I am also excited for some healthy debate that may arise out of this...everyone is welcome to disagree or agree, or to offer alternate points of view. for this first part i am going to offer a brief intro to my life...
I was born in Ft. Polk, Louisiana on the 19th of January 1981...i was a military brat so we moved around alot until, when i was 8, we move back to the states from germany, and called maryland our home for the next 10 years...3 days after i graduated from highschool, i packed my bags and headed to chicago...i fell in love with that city and called it home for 7 years...during the last 2 years that i lived there, i had become engaged to the most amazing person alive, my wife, amanda...she is what drew me away from chicago and into minneapolis, my home for the last 2 years, and home for only 3 and a half more months, when we will move to portland....
so, i am married...this is one thing that still takes me by suprise sometimes...it has been the most wonderful year and 9 months of my life...i know alot of people say that, but i really do mean it...i am grateful that i am in a relationship with someone with whom i love their company over anyone elses, and that we still enjoy each other...i have some married friends that we wonder why they even got married sometimes because they dont seem like they even like each other often times...i guess we are just lucky, or maybe we just prioritize differently than some, but we really dont argue about much at all, and for that i am grateful...anyway...
i am also a christian...most people reading this already know this, but this may be news for some as well...now, before anyone (christian or non) jumps to any conclusions, let me explain what that is and what it isnt...
1) it does not mean that i hate gay people or that i want to bomb abortion clinics.
unfortunately, these are 2 very hot issues with those on opposing sides of the field. i just dont see them as important as alot of christians...now, dont hear me wrong, they are issues, i just think that there are more weighty issues to consider (i will get into those later)...i offer neither my support, nor my disapproval on this particular forum (as that is a discussion to have face to face) on these topics because of the vast complexities...
what i will address is the absolutely disgraceful, shameful, and most un-christlike way in which these people have been treated by those who claim to follow a teacher who said that to love God and to love people is the most important commandment...i will go out on a limb and say that unless you can do that, you have bigger battles to fight than homosexuality and abortion...so to the women in difficult situations that made difficult decisions (whether you regret it or not) and to those that live a homosexual life, allow me to be (hopefully not the first) the christian who says that i am sorry...i am sorry that some misguided people have chosen to treat you as less than themselves...If they read the Bible, they would understand that Jesus called people like that a "brood of vipers"...i will go no further on the subjects, as this could easily go into a heated rant...
2) it does not mean that i support our president or his "war on terror"
nor do i support any of the presidential candidates that we have now...as a general rule i tend to stay away from politics as a whole...this has more to do with my opinions about our government than it does with my faith, although my faith does influence those opinions...on that note i can not support war or violence of any kind (capital punishment is included)...when Jesus spoke on things like this, he often said, "you have heard the old teaching...an eye for an eye, etc., but i give you a new teaching" he said that we are to "bless those who curse us" and said things like "blessed are the merciful" and on and on...i cant seem to make this idea that alot of christians have called "just war" (which btw is not directly from the bible, but from the summa theologica by thomas aquinas that was meant to be a set of rules for treating the enemy fairly, but was never intended to be a justification for war...let it be noted that thomas aquinas was not pro-war, as well,(thanks, sasa!)) and the teachings of Christ line up...i cant read "blessed are the merciful" and rally behind capital punishment...i can't understand how many of the pro-lifers among us can preach sanctity of life (which i agree with) when it comes to an unborn child, and then turn around and not defend to the teeth, the life of another...i believe in sanctity of life, period...
3) it does not mean that i can't get along with people that disagree with me
this should go without saying...if you know me, you know this...most of the people that i hang out with don't see eye to eye with me on alot of issues...
well, now that you know i'm not a fanatical follower of jerry falwell or anything, let me briefly tell you what my faith does mean...
1) it does mean that i have a responsibility to love
like i mentioned before, the most important thing taught by Jesus was to love God and to love people...this does not mean that i always succeed in this area, but it is what i strive for...
