of Muslim terrorists who dabble in all forms of terrorism and suicide bombing.
There is EVERY comparison to be made, since many of those fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are fighting for exactly that; Defending their homes and families from invaders. And US soldiers have been caught raping and killing indigenous people for no justifiable reason. What you define as an American as to what is defending yourself and what construes terrorism? Reverse roles and it's the same to them. YOUR soldiers are THEIR terrorists, and the USA started this LONG before 9/11. There are indeed some horrible Muslim extremists, but most of the people over there just want the outsiders to leave THEIR homes and stop killing THEIR families.
6) Its Muslims and Islam that puts themselves on trial. When was the last time you heard a Muslim admit to murder without dragging Islam into it claiming he was directed to kill by Muhammad and the Koran. As for Jews, there are Israeli prisons filled with Zionist criminals....this is a fact.
- And how many times has the murder of an abortion doctor, a gay man, or a transsexual woman been justified with "I was doing God's work, it was my Christian duty to kill them because God says they are evil"? Have an answer for that one wiseass? As for your Jew argument, any Zionist prisoners in Israel are imprisoned not for their beliefs but for their criminal acts. And how many news reports in the last few years have there been about the Israelis breaking ceasefires in Gaza killing innocent people? Google the one about one of the recent group murders that included a PREGNANT PALESTINIAN WOMAN by a group believed to be rogue Hamas agents? Any argument you can make trying to vilify Islam alone while ignoring the blatant crimes of other faiths, I can destroy in seconds with proven fact. The truth is NOT on your side here.
7) The majority of this can be answered by reading my answer to # 4, but further to that: if sharia law is the proposed solution it is ignored as with sharia law the solution is much much worse than the problem....any solution that recommends stoning of women and advocates a father hacking away at his daughters vagina to satisfy some depraved sense of religious propriety is no solution at all.
- Do I really need to break out Bible Quotes here to point out your utter hypocrisy with this one? I can if you push the point. The Bible condones women as property. Rape victims must marry their rapists or be stoned to death. Men trade their teenage daughters for land. Children are stoned to death if they ever rebel in even the slightest. Moses was ordered by god to burn entire cities to the ground, murder all men, children and livestock, but keep any fertile women to be forced into marriage and raped in order to keep the numbers in his group high for when they reached the promised land so they would have enough men to overpower the Palestines when stealing the non-believer's land under God's orders. For fuck's sake man! The Bible commands you be put to death if you eat shrimp or wear a polyester/cotton mix shirt! The point the cartoonist is trying, if poorly, to make, is that, like the Bible, the Quran DOES contain some positive messages that can be helpful solutions in real everyday life, but just like the Quran, the good in the Bible can be easily overwhelmed by all the outright evil it endorses. It is NOT the religion itself that causes the problems, it's what each individual person chooses to take from it, good or bad.
8) Simply look at the world around you....Muslims have engaged in some of the most outrageous and murderous behavior and then when held to account for this behavior and these crimes they point to Islam and fall back on the demented psychopathic ravings and edicts of Muhammad to legitimize and excuse the same crimes and behavior.
- The Crusades. The Benediction. The Spanish Inquisition. The Dark Ages. Pedophile Priests. Throughout history there are FAR more documented cases of atrocities condoned and spearheaded by church doctrine than by Islam, for which the church always falls back on the demented psychopathic ravings and edicts of God Jehovah the Father to legitimize and excuse the same crimes and behavior. Not fun when your own hate can be so easily turned around on you by the truth is it?
9) For this answer simply read my previous answers to the 8 questions. The Koran is neither holy nor a solution. The Koran is the blueprint for the enslavement of the human race and the reversing of every possible advancement of the same. The Koran is a mandate for violence, death, terrorism and brutality and has no place in the 21st century. It belongs in a museum where we can marvel at the writings of madmen and mass murderers.
- And as the Quran and the old Testament are in fact the EXACT same book with only minimal locational differences, you're describing Catholicism/Christianity in the exact same breath. The Bible too is neither Holy nor a solution, but a book full of blueprints for a horrible, violent repressed society where white men rule and women and "lesser races" are all property existing only to serve white men. To paraphrase, once again, your own words, The BIBLE is the blueprint for the enslavement of the human race and the reversing of every possible advancement of the same. The BIBLE is a mandate for violence, death, terrorism and brutality and has no place in the 21st century. It belongs in a museum where we can marvel at the writings of madmen and mass murderers.
So for every bigoted, hateful answer you gave, I have used truth and fact to bring you back to the really REAL world where it's so easy to look at the people on the other side of the world who do exactly as we do, some good folks, some bad folks, and some true nutjobs, and chastise them for the exact same values because their exact same values come from a different book. The ONLY difference between Muslims and Christians is that most Christians are better at compartmentalizing the evils they believe in to protect their conscience.
To paraphrase your own words one last time.
Christianity is a political ideology that can not suffer the light of day nor truth itself.....when exposed to reality, Christianity crumbles and reveals itself for what it is......the murderous rhetoric of misogynist madmen for the ears of easily manipulated fools who happily accept easy fear over educating themselves.
************************************************************
Everyone of course has the right to say whatever ridiculous drivel they want to, even if stupidly attacking an opposing ideology through complete hypocrisy. Fortunately, there will always be someone with a far better grasp of the facts to stand up and dissect said drivel. In this case it was me. I and others like me will ALWAYS stand up to ignorant pseudo-intellectual bullies like this and shine the REAL light of Truth right in their lying weaselly faces.
Apologies to my Christian friends for using the negatives in the Bible without focusing much on it's positives in my rebuttal of this asswipe, but as the rebuttal needed to be context specific, and as my Christian friends generally openly accept and admit there IS in fact some really ugly stuff in there, I'm sure you'll forgive me this once.
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
7/09/2010
A Simple and Unerring Fact
People in the Religious Right involved actively in the fight to prevent true full gay equality, (with the obvious exception of the Fred Phelps mutations), love to swear up and down that they don't hate gay folks. They love us and want us to be happy, and anyone claiming that they're being hateful bigots is just a big meanie persecuting their religious beliefs who doesn't understand their motivation.
I'm sure a lot of them are actually delusional enough to honestly believe this bullshit. Reverand Dave Mapes, who has been dirtying my blog with comments to that effect rather than just answer some simple honest questions, is a perfect example. While actively tweeting anti-gay messages on Twitter every day, (such as the oh so charming "@revdavesmapes #iaintafraidtosay that homosexual marriage is wrong! :D"), and actively preaching to his congregation that gay equality must be fought tooth and nail, repeatedly reassures me he loves me and just wants what's best for me.
Of course to him what's "best" for me is for me to convert to Christianity, divorce my wife, stop daring to question the Bible and live life only according to Bible Principles. This desire on his part blatantly proves his selfish hypocrisy and complete lack of any sense of reality. Why?
Because I'm a lesbian. To convert to HIS version of Christianity, which is certainly very far from being very Christian, I would have to deny myself. And I'm not talking about denying myself lesbian sex, I barely have a sex drive to begin with. No I mean LITERALLY denying MYSELF.
To do what he asks of me would destroy me. First of all, becoming a Christian as HE sees it means divorcing Fran. I would be shunning the woman who takes care of me when I'm sick, comforts me when I'm sad, kisses me when and happy, and gives my life a sense of fulfillment and completeness I never had before. I would be surrendering peace, joy, contentment, happiness and love for the illusion of all those things under God that would foirever feel empty. Despite his belief that ONLY by giving myself over to God and Christ could I ever feel any of those things, he is in fact asking me to give those very things up for a faith I have no faith in.
Secondly, he'd probably expect me to be a good Christian woman and find a husband. Except I'm a lesbian through and through. I've TRIED to have relationships with men in the past and it never worked. I'm sure he would say it was because I'd already made up my mind to "rebel against God" and not give any man a fair chance, but that's simply not the case. I had a male love for over a year that I tried my damnedest to love. He was a good man too. He was kind, gentle, affectionate without being overbearing. He respected my thoughts and feelings and always supported me. And I loved him dearly as a friend. I WANTED to love him more. I was still in denail of a lot of things about myself at the time and I DESPERATELY wanted to be a normal healthy heterosexual woman. I didn't want to be a lesbian, I was terrified of it.
But I just never felt anything romantic for him, or any other man. Because I AM a lesbian. And yes Reverand, I very much WAS born wired that way. Any religious person insisting Gay is a choice is frankly an idiot. Just look at the Uganda Homosexual Death Bill. NO ONE would ever CHOOSE to be gay in this hateful violent world. Rebelling isn't about getting murdered. A kid getting his ear pierced, THAT'S rebelling. A gay person accepting who they truly are and escaping the cycle of self-loathing that comes with denial is not rebellion. It's HONESTY. To convert as Mapes wishes me to would be tantamount to agreeing to spend the rest of my life lying to my friends, family, God, and myself. Reverand Mapes is asking me to become a liar.
Thirdly, since he has made it abundantly clear that in his version of Christianity, (in spite of the fact he blatantly picks and chooses which Bible passages he'll obey while ignoring any rules that would bite him in the ass), the Bible is the infallible unerring word of God. It is NEVER to be questioned and, given his refusal to answer simple honest questions about what the Bible says, apparently neither is he. I'd bet good money any kids who ask uncomfortable questions of him in his flock such as I have asked him are probably told with a smiling face and a cheerful voice that they'll burn in hell if they ever repeat those questions. I'm sure he'd deny this, but I also doubt he'd allow me to ask any children in his flock if such things have happened.
The problem is that I'm by nature a very curious inquisitive girl. I like knowing the reasons of things. I could never be happy in a religion that outright REQUIRES me to bite my tongue. So once again, the Reverand's idea of what's "best" for me involves asking me to lie and be unhappy.
The Reverand could give a flying fuck about what's best for ME, or for any other gay person. He doesn't care in the slightest about what's best for us. He wants what's best for HIM. He clearly hates homosexuality regardless of his protestations to the contrary. You don't actively fight AGAINST something you love. No, he hates homosexuality. And not because the Bible tells him to. I've already proven repeatedly in other blog posts that the parts of the Bible used to justify anti-gay beliefs are NOT about homosexuality and must be intionally misinterpreted to make them so.
No, judging by his own words and behavior, Mapes is uncomfortable with gayness. It bothers him. When he pictures gay people he probably thinks only of our disgusting unnatural sex lives and never thinks of anything else about us, just like all (not a) Christian bullies. We're all more than just the sex we have. My wife and I have sex MAYBE once a month, and rarely longer than a half hour. The rest of the time we're being just like everyone else. We talk, we do stuff, we clean the house, we pay the bills, we watch TV. But bullies like Mapes never think about any of that, because to do so would be to acknowledge that how we love is the ONLY real difference between gays and straight. And when you admit that we're pretty much no different than you are except for what we do in the privacy of our bedrooms, it becomes harder to personally justify fighting against gay equality. That's why Porn Peter LaBarbera and his ilk actually encourage their sheep to talk about "the grossness" of gay sex as much as possible to make sex what people think about when thinking of gay people. The hatemongers do NOT want you thinking of us as normal boring everyday people with jobs and hobbies and likers and dislikes, they want you to think of us SOLELY as sex fiends with absolutely no other facets to us.
So basically, what David is asking of me is selfish and cruel. To make HIM feel comfortable, so HE doesn't have to think about sinful lesbian sex, he would have me agree to be a miserable unhappy self-loathing liar. And he would tell himself I was happy and at peace because I accepted his version of God, and would never think about MY feelings at all. He would have me suffer to make himself feel better and would tell me it's God's will. And I refuse to believe it is God's will that I lie and be miserable to make small minded people feel better.
