When asked about Christianity I always say, "I love Jesus, just not religion." God has had a powerful impact on my life whether he actually exists or not. The belief that there was always someone who would love me for who I was got me through some hard times in childhood, but the Church and it's goers have always pushed me away for one reason or another: divorced parents, playing an instrument, asking questions and of course, being gay. The mob mentality of churches and organized religion in general seems counter-intuitive. Let's not forget that Jesus was a rebel, hated by many of his own faith for questioning old ways, rejecting obsolete rules, and establishing a personal relationship with God. Whether or not he was actually the son of God is irrelevant; we are all the son of God, after all. But saying so made him a blasphemer and a heretic and a dead man. And the sad thing is we're still crucifying each other every day.
The most fundamental and important story of the Bible, in my opinion, is often glanced over as merely a creationist fairy tale with no real lessons to be learned. Adam and Eve are used to teach about the evils of temptation and the consequences they carry. God said don't eat the fruit, Eve did anyway, God got mad and threw them out. The real lesson, however, is that we are not fit to label sin. When Adam and Eve were first created God literally gave them the world. The only catch was they were not worthy to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Right and Wrong. Pretty soon Satan appeared in the form of a snake and tempted Eve, "Why should God be the only one with moral judgment? If you knew what was Wrong in the world you could make everything Right, and wouldn't that make God happy? Surely it's the Right thing to do?" Contrary to popular belief, that was the moment Eve gained the knowledge of Right and Wrong. The fruit and it's violation are merely a symbol to drive the point home. By going against God in order to please him she had become the first Evangelist, next going to Adam and converting him. Then they decided that nudity, the symbol of sex, freedom and truth, was a sin. Which was how God found out and became so furious he cast them out of the Garden forever, because they had become their own gods, but wouldn't commit to it. Never did they say I believe nudity is wrong. It's always God who gets everything declared in his name. God hates fags. God bless America. It's God's will. Here's an idea. If you believe in something, be it good or bad, then just own up to it.
Throwing Bible quotes into an argument does nothing to get your point across because, like any other book, we all interpret the Bible differently. There are already hundreds of different translations in English alone. Whatever part of the Bible may have been written by God, it has long since become unrecognizable. It is written by man and should be treated as such. Who's to say that God and happiness can't be found elsewhere? Personally speaking I've found Love with Jesus, Acceptance with Taoism, Serenity with Buddha, Inspiration with Odin, Self-Reflection with Divination and Prayer with Romany Magic. I don't know that any of them are "real", and anyone who claims otherwise is too scared to admit all the possibilities that are out there. But it's not only religions that have made me a better person. "Sins" have helped me too, just as they've helped everyone. I learned to stand up for myself from Anger. Sloth keeps me relaxed. Greed motivates me to better myself. Envy gives me something to work for. Gluttony keeps my eyes open. Lust has revealed my true nature and Pride keeps me looking and feeling good. No matter what the experience, I acknowledge it and I learn from it. To do otherwise is an injustice to yourself and everyone around you.
Oscar Wilde said it best, "The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it." Within reason, that is. Take alcoholism. Say drinking makes you happy. Really happy. So happy your family and friends become concerned. So you go to rehab, attend AA meetings, don't touch a drink for 10 years, and everyone congratulates you on your hard work. But the fact is, if drinking makes you happy then completely avoiding it gives alcohol just as much control over your life as it had before. You stop going to bars or any parties with alcohol. You judge those around you that do drink and try to convince them to give it up too. And eventually you steal a drink, alone and ashamed of what you've done, and pretty soon you're right back where you started. If having a beer now and again weren't out of the question, you'd be able to enjoy what you like without going off the deep end. Calling something evil or sinful doesn't make the temptation go away. It only adds feelings of guilt, shame, secrecy and self-loathing to the mix. Instead, try to expand the vocabulary a little. If you can't replace "wrong" or "evil" with something else, then it's probably safe to scratch that sin from the list. Drinking can be irresponsible, murder is hateful, you get the idea. The point is if we could just back down from this whole you/me, black/white, good/bad view of the world we were given we might be amazed to see just how much is there. This is our Garden of Eden. God created us to tend to it and use it and love it. All he asks, is that you don't eat from this one tree. Talk about resisting temptation.
