Barneyisfat

"Love is a harsh and dreadful thing to ask of us, but it is the only answer." - Dorothy Day.

I'm so damn tired of conservatives refering to my entire theology as "that love stuff" in that damn condescending tone they are want to use.

Love God, love people. It fits on a T-shirt, it consumes every life of devotion. It's quite possibly incomplete ... but honestly, friends, even the most complete theology has few informed believers and droves of un-educated, ignorant faithful.

In Russian Orthodox theology they describe God in apophatic terms. They describe what God is not. (God is not evil, etc.) It helps people to understand what God is without limiting Him. We evangelicals have our own apophatic theology. We do not have sex before marriage, we do not smoke cigarets, we do not drink alcohol, etc. The problem with apophatic teaching is that the specific attributes are lost. Russian people know what God is not, but often fail to understand who He is. Evangelical youth know not to fuck each other's brains out, but they fail to understand what it means to live out the teachings of Christ.

There are lots of ugly people who aren't having sex - it doesn't make them Christians. It just makes them ugly. There are a lot of uptight people who don't smoke, drink, or cuss because it isn't their lifestyle. We tell our children to be "good" but we forget that "only God is good."

If you're an alcoholic, the first step to beating it is to admit that you're an alcoholic. If you're a sinner - you had better be the first to announce it, loudly, in public. People get angry at me for "corrupting" people. I haven't corrupted anyone. I've made friends acknowledge that they were white washed tombs.

Most days I want to be so fucking selfish. I want the world to revolve around me. Some days I find God's love lived out in my life. Some days I love God and I love people.

I would rather my friends live sinful lifestyles -admitting to living in sin - than to have one friend living a "good Christian life" as a whitewashed tomb. I'm so damn tired of people being "good."

I'm glad you don't smoke, drink, cuss, or fornicate ... but I would much rather see you caring about the poor and living a generous life.

I hope that my friends will take the next step after admitting their sin, and turn from it - but I won't ask what I don't always model myself.