Q - Who made you?
A - God made me.
I drifted away from the Church when I was about 15 but some indoctrination sticks forever - like that first question in my Grade 1 Religion book.
It’s popped into my head a few times lately because I’ve been involved in some online arguments with fundamentalist Christians. A topic that continuously burns their behinds* is homosexuality/gay marriage. They claim it’s an abomination because their bible says so. Doesn’t seem to matter it also says a bunch of other things are abominations, like eating shellfish, sharing a bed with a menstruating woman or offering an imperfect animal to sacrifice to God. I mean, what animal is perfect? They can overlook some abominable behaviour I guess - but not man-to-man or woman-to-woman loving.
(They are, by the way, absolutely incapable of noting the hypocrisy involved when it comes to biblical cherry-picking.)
But I shouldn’t tar them all with the same brush. The more enlightened among fundamentalists will allow that it’s okay to be gay - just as long as their naughty bits don’t press against, or into each other. They graciously allow gays to be who they are, as long as they don’t actually act on it.
So, I ask them - why did God make homosexuals if he’s really not that fond of what they do?
And the answer, of course, is that God did no such thing. He made everyone hetero but darned if some of the miscreants didn't choose to be gay - which of course, earns them a one-way ticket to Hellsville.
Now, I don’t give a flying fig newton whether a person believes in a god, gods, nothing, or a Cosmic Muffin - as long as their beliefs aren’t inflicted on others. And by far the majority of Christians I know are fine, decent people who believe in living and letting live.
But fundamentalists are another kettle of fish. They want to turn the clock back to the good old days, around 113 AD, and actively work to elect politicians who reflect their antediluvian views.
(Which reminds me: The big flood and Noah’s ark and saving all the animals? Never happened. Couldn’t have happened. Could. Not. Have. Happened.)
I really don’t care that many/most fundamentalists are Young Earth Creationists (YECs) who ignore Science and think the world is 6,000 years old and that Noah had baby dinosaurs on board and evolution is a myth but the Garden of Eden is not.
But I do care that they spread their ignorance, bigotry and mean-spiritedness whenever and wherever possible.
And I will continue to wage (verbal) war on them.
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Had a couple of thoughts, actually definitions, of maturity lately. Wrote them down. The first was originally a definition of what I thought a “real” man was. And it went like this: A real man is one who does what needs doing - without complaint or expectation of reward.
I was pretty happy with that. I mean, it’s fridge magnet material.
Upon pondering further, I realized that it could certainly apply to either gender, so I revised it to: A mature person is one who...etc.
And then, even though I’d had the above thought only a few weeks before - I was beset by a second one! Two thoughts about maturity in a matter of months! If I’m not careful, I’ll become a pundit.
Anyway, here’s the second: True maturity arrives the day we realize we can no longer fool ourselves.
Uh-huh. No sucking in the gut in front of the mirror. No pretending your hair is turning platinum blond instead of gray. That admiring look from the cute cashier? It was really pity.
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Gonna wrap this one up with a picture of a cute puppy. Everybody loves pictures of cute puppies.
* Heh-heh.