And that leads me to the titular simple unerring fact of which this blog is about.
Religion IS very much a choice. Even Judaism. Isreali is a race, Jewish is a religion. Irish is a race, Catholocism is a religion. Iraqi is a race, Islam is a religion. And while SO many people ARE born into a religion, by virtue of their parents' faith, and often forced to accept that faith as their own according to parents' wishes, religion is not innate, or unalterable. This is an inarguable fact. Every single day, hundreds of people who WERE Christian reject Christianity. Some become Aethiests, some convert to a different religion that felt right to them in ways Christianity didn't. Some people who never WERE Christians BECOME Christians because they find something in the faith that speaks to them deeply. Some Christians convert to Islam. Some Muslims convert to Judaism. Some Jews even convert to Wicca. Religion BECOMES about who you are and what you believe, but it is NOT innate.
Homosexuality, like race, IS however, innate. Contrary to the ever popular (and repeatedly refuted) distortions by Religious Right groups, science HAS in fact proven that gay or straight is wired into the brain. Yes, the Family Research Council will tell you no such study exists and that more studies prove the opposite, but it's been repeatedly proven that the studies that prove Gay is a choice are either the studies of Paul Cameron whose work has been repeatedly discredited and proven to be falsified, or distortions of legitimate studies wherein the actual authors of those studies have publicly denounced the religious Right's intentional misrepresentation of them.
For example, a study showed that lesbian are more prone to alcoholism because the pressure and hatred they get from anti-gay bias and religion based bullying drives them to seek coping tools. In the hands of the Right, that study becomes "Lesbians are more likely to be alcoholics". A blatant distortion that works because the people the Right tells these lies to are easily frightened gullible people who rarely if ever look up the relevant information themselves and instead just take these "respectable Christian folks" telling the lies at face value.
So no matter that we all know Reverand Mapes would insist I chose to be a lesbian and that God would NEVER make me one intentionally, we know he's lying.
So the Simple And Unerring Fact of which this blog is about is simply thus;
You CANNOT devote time, money and energy to telling someone that who they are is evil and wrong and not be a hatemonger.
You CANNOT devote time money and energy to actively fighting to keep an entire group of people second=class and subhuman under the law solely because you don't like something about them they cannot change and NOT be a bigot.
YOU CANNOT EVER tell someone you love them and want what's best for them and then treat them as inferior and fight actively to PREVENT what is best for them.
THAT is an unerring fact.
Reverend Mapes, you ARE a bigot because you teach that my life is evil and wrong. You ARE a bully because you try to pressure, force and coerce me into accepting an unhappy life for YOUR comfort. You ARE a hatemonger because you call upon your flock to fight against equality. And you very much ARE committing evil by preaching these things, and BY preaching them you very much ARE being homophobic.
Because it has been inarguably proven that anti-gay preaching directly leads to violence and abuse against gay people. Gay teenagers commit suicide because of anti-gay bullying encouraged by homophobic preaching. Gay folks get beaten up and murdered by people who were taught that being gay is evil in God's eyes. In South Africa 1 in 4 men has admitted proudly to having committed what they're calling "Corrective rape", wherein they RAPE LESBIANS to make them straight, because it's what people like you have taught them God wants. And you can try to protest "But I never told anyone to go out and rape lesbians", and still be guilty, because these men are doing this deplorable thing only because their religious leaders, such as you, tell them God is angered by gayness and wants it stamped out, and these men decide that if God hates gayness then it must be okay with him to hurt gay people. And so no matter how you try to rationalize it, THERE IS BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS.
Of course you'll deny all of this, ignore any Biblical proof I might offer you that backs me up while weakening your position, and probably continue to insist on praying for me without my consent, which is frankly spiritual rape in my opinion, and never once will you actually have the spine to directly address any of this honestly. And that above all else is what proves that you are wrong. You don't even have enough faith in your own God to address the hard questions. You disrespect Jesus by praying for me because I challenge your viewpoint, and lie by claiming it's because I'm unfairly attacking you.
For an attack to be unfair it has to lack any basis in truth or fact. And I have offered ONLY truth and fact, both of which you're desperate to ignore. An honest man with moral courage and integrity addresses even the hard questions honestly. A coward does everything in his power to dodge them. And Reverend Mapes has dodged them repeatedly. He makes up tired excuses. He tries to dictate terms that would limit his responses only to what he's comfortable with. He demands I verbally handcuff myself by blindly accepting his argument as God's Word so that he can answer only according to how he interprets that word.
To clarify the cowardice and absurdity of this behavior, that would be like asking Tom Cruise to answer hard questions about Scientology, and Cruise telling you he'll agree to answer your questions BUT ONLY if you first agree to not bring up the lifetime of documented lies L. Ron Hubbard or ever bringing up the people Scientology has murdered or addressing the various and ever increasing fees required to advance through the ranks. If you wanted an honest conversation about Scientology, you'd refuse those ridiculous terms because it would tie your hands by limiting you to questions Mr. Cruise was comfortable answering, questions that didn't challenge his faith.
This is what Reverend Mapes and all hatemongering bullies like him do. They try to bully and cajole anyone asking the hard questions into agreeing to a ridiculously limiting framework for the discussion. That way Mapes only has to give me cookie-cutter answers that affirm and support his glorious faith, and never has to address the hard questions, because he knows he can't give me an honest answer without being forced to admit he doesn't HAVE all the answers, and that the Bible can be wrong. And if he admits to either of these things he loses his ability to co-opt God to justify his bigotry and then he'd have to just come right out and be honest; He doesn't like gay people and wants us to go away or stop being gay. If he's forced by cold hard truth to admit that his excuse for his homophobia doesn't stand up to scrutiny, he'll loses followers, and with the flock dwindling because his lies are laid bare, he loses their donations, and he loses the fight against us.
Here's an example; He still swears the Bible, even the Old Testament, is God's unerring word and MUST be obeyed, but he has yet to address or acknowledge that he willfully diobeys some Old Testament rules. And he will continue to try and distract me from this point by goading me about how he is praying for my eternal soul, because if he actually faces the question and admits that yes, he DOES in fact disobey Bible rulings that would demand he be stoned to death for some of his actions, then he has to acknowledge that Bible passages that order a death sentence for things as harmless as wearing mixed fabrics or working on Sunday are wrong and deplorable and have no place in the modern world. And if he admits to that, then he CANNOT continue to demand that people accept that homosexuality is evil and wrong just because he THINKS the Bible says it is.
And with his whole justification for his hatred gone up in smoke, he cannot claim he is simply acting on God's will anymore. He can't claim he loves Gays but just hates their sin. And he cannot lie and trick gullible people into supporting his bigotry and intolerance.
And that is why I know I will NEVER get a straight honest answer from Mapes, or any other hatemonger. They NEED the lies to thrives, and answering the tough questions honestly would knock down their pretty looking but ultimately still flimsy house of cards.
The Religious Right is in the business of lying. Reverand Mapes IS a liar. And every single time he replies to me in which he bellows about praying God will force me to convert and stop asking questions while refusing to ever ANSWER them just further proves that I am exactly right about him.
And I will NEVER consent to become an unhappy liar to make a bigger liar comfortable.
PS - As I ask all of the Religious Right Bigots I come across, I'll ask Mapes right now; How many homeless American children could you have fed and clothed with all the money you've spent fighting against equality?
I've asked 592 religious bigots that question, icluding folks from Concerned Women For America, The American Family Association, the Family Research Council and more.
To this day, NOT ONE SINGLE ONE OF THEM has EVER even ACKNOWLEDGED that question, let alone tried to answer it.
And I doubt Mapes will be the first to break the trend.
After all, admitting you let children starve in your country so you can keep them nasty gay folks from having equal rights isn't exactly good press for someone pretending to be righteous.
I'm sure a lot of them are actually delusional enough to honestly believe this bullshit. Reverand Dave Mapes, who has been dirtying my blog with comments to that effect rather than just answer some simple honest questions, is a perfect example. While actively tweeting anti-gay messages on Twitter every day, (such as the oh so charming "@revdavesmapes #iaintafraidtosay that homosexual marriage is wrong! :D"), and actively preaching to his congregation that gay equality must be fought tooth and nail, repeatedly reassures me he loves me and just wants what's best for me.
Of course to him what's "best" for me is for me to convert to Christianity, divorce my wife, stop daring to question the Bible and live life only according to Bible Principles. This desire on his part blatantly proves his selfish hypocrisy and complete lack of any sense of reality. Why?
Because I'm a lesbian. To convert to HIS version of Christianity, which is certainly very far from being very Christian, I would have to deny myself. And I'm not talking about denying myself lesbian sex, I barely have a sex drive to begin with. No I mean LITERALLY denying MYSELF.
To do what he asks of me would destroy me. First of all, becoming a Christian as HE sees it means divorcing Fran. I would be shunning the woman who takes care of me when I'm sick, comforts me when I'm sad, kisses me when and happy, and gives my life a sense of fulfillment and completeness I never had before. I would be surrendering peace, joy, contentment, happiness and love for the illusion of all those things under God that would foirever feel empty. Despite his belief that ONLY by giving myself over to God and Christ could I ever feel any of those things, he is in fact asking me to give those very things up for a faith I have no faith in.
Secondly, he'd probably expect me to be a good Christian woman and find a husband. Except I'm a lesbian through and through. I've TRIED to have relationships with men in the past and it never worked. I'm sure he would say it was because I'd already made up my mind to "rebel against God" and not give any man a fair chance, but that's simply not the case. I had a male love for over a year that I tried my damnedest to love. He was a good man too. He was kind, gentle, affectionate without being overbearing. He respected my thoughts and feelings and always supported me. And I loved him dearly as a friend. I WANTED to love him more. I was still in denail of a lot of things about myself at the time and I DESPERATELY wanted to be a normal healthy heterosexual woman. I didn't want to be a lesbian, I was terrified of it.
But I just never felt anything romantic for him, or any other man. Because I AM a lesbian. And yes Reverand, I very much WAS born wired that way. Any religious person insisting Gay is a choice is frankly an idiot. Just look at the Uganda Homosexual Death Bill. NO ONE would ever CHOOSE to be gay in this hateful violent world. Rebelling isn't about getting murdered. A kid getting his ear pierced, THAT'S rebelling. A gay person accepting who they truly are and escaping the cycle of self-loathing that comes with denial is not rebellion. It's HONESTY. To convert as Mapes wishes me to would be tantamount to agreeing to spend the rest of my life lying to my friends, family, God, and myself. Reverand Mapes is asking me to become a liar.
Thirdly, since he has made it abundantly clear that in his version of Christianity, (in spite of the fact he blatantly picks and chooses which Bible passages he'll obey while ignoring any rules that would bite him in the ass), the Bible is the infallible unerring word of God. It is NEVER to be questioned and, given his refusal to answer simple honest questions about what the Bible says, apparently neither is he. I'd bet good money any kids who ask uncomfortable questions of him in his flock such as I have asked him are probably told with a smiling face and a cheerful voice that they'll burn in hell if they ever repeat those questions. I'm sure he'd deny this, but I also doubt he'd allow me to ask any children in his flock if such things have happened.
The problem is that I'm by nature a very curious inquisitive girl. I like knowing the reasons of things. I could never be happy in a religion that outright REQUIRES me to bite my tongue. So once again, the Reverand's idea of what's "best" for me involves asking me to lie and be unhappy.
The Reverand could give a flying fuck about what's best for ME, or for any other gay person. He doesn't care in the slightest about what's best for us. He wants what's best for HIM. He clearly hates homosexuality regardless of his protestations to the contrary. You don't actively fight AGAINST something you love. No, he hates homosexuality. And not because the Bible tells him to. I've already proven repeatedly in other blog posts that the parts of the Bible used to justify anti-gay beliefs are NOT about homosexuality and must be intionally misinterpreted to make them so.
