My letter to Jesus and some of his Followers about being gay and elections

[The Straight Story]

I am a Christian myself and have known and lived around fundies most my entire life.

Dear Jesus,

I mean no disrespect with this letter, I write it mainly to ask your advice and help in this crazy world of ours.

You told your followers to spread the good news, to reach out and change the hearts and minds of people. And to those who did not wish to listen, you told your disciples to brush the dust off their sandals and move on. Good approach I might add.

You did not tell them to go out and create laws based on their own beliefs. You did not tell em to overthrow the roman empire and create one of their own. You told them to be in the world, not of it - which to me was a big declaration of separation of church and government.

But here they are trying to make laws in your name to force others to do what you said we should be free to do - make choices.

I am sure gentiles, jews, heathens, et al have really ticked you off with their ways. But I know from reading the bible that one of your big gripes though is with christians themselves (hence the 7 letters to churches, the reaming of those who say they believe and act differently, etc and so on). And how could one not seen the obvious reference of the whore of babylon to some parts of the church?

I give up some things I want to do because I believe in you and follow you. Self sacrifice and restraint. And I am ABLE TO FOLLOW YOU WITH MY WHOLE HEART because you gave me that CHOICE. The same choice that we all have - not by force, but by choice.

So when you do come back here, or maybe before if you get the chance, let your people here know that you are pro-choice on this earth. You may not like the choices we make, you may even hate em. But you gave us choice and your own followers are trying to strip us of that in your name.

What you gave us, and even died for, was for people to have the freedom to choose. To choose your way or theirs, else you would have come down with a legion of angels and forced people right then and there.

Next time you talk to some minister, let em know for me will ya? Cause one thing for sure, I don't follow them and their whore of babylon ways and I don't want them to have the power to force me to do so - or others.

The Lord has given, the followers are trying to take away.

Gay marriage, abortion, etc - no one is forcing anyone to be gay or have abortions - but there are people in your name trying to force people to conform and follow a path they did not choose. And how will they ever find you if they don't find you the way you set it up for them to come to you, that is - by freedom of choice.

Souls are being lost because of their actions and the hatred they create in your name.

Help us this election day to turn back this tide and give back the most basic right you gave us. Choice.

[MadMaddie]

1. Very nice...I must kick this...

:kick:

[Christa]

2. K & R

Great post, even though I am an atheist.

[StoryTeller]

3. I like the way you put this.

And as one who also is a Christian and grew up around lots of conservative evangelicals, I can really relate to the feeling behind it. Nice work. :)

[The Straight Story]

4. Thank you StoryTeller!

It is amazing to me how so many mainstream christians can block out a central theme of the bible. Selective I guess, damned shame. I could rant all night about it :)

[JeffR]

5. DUers, TSS is on fire this week! ! !

Yet another k&r from me.

[The Straight Story]

6. Crunch time does that to me...

And many thanks for being there this week for me, has meant a lot.

It is through the hard work of we the people that changes occur, because it is self evident that those in power wish simply to get by while we demand more. They don't deliver out of pure fear of their jobs and power. True change happens at the grass roots level, it seems rarely to be initiated at the higher levels. Damned sad IMHO.

My wife is ill. People are denied rights based on sexual orientation, color, sex, and still even religion (posted a thread tonight on Wiccans being denied tax exempt status). And that does not even cover the iraq war, environment, et al.

We need to stand. And we need people to hear us, from that person at work to that person in line at the store. We need to take a page from the playbook of the fundies and preach what we believe. Pamphlets in the bathroom, bumperstickers, etc and so on.

This war is far from over :)

[JeffR]

7. The war has just begun

Crucial battle coming up, but many yet to come. If you haven't read David McCullough's 1776, I recommend it. A great reminder that the country wouldn't exist but for the efforts of heavily outnumbered, bone-weary but determined patriots. We need their spirit to keep us going now. Regards and best wishes always to your wife, and to you.

[The Straight Story]

8. Noted the book name and will check it out. Wife is a HUGE history buff

focusing mainly on the civil war, but she gets around in the reading dept :)

I collect works from the 1800's, mainly on religious matters though (Hannah More and others). I will get the book you recommended next week and let you know how it goes.

