Tuesday, December 19, 2006

The Episcopalian Angel

A recent story reminds me of a girl I once knew, by the name of Claire, who I met one Sunday while attending the Episcopal Chruch in downtown Cincinnati Ohio. This was a few years back, but it is something I will never forget, because it is a perfect illustration of how one slight turn of events, one seemingly minor and insignificant development, can change your life forever.

It has in the meantime got me to thinking about the nature of God. Is there really an all-powerful, all-wise Creator who is one day going to sit in judgement of all our thoughts and deeds, who offers us salvation from a destiny in hell if we only accept the sacrifice of his only begotten son, Jesus Christ? Does all of that, or any fo it, even make any kind of sense?

And if we are all sinners, whether Christians saved solely by grace, or walking in darkness and doomed to eternal damnation-who are we to judge anyone else?

A rupture has occurred within the rank of the American Episcopal Church, as seven Virginia parishes have withdrawn now from the 111 diocese, 27 million member organization. This has been brewing for some time, beginning with the ordination of women that culminated eventually in the appointment of Bishop Katherine Schori as the Presiding U.S. Bishop.

But the cross that proved too great to bear was the decision last year to appoint as Bishop of New Hampshire an openly gay man, V. Gene Robinson, a man who at that point in time still had a male live-in lover.

I did a post on this subject last year, in fact, one entitled Primate Rules , which elicited an interesting response from a reader who seems to have a vested interest in the subject. Accordding to The Country Parson:

The Country Parson said...

In the Episcopal Church it had been an unstated assumption that homosexuality (or homosexual behavior)was a sin just as nearly everyone assumed it was except maybe people who were gay. It is only in the last 30 years that other people have thought differently. If your statement,"Anglican Church doctrine explicitly states that homosexuality is a violation of scripture" refers to the Lambeth resolution from 1998 that stated was "homosexuality was incompatible with scripture" that would be a mistake. Resolutions from the Lambeth Conference or the General Convention are non-binding. They may contribute to our understanding of the doctrine of the Church, but they do not make doctrine.

Be that as it may, as it was pointed out to me by Fondfire, there can be no doubt what the offical position is of the Bible as regards to homosexuality. The words of the Apostle Paul in Romans I:24-28, and again in I Corinthians 6:9-10, homosexuality is indeed an unnatural sin, in fact one that is so degrading that it was considered that God had become so disgusted with such an individual he had given that person over to unnatural lusts.

In other words, a homosexual is, according to the Bible, cursed by God. Or, as it is put even more succinctly in the Old Testament, it is an "abomination" for two men to lie with each other as a man lies with a woman. And it would probably amount to an unnecessary splitting of hairs to point out that lesbianism is not here referred to, as I have this strange feeling the Biblical authors would consider that equally ahorrent.

Even those who point out, correctly as it happens, that the passages attributed to Paul were a reference to the vile and corrupt Roman Emperor Nero and his imperial court, miss the mark altogether. Note that Paul points out this aspect of Nero's character not as a way of saying, "oh, by the way, he happens to be a homosexual", but as a means of pointing out that Nero was so depraved, this was tantamount to proof that he had sank to as low a depth as a human being could possibly decend to, and had infected the culture of the imperial court as well.

He wasn't saying, in other words, that it is alright to be a homosexual as long as you don't steal, blaspheme, murder, and commit torture and rape, etc. What he was pointing out-and this is a remarkable thing when you stop to think about it-is that a lifetime of crimes and sin ultimately lead to this, the most degrading possible proof of loss of ones soul.

It is only natural, therefore, to expect some of the more conservative, traditional Episcoplaians to be virulently oppossed to these latest developments. Lemuel, from Hillbilly White Trash, probably sums up the attitude of most of these traditional Episcopalians, and traditional conservative Christians in general, when he pointed out on his blog:

And as for the homosexuals who will be made to feel warm and loved and accepted and affirmed in the new Christless Episcopal "Church"? Those warm fuzzies will not help them in hell - which they will go to not because they are gay, but because they reject the Lord that IS in favor of a fantasy god who doesn't say anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.