No, judging by his own words and behavior, Mapes is uncomfortable with gayness. It bothers him. When he pictures gay people he probably thinks only of our disgusting unnatural sex lives and never thinks of anything else about us, just like all (not a) Christian bullies. We're all more than just the sex we have. My wife and I have sex MAYBE once a month, and rarely longer than a half hour. The rest of the time we're being just like everyone else. We talk, we do stuff, we clean the house, we pay the bills, we watch TV. But bullies like Mapes never think about any of that, because to do so would be to acknowledge that how we love is the ONLY real difference between gays and straight. And when you admit that we're pretty much no different than you are except for what we do in the privacy of our bedrooms, it becomes harder to personally justify fighting against gay equality. That's why Porn Peter LaBarbera and his ilk actually encourage their sheep to talk about "the grossness" of gay sex as much as possible to make sex what people think about when thinking of gay people. The hatemongers do NOT want you thinking of us as normal boring everyday people with jobs and hobbies and likers and dislikes, they want you to think of us SOLELY as sex fiends with absolutely no other facets to us.
So basically, what David is asking of me is selfish and cruel. To make HIM feel comfortable, so HE doesn't have to think about sinful lesbian sex, he would have me agree to be a miserable unhappy self-loathing liar. And he would tell himself I was happy and at peace because I accepted his version of God, and would never think about MY feelings at all. He would have me suffer to make himself feel better and would tell me it's God's will. And I refuse to believe it is God's will that I lie and be miserable to make small minded people feel better.
And that leads me to the titular simple unerring fact of which this blog is about.
Religion IS very much a choice. Even Judaism. Isreali is a race, Jewish is a religion. Irish is a race, Catholocism is a religion. Iraqi is a race, Islam is a religion. And while SO many people ARE born into a religion, by virtue of their parents' faith, and often forced to accept that faith as their own according to parents' wishes, religion is not innate, or unalterable. This is an inarguable fact. Every single day, hundreds of people who WERE Christian reject Christianity. Some become Aethiests, some convert to a different religion that felt right to them in ways Christianity didn't. Some people who never WERE Christians BECOME Christians because they find something in the faith that speaks to them deeply. Some Christians convert to Islam. Some Muslims convert to Judaism. Some Jews even convert to Wicca. Religion BECOMES about who you are and what you believe, but it is NOT innate.
Homosexuality, like race, IS however, innate. Contrary to the ever popular (and repeatedly refuted) distortions by Religious Right groups, science HAS in fact proven that gay or straight is wired into the brain. Yes, the Family Research Council will tell you no such study exists and that more studies prove the opposite, but it's been repeatedly proven that the studies that prove Gay is a choice are either the studies of Paul Cameron whose work has been repeatedly discredited and proven to be falsified, or distortions of legitimate studies wherein the actual authors of those studies have publicly denounced the religious Right's intentional misrepresentation of them.
For example, a study showed that lesbian are more prone to alcoholism because the pressure and hatred they get from anti-gay bias and religion based bullying drives them to seek coping tools. In the hands of the Right, that study becomes "Lesbians are more likely to be alcoholics". A blatant distortion that works because the people the Right tells these lies to are easily frightened gullible people who rarely if ever look up the relevant information themselves and instead just take these "respectable Christian folks" telling the lies at face value.
So no matter that we all know Reverand Mapes would insist I chose to be a lesbian and that God would NEVER make me one intentionally, we know he's lying.
So the Simple And Unerring Fact of which this blog is about is simply thus;
You CANNOT devote time, money and energy to telling someone that who they are is evil and wrong and not be a hatemonger.
You CANNOT devote time money and energy to actively fighting to keep an entire group of people second=class and subhuman under the law solely because you don't like something about them they cannot change and NOT be a bigot.
YOU CANNOT EVER tell someone you love them and want what's best for them and then treat them as inferior and fight actively to PREVENT what is best for them.
THAT is an unerring fact.
Reverend Mapes, you ARE a bigot because you teach that my life is evil and wrong. You ARE a bully because you try to pressure, force and coerce me into accepting an unhappy life for YOUR comfort. You ARE a hatemonger because you call upon your flock to fight against equality. And you very much ARE committing evil by preaching these things, and BY preaching them you very much ARE being homophobic.
Because it has been inarguably proven that anti-gay preaching directly leads to violence and abuse against gay people. Gay teenagers commit suicide because of anti-gay bullying encouraged by homophobic preaching. Gay folks get beaten up and murdered by people who were taught that being gay is evil in God's eyes. In South Africa 1 in 4 men has admitted proudly to having committed what they're calling "Corrective rape", wherein they RAPE LESBIANS to make them straight, because it's what people like you have taught them God wants. And you can try to protest "But I never told anyone to go out and rape lesbians", and still be guilty, because these men are doing this deplorable thing only because their religious leaders, such as you, tell them God is angered by gayness and wants it stamped out, and these men decide that if God hates gayness then it must be okay with him to hurt gay people. And so no matter how you try to rationalize it, THERE IS BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS.
Of course you'll deny all of this, ignore any Biblical proof I might offer you that backs me up while weakening your position, and probably continue to insist on praying for me without my consent, which is frankly spiritual rape in my opinion, and never once will you actually have the spine to directly address any of this honestly. And that above all else is what proves that you are wrong. You don't even have enough faith in your own God to address the hard questions. You disrespect Jesus by praying for me because I challenge your viewpoint, and lie by claiming it's because I'm unfairly attacking you.
For an attack to be unfair it has to lack any basis in truth or fact. And I have offered ONLY truth and fact, both of which you're desperate to ignore. An honest man with moral courage and integrity addresses even the hard questions honestly. A coward does everything in his power to dodge them. And Reverend Mapes has dodged them repeatedly. He makes up tired excuses. He tries to dictate terms that would limit his responses only to what he's comfortable with. He demands I verbally handcuff myself by blindly accepting his argument as God's Word so that he can answer only according to how he interprets that word.
To clarify the cowardice and absurdity of this behavior, that would be like asking Tom Cruise to answer hard questions about Scientology, and Cruise telling you he'll agree to answer your questions BUT ONLY if you first agree to not bring up the lifetime of documented lies L. Ron Hubbard or ever bringing up the people Scientology has murdered or addressing the various and ever increasing fees required to advance through the ranks. If you wanted an honest conversation about Scientology, you'd refuse those ridiculous terms because it would tie your hands by limiting you to questions Mr. Cruise was comfortable answering, questions that didn't challenge his faith.
This is what Reverend Mapes and all hatemongering bullies like him do. They try to bully and cajole anyone asking the hard questions into agreeing to a ridiculously limiting framework for the discussion. That way Mapes only has to give me cookie-cutter answers that affirm and support his glorious faith, and never has to address the hard questions, because he knows he can't give me an honest answer without being forced to admit he doesn't HAVE all the answers, and that the Bible can be wrong. And if he admits to either of these things he loses his ability to co-opt God to justify his bigotry and then he'd have to just come right out and be honest; He doesn't like gay people and wants us to go away or stop being gay. If he's forced by cold hard truth to admit that his excuse for his homophobia doesn't stand up to scrutiny, he'll loses followers, and with the flock dwindling because his lies are laid bare, he loses their donations, and he loses the fight against us.
Here's an example; He still swears the Bible, even the Old Testament, is God's unerring word and MUST be obeyed, but he has yet to address or acknowledge that he willfully diobeys some Old Testament rules. And he will continue to try and distract me from this point by goading me about how he is praying for my eternal soul, because if he actually faces the question and admits that yes, he DOES in fact disobey Bible rulings that would demand he be stoned to death for some of his actions, then he has to acknowledge that Bible passages that order a death sentence for things as harmless as wearing mixed fabrics or working on Sunday are wrong and deplorable and have no place in the modern world. And if he admits to that, then he CANNOT continue to demand that people accept that homosexuality is evil and wrong just because he THINKS the Bible says it is.
And with his whole justification for his hatred gone up in smoke, he cannot claim he is simply acting on God's will anymore. He can't claim he loves Gays but just hates their sin. And he cannot lie and trick gullible people into supporting his bigotry and intolerance.
And that is why I know I will NEVER get a straight honest answer from Mapes, or any other hatemonger. They NEED the lies to thrives, and answering the tough questions honestly would knock down their pretty looking but ultimately still flimsy house of cards.
The Religious Right is in the business of lying. Reverand Mapes IS a liar. And every single time he replies to me in which he bellows about praying God will force me to convert and stop asking questions while refusing to ever ANSWER them just further proves that I am exactly right about him.
And I will NEVER consent to become an unhappy liar to make a bigger liar comfortable.
PS - As I ask all of the Religious Right Bigots I come across, I'll ask Mapes right now; How many homeless American children could you have fed and clothed with all the money you've spent fighting against equality?
I've asked 592 religious bigots that question, icluding folks from Concerned Women For America, The American Family Association, the Family Research Council and more.
To this day, NOT ONE SINGLE ONE OF THEM has EVER even ACKNOWLEDGED that question, let alone tried to answer it.
And I doubt Mapes will be the first to break the trend.
After all, admitting you let children starve in your country so you can keep them nasty gay folks from having equal rights isn't exactly good press for someone pretending to be righteous.
6/02/2010
My letter to Peter LaBarbera, Coward of God
(I sent this e-mail 3 days ago. I have not as yet received any response. Pro-Rape and Murder Bible passafes researched courtesy of Evil Bible.
*******************
Somehow Peter, based on your words and your behavior, your underhanded tactics and your one-note defense of those tactics "LALA I can't hear your facts because I';m doing what GOD wants!), I seriously doubt that you've ever actually sat down and thoroughly read the entire Bible. Like all rightwing (not really a) Christian bullies, you constantly parrot a handful of carefully selected quotes you can easily misconstrue while ignoring SO much more you'd never DARE try to justify in today's world, championing a message God never offered to defend deplorable dishonest behavior.
I however, have read the Bible in it's entirity, repeatedly, because unlike you and the fearful naive sheep you prey on with your lies, I prefer to actually educate myself on these matters so I know whereof I speak.
So let me educate you Peter, though I know you lack the moral conviction and courage to hear what I tell you and will very likely reply with smug holier than thou condemnations and your usual twisting of truth into conveniant lies and carefully evading any direct questions by answering questions YOU ask yourself so you never have to honestly answer questions that you know an honest answer to will shoot you in the foot.
So let's learn shall we?
There are 73 books in the Catholic Bible, old and new Testament. Of those 73 books, only 14 contain the actual words of Jesus Christ, and only 7 claim to contain words directly spoken by god.
Of the 14 that pertain directly to Jesus, 12 of those relate the exact same story as told by different people with different points of view.
In NONE of the 14 books of Jesus speaking or the 7 claiming the direct words of God is there ANYTHING that condemns homosexuality. There are in fact only two instances when God or Jesus mention homosexuality at all. Let's first tackle God's only mention.
Sodom was not destroyed because it's inhabitants practised homosexuality. It was destroyed because they were RAPISTS. Bad hosts in a desert city, raping any travellers that passed through, male, female and child alike. That people like you choose erroneously to focus on only the man on man rape is one of the biggest lies your ilk purport. The actual story of Lot makes it very clear that the rapoes the sodomites commited were about power and cruelty, and that when they raped men it had nothing to do with any same-sex attraction but their desire to humiliate their victims by rendering them useless into a woman's role as a man's sexual property. The story makes it VERY clear that the RAPE was what God abhorred, and that the victims of that rape were indiscriminate. Women and children were also raped, but people like you go out of your way to ignore this fact and try falsely to paint it as a story specifically condemning homosexuality when it is nothing of the sort. Why? Because if you acknowledge that it was RAPE God condemned, you give up some of your male privilege by having to acknowledge publicly that God did NOT intend for women to belong to men quite so implicitly, and that women do indeed have a God-Given RIGHT to reject a man's unwanted advances.
