I'd like to clear up something, not that it's anybody's fricking business, but when asking my wife why she doesn't blog roll me she replied with because I'm not clear enough about our (my) past, and she got comments on her blog stating the reason she had certain issues was because she had to deal with me and my crap.
Yes, I am a recovering alcoholic. I am not ashamed of that. I'm not ashamed to be a Christian either. I'm not afraid to call a fag and "fag". I tell it like it is, so if I offend anyone, TOO BAD. Deal with it. I struggled for years to get sober. I didn't finally get clean and sober until 4 days BEFORE I hooked up with my wife. To be honest with you, if I had not hooked up with her I probably would've drank or used again, and wouldn't be writing this today. She, nor any of our kids, has ever seen me drunk or high since we have been together, and God willing they never will. My wife and I knew each other from Junior High School on, and she used to come into the bar (very infrequently) I worked at, so she had seen my drunk years before we hooked up. July 10th, 1998 was my last drink, and July 13th, 1998 was the last time I smoked weed. I smoked for 3 days to get me past the withdrawals of alcohol, then I quit everything, making July 14th my first full day of sobriety. July 14th, 2007 I celebrated 9 years. Yes, I do go to 12-Step meetings.
I have tattoos up and down my arms, back and chest. I ride a Harley-Davidson. I look like a hardcore biker, but I'm really a big teddy bear-especially in the belly... I do ride hard, and it'll probably kill me one of these days, but I enjoy it. I hunt for the thrill before the kill, not the meat. The meat is just an added bonus. Killing animals is fun and necessary, like it or not. Hunters contribute more to the environment and wildlife than any other group. Period. If you want proof, email me and I'll send it to you. The fact is the only reason we still have many of the animals here in the US, rather than memories of extinct animals, is because of conservation, and the biggest portion of conservation dollars comes from sportsmen.
I am a young Christian, meaning I have only recently come back to Christ. I still have a lot of work to get to where I need to be, but I am very grateful to God for where I am right now. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was pro-choice prior to becoming a Christian. I now see how wrong I was. I went through a big change right away, and am now going though many small changes. Is using the term "fag" for someone who is homosexual un-Christian? Maybe, but at this point I don't really care. I feel the way I do, and will not apologize for my feelings or beliefs.
I hate political correctness. That's part of why we don't have God in our schools. Separation of Church and State is not a part of the US Constitution. It was a radical ruling by the 1962-1963 Left-Wing Supreme Court. The First Amendment was meant to keep Government out of Religion, not keep Religion out of Government. This country was founded by Christians as a Christian Nation. The idea was that we would not impose any one Denomination or Religion upon our people. It was never intended to keep people from practicing their faith, or "protecting" people from being "subjected" to another's belief, as it has become. Growing up we had Jehovah's Witness' as neighbors, and the twins were in my class. They stepped out in the hallway when we said The Pledge of Allegiance. That was, and should still be, their choice. Instead, we have to cater to them by not even saying it. What a joke. People need to grow some fricking skin. I almost feel hypocritcal because 2 1/2 months ago I was athiest, but even at that time I thought his whole Separation of Church issue was BS. Those who feel we should have Separation should stop using our money then, seeing it says "In God We Trust."
Just like the foreigners that come to this country and refuse to learn the language. This is ridiculous. We should not cater to them. They should be required to learn the language, just as my grandparents had to. Nothing irritates me more than having to choose 1 for English or 2 for Spanish. This doesn't make me a racist, it makes me a Patriotic American. I have ideas regarding the illegal immigrants here in the US, but I'll save that for another post. I'll just say at this time I'm not for either total amnesty nor total deportation, and leave it at that.
Anyhow, I hope this clears up some things about me. Maybe now my beautiful wife will blog roll me. {:~)
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11 comments:
LOL!! I already have! Thanks.
Sheesh!!! The things I have to go through just to get you to admit you're married to me.....
Love Pappy
AH! I don't think so dude! You need to clarify a bit when ya blog is all...LOL!!
hi
i need to ask as a first time reader of your blog why you use the term fag and what you mean by it. Just be careful my "new" brother that you don't fall into the trap of judging others-the bible clearly warns us not to judge-discern what is the will of God yes but judge others no. Loooking forward to reading you past blogs-and if they clear this up sorry to have bothered you
Give my blog a read if you have time you might find the conversation interesting
www.ubuntuinnj.blogspot.com
ok i have read your mike huckabee blog and can say that you seem to be beyond the "don't judge" stand and are into all out hate. I think it is cool that you have strong moral beliefs-even if those tend to be the opposite of mine. What is bothering is how hateful some of them are. Are you against homosexuality as a sin or just hate fags in general? Take some time and read the gospels-Jesus went into the houses of the "fags" of the day and loved them where they were-in their sin.(tax collector and prostitutes/adulterers) True he required repentenace but he loved them first-carefully read and you will see this. His love came before their changing. Many theologians you will study at bible college will say that it is always this way. As humans we cannot change until God reaches out to us with grace and love.
So..... The bible also makes it clear that we are called to do the same-look at Jesus' two commands:
1. love the lord your god with all your heart/soul and strength
2. love your neighbor as yourself
And who is your neighbor-again look to the bible and we are taught that it is our worst enemy-read the good samaratan parable-it wasn't the pastor or deacon that helped that person, but the samaratin-the enemy of his people.
So we are called to love our enemy-for you that appears to be FAGS. Sorry but that is what the word teaches.
