I have been having a discussion on a movie message board about the movie "Saved!" If you haven't seen this movie it is a satire about a Fundementalist Christian High School where a girl gets pregnant when she sleeps with her boyfriend to save him from being gay. The ensuing story shows this girl go through a major transformation in her beliefs based on the treatment she is shown at school from her peers and even from Pastor Skip. The movie isn't great, but does a great job of satirizing Christian hypocracy.
This is my latest response to some points the other guy was making about sin and being a Christian. Much of this reply was an epiphany moment for me and so I wanted to share.
The other's comments are in "quotes."
(Refering to sinning and following God's word) "Is He [God] asking too much of us?"
Well, I"m okay with it. But, if God truly does want gays to deny their urges and resist the same sex, (I'm not saying he necessarily does) then I would ask Gays that question and see what they say. How many guilt ridden gay men and women have lived miserable lives because they've felt that they were going to hell for an urge they couldn't control?
"What is it that God requires of us that is too restrictive?"
It seems a little like you're forgetting that doing what God asks IS hard. Not impossible. But HARD. How else do you acount for sin? And I'm not talking about murder, stealing, drunkeness, adultery, abuse. Those things are no sweat. For me, at least. I'm talking about going out of your way to help someone out. Giving of your money to help a cause. Cooking for someone who is hungry. Forgiving someone who hurt you. Not getting revenge. Asking for forgiveness. Humbling yourself. Sqashing your pride. Putting someone else's needs above your own. THIS IS HARD! And how often do you hear conservative Christians up in arms about these things? NEVER! Why the hell not?!! Pride and Selfishness are WAY more widespread and trecherous than homosexuality. But you don't see any anti greed demonstrators outside NBC when they aired the Apprentice. Where were the Family Value Hounds when Matthew Sheppard was lynched, when Congress refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol forcing corporations to clean up the air and earth that we've taken a mere few hundred years to practically destroy? No where! Why? Because heterosexual Christians understand hate, greed, pride, selfishness, and lust for power. People raise hell over that which they don't understand, whether it hurts other people or not, such is the case with gays. No wonder the world looks at us with a smirk and rolls its eyes.
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2 comments:
Nicely put, but I would add one more thing. In addition to it being "hard", God doesn't expect us to go through life alone. I don't believe God tells us, "Okay, life has some pretty tempting crap, but I trust you to do your best." I believe that God wants us to place our faith in God to keep us strong. God wants us to rely on God to be humble, giving, and selfless. Your point is well-made, though. The Religious Right would rather forget about what is truely difficult with Christianity because we can't do it by ourselves, a characteristic that Americans (and conservative, American Christians) favor to a fault. By relying on God, we can lead righteous lives, but it is difficult, and we must be humble enough to know that we MUST rely on God.
Wow! Talk about opening a fresh can of worms with that discussion. For the sake of time, I won't go into detail on the above mentioned discussion, (it's pretty late already) but I just wanted to let you know you have an audience out there. Kyle, my views on this subject are probably 5000 miles to the right of yours on this argument and probably many other political arguments, but that's cool, because, 'to each their own', right?
I'm going to try to keep up with the "hot" topics with you when I can. I could be the Hannity to your Colmes! Just kidding with you, man. It's all good fun.
Hey, the blog site looks great. I know you just put it together quickly, but I am impressed with what you have done in such a short amount of time.
Your friend from the evil conservative axis,
Nathan "Red State" Bruhn
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