Now, let's look at Jesus. Jesus taught social justice, tolerance, acceptance. He taught that it was NOT for man to judge his fellow man, only for God. Another fact you conveniently forget in your hubris of claiming to do God's work. And the only time Jesus ever touched on homosexuality was when his disciple Paul thrice brought it up. Paul, much like many people suspect you to be, was a misogynistic self-hating homosexual. His writings frequently dismiss women as inferior while he laments the thorn in his heart. Three times he asked Jesus to remove the thorn, and always Jesus refused him, because there was nothing wrong with Paul living exactly as God had made him.
Yes Pete, that's JESUS CHRIST his damn self saying "God MADE Paul Gay and there is no sin in it". And Paul refused to accept the word of his Lord and lived a lonely miserable and bitter life, attacking others for his own flaws and treating women like the floor he walked upon.
Now, let'sexamine the other major Bible quote you and your type just love to beat into the ground. That nasty little Leviticus quote.
First of all, let's look at the English language. In the 1500's when the Bible was first translated into English, the words Lie and Lay were NOT interchangable as they have become today. Lay meant only to lay down, and Lie meant only to be dishonest. This is a VERY important distinction because if you know this INDISPUTABLE fact of language, (Lie did not come to have it's double meaning until early in the 20th century, beginning in the Depression with the garbled slang of the uneducated poor), then the meaning of the quote you bleat so much is changed entirely.
Keeping also in mind that King Leviticus was clearly a bitter obsessive misogynest who like so many writers of the Bible believed women were not even people and existed to be the sexual property of men at men's whim, the quote,
"Thou shall not lie with man as thou lie with women, for it is an abomination",
A quote that you insist is a condemnation of gay men, has nothing at all to do with gayness or sex. It's about dishonesty. It's the Bible's version of "Bros before hos dude!". The quote means simply since women are just property, lie to them all you like, but never to your fellow man.
Oh and one final very important note about King Leviticus; He was just a man, and never claimed to be speaking for God. He just lied and claimed to personally know what God supposedly told Moses so his people would fear him and obey. The laws and rules Leviticus spoke oif were his own, NOT God's. God clearly never wished for woman to be subjugated by men.
On to lesbians. Never mentioned once. Anywhere. NOT ONE SINGLE MENTION. Therefore God has no opinion about us at all. And as for Trans folk? Your own Namesake Peter. The APOSTLE Peter. He speaks of eunichs who act as if women and he does so with kindness and compassion. Such a pity you're too much the shallow bullying coward to live up to the sainted apostle for whom you were named.
Oh, one last lesson. Your "Sanctity of Marriage" crap? Not according to the Bible.
Mary and Joseph were not married.
Joseph of the coat of many colors had 4 wives, only one of whom he had any actual intimate feelings for.
King Solomon bedded his two own daughters.
Marriage in the Bible is frequently depicted as a business arrangement, and many loving couples in the Bible were not in fact married. The sanctity of marriage is something the Church made up in direct contrast to the Bible to give men a greater hold over their wives.
What's next? Ah yes. Why don't you ever talk about other things the Bible commands? Such as a father's right to sell his daughter into sexual slavery? Or stone your neighbor to death if he works on the Sabbath? Or how wearing clothing made of any MIXED FABRICS is a greivous sin? I've seen some of the cheap suits you wear Petey, you're certainly guilty of THAT one.
In closing, let me give you a few Bible Verses you ought to go read RIGHT NOW. If you claim to truly be a God-Fearing Christian, go and read what the BIBLE condones, and then tell me how much of it you really want to believe is God's idea.
Bible condoned RAPE.
Murder, rape, and pillage at Jabesh-gilead (Judges 21:10-24 NLT)
Murder, rape and pillage of the Midianites (Numbers 31:7-18 NLT)
More Murder Rape and Pillage (Deuteronomy 20:10-14)
Laws of Rape (Deuteronomy 22:28-29 NLT)
Death to the Rape Victim (Deuteronomy 22:23-24 NAB)
David's Punishment - Polygamy, Rape, Baby Killing, and God's "Forgiveness" (2 Samuel 12:11-14 NAB)
Rape of Female Captives (Deuteronomy 21:10-14 NAB)
(Notice a running theme here being that all these writers are claiming that these deplorable acts are God's wishes. Funny how you never bring up THESE kinds of Bible passages so clearly pro-rape/slavery/theft/murder, but always cite quotes that I've proven have NOTHING to do with what you think they do)
Rape and the Spoils of War (Judges 5:30 NAB)
God Assists Rape and Plunder (Zechariah 14:1-2 NAB)
God-Approved Murder (At least according to the Bible)
Kill People Who Don't Listen to Priests Anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of the judge or of the priest who represents the LORD your God must be put to death. Such evil must be purged from Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:12 NLT)
Kill Witches You should not let a sorceress live. (Exodus 22:17 NAB)
Kill Fortunetellers A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortuneteller shall be put to death by stoning; they have no one but themselves to blame for their death. (Leviticus 20:27 NAB)
Death for Hitting Dad Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death. (Exodus 21:15 NAB)
Death for Cursing Parents 1) If one curses his father or mother, his lamp will go out at the coming of darkness. (Proverbs 20:20 NAB)
2) All who curse their father or mother must be put to death. They are guilty of a capital offense. (Leviticus 20:9 NLT)
Death for Adultery If a man commits adultery with another man's wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10 NLT)
Death for Fornication A priest's daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and thereby dishonors her father also, shall be burned to death. (Leviticus 21:9 NAB)
Death to Followers of Other Religions Whoever sacrifices to any god, except the Lord alone, shall be doomed. (Exodus 22:19 NAB)
Kill Nonbelievers They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. (2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB)
Kill False Prophets If a man still prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall say to him, "You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord." When he prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall thrust him through. (Zechariah 13:3 NAB)
Kill the Entire Town if One Person Worships Another God Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods. In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully. If you find it is true and can prove that such a detestable act has occurred among you, you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock. Then you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the street and burn it. Put the entire town to the torch as a burnt offering to the LORD your God. That town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt. Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction. Then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you. He will have compassion on you and make you a great nation, just as he solemnly promised your ancestors. "The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him." (Deuteronomy 13:13-19 NLT)
Kill Women Who Are Not Virgins On Their Wedding Night But if this charge is true (that she wasn't a virgin on her wedding night), and evidence of the girls virginity is not found, they shall bring the girl to the entrance of her fathers house and there her townsman shall stone her to death, because she committed a crime against Israel by her unchasteness in her father's house. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst. (Deuteronomy 22:20-21 NAB)
Kill Followers of Other Religions. 1) If your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or your beloved wife, or you intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known, gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away, from one end of the earth to the other: do not yield to him or listen to him, nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him, but kill him. Your hand shall be the first raised to slay him; the rest of the people shall join in with you. You shall stone him to death, because he sought to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. And all Israel, hearing of this, shall fear and never do such evil as this in your midst. (Deuteronomy 13:7-12 NAB)
2) Suppose a man or woman among you, in one of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, has done evil in the sight of the LORD your God and has violated the covenant by serving other gods or by worshiping the sun, the moon, or any of the forces of heaven, which I have strictly forbidden. When you hear about it, investigate the matter thoroughly. If it is true that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, then that man or woman must be taken to the gates of the town and stoned to death. (Deuteronomy 17:2-5 NLT)
Death for Blasphemy One day a man who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father got into a fight with one of the Israelite men. During the fight, this son of an Israelite woman blasphemed the LORD's name. So the man was brought to Moses for judgment. His mother's name was Shelomith. She was the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. They put the man in custody until the LORD's will in the matter should become clear. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and tell all those who heard him to lay their hands on his head. Then let the entire community stone him to death. Say to the people of Israel: Those who blaspheme God will suffer the consequences of their guilt and be punished. Anyone who blasphemes the LORD's name must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the LORD's name will surely die. (Leviticus 24:10-16 NLT)
Kill False Prophets 1) Suppose there are prophets among you, or those who have dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles take place. If the prophets then say, 'Come, let us worship the gods of foreign nations,' do not listen to them. The LORD your God is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and soul. Serve only the LORD your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. The false prophets or dreamers who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of slavery in the land of Egypt. Since they try to keep you from following the LORD your God, you must execute them to remove the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 13:1-5 NLT)2) But any prophet who claims to give a message from another god or who falsely claims to speak for me must die.' You may wonder, 'How will we know whether the prophecy is from the LORD or not?' If the prophet predicts something in the LORD's name and it does not happen, the LORD did not give the message. That prophet has spoken on his own and need not be feared. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22 NLT) (Hey! That one applies to folks like you who swore the earth would swallow us whole should Gay marriage ever be condoned. Funny, still waiting on that one.)
Kill Anyone who Approaches the Tabernacle For the LORD had said to Moses, 'Exempt the tribe of Levi from the census; do not include them when you count the rest of the Israelites. You must put the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle of the Covenant, along with its furnishings and equipment. They must carry the Tabernacle and its equipment as you travel, and they must care for it and camp around it. Whenever the Tabernacle is moved, the Levites will take it down and set it up again. Anyone else who goes too near the Tabernacle will be executed.' (Numbers 1:48-51 NLT)
Kill People for Working on the Sabbath The LORD then gave these further instructions to Moses: 'Tell the people of Israel to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you forever. It helps you to remember that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Yes, keep the Sabbath day, for it is holy. Anyone who desecrates it must die; anyone who works on that day will be cut off from the community. Work six days only, but the seventh day must be a day of total rest. I repeat: Because the LORD considers it a holy day, anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death.' (Exodus 31:12-15 NLT)
Funny how many of those murder rules are from Leviticus. And yet you harp on the lie quote ceaselessly. Why do you NEVER discuss all his other decrees? I know why. Because if you truly believed this was GOD'S word, you know you yourself would be worthy of death in God's eyes, as there is NO way you haven't committed at least one of these sins. This above all else proves what a cowardly hypocrite you truly are. You are likely gay and hate it, so you attack other gays falsely in the name of God by using blatant lies and distortions to convince foolish people too afraid to read for themselves to send you money. You sir, are a thief, a liar, a blasphemer, and are most certainly garaunteed a place in the lake of fire for your deplorable misdeeds.
Homosexuality is not condemned by God or Christ but by small fearful cowardly misogynist men like you. It exists in Nature, not just in humans, but in thousands of species, as a population control tool.
I of course, based on your history, fully expect you to either ignore my letter completely, or respond by ignoring any point you cannot argue away and instead insisting my being a lesbian ssomehow automatically negates all these TRUTHS I've offered you because I'm somehow rejecting God. You will blatantly ignore every fact and Bible truth that undermines your hateful position as if they don't exist, and repeat at me your tired nonsense drawn from things that actually DON'T exist.
I dare you to surprise me Peter. Instead of doing as I predict you will, show me there's some trace of intelligence and honesty in that shrivelled hateful black hole you call a soul. Tell me you realize your mistakes and admit openly to all the lies and distortions you spread in God's name falsely.
But you won't, because God is not with you, and you will be as predictable as always and prove your worthlessness in God's eyes by insisting truth and facts are wrong and your lies and distortions are God's wishes and never directly addressing your crimes.
