Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Hate

This morning I was busy sewing away on this new piece. I took a break and looked at a few of my favorite blogs and stopped by Gerrie Congdon's blog. She has some beautiful pictures that her son took at the Japanese gardens in Portland. In fact, there are a couple that I would like to ask if I could use for inspiration in some new work! As I was reading about what was going on and about her daughter's wins at the swimming meets, she also posted a link to a picture of a man holding a sign that says "God hates fags"

This has been on my mind all the time I have been sewing and I finally decided that I had to stop sewing and respond to this.

I am so very tired of people way out on the left thinking that they represent all Christians. My God and my Jesus do not hate "fags". In fact, hate in not in the vocabulary of either one. Jesus joined us on this earth to teach us what God wanted us to know...to love one another, to treat all as brothers, not to judge, and that His death brought Grace to us all. I am tired of things being taken out of context in the bible to justify someone's personal belief.

No matter what one's religious beliefs are, loving one another is a part of the teachings of all of them. Hate is not a part of any of them. If someone tells you otherwise, they are taking something out of context.

so much for my rant of the day.

Meanwhile, I have thoughts about making my Katrina quilt...it has been in my mind for sometime and will be titled "Nagin's Folly". I am in the middle of reading the Great Deluge which is a history of Katrina and who did what and who did not do what. It is really fascinating reading and I suggest anyone who lives in any area subject to natural disasters of any kind should read this. The best message coming out of this book is that we need to be able to care for ourselves, and care for each other and to not expect anyone else to do it for us.

14 comments:

Gerrie said...

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond in such an intelligent way to the discrinmination that my daughter faces every day. My God does not hate. I do not hate. This is so foreign to me.

Deborah Boschert said...

Amen. It seems so clear to me. YOU are the kind of Christian I'd want to represent me and I am proud to say those protesters don't speak for me.

kathy said...

so.so, so ,so true and thank you for saying it so well

kirsten said...

Liz, I'm with you. I get so very tired of people with bad attitudes and a lack of love in their hearts being held up as an example of what I believe. They do not now, nor will they ever, represent my faith.

Anonymous said...

I find it frightening that so many people use their faith to justify mortal sin. The one theme present in all the major (and most of the less major) faiths is that no person has the right to judge another...only God may do that and He/She sent messengers such as Jesus and Budda to teach us that love and acceptance is the Way.

Besides, God made us all and God don't make no junk!

teri

Anonymous said...

Amen
My God said that he who is without sin should cast the first stone. I am so imperfect I will not be casting stones. Bonnie

the bellyacher said...

I agree with you COMPLETELY!! I am a christian that believes in treating ALL people (regardless of race, creed, religion, sexual preference, etc.) with love and respect. What's worse is that a lot of these so-called christians are the ones that wander around with WWJD bracelets. Do you think they ever stop and think about what that truly means. Sadly, no.

Anonymous said...

I agree too.As Christians we are His advocates on earth.Here to love and serve definately not to judge.

ACey said...

Thank you for taking the time to post this. It has been particularly meaningful and clarifying for me to follow this thread because we are so sensitized to this issue in my family.

My son has been extremely Out & Proud since he was 16. In the past five years he's remains very active in state politics and social organizations aimed at more unilateral tolerance. I never speak of that on my blog specifically because I was not sure how 'offensive' it might be to anyone on the AQ ring. I don't think anyone hanging around here visits the blog or would particularly "care" what an impact this is having on me. Nonetheless, I like to think people are always enriched to know of ripples their words make beyond their expectations or awareness.

I realize my blog silence reads more like shame than protectiveness. My son deserves better than that. He tells me all the time that I should be as open about him on my blog as he is about himself IRL. But I have not wanted to invoke any hate, even if it went unspoken. And I guess the true bottom line is that I, also, didn't want to know about it if the disclosure caused anyone to change their mind about him or me.

Now I feel free to go with my heart and gut instinct. I will make a post sometime later today that's worthy of the subject, and how very proud of him I am. And the hate - how much it breaks my heart every time it's applied. Thank you all for that.

SoulPony said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Ferret said...

Well said. I am not a Christian, but it honestly warms my heart to hear from people who have actually paid attention to what their God has said. I read the Bible but missed it say hate was good anywhere. Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

Liz

Thank you for your comments. As a straight person who has a fair number of gay/lesbian friends as well as those of a number of different religions and faiths, I cannot understand why people can't just accept folks for who they are. Love is love and hard enough to find at the best of times

Anonymous said...

Amen, Liz. Amen.

Shelina said...

What you said: "The best message coming out of this book is that we need to be able to care for ourselves, and care for each other and to not expect anyone else to do it for us." is a great lesson for all of us to learn. Instead of having the entitlement mentality and expecting others to look out for us, we should ALL be looking out for ourselves and each other.