Today, A Wave Of Reconciliation Washes Over Me

Maybe I've been too hard on the Christians. I mean, their faith has been the inspiration for some incredibly beautiful things. Look at the Sistine Chapel for chissakes. It's one of the most ass-kickingest works of art ever.

Of course it's creator, Michelangelo, was a homosexual, which means that today's fundamentalists would rather have him publicly stoned than creating art.

Then there was the contribution to the sciences and the preservation of Western classics made possible by religion in the Middle Ages. Of course the religion was Islam, whose adherents yesterday's fundamentalists were trying to kill wholesale.

Hmmmm....maybe I haven't been too hard on the Christians. But nonetheless I am possessed this morning by a turn the other cheek kinda feeling. To further the spirit of reconciliation, I thought I might "bear witness," as the Jesus folks like to say, with a few of my favorite bits of scripture.

Leviticus 25:44

"Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves."

That makes me feel a lot better about underpaying my Mexican gardener. After all, he does come from one of the "nations around me"

Exodus 21:7

"If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do."

And I thought the Plan B opposition was coming from people who hated women. Pfffftttt.....shows what I know.

Exodus 35:2

"For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death."

Now, this one offers a true chance for a moment of unity, as I would like Sunday off probably as much as a true Christian would like to kill me for working during the seventh holy day. I do remember though, when I was in high school and working in a restaurant, that our busiest time of the week was on Sunday right after church. I realize now how lucky I was, as the "customers" that would come in during this time were obviously just there plotting the death of the employees. Part of their plot seemed to involve leaving very small tips. Thank God I quit before they put the rest of their plan into action.

Leviticus 11:10

"But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales—whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water—you are to detest."

Interesting that the Bible uses the same word, "detest", for shellfish that it uses to describe the act of "lying with a man as one lies with a woman" (Levi 18:22, "detestable") yet I don't see the Christian types harassing seafood houses the way they harass the poor homosexuals. I suppose the reason why is one of those spiritual mysteries the mortal mind just cannot comprehend.

Leviticus 19:19
"Keep my decrees......Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material."

Might you be wearing a cotton/polyester blend right now?

SINNER!!!!!!

Christians sure are funny. Except when they do things like bomb the Olympics, or your local Planned Parenthood clinic. Strange how I don't see either of those subjects mentioned in the Bible. The shellfish are definitely there though. Think I'm gonna go eat a clam.