Okay, this post might get me some flak. So be it.
I saw a post in FB which went "I might lose friends over this but I support Gay Rights" and a person had commented "You don't read your bible do you? How do two men or two women make a baby?" (Okay, I admit I fixed the spelling mistakes)
Say what?
How does the concept of equal rights for people no matter what their sexuality is become the ability to bear a child? And what does reading the bible have to do with being able to bear a child? If only Christians were capable of bearing children we'd have a lot smaller world population. Considering the huge number of people following other faiths out there, this obviously is not the case.
I've read the bible. I've actually studied it and all I can say is that it really does require a lot of faith to accept it as written. I mean a LOT of faith. There are so many contradictions in it that my head swims from them. And I am referring to just the Old Testament. Add in the New Testament and you really need to be distanced from any rational thought to believe in all this.
Now there are good things to the bible. It does teach us to be good to one another and to be forgiving and tolerant. If you accept those particular parts of it as your doctrine. If you go for the other parts - an eye for an eye, no tolerance, etc - then you get the religious fanatics. unfortunately, too many people go for the eye for an eye policies.
I have my personal faith and my moral beliefs follow the basic tenets of being a good person, treating others fairly, and living my life without hurting others. I know I have taken my beliefs from the bible - no lying, no cheating, no judging others, etc - and yet because I don't follow an orthodox faith (Catholic, Protestant, Hebrew, Islam, etc) I am told that I will not get into Heaven.
Let me take you on a little tour through history and the bible.
Before churches were built, men gathered to worship God on hillsides and in clearings. Then they built the Tabernacles and later stone churches. Religion changed from being a personal faith where each man carried God inside him and could pray to Him anywhere and at anytime to having to go to a House of God on certain days and at certain times so that God would hear him.
Now the cynical part of me says "Priests and clerics figured out how to use fear to control their populations" and "Someone figured out how to make money pretty early". Or well, since money didn't exist as such then, it was mostly a barter system still, someone figured out how to collect goods by using a tithing system.
But I digress. If one looks objectively at religion and the bible is used more as a history book, one can see how religion became organized and used to control people. It is still being used to control people today. Not for their benefit either. Religious leaders don't like people who think and especially those who question.
But one of the things I really like to point out to people is that the bible is written by people who talked to God. In their day, they were considered Holy Men touched by God and the bringer of His Word to the people. Nowadays, we lock up people who claim to talk with God in insane asylums.
So, our religions are based on the words of people we would now consider to be insane. Think about that.
Every time someone tells me that something is against God's will and especially that it is in the bible, I throw this back at them "Judge not, lest ye be judged." The quote is from Matthew 7:1 but there are several other references throughout the bible about judging and condemning and putting obstacles in the way. All of these references refer to not judging others so that a worse fate will not fall on you.
Yet people judge. Constantly.
I try to live my life without judging others. I don't care what a person's sexuality, religious beliefs, political leanings, gender, age, language, culture, or any of the countless other things people use to make judgments are. What I care about is how the person acts around me and if they are a person that I want to continue to be around. Period.
That doesn't mean I don't make judgments, I'm just as human as any one else. But my judgments are usually based on the actions and sometimes the fashion and eating habits of people. I don't need to know and I don't care about a person's sexuality. I certainly don't think it has anything to do with whether or not a person is a caring, capable person.
I think we need to have faith in something bigger than ourselves. But we need to think for ourselves as well and not blindly accept someone else's interpretation of a philosophy (which is what religion really is) and a moral code. We need to be able to question it, to test it, and make sure it is for the betterment of all of us. And we need to accept that not everyone will agree on the proper way to follow their faith.
Isn't that what it really is all about anyway? Faith.
PS. No, I did not capitalize the bible at any time. If anyone is offended by that, sorry you're so easily offended but this is my blog and my choice. It is simply a book to me.
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