Hmmm...
When my friend Damien saw this picture in the coverage of the Pride Parade on the Chicago Windy City Times, his first reaction was, "Too bad for God...he never gets any time off, ever..."
Of course, my theo(not-so)logical mind said, "So, God doesn't have to keep the Sabbath? He stays angry at the wicked all day, every day?"
It just might be a good thing that they aren't going to ordain a thinker like me...
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. (Luke 6:34-36, NRSV)
One good proof-text deserves another, heh?
7 comments:
Of course, my theo(not-so)logical mind said, "So, God doesn't have to keep the Sabbath? He stays angry at the wicked all day, every day?"
Maybe God is just madly in love with his created, and mankind's wickedness, like Mae West's goodness, has nothing to do with it.
Wow, I need to get busy making my signs, and maybe plan some time off work to picket. I know plenty of people who have sex outside of marriage, and that's a sin. Oh, and I know people who don't help those who are less fortunate than they are, and I think that's a sin, too. And judging others...isn't there something about that in the Bible, too? And "love your neighbor as yourself"...hmmm. I'd better get to work...I'm going to be reeeeally busy...
When did homosexuality become the sin of the day? When and why did some Christians decide to single out gays? And when did people who do things that aren't "right" become the ENEMY? And if those people are the enemy, doesn't that mean we're all enemies? Aren't we all sinners? I guess I need to find a class to enroll in that will help me understand which "sins" are OK, and which ones I need to make signs for.
As our friend the Dragon says, "We all live on the same street, we just come from different addresses; we all rode on the same elevator, we just got off on different floors."
Talking about human emotions like anger when talking about God runs the risk of assuming that God is like us. Whereas, God pretty much says otherwise in scripture (Hosea 11:9) "I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man — the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath."
We project our own stuff onto God -- and that includes our human notions of justice and mercy, let me add.
If we want to know what God is like, let's not keep projecting our (often worst) human characteristics onto God and maybe attend to how God has revealed the divine reality: In Jesus primarily (who does not appear to have spent much time being angry with homosexuals but a lot of time frustrated and disappointed with religious folk) and the wonderful theophany in Job 38ff. To which our response must be Job's: "I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know. .. Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes."
In moments of sanity, I'm with Tom - I'd have to be, or any idea of salvation would be destroyed. I don't think it's an accident that Billy Graham plays Just As I Am at his crusades. It's the way we encounter God, and the way God accepts and loves us. That's why I love Luther's concept of both/and - both saint and sinner, damned and justified. Just as I am...
Deanne, I agree - it was a year ago I was asking the same question: when did being gay become "the spotlight sin," like some Solid Gold Dancer solo? It just irks the snot out of me, most days. If God does nothing but be angry with wicked folk all day, every day, S/He'd be most to be pitied, wouldn't you think?
I'd forgotten that line from Job, Br'er D - but I'd have to admit that every day I wake up sober, I'm dealing with great and wonderful things I don't understand - and wouldn't deserve, if justice were in the hands of man. But I'm also thinking that I'll do my repenting in bubble-bath these days.
Perhaps lavender bubble-bath, just for Pride...
Steve: Deanne, I agree - it was a year ago I was asking the same question: when did being gay become "the spotlight sin," like some Solid Gold Dancer solo? It just irks the snot out of me, most days.
Power and money. Beating the homo-hating drums energizes people in the pews because it plays to their fears and biases. Raw and ugly, but that's why the issue has been spotlighted. Homo-hating sells, unlike abortion.
Hmmmm....
That love stuff? How does it work? I don't have too many examples to follow these days, especially if look to the great Christian leaders in this country. Well, then there's that Jesus guy and his comments on loving our enemies and neighbors as ourselves. Maybe we just don't really love ourselves enough. Maybe that's why we hate others -- we hate ourselves....
Thanks for the post. It has inspired me to write my latest post on my blog.
Blessings,
Paul
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