2) it does mean that i have a responsibility to social justice
not to quote tony campolo, but there are around 2000 verses of scripture dealing with the poor, the marginalized, and the downtrodden...this, to me, starts to illuminate a very big message that sets a standard and a place of importance on the christians responsibility to take care of the marginalized...in fact, one of the only times that Jesus spoke of the "end times" or judgement, this is the standard by which he said that we would be judged:
i was hungry and you fed me
i was thirsty and you gave me a drink.
i was homeless and you gave me a room
i was cold and you gave me clothes
i was sick and you visited me
i was in prison and you came to me.
then the people said "master, what are you talking about? when did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? when were you sick or in prison and we came to visit you? He replied:
"i tell you the truth, whenever you did these things to someone who was overlooked or ignored, you did it to me" (matt. 6)
we live in a world where thousands of people die every day because of lack of access to clean water or malnutrition, yet we have multi million dollar church facilities that we can sit in one day a week to hear about Jesus, and then leave in our SUV to go buy a meal at a restaurant where the same amount of money could feed a family of four for a few weeks...all the while quickly forgetting about the Jesus we just heard about and the thousands of people that will never wake up in the morning, because when it comes down to it, "they" are someone elses problem, some one far away, not ours...don't hear me wrong on this issue...i do not think that money is inherently wrong, but what you do with what you have is what makes it right or wrong...
3) it does mean that i believe in moral and ethical absolutes
yes, i do...i know that in a world where everyone wants to always be politically correct, even if that means selling out what they really feel, this is not a popular stance to take...in that, i also realize that there are lots of grey areas, there are cultural differences as well that need to be taken into account with these things...but at the end of the day, truth is truth...and within that, lastly,
4) i believe that the environment is a MORAL concern
in the Bible's rendition of creation, after God made something, "he saw it and saw that it was good" the bible is riddled with instructions on how to care for the earth (alot of the weird hebrew laws were directly about being a good steward of creation) and that we are expected to do so...anyone who thinks that taking care of Gods creation is not a moral issue, i challenge you to read your bible again...this is why i have certain convictions...this is why i choose to recycle and compost...this is why i choose used stuff over new and why i am vegan...i will pause right now to make clear that i dont think that comsuming animal products is evil (although probably not great for your health), but i do think that the means by which those product are had, is...i will say it outright, i think that it is morally reproachable to support Mcdonalds or similar fast food, even more than that, i think that it is a crime against creation to support anything factory farmed...the toll that big industry meat and dairy take on the animals, our environment, and our health is absolutely a moral issue...i choose to abstain, but if you don't, and you consider yourself a christian, i would strongly recommend that you do your homework and learn about where your food comes from and at what expense...support a local farmer or at the very least go to a co-op or somewhere that has at least some ethical standards in place...
well, enough for now...if you knew how bad at typing that i am, you would appreciate how long this took me to do and my fingers are getting sore...i will go into some other (hopefully lighter) subjects on my next post...have a good day...
3) it does mean that i believe in moral and ethical absolutes
yes, i do...i know that in a world where everyone wants to always be politically correct, even if that means selling out what they really feel, this is not a popular stance to take...in that, i also realize that there are lots of grey areas, there are cultural differences as well that need to be taken into account with these things...but at the end of the day, truth is truth...and within that, lastly,
4) i believe that the environment is a MORAL concern
in the Bible's rendition of creation, after God made something, "he saw it and saw that it was good" the bible is riddled with instructions on how to care for the earth (alot of the weird hebrew laws were directly about being a good steward of creation) and that we are expected to do so...anyone who thinks that taking care of Gods creation is not a moral issue, i challenge you to read your bible again...this is why i have certain convictions...this is why i choose to recycle and compost...this is why i choose used stuff over new and why i am vegan...i will pause right now to make clear that i dont think that comsuming animal products is evil (although probably not great for your health), but i do think that the means by which those product are had, is...i will say it outright, i think that it is morally reproachable to support Mcdonalds or similar fast food, even more than that, i think that it is a crime against creation to support anything factory farmed...the toll that big industry meat and dairy take on the animals, our environment, and our health is absolutely a moral issue...i choose to abstain, but if you don't, and you consider yourself a christian, i would strongly recommend that you do your homework and learn about where your food comes from and at what expense...support a local farmer or at the very least go to a co-op or somewhere that has at least some ethical standards in place...
well, enough for now...if you knew how bad at typing that i am, you would appreciate how long this took me to do and my fingers are getting sore...i will go into some other (hopefully lighter) subjects on my next post...have a good day...
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