Mitt Romney’s new iPhone app, misspelling America. (via @thischoi)
Religion
“Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”
Matthew 23:26
“The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.”
Luke 18:11
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 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.”
Matthew 7:3-5
“Who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me, for I am too sacred for you!’ Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.”
Isaiah 65:5
“There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?”
James 4:12
“Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.”
Romans 14:1-9
“Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.”
Romans 14:13
I usually try to avoid making religious arguments, and I sincerely am not trying to offend anyone here. However, the strange atmosphere lately has led me to think a lot more than usual on this issue. I have very deep and complex spiritual and religious views that I tend to keep to myself. Also I never quote the bible, really.
This very obviously does not apply to all Christians, since being such a wide spread creed Christianity also has wide spread views. Still, I feel I need to air my opinions. The passing of this amendment in North Carolina is really what got me.
Any preacher or reverend or pastor or politician who voted for this bill who says he (or she) is not anti-gay is a liar. Maybe they don’t realize it, but they are. Not supporting gay marriage (although I completely support it myself) is one thing, since there is debate over the religious context of “marriage” and the viewpoint that marriage is ultimately a religious event. I disagree with it, but I understand it.
So gays can’t have that, got it. So gays get something else, something secular and unrelated to religion. Wait, they aren’t allowed that either. I see the point arguing against gay marriage, so here’s my question: What gives you the right to decide they can’t have anything? A process exists to at least give gays something without stepping into your metaphorical “house”, so you respond by going out of your way to step out of your house into theirs and yell “WAIT, I KNOW THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH US BUT THEY CAN’T HAVE THAT EITHER”.
Person 1: You can’t get married because of <insert reason>
Person 2: Okay, fine. We’ll go do our own thing then.
Person 1: NO YOU CAN’T DO THAT EITHER.
This is basically what’s happening. If you were at a party and went and sat on a couch but other people told you that you couldn’t sit there for whatever reason, your reaction would probably be to sit on a different couch. How would you feel if those people then yelled across the room “Sorry! You can’t sit on that couch either. In fact, you can’t sit on any coach… Because we said so.”
This is intentionally going out of the way to state that not only can gays not get married, but that they don’t even fall into the faulty “separate but equal” category. This isn’t about “definitions of marriage” in this situation, this is blatantly saying gays are lesser humans who don’t even deserve consideration.
Here is where the bible verses I posted above come in. Have any of these people who use religion as a platform for their values who support this bill even breathed the air in the same room as a Bible? Or any holy book?
Yes, anyone can thumb through holy works and pick out some crazy, odd passages about slavery, incest and whatnot but one can also find a plentiful supply of verses about compassion and empathy. Verses which seem much more applicable in our modern world. So why are some people so quick to forget these things?
I’ll end this with an important statement I feel I must make. I don’t really consider myself a Christian, or at least not anything close to a traditional one. I’m not a preacher, or a theologian. Just an average person. I’m not some angry atheist either though. I love religion and admire the diversity and history it brings from all over the world. I respect the Bible, especially because of verses like those above. The last quote really struck me as appropriate for this situation.
Most of all, I’m very rarely a serious person who speaks in a serious tone. When I do though, it’s because I have something meaningful to say. If you managed to read through this horribly long post, thanks for actually reading it.
How is it that I’m struggling so much to write an essay on one of my favorite pieces of literature, one of the pieces of literature I feel I relate to the most. I have analyzed it in my head and in discussions a million times, but I still can’t figure out what to do. I hate essays. I know so much but when someone expects me to put it down to paper in such a specific regimented manner I just freeze up. Also the essay was assigned with the perfect level of ambiguity. Barely any information given, but just enough unhelpful advice given to confuse me even more.
“make a claim about some literary aspect of the work” ? Really?
Ok, that totally gives me direction. Thanks for the road map to success English professor.
