Last night, I had the house to myself for the first time in years. Yes, years. Myself. Alone. The hubby had a gig, the older kid was at a sleepover and the little one was unexpectedly invited next door to watch a movie. OMG. What to do? I was invited to the neighbor's house for wine but decided to take advantage of this epic, possibly once-in-a-lifetime event and do something that I'm not normally allowed to do: take control of the remote.
As monkey bundled up to trudge across the front yard, I hugged him and said, "I am 100% madly, passionately in love with you. Just so you know." He replied, "I just farted. Just so YOU know." Ah, yes, it's going to be good to be home alone.
I decided to watch (finally) Milk. Not that I was surprised given the movie's rave reviews but, wow, Sean Penn's performance was unbelievable. Charming, moving, arresting, loving, inspirational and tragic.
Yet, as I watched all of the Anita Bryant footage, some of which I vaguely remember from my childhood, I couldn't help but wonder if any of my Bible study girlfriends had seen this movie. I love them but we frequently differ in our points of view. (Case in point: They wanted to get together to pray during election night while keeping Fox News on in the background. Fox News? Thanks but no thanks.)
Having grown up in a liberal, somewhat tree hugging, left-leaning family and been taught to respect others (except Richard Nixon), I bring a radically different outlook to our small group. While I listen and really do understand their point of view (i.e., that throughout the Bible, God threatens to destroy entire sin-filled cultures and we can chose to live by his laws or by ever-shifting cultural norms that increasingly accept deviant behaviors), I still have a hard time reconciling the issue -- especially when some of my close friends are gay.
I turned once to an ex-coworker and asked him to explain (which he did along the lines of the aforementioned rationale). In response, I stated, "But no one asks to be gay; they're born gay. How can that make it wrong?" He responded, "No one asks to be a child molester either. Does that make them okay, too?" Touche.
Some of my Bible-toting girlfriends would say, "Love the sinner, hate the sin." I kind of like this response because Jesus hung with prostitutes, tax collectors, etc. and he loved them. And he loves me with all of my many issues. Who is to say that anyone else's sins are greater than mine? But when I tried that line on for size with my girlfriend Laurie who lives with the love of her life, Mary, she asked, "So do you think that living my life in a committed relationship with my soul mate is really a sin?" Good question. Do I? Really? I don't think so. But the most important thing for me is the following quote from Matthew 7:5 "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
In other words, I need to focus on myself and living my life in the best manner possible. The hell with everyone else (just kidding). To that point, there is a Facebook group which sums up my current leaning, "Against Gay Marriage? Then Don't Get One and Shut the F* Up."
Sounds good to me.
1 comment:
Amen, Sister!
Post a Comment