The Ugliness Of Self-Righteousness

This blog was originally going to be filled with a lot of vengeance and rage in regards to a lot of hate that’s been swarming through facebook the past few days, regarding gay people.  After what I read last night, I feel if they can say such horrible things and sleep at night, I have the right to put my two cents in also but do it with some semblance of decorum.  I originally planned to launch into a tirade of quick-witted, clever insults, (and believe me, it was going to be a humdinger), but then the realization set in that this would make me no better than the people ticking me off.  So this is me, being better than that.  What I’ve come to except is that these people absolutely possess the freedom of speech.  Because we possess such freedoms, I also reserve the right to think they’re wrong.  The beauty is; I also have the freedom to decide how I will react to it.  I can stoop to their level and let all the nasty little things I had stocked up rip or I can be a grown up and not allow someone filled with such hate and venom to create the same feelings and reactions in me.  Instead, I will simply pity them, not be mad at or insult them.  I will give them the dignity they refuse others.  I would think it has to be so exhausting waking up every day and having to carry around that much animosity and hatred.  I choose to look past their front and come to the conclusion there’s something deeper going on there.  To be that consumed with one issue, like homosexuality, so much it eats you alive?  I can’t imagine that would be much of an existence so I figure that’s punishment enough.  To spat insults and spread hate in the name of God befuddles me.  Westboro Baptist Church, anyone?  If you are truly a Christian and you feel that being gay is such a perversion and so morally wrong, why not choose to pray about it instead of publically using language and terms I doubt you’ll find in any Bible verse to express how you feel about it?  If you feel this conviction so deeply; get on your knees, (as you tell certain others to do – and not in prayer), and pray.  Try to come to some kind of resolve in a dignified way. I’m not asking anyone to argue with their spiritual beliefs; that’s not my place.   I’m asking for the spreading of hatred and intolerance to stop.  This is why suicide rates of gay teens are skyrocketing. These kids would rather end their lives than spend it being publically judged and ostracized.  Why anyone thinks someone would choose to have this burden of judgment put upon them for a lifetime just for kicks and giggles is beyond me, but that will just take me to a whole different point and I promised myself I wouldn’t go there.  I doubt God would be smiling as someone uses words like ‘fag’ and several other misspelled racial slurs I’ve seen regarding the president to spread his word.  Do they believe Saint Peter opens the gates wider for those who quote scripture in the same breath as filth?  “You got this homosexual teen to blow his head off?  Here’s your shiny gold star!”  I thought the song went, “red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world.”  At least that’s the song my sweet, little church choir director taught us in my youth.  Maybe our hymnal was loaded with typos and I’ve had it wrong all along.   People who spout such nonsense need an audience and I refuse to be a part of that audience.  If I continue to stew, I’m giving them exactly what they want. After this blog, I will wrap this little nugget up and never look back.  I’ve “written it in my notebook”, so to speak.  This kind of ignorance will only merit so much of my attention and I’ve just given it enough.  I will only leave you with this; Matthew 7:1 Judge not lest ye be judged.  See… I can quote scripture, too.  I guess that means I’ve been divinely chosen to decide which of us are bound for heaven or hell.  I wish someone would have told me this sooner.  Things would have been a lot different for me.