LONG past the time to move on...

"There is, in a word, nothing comfortable about the Bible -- until we manage to get so used to it that we make it comfortable for ourselves. But then we are perhaps too used to it and too at home in it. Let us not be too sure we know the Bible ... just because we have learned not to have problems with it. Have we perhaps learned ... not to really pay attention to it? Have we ceased to question the book and be questioned by it?" - Thomas Merton from his book Opening the Bible

What's the old expression - "Familiarity breeds contempt"?

We get so used to a certain and particular worldview about something that when someone comes along with an alternative view, we're uncomfortable. Example - the Proposition 8 and "Gay Marriage" conversation.

If you don't want to marry someone of the same sex. Don't do it. When you start telling me who I can and can't marry, or trying to run some line that "...marriage (between a man and a woman) is the ordained nature of things" my only response is going to be pleeeeze...get real.

Why is it we feel the need to tell other people how to live their lives? What is it that makes us uncomfortable with, to quote Werner Erhard, "Allowing other people the space to be who they are - and to be who they're not." I agree with Werner that that's a great definition of love.

What are we afraid of? Do those who claim that marriage between same sex couples violates God's "plan" really think that much of what happens in marriage is part of God's plan? Really? Are they familiar with the divorce rate? The rate of Domestic Violence? I won't even go to the research showing that domestic violence rates are higher among "fundamentalist" Christians.

Those who adopt the mantra - "my way or the highway", and who project their particular view onto God...indicating that "this is what God wants..." (coincidently coinciding with their own viewpoints) miss out on a lot. Mostly, they miss out on the possibility of growth and change. Of becoming better and more authentic humans. OK - In my humble opinion.

Consider that if God is love, then love isn't defined in any kind of narrow or limiting way. In fact, the very concept of "limits" and "love" seems a bit strange. And limiting God? Hmmm, probably not.

Live and let live my friends...not everyone will do what you would like them to do - nor will you do what what they want. But, if you can open your heart - your arms - your minds - you might be amazed how free you may feel.

My FB friend John Shore wrote it best when he blogged,

"Can we Christians stop already with the gay and lesbian fixation? I know many of us understand our stance on the matter to be unassailably Biblical. I know a great many of us are deeply concerned about the "homosexual agenda." I know. We all know. Maybe Christians could just give that issue a rest for a while. It's not like gay and lesbian people are going anywhere. They'll all be there when we get back. Maybe -- for just a week, a day, a month -- we could concern ourselves with something else, and let them be.

It's LONG past the time to move on. There are hurting people, hungry kids, victims of emotional and physical violence - all calling for our attention. Let's tackle stuff that can actually improve the quality of someones life. Today.