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Date:         Sun, 8 Nov 1992 18:20:00 EST
From:         gilbertsmith <N567126@NCSUADM.ACS.NCSU.EDU>
Subject:      The Gospel Truth
Comments: To: English Language Discussion Group <words-l@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>

After days and days of the most boring crap that I ever read,
the wordslers finally woke up and said something that got <one>'s
attention, but it has turned out to be poor ruthie against the
heathens.  Really nasty exchanges there for a while.  So, after
lurking while all this was going on, I have decided to make one
of those pronouncements that you have all come to expect from me
from time to time.
.
1)  I consider myself a Christian because I grew up in that tradition
and, even though I have not been aligned with a Christian community for
fifteen years, I still respond emotionally to the idea of being
Christian.
.
2)  I think that I have a right to believe what I believe, and I have
very little respect for people who ridicule my beliefs.
.
3)  I do not believe that I have the right to impose my beliefs on
anyone else, or to try to get the state to impose my ideas about
how God expects humans to behave on anyone else.  The state should
regulate the behavior of its citizens *only* to insure that everyone
is free to do and be what s/he wants to do and be so long as that does
not interfere with the rights and safety of others.
.
4)  I believe that the Old Testament and the New Testament are
the testimony of people who believed in what they were saying.  They
are not the "word of God", but the word of a group of believers who
were making a statement about their beliefs in the context of their
particular social circumstances.  I believe that reading the Biblical
text as the testimony of the group of believers can reveal a lot about
what how believers functioned in a particular time.  On many points,
I think they were "enlightened" and inspired.  On others, I think they
were way off.  I do not believe that the Bible can be used as a guide
for specific actions.  It can only reveal how the believers of the
times in which it was written responded to their experience.  Their
experience may serve as a model for mine, but I have to decide for
myself what is right or wrong in a given situation.
.
5)  In spite of the existence of the Ten Commandments and the deadly
sins and all that stuff, it seems to me that almost everything in the
Biblical texts concerning sin is directed toward sin associated with
sexual activity.  I don't quite understand why that is so, but it
reveals that nothing has changed.  The world today, particularly the
world of religious experience, is *still* dominated by a preoccupation
with "sexual sins."  I believe very strongly that the portrayal of
Christ in the Gospels implies that he thought that a person's sexuality
was *not* essentially sinful, and because of that, he says very little
about it.  I think he would say that what you do with your genitals is
your business.  There are a lot of things more important than that, so
drop it and love your neighbors and try not to hurt them.  And if you
make a mistake, as you most certainly will, I am here to let you know
that you are forgiven, because God is love.
.
6)  Now, nobody *has* to believe this, and nobody should be forced
to believe this.  But, it *is* a great message, a message that could
transform the world if the majority of people really adhered to it
under whatever name.  I, personally, accept it under the name of
Christianity.  Anyone who wants to ridicule me for that may do so
and take a flying fuck while doing so.
.
End of pronouncement.
.
--ggs (grandson of a preacher-man)
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