Black & white leads to green?

Is the world black and white? So, I'm writing this in response to Sherry Welty, who believes that the Bible is absolute and who made the outrageous claim that the majority believe it's either heaven or hell for humans when they die. I used to be in her shoes and held the same state of mind until I began my globe trotting ways. I'll never forget the Sunday I got back from the Netherlands a few years ago, and I hopped in my car to attend service at the Assembly of God Church in Plains. When I first arrived and realized that the speaker at the church that day was from the Netherlands, I expected that God was going to enlighten me with something profound.

My first thought was, this is too crazy to be true. Sociologists refer to this as synchronically, a coincidence of events that seem to be meaningfully related. At the time however, I believed that after spending six months in the Netherlands and returning home to find that my church happened to have a Dutch speaker, God certainly was going to enlighten me with some epiphany. Instead, the message the speaker brought that day was one I could not support. I paraphrase, “Hell has its doors open and the homosexuals of yesterday, today, and tomorrow are being rushed in by the choices they have made. We as Christians need to stand up to Satan and his wicked homosexual ways and save these gays from their choices. Bow your heads and pray.”

It was at this point I knew that my faith had changed. I got up and left both spiritually and physically. So, I would say to Sherry, if the world is so black and white, why is faith so hypocritical? Why will a church like the Assembly of God condemn the movie Brokeback Mountain, while its pastor is a huge fan of the movie Air Force One (he told me this back in the day when I was friends with his daughter). That movie is rated R for its violence. Why is it OK to accept violence in movies, but homosexuality in movies is wrong? So, to answer Sherry's question on whether we can save the globe from global warming by making the right choices: Yes, we can! Love green and love gray!

JJ Blood

Plains