On my sidebar, there's a feminist blog called Den of the Biting Beaver. I want you to go read this post. I'll sit here until your return.
Go now, please.
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I see you're back. Are you as appalled as I was? Are you astonished that in this day and age, and in this country, that such a thing should happen?
I hope so. Because the story's not over yet. There's a part Two, and Three.
Head back over there. I'll wait.
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Okay, you've returned. Your eyes are flashing, you're breathing hard...and you're outraged.
Good. So am I.
The opinion I'm about to venture may be a massive assumption. I might be vilified for it. However, I think in the light of present-day attitudes towards women in America, it's a reasonable thing to say.
I would bet you dollars to doughnuts all those insane, bigoted, woman-hating people on BB's third post...think of themselves as Christian.
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It's a sad thing to have to admit that people who supposedly share your beliefs can be so vile. Just reading that made my skin go creepy-crawly and my brain turn inside out. How could anyone professing to follow the Son of God, a person dedicated to the ideals of love and understanding, spout such evil? How could anyone wish someone dead (and glory in the thought) who is exercising her constitutional and moral right to make a choice about what is best for her and her family?
Just to make it clear: I will not debate abortion here. I have my thoughts about the matter, as do we all. However, I am firmly convinced that as a Christian, it is none of my frakking business what anyone else does. It is not my frakking place to tell anyone they're going to hell, or they should die, for their choices. If there are consequences to be had, each one of us will bear them, and God is the only one who will decide.
Not you, not me, and not anybody.
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I tend to think the Son of God would agree with me on that one. God knows he told off the Pharisees often enough, but he never attempted to dictate to them what they should be doing, even though he vehemently disagreed with their policies. In point of fact, he never got involved in the politics of the day at all, thus disappointing the Jews who thought the Messiah would free them from the Roman yoke. This is one reason why many did not believe in him (although they were certainly eager enough to follow him around and get healed).
Jesus put his faith and hope in God's Kingdom. Nothing more, and nothing less. In his model prayer, the Kingdom was the second thing mentioned, after the santification of God's name. As Christians, if we have true faith in God's promises, we should look to God to fulfill them. In the meantime, we should be concentrating on being the best Christians we personally can be.
This does not include threatening or denigrating anyone, especially a woman who does not believe as we do.
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I cannot overemphasize how repulsed I am by this. Any so-called Christian who would do this is no more a true Christian than the Pharisees were in Jesus' day. To use a modern parallel, they are no more Christian than Osama bin Laden and his gang.
Yes, that's right, you demonspawn. If you posted anything like that about Beaver, you are no better than al-Queda.
Jesus spoke about you very well, I think.
"For you crush men [and women] beneath impossible religious demands--demands that you yourselves would never think of trying to keep. Woe to you! For you are exactly like your ancestors who killed the prophets long ago. Murderers! You agree with your fathers that what they did was right--you would have done the same yourselves."
(Luke 11:46-48, The Living Bible)
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People like this have no place in Christianity. I strongly condemn all who call themselves Christian who think like this, and I call on other Christians to condemn them also.
For a reminder of how we should be thinking, reread the Sermon on the Mount. And consider how Jesus will judge those who profess to follow Him but who encourage rape and murder.
"Not all who sound religious are really godly people. They may refer to me as 'Lord,' but still won't get to heaven. For the decisive question is whether they obey my Father in heaven. At the Judgment many will tell me, 'Lord, Lord, we told others about you and used your name to cast out demons and to do many other great miracles.' But I will reply, 'You have never been mine. Go away, for your deeds are evil.' " (Matthew 7:21-23, The Living Bible)
Damn straight.
1 comment:
Oh, my. I love your blog. Can we get married? Am I rushing into things? Okay, I'm rushing into things. But, really: I love your blog. I love this post. And I know this pain:
It's a sad thing to have to admit that people who supposedly share your beliefs can be so vile. Just reading that made my skin go creepy-crawly and my brain turn inside out. How could anyone professing to follow the Son of God, a person dedicated to the ideals of love and understanding, spout such evil?
Yep. And so, when someone goes off about "godbags" and "Christers," I say nothing--because I can't defend such things said in His name, and because I believe humility requires taking your lumps when earned. That I personally may not have earned them doesn't matter; people who profess the faith have, and me getting defensive about that won't change anything.
Your Christmas post was also interesting to me. I was brought up Mormon, and it's part of their doctrine that Christ was likely born in the spring sometime, not in December, so I don't find it that weird not to celebrate Christmas, although Mormons still do so (and whether Mormons are really Christian, that's a whole 'nother ball of wax). It seems reasonable to me to disregard December 25th--reasonable, though different. Is there a particular sect that routinely does this? (I hope that question doesn't come off as rude; I'm just curious.)
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