*******************
Somehow Peter, based on your words and your behavior, your underhanded tactics and your one-note defense of those tactics "LALA I can't hear your facts because I';m doing what GOD wants!), I seriously doubt that you've ever actually sat down and thoroughly read the entire Bible. Like all rightwing (not really a) Christian bullies, you constantly parrot a handful of carefully selected quotes you can easily misconstrue while ignoring SO much more you'd never DARE try to justify in today's world, championing a message God never offered to defend deplorable dishonest behavior.
I however, have read the Bible in it's entirity, repeatedly, because unlike you and the fearful naive sheep you prey on with your lies, I prefer to actually educate myself on these matters so I know whereof I speak.
So let me educate you Peter, though I know you lack the moral conviction and courage to hear what I tell you and will very likely reply with smug holier than thou condemnations and your usual twisting of truth into conveniant lies and carefully evading any direct questions by answering questions YOU ask yourself so you never have to honestly answer questions that you know an honest answer to will shoot you in the foot.
So let's learn shall we?
There are 73 books in the Catholic Bible, old and new Testament. Of those 73 books, only 14 contain the actual words of Jesus Christ, and only 7 claim to contain words directly spoken by god.
Of the 14 that pertain directly to Jesus, 12 of those relate the exact same story as told by different people with different points of view.
In NONE of the 14 books of Jesus speaking or the 7 claiming the direct words of God is there ANYTHING that condemns homosexuality. There are in fact only two instances when God or Jesus mention homosexuality at all. Let's first tackle God's only mention.
Sodom was not destroyed because it's inhabitants practised homosexuality. It was destroyed because they were RAPISTS. Bad hosts in a desert city, raping any travellers that passed through, male, female and child alike. That people like you choose erroneously to focus on only the man on man rape is one of the biggest lies your ilk purport. The actual story of Lot makes it very clear that the rapoes the sodomites commited were about power and cruelty, and that when they raped men it had nothing to do with any same-sex attraction but their desire to humiliate their victims by rendering them useless into a woman's role as a man's sexual property. The story makes it VERY clear that the RAPE was what God abhorred, and that the victims of that rape were indiscriminate. Women and children were also raped, but people like you go out of your way to ignore this fact and try falsely to paint it as a story specifically condemning homosexuality when it is nothing of the sort. Why? Because if you acknowledge that it was RAPE God condemned, you give up some of your male privilege by having to acknowledge publicly that God did NOT intend for women to belong to men quite so implicitly, and that women do indeed have a God-Given RIGHT to reject a man's unwanted advances.
Now, let's look at Jesus. Jesus taught social justice, tolerance, acceptance. He taught that it was NOT for man to judge his fellow man, only for God. Another fact you conveniently forget in your hubris of claiming to do God's work. And the only time Jesus ever touched on homosexuality was when his disciple Paul thrice brought it up. Paul, much like many people suspect you to be, was a misogynistic self-hating homosexual. His writings frequently dismiss women as inferior while he laments the thorn in his heart. Three times he asked Jesus to remove the thorn, and always Jesus refused him, because there was nothing wrong with Paul living exactly as God had made him.
Yes Pete, that's JESUS CHRIST his damn self saying "God MADE Paul Gay and there is no sin in it". And Paul refused to accept the word of his Lord and lived a lonely miserable and bitter life, attacking others for his own flaws and treating women like the floor he walked upon.
Now, let'sexamine the other major Bible quote you and your type just love to beat into the ground. That nasty little Leviticus quote.
First of all, let's look at the English language. In the 1500's when the Bible was first translated into English, the words Lie and Lay were NOT interchangable as they have become today. Lay meant only to lay down, and Lie meant only to be dishonest. This is a VERY important distinction because if you know this INDISPUTABLE fact of language, (Lie did not come to have it's double meaning until early in the 20th century, beginning in the Depression with the garbled slang of the uneducated poor), then the meaning of the quote you bleat so much is changed entirely.
Keeping also in mind that King Leviticus was clearly a bitter obsessive misogynest who like so many writers of the Bible believed women were not even people and existed to be the sexual property of men at men's whim, the quote,
"Thou shall not lie with man as thou lie with women, for it is an abomination",
A quote that you insist is a condemnation of gay men, has nothing at all to do with gayness or sex. It's about dishonesty. It's the Bible's version of "Bros before hos dude!". The quote means simply since women are just property, lie to them all you like, but never to your fellow man.
Oh and one final very important note about King Leviticus; He was just a man, and never claimed to be speaking for God. He just lied and claimed to personally know what God supposedly told Moses so his people would fear him and obey. The laws and rules Leviticus spoke oif were his own, NOT God's. God clearly never wished for woman to be subjugated by men.
On to lesbians. Never mentioned once. Anywhere. NOT ONE SINGLE MENTION. Therefore God has no opinion about us at all. And as for Trans folk? Your own Namesake Peter. The APOSTLE Peter. He speaks of eunichs who act as if women and he does so with kindness and compassion. Such a pity you're too much the shallow bullying coward to live up to the sainted apostle for whom you were named.
Oh, one last lesson. Your "Sanctity of Marriage" crap? Not according to the Bible.
Mary and Joseph were not married.
Joseph of the coat of many colors had 4 wives, only one of whom he had any actual intimate feelings for.
King Solomon bedded his two own daughters.
Marriage in the Bible is frequently depicted as a business arrangement, and many loving couples in the Bible were not in fact married. The sanctity of marriage is something the Church made up in direct contrast to the Bible to give men a greater hold over their wives.
What's next? Ah yes. Why don't you ever talk about other things the Bible commands? Such as a father's right to sell his daughter into sexual slavery? Or stone your neighbor to death if he works on the Sabbath? Or how wearing clothing made of any MIXED FABRICS is a greivous sin? I've seen some of the cheap suits you wear Petey, you're certainly guilty of THAT one.
In closing, let me give you a few Bible Verses you ought to go read RIGHT NOW. If you claim to truly be a God-Fearing Christian, go and read what the BIBLE condones, and then tell me how much of it you really want to believe is God's idea.
Bible condoned RAPE.
Murder, rape, and pillage at Jabesh-gilead (Judges 21:10-24 NLT)
Murder, rape and pillage of the Midianites (Numbers 31:7-18 NLT)
More Murder Rape and Pillage (Deuteronomy 20:10-14)
Laws of Rape (Deuteronomy 22:28-29 NLT)
Death to the Rape Victim (Deuteronomy 22:23-24 NAB)
David's Punishment - Polygamy, Rape, Baby Killing, and God's "Forgiveness" (2 Samuel 12:11-14 NAB)
Rape of Female Captives (Deuteronomy 21:10-14 NAB)
(Notice a running theme here being that all these writers are claiming that these deplorable acts are God's wishes. Funny how you never bring up THESE kinds of Bible passages so clearly pro-rape/slavery/theft/murder, but always cite quotes that I've proven have NOTHING to do with what you think they do)
Rape and the Spoils of War (Judges 5:30 NAB)
God Assists Rape and Plunder (Zechariah 14:1-2 NAB)
God-Approved Murder (At least according to the Bible)
Kill People Who Don't Listen to Priests Anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of the judge or of the priest who represents the LORD your God must be put to death. Such evil must be purged from Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:12 NLT)
Kill Witches You should not let a sorceress live. (Exodus 22:17 NAB)
Kill Fortunetellers A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortuneteller shall be put to death by stoning; they have no one but themselves to blame for their death. (Leviticus 20:27 NAB)
Death for Hitting Dad Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death. (Exodus 21:15 NAB)
Death for Cursing Parents 1) If one curses his father or mother, his lamp will go out at the coming of darkness. (Proverbs 20:20 NAB)
2) All who curse their father or mother must be put to death. They are guilty of a capital offense. (Leviticus 20:9 NLT)
Death for Adultery If a man commits adultery with another man's wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10 NLT)
Death for Fornication A priest's daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and thereby dishonors her father also, shall be burned to death. (Leviticus 21:9 NAB)
Death to Followers of Other Religions Whoever sacrifices to any god, except the Lord alone, shall be doomed. (Exodus 22:19 NAB)
Kill Nonbelievers They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. (2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB)
Kill False Prophets If a man still prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall say to him, "You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord." When he prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall thrust him through. (Zechariah 13:3 NAB)
Kill the Entire Town if One Person Worships Another God Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods. In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully. If you find it is true and can prove that such a detestable act has occurred among you, you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock. Then you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the street and burn it. Put the entire town to the torch as a burnt offering to the LORD your God. That town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt. Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction. Then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you. He will have compassion on you and make you a great nation, just as he solemnly promised your ancestors. "The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him." (Deuteronomy 13:13-19 NLT)
Kill Women Who Are Not Virgins On Their Wedding Night But if this charge is true (that she wasn't a virgin on her wedding night), and evidence of the girls virginity is not found, they shall bring the girl to the entrance of her fathers house and there her townsman shall stone her to death, because she committed a crime against Israel by her unchasteness in her father's house. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst. (Deuteronomy 22:20-21 NAB)
Kill Followers of Other Religions. 1) If your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or your beloved wife, or you intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known, gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away, from one end of the earth to the other: do not yield to him or listen to him, nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him, but kill him. Your hand shall be the first raised to slay him; the rest of the people shall join in with you. You shall stone him to death, because he sought to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. And all Israel, hearing of this, shall fear and never do such evil as this in your midst. (Deuteronomy 13:7-12 NAB)
2) Suppose a man or woman among you, in one of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, has done evil in the sight of the LORD your God and has violated the covenant by serving other gods or by worshiping the sun, the moon, or any of the forces of heaven, which I have strictly forbidden. When you hear about it, investigate the matter thoroughly. If it is true that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, then that man or woman must be taken to the gates of the town and stoned to death. (Deuteronomy 17:2-5 NLT)
Death for Blasphemy One day a man who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father got into a fight with one of the Israelite men. During the fight, this son of an Israelite woman blasphemed the LORD's name. So the man was brought to Moses for judgment. His mother's name was Shelomith. She was the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. They put the man in custody until the LORD's will in the matter should become clear. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and tell all those who heard him to lay their hands on his head. Then let the entire community stone him to death. Say to the people of Israel: Those who blaspheme God will suffer the consequences of their guilt and be punished. Anyone who blasphemes the LORD's name must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the LORD's name will surely die. (Leviticus 24:10-16 NLT)
Kill False Prophets 1) Suppose there are prophets among you, or those who have dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles take place. If the prophets then say, 'Come, let us worship the gods of foreign nations,' do not listen to them. The LORD your God is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and soul. Serve only the LORD your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. The false prophets or dreamers who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of slavery in the land of Egypt. Since they try to keep you from following the LORD your God, you must execute them to remove the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 13:1-5 NLT)2) But any prophet who claims to give a message from another god or who falsely claims to speak for me must die.' You may wonder, 'How will we know whether the prophecy is from the LORD or not?' If the prophet predicts something in the LORD's name and it does not happen, the LORD did not give the message. That prophet has spoken on his own and need not be feared. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22 NLT) (Hey! That one applies to folks like you who swore the earth would swallow us whole should Gay marriage ever be condoned. Funny, still waiting on that one.)
