Hello Everyone,
I'm trying my hand at this blogging thing only because I read something that made my blood boil. This seems like the best way for me to vent about comments made by an organization that has generally been a plague on mankind, and America specifically, for decades. I am of course talking about statements made by that particular pastor, from that particular church in Topeka, Kansas, regarding the shooting incident in Tucson, Arizona.
I would like to provide a little background on myself. I was raised in southeast Georgia. My family is deeply religious (for the most part), and church was always a part of our lives. I grew up Pentecostal, went to church fairly regularly as a teen, and even graduated from a high school that was in the back room of that very same church. After graduation, it was time for me to strike out on my own to see what the world had to offer. No, I did not go to college. I did what not many people were doing around that time, I joined the military. Come to think of it, not many people in my hometown were going to college either. Anyway, that was January 2001. After many nights of drunken conversations about tolerance, religion, and who knows what else, I kind of lost my way. Then came November 2003. My step-father died, and I was a wreck. I lost all faith, not just in God, but in people as well.
Around mid-2005, I came across a website that featured pictures of dead and injured military. The tag lines said things like "thank God for dead Soldiers" and "another worthless Marine going home in pieces." I was appalled! Who do these people think they are!? Later I found out that it was a church running the website, and that homosexuals were the actual targets of their hate. I couldn't believe it. A CHURCH! I proceeded to do what any sane person in my state of mind would do. I wrote a really nasty comment, calling them every awful, vulgar name I could think of. They deleted it.
Fast forward to just a few months ago. I've finally decided that faith is something worth having. My views on God and organized religion are much less narrow than they were when I was a teenager, but I don't feel like God has stolen anything from me, like I did later on. Where I focused my faith is what really changed. No more reliance on God to "take care of things for me," and no more looking for God in the bottom of a bottle. Instead I have faith in a person, any person. I'm optimistic about the future of mankind. I have hope. I think it's because of the quality people I have begun to surround myself with: intelligent, insightful, idealistic, polite.
Now, I don't hate anyone. Hate, not money is the root of evil. It blackens a mans heart. But this "church" has certainly tested my spirit. I've decided to be better than them. Their version of Christianity is destructive and counters everything that I was taught growing up. My grandmother always told me that God loves his people. All of them. God loves his angels, even the fallen ones. He weeps for them. But no matter what your religious affiliation, if you have one, there is one thing is that remains true: my God loves you. My God loves that intolerant pastor and his insane family, even if no one else does.
I, on the other hand, could care less if they all lost their ability to speak, write, and see. Protesting a funeral and rejoicing murder based on the idea that God is punishing this country for it's tolerance of homosexuality is quite possibly the most anti-Christian idea I have ever come across. I despise the teachings of this "church" so much that I actually take a little joy in it. I take joy in knowing that we live in the greatest country in the world. Our people enjoy prosperity and freedoms that most other countries do not. Freedom of religion. Freedom to protest. Freedom of speech. Yes, even this "church" deserves the right to say awful, nasty, just plain mean things to anyone they wish, and I will defend, even until death, their right to say it. And if I should die defending that right, they should know that their signature is on the check for my life insurance policy. :)
So this is my first entry. I'll try to update occasionally. Feel free to follow.
Thanks,
Sparky
