til' the cows come home

Well that's new, I thought to myself, at the sight of Madonna in a boy scouts uniform. From a woman who's made a career out of challenging other people's moral standards, now wants everyone to conform to hers. Apparently she has some, who knew? Not that I disagree with what she's saying, that gay people should be treated as equal human beings, it's just new! lol. It might take a little getting used to, Madonna with a cause that is. But it does kind of go with something I've been thinking about of late, how a crowd of people who on one hand are always telling us that morality is evolving, and we must, absolutely must, adapt, seem to be the same gang of people that are offended if you disagree with them. Go figure.

But I'm not interested in arguing, been there done that, got the grey hair. So, when I was scrolling down my facebook page this morning and noticed a huff post article, where they were arguing about Sodom, and trying, as Huff Post always seems to be trying to do, to change people's perceptions of reality, I just sighed. What do I mean by that? Well, I'm not a Muslim, but one thing that Muhammad got right, was referring to Jews and Christians as people of the book. Because that's what we do, at least that's what serious Jews or Christians do, we know our own history and our own religious texts. In short, the only minds that Huff Post is going to change, I suspect, are people who don't read the Bible in the first place. That's not to say we can't have a discussion, personally I'm happy to have a discussion about the Bible anytime. What I'm saying, is that we can argue about the Bible til' the cows come home, and we're not going to be any farther ahead.  Trust me on that, we protestants have been doing it for centuries. It doesn't work haha.

So what does work? Church splits work haha. Oh gosh did I just say that?  But that's what we've done isn't it?  Rather than kill each other over transsubstantiation or infant baptism or circumcision, we've learned to put up our own four walls, with or without idols, or is that art?  Sigh.  I've an ecumenical heart, I really do, as a kid who grew up, being told I was going to hell in either direction, I don't say what I'm saying lightly. But I really do think that that's where we're at here. There are going to be churches, speaking as a Christian, that are conservative on this issue, supporting the person through their temptations, and there are going to be churches who are liberal on this issue, supporting the person towards monogamous relationships.  And there are going to be A LOT of church splits.  That's what I expect. I've accepted that.

Where I'm hoping we can find agreement as Christians and Jews, is that members of the gay community are equal human beings, created in the image of God, just as we are.  And as a humble way of supporting people who have been oppressed, just as we as religious minorities have known oppression, can find a way of supporting another community's differences with us, as we hope they will support our differences with them, and not force their values on us.  My friends, that's what I think has worked historically, agreeing to disagree, and saving some discussions for another time or place. 

thanks for listening,

M.A. Harvey