Kill Anyone who Approaches the Tabernacle For the LORD had said to Moses, 'Exempt the tribe of Levi from the census; do not include them when you count the rest of the Israelites. You must put the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle of the Covenant, along with its furnishings and equipment. They must carry the Tabernacle and its equipment as you travel, and they must care for it and camp around it. Whenever the Tabernacle is moved, the Levites will take it down and set it up again. Anyone else who goes too near the Tabernacle will be executed.' (Numbers 1:48-51 NLT)
Kill People for Working on the Sabbath The LORD then gave these further instructions to Moses: 'Tell the people of Israel to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you forever. It helps you to remember that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Yes, keep the Sabbath day, for it is holy. Anyone who desecrates it must die; anyone who works on that day will be cut off from the community. Work six days only, but the seventh day must be a day of total rest. I repeat: Because the LORD considers it a holy day, anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death.' (Exodus 31:12-15 NLT)
Funny how many of those murder rules are from Leviticus. And yet you harp on the lie quote ceaselessly. Why do you NEVER discuss all his other decrees? I know why. Because if you truly believed this was GOD'S word, you know you yourself would be worthy of death in God's eyes, as there is NO way you haven't committed at least one of these sins. This above all else proves what a cowardly hypocrite you truly are. You are likely gay and hate it, so you attack other gays falsely in the name of God by using blatant lies and distortions to convince foolish people too afraid to read for themselves to send you money. You sir, are a thief, a liar, a blasphemer, and are most certainly garaunteed a place in the lake of fire for your deplorable misdeeds.
Homosexuality is not condemned by God or Christ but by small fearful cowardly misogynist men like you. It exists in Nature, not just in humans, but in thousands of species, as a population control tool.
I of course, based on your history, fully expect you to either ignore my letter completely, or respond by ignoring any point you cannot argue away and instead insisting my being a lesbian ssomehow automatically negates all these TRUTHS I've offered you because I'm somehow rejecting God. You will blatantly ignore every fact and Bible truth that undermines your hateful position as if they don't exist, and repeat at me your tired nonsense drawn from things that actually DON'T exist.
I dare you to surprise me Peter. Instead of doing as I predict you will, show me there's some trace of intelligence and honesty in that shrivelled hateful black hole you call a soul. Tell me you realize your mistakes and admit openly to all the lies and distortions you spread in God's name falsely.
But you won't, because God is not with you, and you will be as predictable as always and prove your worthlessness in God's eyes by insisting truth and facts are wrong and your lies and distortions are God's wishes and never directly addressing your crimes.
8/29/2009
About Hedon; Wedding Vows
The vows for a Hedon Circle Binding.
(All parties actually being bound strip completely nude, though this is NOT obligatory. The Shaman or a Priestess presides, telling each party what to say and do. If only two parties, they join hands completely, if 3 or more, they hold hands in a circle. The person to the immediate left of the Shaman/Priestess goes First. The first party speaks the first sentence, beginning with an id and a declaration of their willingness to be here)
- My name is (Your full name here), and I stand here of my own will and choice.
(Other party or parties, in clockwise order from the first, repeat)
- I stand here, naked and vulnerable, before all who may be present and in the gaze of Hedon, Mother of all things, nothing to hide, my heart exposed.
(Again, this is repeated Clockwise)
- The Circle of my heart has many links in it's chain, and this day I add one more, as I declare my eternal love and need for (State all relevant names)
(Repeated again)
- I add you to the Circle of my heart, equal among all whom I love, cherished and desired, no one loved more, no one loved less, all loved equally yet differently. I add you to my family, and to my protection, guidance, support and companionship.
(Repeated again)
- (State relevant first names), I give to your for all time a piece of my living heart. It belongs now to you, an eternal part of the whole of my being. I trust you with this sliver of my heart and soul, and have faith in you not to wound it with lies, deceit or malice.
(Repeated Again)
- With all this vowed, sworn before my Goddess and my heart, I share with you my blood, and to your heart I thus forever bind.
(Each person, after stating THIS sentence, pricks their left ring finger with a pin, and lets each love in the binding taste a droplet)
- (State Relevant names one last time), now and forever, my wife, my sister, my lover, my friend, I love you and always will, no matter how much our circle grows or shrinks.
(The ceremony concludes, all involved are now married in the Circle of the Heart.
(All parties actually being bound strip completely nude, though this is NOT obligatory. The Shaman or a Priestess presides, telling each party what to say and do. If only two parties, they join hands completely, if 3 or more, they hold hands in a circle. The person to the immediate left of the Shaman/Priestess goes First. The first party speaks the first sentence, beginning with an id and a declaration of their willingness to be here)
- My name is (Your full name here), and I stand here of my own will and choice.
(Other party or parties, in clockwise order from the first, repeat)
- I stand here, naked and vulnerable, before all who may be present and in the gaze of Hedon, Mother of all things, nothing to hide, my heart exposed.
(Again, this is repeated Clockwise)
- The Circle of my heart has many links in it's chain, and this day I add one more, as I declare my eternal love and need for (State all relevant names)
(Repeated again)
- I add you to the Circle of my heart, equal among all whom I love, cherished and desired, no one loved more, no one loved less, all loved equally yet differently. I add you to my family, and to my protection, guidance, support and companionship.
(Repeated again)
- (State relevant first names), I give to your for all time a piece of my living heart. It belongs now to you, an eternal part of the whole of my being. I trust you with this sliver of my heart and soul, and have faith in you not to wound it with lies, deceit or malice.
(Repeated Again)
- With all this vowed, sworn before my Goddess and my heart, I share with you my blood, and to your heart I thus forever bind.
(Each person, after stating THIS sentence, pricks their left ring finger with a pin, and lets each love in the binding taste a droplet)
- (State Relevant names one last time), now and forever, my wife, my sister, my lover, my friend, I love you and always will, no matter how much our circle grows or shrinks.
(The ceremony concludes, all involved are now married in the Circle of the Heart.
About Hedon; Our Holidays
Hedon celebrates only four official holidays. Other celebrations focus on Circling parties, (Think Wedding reception), birthdays, and Rememory, (a wake celebrating the deceased's life).
But the 4 official Hedon holidays are as follows.
The Green Womb
- Held every February 28th to March 2nd. Hedon "New Year" for lack of a better term. A celebration of the Green (Nature) Waking from it's sleep, giving new life to the world. It's also a celebration of the gift of love, be it romantic or familial.
The Long Light
- A 3 day festival from June 13th to 15th, celebrating the dawning of summer. A time to cherish family and revel in appreciation of the gifts of being alive.
The Shadowed Souls' Festival
- Running from October 28th to November third, this is an 8 day festival of many points. You could think of it as a union of Remembrance Day/Veteran's Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the Day of the Dead. Shadowed Souls celebrates the continuing cycle of the Green as it prepares to sleep going into winter, when the world dreams it's dusk and the Green rests until spring. It's a time for cherishing your living family and honoring those no longer with us.
The Winter Harvest
- A symbolic harvest, held from December 23rd to 28th, wherein we "harvest" the love we've sown all year, with our lovers, our family, and our Circle. We sow the seeds of this love all year in the kindness and affection we give our cherished ones, and come the Harvest we reap that love in a time of joy and giving.
But the 4 official Hedon holidays are as follows.
The Green Womb
- Held every February 28th to March 2nd. Hedon "New Year" for lack of a better term. A celebration of the Green (Nature) Waking from it's sleep, giving new life to the world. It's also a celebration of the gift of love, be it romantic or familial.
The Long Light
- A 3 day festival from June 13th to 15th, celebrating the dawning of summer. A time to cherish family and revel in appreciation of the gifts of being alive.
The Shadowed Souls' Festival
- Running from October 28th to November third, this is an 8 day festival of many points. You could think of it as a union of Remembrance Day/Veteran's Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the Day of the Dead. Shadowed Souls celebrates the continuing cycle of the Green as it prepares to sleep going into winter, when the world dreams it's dusk and the Green rests until spring. It's a time for cherishing your living family and honoring those no longer with us.
The Winter Harvest
- A symbolic harvest, held from December 23rd to 28th, wherein we "harvest" the love we've sown all year, with our lovers, our family, and our Circle. We sow the seeds of this love all year in the kindness and affection we give our cherished ones, and come the Harvest we reap that love in a time of joy and giving.
About Hedon; Views On The Other Views
VII; Hedon's Stances
On War; There is no justifiable reason to pick a fight. Never START a war, but never surrender if your home and family is being bullied. Fighting back is acceptable to survive. The Blood Night proved that.
On Christianity; No repression ever serves a constructive purpose. Used too often to hurt and control. Generally best avoided if possible. Granted there are some very good and noble Christians in the world who find the good in the religion and live by it, but sadly they aren't the ones most people encounter. Christianity's public face is worn by small-minded bullies who don't understand the nature of what they claim to serve. Avoid the loud bullying Christians, and open your heart to the kind ones.
On Islam; The oppression and abuse of women as non-entities existing only to serve men is enshrined in it's principles. Best avoided if possible. Again, I've met and loved good wise Muslim people who find the good in the religion and live by it, and these are people worth knowing, but the bullies of Islam who abuse the faith without ever understanding it are far more dangerous than those of Christianity, and finding yourself at odds with an extremist could get you killed.
On Judaism; As a people they've suffered horribly, as a religion they're not much different from Christianity. Used their faith to justify stealing an entire country because an antique storybook says God wanted them to have it. Sympathy for their persecution by others should not excuse their own persecution oF others. So to Hedon, they're not a race, just people following another religion. No better or worse than any other human, and no more deserving of special status above other people than anyone else is. Treat like any other normal human being.
On Buhddism; A nice peaceful religion I respect, aside of it's negative stance on Homosexuality.
On Hinduism; I've never been verbally assailed on a street corner or condemned to eternal damnation by any Hindu I ever met. Plus their gods just look really cool. I'm well aware that many Sihks are disgusted by varying sexualities and such but they're far more private about it, there are no Hindu/Sihk organizations dedicated solely to restricting homosexual rights. There's no Sihk Fred Phelps picketing funerals. So I have no issues with them, they can be a very beautiful faith.
On Kabbalah; A fad as far as I can tell, based on a real faith being perverted by bored celebrities.
On Scientology; I personally proved Scientology a fraud a few years ago, and any religion founded on a dare and based on a fiction novel isn't ever to be taken seriously. L. Ron Hubbard was a consumate bullshitter, who founded Scientology because Steve Allen bet him he couldn't create a religion on the Tonight show half a century ago. His life was a constant string of bullshit stories and it's resulted in a creepy greedy dangerous cult. And if you don't believe me about L. Ron, go read THIS.
On the Mormons; Mormonism is utter bullshit, founded by a creep who fooled near an entire town into believing God gave him silver tablets ordering men to have multiple wives, which of course mysteriously disintegrated before anyone else could see them. It's the bad joke of Christianity that even the Vatican mocks and laughs at.
On Gor; See above. Also, ew ew ew ew ew. Avoid at all costs, hopefully without vomiting. Also, ew. The fact this bullshit is becoming a real way of life perverts the love and trust that true BDSM is built on, and is everything the ignorant fear about BDSM that real BDSM has never been.
On Televangelism; Ugh, just Ugh. Nothing but greasy white people sucking money from the wallets of stupid people.
On Religion in Politics; Why should Religion be kept very far away from politics? Two reasons. 1) George W. Bush. 2) Iraq.
On Orgies; Not a healthy expression of sex unless everyone present cares about each other. Even then, they're rarely a good idea with good results. Not discouraged so much as just not recommended.
On Monogamy; Not a natural state for human beings honestly but if it feels right to you it's fine with us.
On Bigamy/Polygamy Versus Polyamory; Bigamy/Polygamy is a patriarchal man marrying several women to subjugate for his selfish needs. Polyamory is a group of PEOPLE, of any sex, freely and truly all equally loving and caring for one another. There is a HUGE difference.
On HedonISM; As stated at the begininng, Hedonism is a bullshit philosophy of "Pleasure comes first" that's nothing more than an excuse for rich people to fly to the Caribean every summer to have orgies at tropical resorts.