This is very telling. Note that Christians do not judge homosexuals to be hell-bound for what they are, but for what they refuse to turn away from, and for deeming it necessary to assert that God is okay with it. It is the refusal to repent, while still insisting they should be welcome in the Christian Churches, that will send them to hell, according to conservative beliefs. And, if you want to be precise, according to the Bible itself.

The whole thing is bizzarre. Why should gay people care? Why don't they become some other religion, one where they are welcome. For example, there are a good many Wiccan and Pagan sects that view homosexuality as natural to the person. Admittedly, there are a good many who view it as unnatural, but still, there is no set overriding law among Wiccan or Pagan sects that specify it one way or another. It is up to the individual cult or coven.

There are many, if not most, who will accept the homosexual within their circles, so long as they don't enter the doors with a dick in their mouths or up their asses. And in a few rare cases, this might be acceptable as well.

The answer to this, of course, is that they are not Wiccans, they are Christians, just technically not very good ones. But then again, who are? Christianity is rife with people that pick and choose what parts of the Bible are valid and to be followed strictly, and what parts just don't apply to the present age-or to them. More importantly, they have a very keen eye towards those parts of the Bible that seem to justify their own sins, which are just too much for them to overcome. After all, why else would God send his only beloved son to die on the cross, if it were that easy to turn away from the sins of adultery, lust, greed, drunkenness, pride, anger, etc. All those things are moral failings that have to be struggled with. So, if you give in to them, will you not be forgiven?

As long as you try to be a good person, and perfom charitable works, and help your neighbor when he needs aid, won't God understand if you fuck his wife? After all, it's as much his fault as yours, for not satisfying her needs. If not for you, she might leave him, or fall in with somebody who might break up the family eventually. Hell, all you want to do is hit that ass every now and then. Shit, you gave them some money when they were in a tight spot, you got him a job when he was unemployed. Hell, she's just showing her gratitude, it's only natural, and you have your needs as well, you're only human-

And damn but is that ever some FINE FUCKING PUSSY!!!

Bear in mind, I'm not judging one way or another. I don't believe in hell, in the traditional meaning of the word. I don't discount it totally, though. If the conservative Christians are right after all, I will probably be there one day. If that is the case, I have no doubt I am going to see plenty of homosexuals, bothChristians and non-Christians, and they are pretty much going to be in the same boat.

I guess that is the hold after all, this fear of hell, a fear that drives people to want to remain in a religion where thy aren't really welcome, and then all but beg God to accept them as they are, knowing full well, deep down, that they don't really belong, and never will.

Well, I've got some good news for them in a sense, minor though it is. In fact, it might actually come down to-well, not cold comfort, just a slight bit of consolation.

They are going to be finding themselves in the company of a good many of their fellow Christians in the after life.

Unless, that is, they actually do repent and "sin no more". And, if they do fall from time to time, beg forgiveness and determine to never do it again. If you fall, I guess God will pick you up and dust you off. After so long,of course, he might pick you up and throw you away, like he did Nero.

After all, if there really is an all-powerful, all-wise creator God, I guess he certainly knows our hearts.

Which brings me back tothe subject of an angel I once met.

Actually, I came close to joining the Episcopal Chruch in downtown Cincinnati Ohio once a few years back, but work obligations ended that. I miss that place still, I liked the ritual, I enjoyed the fellowship, and the people were by and large open, gracous, and welcoming. I really enjoyed it, and came within a hair of becomming a regular attendee, and possibly a member. Had that occurred,the chances are I might be a devout Episcopalian to this day.

Of course, this was all due to the fact that, my first day there, I became greatly attracted to this chick by the name of Claire, one of those lust-disquised-as-love-at-first-site kind of deals, augmented by the fact that she had the voice of an angel, and made damn sure I heard it as she belted out a hymn at the back of my head from behind me.

I was introduced to her on another occassion, during the course of a festival that the church was conducting, and when I shook hands with her,the electricity was intense. I could actually feel it surging through me. But in no time flat, I soon began having to work weekends. I stopped attendance, and never saw her again.

The moral of the story-there is no God. There can't be.

14 comments:

Rufus said...

It's really quite astounding when you think about it. You have this all-powerful, all-knowing being who so loves the world that he sent his only begotten son to die for us. But, conversely, he's able to condemn us to being tortured for all of eternity. I mean, most sins you would think would earn you a year of torture tops. But, this sick son of a bitch is able to create a realm in which you are tortured in the worst ways imaginable for all of eternity. Not even Stalin or Hitler could have done such a thing. And, not only that, but the all-powerful and all-loving God has nothing better to worry about than if you eat shellfish, or pork, or steak on Sundays! I mean, try to live your life as best you can, but got forbid you eat a Sausage McMuffin. Or dick for that matter. Even more crazy, Mr. Loving is able to wipe out millions of Asains with a tsunami every year, and why? Aren't at least some of them innocent? Well, no- they ate lobster- they deserve to die.

SecondComingOfBast said...

Rufus-Oh, there are explanations for everything, almost. The dietary laws were due in part to health considerations, and in some cases they might have been intended to prevent the ancient Israelites from having contact with other people, and so being influenced by them. And, after the New Testament, they no longer apply to Christians, though of course they do to Jews, who do not accept Christ or the New Testament.

The concept of hell is where it gets tricky. According to most Christians, hell is where you send yourself, God doesn't send you there, really, but in order to save you from it, he sent Christ to die for us. The reasoning being that sin can't dwell in the presence of a perfect God, and so in order to save us from the destruction that is due, Christs blood attones for our sins in a way we never could.

See, the trick is, if a story seems fantastic or unlikely, you can always invent an explanation for it. It's kind of like that old Spider-Man thing. If you can accept that a man can be bitten by a radioactive spider and somehow acquire the powers and attributes of a spider, the rest of it makes sense,to a degree. Otherwise, it is just a wild fantasy.

The one thing no one has ever explained is where he come from. God, I mean. And even here, we get, "oh, our minds are just too limited to comprehend the eternal existence of God".

So with that, we are expected to swallow the existence of an all-powerful, all-wise God who will never end, and who in fact had no beginning, no origin, and created everything that exists through sheer power of his thoughts, I guess.

So there again, if you can accept that, i guess you can accept just about everything.

sonia said...

an unnecessary splitting of hairs to point out that lesbianism is not here referred to

Well, it might seem like hair splitting right now, but if God really exists and if I am at the Final Judgement, it might make a HELL OF A DIFFERENCE to me personally...

Frank Partisan said...

Heaven and hell, were relatively new conccepts in Christianity. It is only as old as The Crusades. I'm sure you are closer to primitive Christianity.

SecondComingOfBast said...

Sonia-I thought you weren't a believer. Are you just being facetous? If something like this bothers you, maybe you have some things you need to work out on an inner level.

But, we all do, to a point. In the meantime, you are what you are. As long as you are basically a good person, and try to be the best person you can be, and always try to better yourself on a mental, emotional, and maybe spiritual level (not that I think there's anything wrong with you) I don't see what you have to worry about, but that's just my opinion.

SecondComingOfBast said...

Renegade-Is your computer fixed now? I noticed you posted from a different place than usual. You might want to get a different internet service. I hear that Juno sucks. The reason it's so cheap is because they keep your browser choked with ads. That's what I hear anyway, as I was thinking of going over to them but I asked the Firefox people about it, it does not come highly recommended.

Anyway, good luck to you. I think though if you study the Bible, though, you will find that belief in both heaven and hell was pretty standard in the New Testament. It is the Old Testament where they are not mentioned.

But the new Testament predates the Crusades by quite a few centuries. Personally, I don't really belong to any estsblished religion, I'm just a Solitary practitioner, kind of stumbling along my own path, with a mix of Wicca and ancient Hellenic (Greek) paganism as my eyes and ears.

sonia said...

Pagan,

Are you just being facetous?

I am always facetous...

But I am also a rationalist, and like Pascal, I don't discount a possibility that God actually exists. In which case, those biblical hair splitting just might save my soul...

SecondComingOfBast said...

I think most organized religions amount to little more than brainwashing myself. But if it bothers you that much, then you need to obviously deal with it somehow. If you are afraid that being a lesian might send you to hell, then stop practising lesbianism. It's just that simple, though it might not be that easy.

Personally, I think most religions have buildt their power base up by relying on the imposition of guilt through superstitous fears. It's hard as hell to break that pattern, so long as you maintain that slight doubt in the back of your mind. That is really the genius of Middle Eatern religions in particular.

First, they tell you there is only one God, therefore all others are false, and then they teach you that every word in their sacred scriptures is divinely inspired, and should be taken literaly. Once that is established, it is easy to lead people to handing over their personal freedoms and their very humanity over to a bunch of pious robed hypocrits, and demeaning those of other faiths,relegating them to second class status, and even killing them. After all, there can only be "one true way", right? That means everything that questions or opposses that, or disputes it in any way, is evil and so should be destroyed if possible.

That keeps all the power and wealth locked up in the hands of a relative few "soul savers". It worked for the Catholic Church for centuries, still does to a lesser extent with them and other more conservative Christian Protestant denominations, and works the same way in most branches of Islam.

Orgnaized religion is nothing but a means of controlling the masses. Sure, it has it's good points, and has done a lot of good in some regards. But even that is just a means of maintaining it's power over the people. I don't trust any of them any further than I could throw them, and that includes most of the people in my own growing pagan based paths who want to set themselves up as religous leaders. Same old story, just a different set of story tellers-i.e., liars, misfits, thieves, and power mongers.

sonia said...

Pagan,

If you are afraid that being a lesbian might send you to hell, then stop practising lesbianism.

I would never do that. I wouldn't want to have anything to do with a God that condemns lesbanism (or any other sexual orientation). I would much prefer to go to Hell. And I would pitty those who would want to go to Heaven... What a awful place it would have to be...

SecondComingOfBast said...

Sonia-sounds to me like you are addicted. Sex addiction can be a hell in it's own right, you know. Go without it for awhile and you might see things in a different light. What do you have to lose? That's a pretty stunning admission to make, that the world would be worthless without sex. Nothing should have that kind of power, and hold, over a person.

sonia said...

Pagan,

Sex is my religion. I worship Venus (Aphrodite) and Mary Magdalene... (the prostitute, not Jesus's wife)...

SecondComingOfBast said...

Then if that is the case,I think it's high time you went on a little fast. Otherwise, your religion is really an addiction, and I promise you goig without for a while-say, a year or two-will draw you closer to Aphrodite.

Of course, I realize that you are probably saying this in a symbolic way. But if not, and you really mena what you say, then it's time for that fast, girl.

Just think of how good that sex will feel after a year or two abstinence. That itself ought to make you want to do it, in combination with meditation, alone time, etc.

And no self-gratification, now, that would be defeating the purpose.

sonia said...

your religion is really an addiction,

What's wrong with being addicted ? I am as addicted to sex as I am 'addicted' to oxygen, water and food. If I stop breathing for more than 60 seconds, I die. If I don't drink for 3 days, I die. If don't eat for 30 days, I die. For sex, I don't know, because I never lasted longer than 24 hours....

SecondComingOfBast said...

Then it is what it is, which is to say, it is not a religion, it is a weakness. If something is truly a religion, then it is suppossed to make you stronger. But your addiction has you enslaved, and that is never good.

It's not any worse than how most people approach their own religions, I'll give you that. It's not any better, though.