My son is a practicing Buddhist. He lives in Japan, a country which does not have a dominant Xtian presence. As an ex-pat, he does enjoy associating with other Americans who live there, but he finds it tedious at times to listen to a subset of them denigrate the culture of the country in which they live. He notes that ONLY the self-identified evangelical Xtians among them do that, where the rest of the Xtians and non-Xtians respect the culture of the country that has welcomed them. This has engendered an attitude from him towards them, which IMO is perfectly justified.
He's been in a few discussions lately in which he has tried to point out the hypocrisy of their condemnation of homosexuals. If you've ever been to Japan, you know that they eat a LOT of seafood, all KINDS of seafood. He's eaten wit this group many times, and noted that the homophobes eat the same dishes that he does, without concern that they are an 'abomination unto their lord'. He recently posted this in a discussion on FaceBook. The rest of this blog entry is his words, except for my closing comment, but i think he's spot on.
We can find passages to make all sorts of things disapproved by God…
You can't eat shellfish. "But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you." (Leviticus 11:10)
You can't have different livestock or more than one crop on the same field. And you can't wear an outfit of more than one material. "Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee." (Leviticus 19:19)
You can't have tattoos or piercings. ""Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you." (Leviticus 19:28)
You can't have sex with a women while "Aunt Flo" is in town, or else they will be banished. ""If a man lies with a woman during her sickness and uncovers her nakedness, he has discovered her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from her people." (Leviticus 20:18)
You can't shave your head or trim your beard. "They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh." 'Leviticus 21:5)
And it goes on and on and on…
So yeah, the Bible says two dudes can't have sex with one another. But it says a whole lot of things that 99.9999999* of Xtians ignore every single day without fear of reproach. Bring any of *those* abominations up and yypically, the response you get is "Well, those were different times, and *SURELY* God would be OK with them now."
So all that stuff is OK to ignore, even though their God says "Uh, no it isn't", but the gay shit still keeps. Nice..
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In closing i will simply say: "THis is my beloved son, in whom i am well pleased" :-)