On Pornography; It isn't always exploitative, and so long as everyone involved is freely choosing to do so, willing, and enjoying their work, there's nothing wrong with it. Once you start doing it to express violence or disrespectful depictions of nature's greatest pleasure, or performing to feed a drug habit, you've crossed the line into visual poison.
On Drugs; Marijuana isn't a drug. It's a healing herb. Mushrooms grow naturally. Those are acceptable. Theraputic and legal medications are fine, in moderation. Anything illegal that requires a lot of processing and can KILL you? Stay away from it.
On Sex Education; We're for it. Teach our kids not to be fucking idiots. STD's will drop heavily if we just stop being so damned repressed about talking to our children.
On Transsexuality; Nature can screw up, mostly due to Man's meddling with it. If you're a woman, regardless of having a male body, or vice-versa, then BE who you are, and fix it however you need to physically to feel right.
On Abortion; Wouldn't be neccessary at all if not for religious sexual repression and rape. Personally I believe it's only acceptable if you were raped, but prefer it be an absolute last resort. The Hedon stance is that your body is your own, and so is the choice, but it's a choice you should NEVER make unless there really IS no other choice. If you're pregnant solely because you were stupid enough to not use protection and don't want a child, let it be adopted.
On Homosexuality; No such thing. There's only who you love. Homosexuality is a myth created by Religion to segregate people they view as lesser. Same-Sex attraction is a neccessity in nature, you can find it in most species. It's a population control tool. It's SUPPOSED to exist.
(Side note; I love how before it was widely known that animals have Gay Sex, Christians cited Gay was evil because only humans did it, and it wasn't anywhere else in nature. Now that it's commonly known that animals have gay sex, suddenly gay sex is wrong BECAUSE animals do it and humans are supposed to be "Better than that". Hypocrites.)
Well, there it is. I've done my part for you, I've given you another option. What you choose to do with what you've read is completely up to you, whether that means you choose to believe or choose to call it garbage. The choice was always yours, and always should be.
The Mother's Love Warm you. Go in Peace.
- Penny Sautereau-Fife, Shaman Of Hedon.
On War; There is no justifiable reason to pick a fight. Never START a war, but never surrender if your home and family is being bullied. Fighting back is acceptable to survive. The Blood Night proved that.
On Christianity; No repression ever serves a constructive purpose. Used too often to hurt and control. Generally best avoided if possible. Granted there are some very good and noble Christians in the world who find the good in the religion and live by it, but sadly they aren't the ones most people encounter. Christianity's public face is worn by small-minded bullies who don't understand the nature of what they claim to serve. Avoid the loud bullying Christians, and open your heart to the kind ones.
On Islam; The oppression and abuse of women as non-entities existing only to serve men is enshrined in it's principles. Best avoided if possible. Again, I've met and loved good wise Muslim people who find the good in the religion and live by it, and these are people worth knowing, but the bullies of Islam who abuse the faith without ever understanding it are far more dangerous than those of Christianity, and finding yourself at odds with an extremist could get you killed.
On Judaism; As a people they've suffered horribly, as a religion they're not much different from Christianity. Used their faith to justify stealing an entire country because an antique storybook says God wanted them to have it. Sympathy for their persecution by others should not excuse their own persecution oF others. So to Hedon, they're not a race, just people following another religion. No better or worse than any other human, and no more deserving of special status above other people than anyone else is. Treat like any other normal human being.
On Buhddism; A nice peaceful religion I respect, aside of it's negative stance on Homosexuality.
On Hinduism; I've never been verbally assailed on a street corner or condemned to eternal damnation by any Hindu I ever met. Plus their gods just look really cool. I'm well aware that many Sihks are disgusted by varying sexualities and such but they're far more private about it, there are no Hindu/Sihk organizations dedicated solely to restricting homosexual rights. There's no Sihk Fred Phelps picketing funerals. So I have no issues with them, they can be a very beautiful faith.
On Kabbalah; A fad as far as I can tell, based on a real faith being perverted by bored celebrities.
On Scientology; I personally proved Scientology a fraud a few years ago, and any religion founded on a dare and based on a fiction novel isn't ever to be taken seriously. L. Ron Hubbard was a consumate bullshitter, who founded Scientology because Steve Allen bet him he couldn't create a religion on the Tonight show half a century ago. His life was a constant string of bullshit stories and it's resulted in a creepy greedy dangerous cult. And if you don't believe me about L. Ron, go read THIS.
On the Mormons; Mormonism is utter bullshit, founded by a creep who fooled near an entire town into believing God gave him silver tablets ordering men to have multiple wives, which of course mysteriously disintegrated before anyone else could see them. It's the bad joke of Christianity that even the Vatican mocks and laughs at.
On Gor; See above. Also, ew ew ew ew ew. Avoid at all costs, hopefully without vomiting. Also, ew. The fact this bullshit is becoming a real way of life perverts the love and trust that true BDSM is built on, and is everything the ignorant fear about BDSM that real BDSM has never been.
On Televangelism; Ugh, just Ugh. Nothing but greasy white people sucking money from the wallets of stupid people.
On Religion in Politics; Why should Religion be kept very far away from politics? Two reasons. 1) George W. Bush. 2) Iraq.
On Orgies; Not a healthy expression of sex unless everyone present cares about each other. Even then, they're rarely a good idea with good results. Not discouraged so much as just not recommended.
On Monogamy; Not a natural state for human beings honestly but if it feels right to you it's fine with us.
On Bigamy/Polygamy Versus Polyamory; Bigamy/Polygamy is a patriarchal man marrying several women to subjugate for his selfish needs. Polyamory is a group of PEOPLE, of any sex, freely and truly all equally loving and caring for one another. There is a HUGE difference.
On HedonISM; As stated at the begininng, Hedonism is a bullshit philosophy of "Pleasure comes first" that's nothing more than an excuse for rich people to fly to the Caribean every summer to have orgies at tropical resorts.
On Pornography; It isn't always exploitative, and so long as everyone involved is freely choosing to do so, willing, and enjoying their work, there's nothing wrong with it. Once you start doing it to express violence or disrespectful depictions of nature's greatest pleasure, or performing to feed a drug habit, you've crossed the line into visual poison.
On Drugs; Marijuana isn't a drug. It's a healing herb. Mushrooms grow naturally. Those are acceptable. Theraputic and legal medications are fine, in moderation. Anything illegal that requires a lot of processing and can KILL you? Stay away from it.
On Sex Education; We're for it. Teach our kids not to be fucking idiots. STD's will drop heavily if we just stop being so damned repressed about talking to our children.
On Transsexuality; Nature can screw up, mostly due to Man's meddling with it. If you're a woman, regardless of having a male body, or vice-versa, then BE who you are, and fix it however you need to physically to feel right.
On Abortion; Wouldn't be neccessary at all if not for religious sexual repression and rape. Personally I believe it's only acceptable if you were raped, but prefer it be an absolute last resort. The Hedon stance is that your body is your own, and so is the choice, but it's a choice you should NEVER make unless there really IS no other choice. If you're pregnant solely because you were stupid enough to not use protection and don't want a child, let it be adopted.
On Homosexuality; No such thing. There's only who you love. Homosexuality is a myth created by Religion to segregate people they view as lesser. Same-Sex attraction is a neccessity in nature, you can find it in most species. It's a population control tool. It's SUPPOSED to exist.
(Side note; I love how before it was widely known that animals have Gay Sex, Christians cited Gay was evil because only humans did it, and it wasn't anywhere else in nature. Now that it's commonly known that animals have gay sex, suddenly gay sex is wrong BECAUSE animals do it and humans are supposed to be "Better than that". Hypocrites.)
Well, there it is. I've done my part for you, I've given you another option. What you choose to do with what you've read is completely up to you, whether that means you choose to believe or choose to call it garbage. The choice was always yours, and always should be.
The Mother's Love Warm you. Go in Peace.
- Penny Sautereau-Fife, Shaman Of Hedon.
About Hedon; Other Matters
V; Hedon Customs
- Hedon has no church, only it's symbolic Temple and, fates be kind, a temple in the real world someday. This Temple is not for worship either, it's a gathering place for community, a place to meet and talk, share ideas and stories, potluck community meals, make friends, and find a place to feel you belong. But there is no Mass, no sunday service. At best the Shaman or a Priestess may occasionally speak to those gathered about Hedon, telling the stories that once made a community a wondrous place. But every faith has it's customs, every people it's traditions. Some I have decided aren't needed or relevant in today's world as they were in the old home, but there are those that still matter.
A Circle Binding; A wedding of sorts. When you meet someone you fall in love with, and wish to declare to all that another link has been forged in the chain that represents the Circle Of Your Heart, a Circle Binding is performed to "Marry" that person permanently into your polyamory. It's a siimple ceremony, done in the nude, repeating vows offered by the Shaman or a Priestess, to declare before Hedon and all present that you love each other.
Sexual Healing; No, not the Marvin Gaye song. Sex is a powerful tool, an act that creates energy, and in the right hands, it can be used to heal most any hurt that weighs on your heart, and even ease some physical ailments. It isn't something to be abused, or used frivolously in this context, as there are MANY other methods to heal, but it IS a choice.
Communal Cuddling; Simply as it sounds. Cuddling non-sexually with those around you. A simple warm hug does wonders.
VI; Hedon Terms
Hedon; The Goddess, a Trinity that watches her children.
The Mother; Hedon's nurturing aspect, the Mother of All Things, who guides us with love and compassion.
The Lover; Hedon's passionate aspect, the Lover of ALL Good, who helps us appreciate passion and life, who shows us how to live with zeal and joy.
The Walker; Hedon's masculine aspect, the Walker of the Wolves, who watches and teaches, protects and shows us how to mind the world around us.
The Mother's Love Warm you; A common Hedon farewell, said to one you care for dearly when you part company at any time, meant to express a desire that your loved ones are always warm in their heart.
Be Well & Safe; Another common farewell, a more generalized term expressing a wish for those you meet to be healthy and free of harm.
Loved Be; A term of affection, usually reserved for those you share your heart with intimately.
Circle Of The Heart; the circle of lovers with whom you share your deepest love in your heart, wives and husbands for lack of a better term, or boyfriends and girlfriends. Basically the Heart-Circle is everyone you are in love with.
The Fallen; Our slaughtered ancestors. Always remember them.
The Dreamers; Those who dream of Hedon, who already live their lives in the Hedon way but can't put a name to what they feel.
The Blood Night; The night they came and killed us all.
The Lost; My wife believes the Walkers did in fact manage to save a few children during the Slaughter and flee the isle. In her dreams she remembers it. The lost are those who would have been secretly taught about Hedon from birth, waiting for the return.
The Birthplace; The Island near Greece we believe was once Hedon.
The Green; Nature, the natural world, plants and animals.
- Hedon has no church, only it's symbolic Temple and, fates be kind, a temple in the real world someday. This Temple is not for worship either, it's a gathering place for community, a place to meet and talk, share ideas and stories, potluck community meals, make friends, and find a place to feel you belong. But there is no Mass, no sunday service. At best the Shaman or a Priestess may occasionally speak to those gathered about Hedon, telling the stories that once made a community a wondrous place. But every faith has it's customs, every people it's traditions. Some I have decided aren't needed or relevant in today's world as they were in the old home, but there are those that still matter.
A Circle Binding; A wedding of sorts. When you meet someone you fall in love with, and wish to declare to all that another link has been forged in the chain that represents the Circle Of Your Heart, a Circle Binding is performed to "Marry" that person permanently into your polyamory. It's a siimple ceremony, done in the nude, repeating vows offered by the Shaman or a Priestess, to declare before Hedon and all present that you love each other.
