Not that you asked

The next time some Bible thumper comes up to me and starts spouting from it to prove to me that all liberals are Godless heathens and that that book is the literal word of God, I'm gonna put them to a little test.

First I'm going to ask "Do you believe that the Bible is supposed to be obeyed word for word and not interpreted?" If they say yes, my next question will be, "If that is so, doesn't the commandment 'Thou Shall Not Kill' mean that we should do away with the death penalty?" If they say, "That means you're not supposed to commit murder," I've got them. When they say that, they are interpreting the Bible, not taking it literally.

The problem with some of the people who wrap themselves in that book is that they want to use it as a weapon to attack those they disagree with. They forget that Christianity is a religion based on loving God, and loving and accepting others. God isn't some avenging angel ready to lower the boom on somebody that they don't think is living the way they want them to.

When you get down to it, God really just tells us to do three things, worship Him, accept Jesus as His son, and love each other. If you do those things, you won't have to worry about all of the other do's and don'ts in the Bible; that will cover them. You won't be perfect, but you will be going in the right direction.

And when God tells us to love each other, he means even people we don't like or agree with. We are supposed to love each other regardless of race, skin color, religion, politics, sex, or sexual orientation. If you don't like something about someone, you have a much better chance of changing them if you approach them with love and acceptance instead of anger and hate.

On a similar topic, if you are still upset about gay marriage, don't you think it's time to start getting over it? Can anyone make the claim that gay marriage has caused them harm? As for blaming Democrats for it, consider these two points. One is that five of the sitting Supreme Court Justices were nominated by Republican Presidents. That means it was a bipartisan decision. The other one is that accepting gay people as they are is a much more Christian attitude than shunning them.

While I'm on a roll, the Bible not only calls homosexuality a sin, it says the same thing about divorce and couples living together without marriage. When couples first started living together without getting married, opponents of the lifestyle predicted that it would destroy conventional marriage and the family--the same thing opponents of gay marriage are saying. One Arkansas Legislator even introduced a bill proposing a special tax on unmarried couples.

The real threat to marriage and the family is the fact that divorce is now acceptable and that my generation didn't raise our children in the church. When our grandparents and parents got married they considered it a lifetime commitment. They took their children to Sunday School and Church. My generation goes into marriage feeling like divorce is always an option if things get tough. Most of them don't have a church home, and if they do, they don't attend regularly. If you think marriage and the family are in trouble today, don't look for others to blame. It's our fault.