Greetings, all.
This post is for open minded believers ONLY. If you're sure that un-questioned acceptance of counterproductive bronze age ideas is better than a positive self-image, please read no more.
I know many people whose faith leads them to acts of unselfishness, and brings them great peace. IMO, those people should hold onto that faith with both hands, even if i disagree personally with whatever it is they believe. When i'm evaluating the value of something, i look at the results it brings. In the case of these people, their faith sustains them through hard times, and leads them to live productive and nurturing lives.
But... the above is not the ONLY effect that faith can have on the lives of people. There are many individuals who are caught up in a counter-productive mind-set which is a direct result of their faith. They mentally torture themselves over some things and issues that *i* feel are not worth the stress they cause. As a compassionate person, i wish they could find the spiritual strength to spare themselves from that burden by rejecting the faith that causes it.
Some Christian sects maintain that we are all worthless sinners and are doomed to an eternity of pain and suffering at the hands of their loving and merciful god unless we surrender all personal responsibility and instead allow the human son of their imputed god to 'pay the price of our sin'.
Sorry, but there's NOTHING positive in that entire meme. Just starting from the perspective that god can only be appeased by blood sacrifice makes me wonder what millennia i am living in. Ideas of that nature should have passed from human culture LONG ago. Then, the idea that we are inherently worthless sinners is bad enough, but IMO even worse is the idea that we MUST surrender PERSONAL responsibility for whatever about us may be wrong and instead expect someone else to be responsible for us. If you've ever wondered why the average American sometimes seems to have no sense of personal responsibility, perhaps you should consider that this is a natural consequence of the basic message they hear in the pews every Sunday from the time they are old enough to sit there.
I don't believe in the big angry, capricious guy in the sky who has established a bunch of sometimes arbitrary rules for my behavior. I have rules of conduct, but they are practical and logical, based on the simple premises encoded in the various versions of the 'Golden Rule'. If i fail to live up to that standard, it's MY responsibility to acknowledge my transgression and FIX it. Anything less is socially irresponsible and spiritually lazy. Depending on the 'cleansing power of Christ's blood' to wash away my offenses is lazy, irresponsible, and INEFFECTIVE. If you've ever done laundry you know that blood is NOT a cleaning agent. Just the opposite: Blood STAINS what it touches.
The subtle teaching that you can just sit back and let someone else be responsible for your righteousness is more than bad enough but there's an even worse side-effect of that whole mind set that causes immense pain to many of its practitioners. I've known a few people who have been racked with shame and guilt over their status as a gay person, because they've allowed their church's homophobic doctrines to convince them that they are inherently evil.
I don't see the Westboro Baptist Church, or any of its similar brethren, picketing Red Lobster or a clothing outlet. Those businesses sell products that are JUST as forbidden by leviticus as is homosexuality, yet they aren't subject to even one word of complaint while the homophobic rants never end. This leads me to conclude that their attacks on gays are NOT biblically-inspired, but simply that they use the bible as cover for their own hate of gays and, most likely, fear of their own sexuality. The number of times that a pastor who had a special focus on preaching about the sins of homosexuality is caught having a gay affair are too numerous to ignore. The next time you hear a pastor going ON and ON about one specific sin in the vast cornucopia of sins your faith would allow him to rant about, you should seriously wonder what he (she) is doing when nobody is around.
Where does this leave the gay person who is also a Christian? If he/she is lucky enough to belong to a denomination that has gotten past all that bronze age bigotry, then the individual can be who he/she is and still have the joy of belonging to her/his faith community.
But if he/she is a member of one of the neotonized denominations, then he/she most likely has a life of self-loathing and denial of the joy of having a life partner in her/his future. I think that's beyond sad, and i do hope for that person that he/she will find a way to reject the intolerant nonsense that is taught in the name of her/his 'loving and merciful god'.
For your consideration, and thanks for reading.
And , yes, i know... i'm going to hell. LOL That's fine. If it turns out that the only people who will be in heaven are the sanctimonious, self-righteous folks who have made that same prediction most of my life, i'll be fine in hell. It may be a bit hotter there, but the company will clearly be much better. :-).
