Jason Coleman

David Shelton does a pretty good job teeing off on “loving” Christian acquaintances who share their view of just how sinful homosexuality is:

“You know, that isn’t God’s best.” and “It’s a sin just like stealing, murder and rape.”

… Note how the comparison list almost always goes to the worst of the worst. Why not compare this “sin” to something a little more common in today’s churches? You know, like gluttony, sloth, envy, and gossip?

You see, even if you think being gay is a sin (which it is not) or that having gay sex is a sin (except in marriage, which you don’t want us to have), why does it always go to murder? Rape? Pedophilia? Simple: because real Christians don’t do those sort of things. Therefore, gay people can’t be real Christians. But hey, if I stop being gay (read: having gay sex)… I can join your club of fat, lazy, envious gossips.

No thanks. I’m not sure I want to get too close to that kind of activity.

via Trigger Points: Find out why I’m mad as hell.

The Slacktivist discusses how Evangelical Christians tend to be preoccupied with their “stances” on issues.

That’s a favorite subcultural word — stance. “What’s your stance on inerrancy?” they’ll ask….“What’s your stance on homosexuality?”…

This obsession with policing the proper stance on various subjects is a symptom, I think, of a subculture in which orthopraxy has been almost completely abandoned. When orthodoxy is all that’s left, it’s not surprising that everyone should be incessantly interrogated as to the acceptability of their stances.

That’s troubling, given that Jesus did not say, “take this stance,” but rather “Follow me.” We’re supposed to be moving, not striking a pose.

via Slacktivist, emphasis mine.

We are so confused about our First Amendment Rights. Seems we have mistaken the right to petition for redress of grievances as the right to bitch and moan.It isn’t the same thing people.

via Why the world is so angry with Christians.

A line from the Percy Bysshe Shelley poem, The Cloud, paired with an Arthur Hacker painting. Describes how I think my wife must feel when it’s wintertime in my mind.

And I all the while bask in Heaven’s blue smile,

While he is dissolving in rain.

via The Cloud by Arthur Hacker :: artmagick.com.

In existentialist Hokey Pokey, you must determine for yourself what it’s all about.

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

This quote was written in the context of software engineering, but is just as applicable to many theology arguments I’ve heard. The author’s boss once pointed out that people can hold differing opinions about many topics without anyone’s “rightness” making a difference to the success of a project. A manager must carefully select the topics he was willing to fight for versus topics that boiled down to an irrelevant difference of opinion. Allowing people to “win” the arguments where opinions differ but you don’t really have anything at stake makes for better and more productive relationships.

At the end of the day, there is very little value to being right. You don’t acquire rightness points and just how frequently you are right doesn’t end up on your resume. What actually matters are the relationships you have. You can only go as far as the people who want to communicate with you. Being right actually hurts if it interferes with your ability to interact with people. As my former manager said, you should definitely know what is important to you and be willing to fight for it. But let go of the pedantic points you are trying to make – those just don’t matter.

via Being right doesn’t matter | NCZOnline.

A blog post discussing how people change in their opinions about habits, or politics, or religion.

I would go so far as to say that people are more likely to change when they know they will still be loved if they don’t. You can’t compel or threaten people into change. That might lead to temporarily modified behavior but not true inner and outer life change. Love is what changes people. We need to know that the relationship, and the love that binds it together, is bigger than a particular issue, whether personal or political. We need to have people who will let us process and work through our challenges, doubts, and struggles without scorning or judging us if we don’t agree with them. We need people who will respect our otherness and not try to achieve some forced, superficial conformity. We need people who will listen to us and let us be where we currently rather are, rather than impatiently trying to rush us to where they would like us to be.

via Adam S. McHugh: How do people change?.

This little bit from William James is resonating with me today. Describing the world as seen by those people he calls “sick souls” he says:

So the world stamps us at every turn. We strew it with our blunders, our misdeeds, our lost opportunities, with all the memorials of our inadequacy to our vocation. And with what a damning emphasis does it then blot us out! No easy fine, no mere apology or formal expiation, will satisfy the world’s demands, but every pound of flesh exacted is soaked with all its blood.

via “The Healthy-Minded & Sick Soul” — Philosophical Society.

“A society that is relying on guys with guns to stop violence is a sign of a society where institutions have broken down,” said Rebecca Peters, former director of the International Action Network on Small Arms. “It’s shocking to hear anyone in the United States considering a solution that would make it seem more like Colombia.”

via More Guns = More Killing – NYTimes.com.

So do we work to fix the institutions or do we arm everybody and hope that “good guys” outnumber “bad guys and the inadvertent casualties of good guys”?

As I grow more surprised and disgruntled by the opinions expressed by my friends on Facebook concerning health care, gun control, and politics in general, this is a great meditation about the hard work of maintaining peace.

We so often juxtapose the activities of war with the tranquility of peace. We conjure up images of people sitting on the porch drinking tall glasses of sweet tea, rocking to and fro at the end of another peaceable day. We think peace is the absence of conflict and so, the absence of effort or hard work.

Beating swords into plowshares is hard work–hammering, melting, reworking and shaping new tools. Transformation of this magnitude comes with sweat and sustained labor. Moving beyond hostility and hatred produces calloused hands, sore muscles and bone-deep exhaustion. Welders, after all, forge the lasting peace[.]

…So, I’ve been thinking how I can fertilize my relationships instead of weaponize them. What if I spent my energies nourishing friends with my words, cultivating a safe space for them to share tender things? What if I fed people with great generosity and care? And what if I refrained from weaponizing my words to hurt, to gain power over someone or win an argument? I imagine I’d be transformed into a person of peace, someone living the song sung long ago (and still) about beating swords into plowshares.

via ShePonders: Swords into Plowshares — SheLoves Magazine.