
A conservative Christian emailed me yesterday to share his idea that I should “back off from writing about the gays so much.”
So I did the only thing I could do.
I had him killed.
Hey, you’ve got your friends. I’ve got mine. That’s all I’m saying.
No, but this quarrelsome query (oh, that Daniel Webster! what a gay lexicographer he was!) was prompted by my recent post, Nothing Says Love Like a Lesbian Christian Minister with an Oven, in which I wrote about a dieting, exercising woman whom, I think you’ll agree, set a very clear example for all of you by baking and shipping me cookies.
“What is it about you and gays?” wrote my conservative correspondent. “Why is it so important to you to write so much about them?”
What a naive question. Isn’t it obvious that I write about gays and lesbians because they bake and mail me cookies? If you want me to write about you, you make me cookies. That’s been my motto ever since I first learned, back in kindergarten, about Dick and Jane having the runs.
Oh, no. Now I’ve taken up all this room with these stupid jokes.
Time for … Succinct Man!
The reason I wrote about Anita the Christian Lesbian as I did is because I think it’s critical that whenever any one of us straight folk think, talk about, or talk to any given homosexual, we are very careful to move to the forefront of our hearts and minds the truth that a homosexual’s sexuality means absolutely no more to their overall understanding of who they are, or how they experience the world, than any other person’s sexuality does to them.
It’s so easy for us to forget that though a person may be gay, that’s all they are. They have whole other humongously complex lives that have virtually nothing to do with their sexual orientation. Just like we do. Just like everyone does.
Gays and lesbians spend every bit of their lives as bored as anyone else does, is really the thing. Being gay doesn’t make you exotic, or talented, or interesting, or anything. It just means that when it comes to .. well, you know.
I have a lot of conservative Christian readers, which I hold as an honor. And what I’m saying here has nothing to do with the question of whether or not God automatically condemns to hell the unrepentant homosexual. That’s a theological question I’ll for now let other people argue about.
All I’m saying here is that the reason I wrote about Anita in the manner I did was to say, “Here. Let’s look at this woman. She isn’t just a ‘lesbian.’ She’s someone who cares. She’s funny. She’s smart. She long ago decided to make the point of her life honoring Jesus Christ. In the war she’s been fighting all her life against food and her body weight she’s recently proven victorious. She’s humble. She works hard. She’s generous. She’s in a loving, committed relationship. She’s articulate. She’s careful. She’s the infinite number of other things she is. She’s a whole person.”
I get that a lot of Christians believe that Anita Cadonau-Huseby is going to hell. I understand that if God wants that, that’s what’ll happen. That’s really none of my business. None of what happens to anybody beyond the grave is my business.
I just want we who are still here on earth to remember that if it ever happens that we have to let go of the hands of the likes of Anita as she begins her fall backward into hell, we won’t be releasing just a ‘lesbian.’ We’ll be releasing into hell a sister.
One of our own.
It better hurt us like that.
















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Leo merely shows that there are some pretty darn clear edicts in the bible (some surprisingly non-ambiguous). It the bible is true then, gosh-darn it, you better obey…you don't want to see God when he is in 'one of his moods'. If the bible is not true then you can ignore the whole thing and sleep in on Sunday with not a tad of mental dissonance.
I just find it hard to contemplate those that claim Christianity, but can disregard clear biblical edicts. Don't get me wrong; those Christians that DO discard those bits are a MUCH more pleasant group to be around and I am not promoting literalism. It just seems there must be a H-U-G-E amount of cognitive dissonance.
So this thread ended with the conservative (evangelical?) Christian and the staunch atheist in complete agreement?!
Only on John Shore's blog.
Anita, I thank you for your kind words. They mean much.
Thank you.
Leonardo also make my point. I don't get the middle-of-the road position on anything Christian.
Ok let me tell you in this way. You say: "That’s really none of my business. None of what happens to anybody beyond the grave is my business" But it is your business as a christian if you really care. Quote (without Chapter:verse): "And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh." It is a duty.
i’d really like chapter and verse on this one…
Wow, John, quite a few responses to this blog. I enjoyed learning about Anita and reading your ode to her cookies. It was refreshing to read words written to honor Anita's spirit and her living love and honoring her as a whole person.
Personally, I do not think God would want any of us to go to hell. Creating the world as he did, going through great lengths through Jesus to restore us back to him and the involvement He chooses to have in our everyday lives through Holy Spirit and angels affirms to me that he wants the best for us all. However the question lies there in how to rectify that not every one will inherit the kingdom of heaven? It is the choices that we make. If anyone of us goes to hell it should be a schock and painful to us all. Enough to re examine our own lives to live as Father God would have us live.
Anita seems to be living a surrendered life and making such changes that would bring her closer to God on a daily basis. Those areas that the Bible says are not of God well that is between her and God. We all have something in our lives not of God that stops us from receiving His best. God is merciful the rain and the sunshine are distributed to us all. Moreover as long as each of us our breathing life is happening to us all.
Got to say the cookies looked mighty delicious. Would Anita like to share any of the recipies?
Hey John, What happen with my post?
Leo: I'm sorry, but I had to delete your post just because—to be frank, and I certainly don't mean to hurt your feelings or anything—it wasn't written in a way that really made too clear what exactly it was you were trying to say. English isn't your first language, right? (I mean, I'm guessing that.) I'm afraid that post was just maybe a tad too … well, unclear. Try again, maybe?
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