Pleae Please Please don't take God's pure message of grace and love and turn it into a tool for beating people up. If you believe homosexuality is a sin great-it is a sin just like lying and lusting and judging... no more no less.
I am praying for you my brother that you may see the call from God to love-be honest yes but in love
"Speak the truth in love"-Jesus the Christ
Tadd,
Thanks for you comments, you are correct. This has been on my mind since I posted it. Right in this very post I asked the question if it was "un-Christian" to use the term "fag" for homosexuals. I do not hate homosexuals, I hate the immoral actions of homosexuals. fag is much shorter to type, and say, versus homosexual, and yes it is politically incorrect. Yes, it was meant to be derogatory when I wrote it, not as an expression of hate towards an individual/s, but rather towards the immorality of homosexuality.
However, more so recently, but also in the past, "Hate the sin, not the sinner." is what I have heard. The "love your neighbor" has also been in the forefront of my mind. I guess I'm learning as I go. Before you even posted today I had somewhat of a paradigm shift regarding this. It is not right to use the term because it does convey the idea of hate. I then come across in a negative light, rather than in Christ-like loving light. Although my convictions regarding homosexuality will not change (which they shouldn't), the way I express it could be more tactful (which it should).
I was wrong, and I apologize to anyone reading this, not for my feelings or beliefs, but rather for using a term that does not reflect my desire to be more Christ-like.
No this is not just lip service. As I grow in Christ, I continue to change. My conscience, Pastor's and Lay-Minister's words, listening to Christian TV, reading God's word and last, but not least, your post have been God's way of telling me I was wrong.
My brother i am humbled by you.
I must also add that i am surprised. You are amazingly open minded.
So let's push a little further ok?
How can you hate the sin and still love the sinner? I believe if you think about what hate entails you will come to see that it is impossible to seperate the two. Jesus condemed sin. Interestly he only condemed the sinners when they were the established faith speaking lies -to put that in modern terms the church. yes us.
If Jesus came today i believe he would call us the "white washed tombs".
Anyway thanks for listening. We are coming from polar opposites on most issues but it is great that we can stand together on the bedrock of faith.
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" 2 timothy 2:5
"Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."
That is actually easy. If one of my children were to come home and say they were now homosexual, I would not hate them. I would still love them because they are my child. I may hate the life they chose to live, but my love for them would not change. We are all children of God. We should love all, regardless. You don't hate someone for having diabetes, AIDS or alcoholism, but you do hate the disease. If you look at sin as a disease, and look at someone who embraces sin like a person who is sick, it is easy to have compassion and love for them, but still detest the sin like a disease. Does that make sense?
i'm not sure. I can see hating what the disease is doing to my son but hating the disease is difficult-i think that is because many people end up identifying themselves with the disease.
For instance i work for a living as a counselor with individuals with disabilites. Specifically those with substance abuse and mental health issues. As you know people who struggle with additions will totally think of themselves in terms of the disease-I AM AN ALCHHOLIC- not i am someone addicted to alchhol-see the difference?
If i am to hate the disease then i am within striking distance of hating that person who identifies themselves with the disease. Now you believe homosexuality is a disease-if someone identifies themselves as gay and you hate the gay disease how do you and, even harder, they seperate the hate from the love?
I guess it's hard to explain. Being an alcoholic, I have learned to separate the disease from the person. No, it was not necessarily like that in the beginning, but it's something that happened over a period of time. I guess if you had a definitive answer to that question you'd be the best darned counselor out there, hey? :~)
Seriously though, I do see what you are getting at. However, I'm an alcoholic, I am not the disease of alcoholism. In other words, just because I'm an alcoholic, or person with an addiction if you prefer, doesn't make me a bad person. It was the disease that brought out things that wouldn't have come out had I not been an alcoholic. I don't hate myself, although I thought I did at one point. It's sort of like you said, I hated the effect alcoholism had on my life. You wouldn't associate a person with cancer as cancer itself. You could hate the cancer but love the person. It's pretty much the same with anything else.
So yes, I hated the effect of alcoholism, yet I am still grateful for the disease of alcoholism because through it I became aquainted with the 12-Steps, and learned many things from the people around the tables.
However, let's take that even a step further. If someone murdered one of my daughters, could I love the person, but hate the act of murder? Honestly, I think it would take an extremely long, if ever, to be able to forgive and love the person, yet still hate the sin. I think I'd have to pray a whole heck of a lot to get to that point.
So, to answer your question, if I haven't already, it's a matter of seeing the person as just that, a person. The sin, then, is like a sickness. Sin doesn't make the person who they are, although as you pointed out, we all tend associate ourselves and other with that sin: if you lie, you're a liar or a person who lied, if you murder, you are a murder or a person who murdered and etc. Isn't this, then, just semantics, if I'm using that term as I understand its meaning? That is, saying the same thing two different ways. When you say either of those above either way, your are not saying someone is a lie, or is the act of murder, but rather describing the effect of the action, and not the action itself.
great thoughts-yes i agree that we can seperate our emotions between the person and their "disease/sin" whatever-but can the person.
If they are experiencing our hate toward their sin can they seperate it from hating them? How do we express hate for sin but love for them? To be honest the times i have seen people try they have failed and the "sinner" has gone away feeling hated.
That is why i don't like that saying/stance of hate the sin.
Anyway all that just on one little comment-wow i do go overboard.
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