Warning: Religiously Political Content

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? -- Matthew 5:43-48

Let's bring that into today, shall we?

"You have heard people tell you, 'Love those who believe like you do, but hate those who don't or those who oppose you.' But I tell you to actively and wholeheartedly love and be kind to those who believe differently, behave differently, and even oppose you, so that you may be more like the God you claim you serve. Doesn't God send sun and rain down on everybody, both the person who believes like you and the one who does not? So, if you only treat fairly and lovingly those who love you back and act like or believe like you, what reward do you expect from that? Even the people you consider the lowest of the low do that. If you are kind and charitable only to your own group, what more are you doing than those you think are outside of God's plan? Don't even non-believers do that?

In other words, for today's American Evangelicals, it is precisely by your love, kindness, and acts of service to RINOs, Democrats, progressive non-fundamentalist Christians, liberals, migrants, Muslims, Roe V. Wade supporters, LGBTQIA+, BLMs, etc., that you will demonstrate how Christlike you are. 

And that means that every time you post mean-spirited memes calling the people you hate "evil" and "whore" and "slept her way to office" and "animals" and "polluting the lifeblood of America," you are moving further and further away from the very faith you still somehow believe you are defending. 

To be fair, the same goes for those progressive Christians who seemed to delight in belittling their opposition too. 

For those who don't claim a Christian-based belief system, your behavioral standards may vary. 😉

Be Like Dolly

It's Doesn't Have to Affect Me To Matter to Me

True Religion Is This...

Listen to the Doctor.

Yes, I Really Believe This

 I think it's the curse of the Type A people
who are drawn to becoming pastors that so
many churches skip Jesus to get to Paul,
because Type A's are far more comfortable
with the do this, don't do this rules from
Paul rather than the be this, love like this,
don't show off how religious you are of Jesus. 

Sadly, those folks often miss the point that the
reason people approached Paul for his wisdom
on matters of church leadership was that he first
modeled servanthood to them during his journeys
and didn't just come in and rattle off a
litany of do this and don't do that.  

I really believe the American church in
particular, and a theologically unprepared
at best and defenseless at worst flock,
has suffered because of that. 

Fight Like a...

In light of current events recently (many of which are circulating on FB and other social network sites with lots of anger and vehemence in the comments) I would like to say again --

Fight ideas. Fight them with passion. But fight people with gentleness and mercy because we're all made of the same water and blood and flesh and bone, and ultimately we still need each other.

This holds true, I believe, even, and perhaps especially, to those of us who think we don't need anyone and those who think there are those among us we can do without (particularly from among their opponents). It's important to remember what John Donne taught us: that if even a grain of sand is washed away from the beach, the country is the lesser for the missing grain.

When we adopt violence or hatred ourselves, we only become part of the problem. Being strong in the face of an enemy is effective. But spewing back hate is not.

Gentleness and mercy don't necessarily mean being peaceful. You can embrace gentleness and mercy even during a battle. It's an attitude you bring into the fight with you. It's the opposite of writing hateful slogans back again the people who hate you. It's the nature of not making the fight personal of not vilifying the enemy.

Peace wouldn't have stopped the Nazis. But neither did American soldiers have to embrace the "Kill the nasty Krauts" mentality to fight them.

Peace won't stop those who endorse terror. But neither do we have to embrace the cultural attitude to hate the terrorists.

It is enough to have to fight them. It is enough to have to resort to killing them in some cases to stop them. But there's no reason to hate them too.

It gets down to the reason we fight. Changing things because it is right to do so, not changing things because you hate those idiots who oppose you and your truth.

Becoming like the enemy always lessens us and our position. It never makes us better.

When I err, granted, I err to the side of the turn the other cheek, civil disobedience, Ghandi-Martin Luther King Jr. side of fighting. I will always promote patient, slow, steady change over violent, expedient upheaval.

I think too many people on both sides of most cultural arguments nowadays would prefer a Russian Revolution (1905)/French Revolution approach, come what may, as long as they get they way, rights, political power, cultural control, etc.

I indict all beliefs and lifestyles in that, Christians, Muslims, Gays, Anti-Gays, Pro-Lifers, Pro-Choicers, you name it.

What saddens me is that for the most part among those I've known in these groups, WHEN they feel that way (and most don't feel that way, but sadly, some do), they have little regard for the people involved on the other side. They become mere straw men that are little more than symbols for "What we fight against."

As a Christian I have a mandate to pursue truth, but also to love people and follow the example of Christ. This is the ONLY way I can figure out how to do both.

Mourning Romance?

When romance seems (operative word here is 'seems') to die, don't mourn it. Celebrate it. It means that there is a deeper love to experience beyond mere romance -- and that you've finally grown mature enough to see the wondrous truth of that fact. Then enjoy the surprise when youthful romance pops back into your life from time to time to pay a visit when you can relish it without becoming dependent on it it as the viable "proof" of a relationship.

It's like suddenly getting your full sight when you've been partially blind all your life. Suddenly you can see the sky and the stars but can't fully explain them to people who still just see spots and blurs and think that's the end-all, be-all of actual vision.

Just a little something I've been thinking about lately.

Happy 25 Anniversary to my best friend!

For those who have given up on the idea that one man and one woman can love each other for a lifetime, that marriage is merely an antiquated notion of a bygone era, or that people can't be expected to learn how to compromise and be a team rather than be lead by the "what's in it for me?" mentality, I submit to you my best friend, Lisa Taylor.

If this otherwise sane woman can put up with my quirks, failures, selfishness, temper, general childishness, emotional/psychological need to live as a writer, fandoms, fascination with flirting, apparent inability to keep food on the table, and ego (in spite of all that), then I believe there is hope for ANY couple.

If I could have a New Year's wish for all those reading it would be simply this: I wish for you the same kind of self-sacrificing, enduring, patient, determined love with your loved one that I have found with this absolutely astounding woman.

But, that said, you can't have this one. She's mine.