Thank you Ben Affleck

[stickykeys633]

I had no idea who Keith Olbermann really was, but this rant about Prop 8 has made me an instant fan:

Click to view

ps. All y'all blaming black people for this mess can kiss my black @ss. Can you imagine this bill getting anywhere under a McCain administration? Yeah, I know you're mad and you need someone to blame, just keep that racist crap to yourselves

Comments

[stickykeys633]

The thing here is, that you can do nothing explicitly hateful and still encourage intolerance and injustice. Evil works far more effectively through inertia and self-interest and avoidance of discomfort than actual hate.

I understand what you mean, but I don't know. I think this is one of the cases where apathy (eg not voting, not protesting, not hating) is okay. Though, if that same inertia involves not schooling others about their actions then it can be a bad thing. I think there are different degrees of involvement there.

Can you emulate Jesus' example, only enough to be a nice person and comfortable, and still call that a holy life?

I think the important phrase here is "only enough". We are to STRIVE daily to live Holy and striving means endlessly working to adhere to God's word. Everything we need is located in the book of life and as long as we are mindful of it in our daily walk then that constitutes as striving to live Holy.

Being Christian is one of the hardest things to do because you are constantly questioning yourself and your motivations. Are the steps that I'm taking in line with that of Christ? If I were to die now what would be written in my book and would I be proud of that? What impact have I made on the world and was Christ seen through it?

The vast majority of Christians do not seriously follow through in emulating Jesus' example.

Then they aren't seriously Christians, IMO.

What we determine to be sin and what we perceive to be a holy life to be is shaped by their theology. I feel like, if we vote those people out, who've been there since the very beginning, it means that every single thing that we believe as modern Christians has to be re-evaluated

I'd like you to be a bit more specific about this and here's why: Noah got drunk and exposed himself and yet he was still a holy man. Aaron was a priest but still melted down gold to create an idol for worship. Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it but he led an entire generation out of slavery.

These are men of God who made mistakes because they were human, but because they were holy they repented and were forgiven. True holy living is identified by the realization that you are not perfect and are going to mess up and will be forgiven through the blood of Christ.

What I see happen is people take advantage of this forgiveness, call themselves Christians, live any way they want and then hope that nightly prayer will reserve them a spot on the roster. I think the world would be a lot better off without these people because it gives an inaccurate representation of what Christianity is.

It's a journey, but also specifically not just the belief in God, but also in His son Jesus and that Jesus died on the cross that we might be free. If you can say you appreciate that sacrifice and love God, but you can still have the nerve to openly hate on anyone in God's name then you're creating a grave sin just in that.

Now the gay/Christian struggle I still get because it's something I still deal with. This is why I can endorse general apathy at this point. I study apologetics and the Bible basically covers itself of everything except homosexuality. There has to be a lot more study done in order to find out exactly why it was denounced and how that applies to us today, so I get people still being up in arms about it.

One thing the Bible is clear about though is loving our neighbors as ourselves and allowing God the control to decide what to do with their souls. We've taken that away from God by trying to legislate every section of their lives and it's gotten gross and totally out of control.

And yes, as you see, I loves to discuss! :D

[quinacridones]

I want to give a proper reply, but my brain is so tangled up right now. :( But I want to say that you've made a lot of good points, and I'm glad you did, because I'll be thinking about this issue some more.