Sexual Healing; No, not the Marvin Gaye song. Sex is a powerful tool, an act that creates energy, and in the right hands, it can be used to heal most any hurt that weighs on your heart, and even ease some physical ailments. It isn't something to be abused, or used frivolously in this context, as there are MANY other methods to heal, but it IS a choice.
Communal Cuddling; Simply as it sounds. Cuddling non-sexually with those around you. A simple warm hug does wonders.
VI; Hedon Terms
Hedon; The Goddess, a Trinity that watches her children.
The Mother; Hedon's nurturing aspect, the Mother of All Things, who guides us with love and compassion.
The Lover; Hedon's passionate aspect, the Lover of ALL Good, who helps us appreciate passion and life, who shows us how to live with zeal and joy.
The Walker; Hedon's masculine aspect, the Walker of the Wolves, who watches and teaches, protects and shows us how to mind the world around us.
The Mother's Love Warm you; A common Hedon farewell, said to one you care for dearly when you part company at any time, meant to express a desire that your loved ones are always warm in their heart.
Be Well & Safe; Another common farewell, a more generalized term expressing a wish for those you meet to be healthy and free of harm.
Loved Be; A term of affection, usually reserved for those you share your heart with intimately.
Circle Of The Heart; the circle of lovers with whom you share your deepest love in your heart, wives and husbands for lack of a better term, or boyfriends and girlfriends. Basically the Heart-Circle is everyone you are in love with.
The Fallen; Our slaughtered ancestors. Always remember them.
The Dreamers; Those who dream of Hedon, who already live their lives in the Hedon way but can't put a name to what they feel.
The Blood Night; The night they came and killed us all.
The Lost; My wife believes the Walkers did in fact manage to save a few children during the Slaughter and flee the isle. In her dreams she remembers it. The lost are those who would have been secretly taught about Hedon from birth, waiting for the return.
The Birthplace; The Island near Greece we believe was once Hedon.
The Green; Nature, the natural world, plants and animals.
About Hedon; Precepts And Tenets
III; The Precepts of Hedon
Precepts are guidelines, not absolute rules. These are Hedon's suggestions for living a good life. Unlike the Tenets which follow this section, the precepts are not absolutes.
Precept I; A true heart needs no rewards.
- This is to say that you ought to help people for the sake of helping them, not to get something for it. If someone offers you a reward however there is no ill intent in politely accepting it. If a reward is offered freely there is no reason to be rude and decline, unless the reward is greater than the giver can afford to give, in which case you should always decline politely. But you never ever should ASK for remuneration.
Precept II; Care for those around you.
- This is to say that the people you meet and live around are living breathing feeling creatures like yourself, and should be treated kindly, without excess or insincerity. And only until they treat you with malice or unkindness, after which you need only be civil and otherwise ignore them.
Precept III; Care for yourself.
- This is to say that your own body is a gift, and you should at least try to keep it cared for and working well. (The precept I myself have the hardest time living up to).
Precept IV; Share your talents.
- This is to say if you are good at something, truly good at it, don't hide it. If you can paint let your paintings be seen. If you can cook feed the hungry. If you can sing soothe the weary. A talent is not a treasure to be hidden away, it's a tool to make other people feel better, and through doing so make yourself feel good.
Precept V; Give as good as you get.
- This is to say that you should try not to be selfish, and when someone gives you joy, be it through a gift, a service, or even sex, you should at least attempt to give joy in kind. It's best to spread joy, not hoard it. There's no joy in being alone because you were selfish.
IV; Tenets of Hedon
Tenets are rules, of which Hedon has few, but what few it has are considered absolutes, and must be at least attempted to be adhered to. Tenets are the foundation for a good life as Hedon views it. You are only obligated to follow the Tenets if you believe.
Tenet I; Respect The Green.
- The world around you sustains you. It gives you the food you eat and the clothes you wear. Respect the Green, care for it, protect it. There are few things more selfish and destructive than hunting for sport, killing for unnecessary fashion, or destroying chunks of forest for a mansion or a mini-mall. Take from the Green only what you need, and protect the rest.
Tenet II; Respect Life.
- The people around you may frustrate you. They may be sheep who bleat at you to believe only what they believe, trod on your rights, and abuse you for being different, but they are still alive, and it is that life, not their abuse, that you must respect. Killing for ANY reason but survival is wrong, as is arbitrarily hurting someone. However...
Tenet III; Respect Yourself.
- That does not mean you should be a meek mousey carpet, turning the other cheek and letting the sheep trample you. You should always stand up for your right to be who you are, even if it's as simple as saying "Look, shut up. I don't tell you what to believe, kindly keep your nose out of what I believe. It is not your place or right to convert me." Then just walk away. Also this means to take pride in what you accomplish. You're born with the tools you use to succeed, and unlike some deities, Hedon doesn't need or want to be thanked and given all the credit for everything you do.
Tenet IV; Cause No Trauma.
- Sex is among the most wonderful things in nature, and any religion that villifies the free expression of it is trying to dominate you. Be open with your sexuality without being excessive, and NEVER use sex as a weapon. Sex is an act of affection and intimacy. To use sex to hurt or control someone is beneath contempt and beyond reprehensible. Also, just normal every day behavior should never be designed to hurt. Words can be weapons, always mind how you wield them. Even words should only slice in self-defense. Above all else, this means protect and respect children. Do not hide truths about sex from them, but NEVER foist sex upon them. No adult should EVER touch a child for sexual ends.
Tenet V; Keep Love Unchained.
- Love is what makes life worth having, be it loving your family, your children, your friends, the ones you're IN love with, your pets, your work, your home, it doesn't matter. Love is the most positive healing force in existence, and without going to, pardon the phrase, "hippy extremes" of running around trying to hug everyone you meet, show love in everything you do, be it growing a garden, building a home, helping a stranger in need, and especially in relating to your Family and your Circle. Hate is a poison, leave poison to the big leagues, they're so good at it. Cure that poison with love, and NEVER let anyone restrain your love.
Tenet VI; Condemn Action, Not Belief.
- It is the right or place of NO ONE on this earth to judge or condemn. I freely admit I loathe Christianity and Islam the RELIGIONS, but I never pass judgment on those who believe in it, or even on how cruelly a few very loud ones can act making the millions of decent ones look bad. But I never try to tell a Christian it's wrong for them to be a Christian, and most Christians actually are decent, non-judgmental people who take the good from the Bible and live by it. That tolerance does not extend the the small percentage of loudmouths who think they represent Christians everywhere and bellow loudly their ignorant judgments, using their beliefs to hurt others. Condemn a person for how they behave, not what they believe. And unless your life or safety or that of your loved ones is directly threatened, keep that condemnation limited to "You're a horrible bitter person, may your god forgive your malice", and just walk away. Nothing is served by arguing with a zealot, but never walk away without telling them they ARE one.
Precepts are guidelines, not absolute rules. These are Hedon's suggestions for living a good life. Unlike the Tenets which follow this section, the precepts are not absolutes.
Precept I; A true heart needs no rewards.
- This is to say that you ought to help people for the sake of helping them, not to get something for it. If someone offers you a reward however there is no ill intent in politely accepting it. If a reward is offered freely there is no reason to be rude and decline, unless the reward is greater than the giver can afford to give, in which case you should always decline politely. But you never ever should ASK for remuneration.
Precept II; Care for those around you.
- This is to say that the people you meet and live around are living breathing feeling creatures like yourself, and should be treated kindly, without excess or insincerity. And only until they treat you with malice or unkindness, after which you need only be civil and otherwise ignore them.
Precept III; Care for yourself.
- This is to say that your own body is a gift, and you should at least try to keep it cared for and working well. (The precept I myself have the hardest time living up to).
Precept IV; Share your talents.
- This is to say if you are good at something, truly good at it, don't hide it. If you can paint let your paintings be seen. If you can cook feed the hungry. If you can sing soothe the weary. A talent is not a treasure to be hidden away, it's a tool to make other people feel better, and through doing so make yourself feel good.
Precept V; Give as good as you get.
- This is to say that you should try not to be selfish, and when someone gives you joy, be it through a gift, a service, or even sex, you should at least attempt to give joy in kind. It's best to spread joy, not hoard it. There's no joy in being alone because you were selfish.
IV; Tenets of Hedon
Tenets are rules, of which Hedon has few, but what few it has are considered absolutes, and must be at least attempted to be adhered to. Tenets are the foundation for a good life as Hedon views it. You are only obligated to follow the Tenets if you believe.
Tenet I; Respect The Green.
- The world around you sustains you. It gives you the food you eat and the clothes you wear. Respect the Green, care for it, protect it. There are few things more selfish and destructive than hunting for sport, killing for unnecessary fashion, or destroying chunks of forest for a mansion or a mini-mall. Take from the Green only what you need, and protect the rest.
Tenet II; Respect Life.
- The people around you may frustrate you. They may be sheep who bleat at you to believe only what they believe, trod on your rights, and abuse you for being different, but they are still alive, and it is that life, not their abuse, that you must respect. Killing for ANY reason but survival is wrong, as is arbitrarily hurting someone. However...
Tenet III; Respect Yourself.
- That does not mean you should be a meek mousey carpet, turning the other cheek and letting the sheep trample you. You should always stand up for your right to be who you are, even if it's as simple as saying "Look, shut up. I don't tell you what to believe, kindly keep your nose out of what I believe. It is not your place or right to convert me." Then just walk away. Also this means to take pride in what you accomplish. You're born with the tools you use to succeed, and unlike some deities, Hedon doesn't need or want to be thanked and given all the credit for everything you do.
Tenet IV; Cause No Trauma.
- Sex is among the most wonderful things in nature, and any religion that villifies the free expression of it is trying to dominate you. Be open with your sexuality without being excessive, and NEVER use sex as a weapon. Sex is an act of affection and intimacy. To use sex to hurt or control someone is beneath contempt and beyond reprehensible. Also, just normal every day behavior should never be designed to hurt. Words can be weapons, always mind how you wield them. Even words should only slice in self-defense. Above all else, this means protect and respect children. Do not hide truths about sex from them, but NEVER foist sex upon them. No adult should EVER touch a child for sexual ends.
Tenet V; Keep Love Unchained.
- Love is what makes life worth having, be it loving your family, your children, your friends, the ones you're IN love with, your pets, your work, your home, it doesn't matter. Love is the most positive healing force in existence, and without going to, pardon the phrase, "hippy extremes" of running around trying to hug everyone you meet, show love in everything you do, be it growing a garden, building a home, helping a stranger in need, and especially in relating to your Family and your Circle. Hate is a poison, leave poison to the big leagues, they're so good at it. Cure that poison with love, and NEVER let anyone restrain your love.
Tenet VI; Condemn Action, Not Belief.
- It is the right or place of NO ONE on this earth to judge or condemn. I freely admit I loathe Christianity and Islam the RELIGIONS, but I never pass judgment on those who believe in it, or even on how cruelly a few very loud ones can act making the millions of decent ones look bad. But I never try to tell a Christian it's wrong for them to be a Christian, and most Christians actually are decent, non-judgmental people who take the good from the Bible and live by it. That tolerance does not extend the the small percentage of loudmouths who think they represent Christians everywhere and bellow loudly their ignorant judgments, using their beliefs to hurt others. Condemn a person for how they behave, not what they believe. And unless your life or safety or that of your loved ones is directly threatened, keep that condemnation limited to "You're a horrible bitter person, may your god forgive your malice", and just walk away. Nothing is served by arguing with a zealot, but never walk away without telling them they ARE one.
About Hedon; Where Were We?
The web url below links to Google Maps and shows what we believe to be the greek island that was once home to the Hedon people.
The Isle Of Hedon
The Isle Of Hedon
About Hedon; Reviving Hedon For A World That Desperately Needs Her Back
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)