If you read my blog regularly, you understand that I'm not a God-fearing man (boy, person, what have you). I find religion to be a disastrously obviously man made concept, with amazingly bad logical flaws such as a perfect being needing to take a breather from making the earth. Hell, those other planets must have sucked. In general, I find the concept funny; but when people think they know they're right about something humans are unable to percieve or understand on any rationalk level because a book says so, that's when things get out of hand.
But this irrational being in the sky had a far more pleasant, understanding and reasonable son. Unfortunately, this son still didn't understand the concept that his dad has been making gay animals and humans, and while we're at least above stoning people for such reasons, apparently the New Testament still doesn't accept it as what it is: a biological predisposition that's been found in animals such as penguins and tigers etc.
I bring this up because someone I have never come into contact with may be suffering greatly from this biblical misunderstanding. A friend I do know who happens to be religious may be enabling this suffering despite her best intentions.
You see, she plays the role of best friend to this person I've never met, and this person believes he is gay, but is also religious and thus believes God would not want for him to be gay and has thus become confused enough as to have suicidal thoughts.
Now, I want nothing less to get on the phone with him and cite examples like that great mistake in Genesis where God gets tired ("shit kid, maybe he'll fall asleep before he damns you") to prove to him this religious text is not the be all end all source for eternity, and would hardly impress even the most basic literary critique if examined for logical flow. I'd love to explain that no God would create these emotions in him just for him to suffer.
Unfortunately, it's hard convincing a person from Vidor, Texas how see-through the text is when I'm sure he's been taught to have faith and fear the lake of fire (Hades sounds cooler than hell by the way; just my thought) and whatever other crap this book stole from Greek plays.
The problem is his best friend will not go beyond "he THINKS he's gay" and in our last conversation she described homosexuality as being comparable to drug abuse; supposedly he struggles with this in her eyes like I "struggle" with marijuana (which I smoked twice and enjoyed, but is too expensive and still not any more addictive than food.... scratch that, the plant is LESS addictive than food). She recanted her statement about me dealing with my "problems" (I may not have everything I want like a significant other, but I'm pretty damn cushy and content at the moment), but comparing a desire to be with someone of the same sex (supposedly because he lacked a father figure which.... given the amount of still-married nuclear families that raise gay kids hardly proves anything) was still insulting to what this guy is going through in my opinion.
I don't know what to do to convince him he needs to be himself and be happy, but how do you tell this to a person who's controls are a religion that condemns his wants and a best friend who believes in this same religion?
What I will say is this: as human beings, we must cease to pretend we understand the universe. It is impossible. We must cease to interpret our religion as the one true one when there are many others and each just as easily falsifiable as the next. We need to be willing to understand and accept differences NOW, and if happiness in this lifetime is irrelevant to you, then my happiness and the happiness of others should not affect you.
This set of desires and emotions does absolutely nothing to harm those who do not let it affect them. I hardly believe any God worth worshipping would allow this suffering for such a petty reason.
May science and the attempt to understand but never falsely claim to know without solid evidence prevail over religion and the falsely concieved notion that any human has the answer to the problems of the infinite universe through man written texts or otherwise, amen.
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