I would recommend Hannah More's work - the Shepherd Of Salisbury Plain, one of my all time favorites. I have it here on my web server somewhere (only about a 20 page story) and if I dig it up will shoot you the link. Heading off to make the wife some scrambled eggs right now, she is not feeling well and is hungry. She makes me some great meals when able, so hopefully my eggs will not be burnt to a crisp ;)

If I don't find the OCR'd version of her work I had I will try and link to the scanned pages (from 1830, small type, but still well worth the read). I think some scholars have missed the bigger picture of her story (and her other works), but that is for another time...

[JeffR]

9. Cool. Thanks!

[The Straight Story]

10. here it is!

http://www.toddhowell.com/shepherd.html

It is a bit dated of course, and one can see the upper classism in the writing style (ie, alluding to each has their place) but I still found great redemption in the shepherd and his ways.

[JeffR]

11. Thank you, TSS

Hope no eggs were burned in the process of posting.:)

[The Straight Story]

12. She was happy with em :) And on that link I sent you

This was a raw translation from the text in my old books (1835) via OCR, so there are some spelling issues.

Reading it now again myself, and here is a passage (with errors) that speaks a lot to me and the here and now:

" Sir," replied the shepherd, " I endeavor to live upon the promises. You, who abound in the good things of this world, are apt to set too high a value on them. Suppose, sir, the king, seeing me hard at work, were to say to me, that, if I would patiently work on till Christmas, a fine palace and a great estate should be the reward of my labors. Do you think, sir, that a little hunger, or a little cold, or a little wet, would make me flinch, when I was sure "iat a few months would put me in possession? Should I not say to myself, frequently, Cheer up, shepherd; 'tis but till Christmas? Now, is there not much less difference between this supposed day and Christmas, when I should take possession of the estate and palace, than there is between time and eternity, when I am sure of entering on a kingdom not made with hands? There is some comparison between a moment and a thousand years, becat;se a thousand years are made up of moments, all time being made up of the same sort of staff, as I may say; while there is no sort of comparison between the longest portion of time and eternity. You know, Sir, there is no way of measuring two things, one of which has length and breadth, which shows it must kave an end somewhere; and another thing, being eternal, is *vithout end and without measure."

[JeffR]

13. That's good stuff. Speaks to me too.

Thanks so much. Looking forward to reading it all.

:toast:

[NanceGreggs]

14. In a hopeful world ...

... this piece will touch many, and cause people to think.

In a better world, this piece would not have been necessary.

In a more peaceful world, this piece would be viewed as an eloquent summary of the ways things ARE, as opposed to the way we must strive to make things BE.

In a Nance-o-centric world, I would have written this piece -- and I would brag about it for the rest of my life as the BEST thing I'd ever written.

Peace to you and yours.

[The Straight Story]

15. Wow, now there was an elegant compliment

would that I could do so well in my writing.

If I were to guess, I would say you were an English major :)

Me, I have my GED, in 1985. Would that I had learned such a way to craft words as you did in your reply.

Thanks for the well written and kind reply.

[NanceGreggs]

16. Thanks to you for such a beautifully written piece!

And no, not an Enlgish major here.

HS, then two years of art school! But I was encouraged to write by two incredibly gifted English teachers I had back in high school. And had YOU been one of their students and written this, they would have given you an A+ and held you up as an example of excellence to the rest of the class ...

Came back to give this another KICK - it's a MUST READ!

:kick:

[The Straight Story]

17. Got me blusing here :) will have to show you some of my poems!

I can pm em or I think I still have em on my web server...

[DocSavage]

18. The next

time that you want to rant about how bad the religious right is to homosexuals, maybe you should consider what the muslum community thinks of homosexuals. Here is a link: http://www.gcn.ie/content/templates/newsupdate.aspx?articleid=1409&zoneid=4

I have yet to hear any of my religious friends call for the death of homosexuals.

[nini]

19. One mistake

Those assholes aren't really Christians - they're hateful hypocrits.

A REAL Christian who truly believes in the examples of Christ WOULD NEVER DO THE THINGS THOSE PEOPLE DO.


Otherwise.. :thumbsup: