You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.

As I Walked Out One Evening,
W.H. Auden

John Doe became a fan of Thou Shalt Not Inflict Your Religious Crap Upon Others.

This popped up on one of my Facebook friends' walls. Since I am avoiding a paper, I have some thoughts on it.

My initial reaction was hurt and self-consciousness. Was I one of the religious psychos he was referring to? Honestly, its possible.

Then it occurred to me. What if Shakespeare hadn't incorporated anything about Christianity into his writings? That would have been very difficult for him because Christianity in 16th century Britain was his cultural context. God, prayers, Jesus, Puritans, etc. were all common themes in his everyday life so of COURSE he would incorporate and react to these things in his writings. Should HE have shut up about it?

I think its the same thing today. I make sense of the world around me largely by Christian ideas. It then makes sense that when communicating about my concept of reality, Christianity inevitably comes up. I am a Christian, and I make sense of life like one.

I am also an artist (Well, whatever that is. But sure). And so, when wondering why the sky is blue and nature is generally green, I like to think it has something to do with the fact that green is a relaxing colour and blue is a creativity inspiring colour for humans. And so, I like to think that all that was considered by an Artist who was figuring out what colours to use where.

A scientist would have a different perspective, and would likely talk about chlorophil (sp?) and the atmosphere and light. Or something. I don't know. I'm not a scientist.

But the point is, we all have different ways of seeing reality. Is it really fair to label one way, "Religious Crap"? We're all relatively equal in our stupidity about ultimate matters, which effect mundane matters which tend to effect everyday conversation. Why should one voice be silenced because another has dubbed it "crap" (probably without researching it much)?

Granted, some theories of why the world works the way it does are more solid than others and some ideas ought to be discredited as soon as possible. Perhaps that's THE BEST reason then to create a culture where these things can be talked about openly without fear of one point of view being called "crap". If people keep their stupid ideas to themselves or to their circles of friends with similar ideas - in part because they're too scared to talk to anyone else about it - then no light can be shone on how stupid those ideas actually are! So its actually counter productive to divide everyone up like this for the sake of a tolerant peace.

Wouldn't it be so much better if say, the atheistic scientist and the artistic Hindu got together in someone's living room over tea and had an open, unjudgemental dicussion about, say, the sun, and the importance of it to human life? Wouldn't both their worlds be illuminated by the other's point of view, even if neither changed their opinions? Isn't it just beneficial to know, in depth, that there are other ways of looking at something than just the way oneself looks at it?

That is why I think hospitality trumps tolerance as a virtue. Inviting people in for open discussion, where there's food, couches and the ability to make a joke or a comment on the art on the walls - this is so much better than cold, academic coexistance. Or worse, insisting that everyone should shut up when discussions about Truth ever come up. Because they will come up. Its natural, and so connected to everday life. We MIGHT AS WELL enjoy spaghetti together while we talk about it.

Just to prove that I'm not completely full of idealistic crap, we (my housemates and I) do actually have this type of relationship with John Doe and his housemates. They have been to our house several times, and we've been over there a few times too. So it works. I even thinks he enjoys us as people and can look past our awkward evangelical labels.

THE END. Back to my paper.

Passion

“Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping … waiting … and though unwanted, unbidden, it will stir … open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us … guides us. Passion rules us all. And we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love … the clarity of hatred … the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion, maybe we’d know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank. Without passion, we’d be truly dead.”
—Joss Whedon

Happy!

Sometimes it feels like there's a spinning ball of utter JOY in my stomach!
And not just the Christian kind either.

Baby Skulls

Report: Baby Skull Jewelry May Be Linked To Violence

Ode to the Cool Kids

One of my goals this semester has been to learn to love the cool kids. The cool kids are probably the hardest group of people for me to love; After all, it was THEIR KIND who initially made a marginalized specimen out of ME - not the other way around. It all started in Gr. 2 when I was not one of Matthew McCarty's chosen girls to fall in love with. The girls he did fall in love with, making a huge spectackle about being in love with them, remain cool to this very day. Coolness is assigned early and its a hard club to break into once its formed.

The cool kids in my life are no longer kids but young adults. They are stylish. They are good looking. They know what's hot and what's not. And that is not me. So it is my natural reaction to resent the cool kids. If I avoid and hate them, I don't have to deal with their nonsense. PEOPLE LOVE ME, YOU STUPID COOL KIDS, SO I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK, my life attempts to scream at them. Except that when I am forced to be around them my natural reaction is to worship them, which is problematic to say the least.

Anyway, recently a cool kid died in a car accident. I didn't know him, but he was good looking and stylish, which, is quite enough for me to wish to avoid his presence altogether. I don't know what his attitude was, but with a face like that, how could he be anything but "cool"? I am positive that had I had the chance, I would not have bothered to get to know him. He was too pretty.

Except the thing is, I don't think he was "cool". Having met his gorgeous yet humble family, and having heard stories of his life, I don't think he was the traditional asshole I assign to people who look like him. So I decided to no longer discriminate against cool people, or people who I perceived as being cool.

ALL people need love, whether they treat me as an inferior or not. And some people, though beautiful and stylish, are not even like that. They managed to escape that black hole of pride, probably with Jesus' help.

The thing is, I have pride issues against those people. Years of pent up bitterness - YOU BLOODY PRETENTIOUS OPPRESSORS! I DON'T NEED YOU!

Cool people make me angry. They are SO hard to love. It is SO against my nature to even smile lovingly in the direction of a cool person.

And so I have been experimenting with learning to love cool people this semester. Some gorgeous people have been great, and I'm glad I've gotten to know them. I appreciate their presence in my life and their attitude of inclusiveness is SO powerful.

The thing about cool people is that they hold a lot of power. If a cool person treats a plebian well, it speaks volumes. If an average person treats a plebian well, it is significant, but not mind-shattering. An all-inclusive attitude amongst those who are naturally good looking and stylish, I would argue, is crucial to authentic community. When good looking and stylish Christians only hang out with other good looking and stylish Christians, or awkward and ugly Christians only hang out with other awkward and ugly Christians, we are creating STUPID divisions. The body of Christ needs to be unified, not divided into ridiculous subdivisions of levels of cool.

Other cool kids have been less than a stellar experience. There's nothing quite like being reminded of your apparent inferiority. It sucks. I guess the next step for me is to learn to not be bitter towards the cool kids.

They cannot help the role that society has assigned to them. Even if they can, why would they want to? They're on top, and stepping down from there would be a huge blow to the ego, something that would take a lot of strength and courage. I have been blessed to be naturally uncool. I don't have to make the big leaps of status that they do in order to build community.

I MUST learn to have compassion on them. I AM no better than they are, so I need to stop thinking that I am just because I don't have the same struggles that they do.

But it is hard. And I am angry.
But with every fibre in my being, cool kids, I WILL forgive you and you WILL be loved unconditionally by me one day. Because JESUS loves you unconditionally and I long to emulate him.

It would just be a hell of a lot easier if you would get off your bloody high horse.

That is all.