I see this simple truth every day. Hate and intolerance permeates the religious discussion of our day. I ask, where is the love?
Life is too short so love the one you got cause you might get run over or you might get shot. - Bradley Nowell
Christians… sometimes I say the word and want to spit. I don’t understand. Why do they preach love yet act with hate? Take Landus of Generation Christian.net blog. He’s upset because two consenting adults, one a Christian and the other a Satanist, are happily married and living without the pain and burden of Christian love. Their secret? They tolerate each other’s beliefs.
The couple has been together for eight years. They have been married seven years, and have four children who range in age from 2 months to 5 years. Two dogs, two hamsters and eight fish blend in around the edges.
Proud to be a family man, Jeff said he’s grateful for the religious freedom he has in his household.
"I try to respect my wife enough not to do my satanic things in front of her," he said.
I read the article and smiled. Here are two odd but happy people living together with their children in marital bliss. The story is a cute human interest piece. I had a good laugh and thought, “Good for them.” Just for kicks, I checked links and found Landus. His sage advice, mixed marriages will lead people away from God.
….Look at how the woman in the "Christian-Satanist" union has compromised in her faith in order to be with this man, putting this man above the Lord. And as a consequence, her compromise will lead her further and further away from the Lord unless she has since repented. This is the danger we face my brothers and sisters from making such a decision.
Don’t marry a non-Christian,
For the believer, if it comes down to marrying an unbeliever or being single, the believer should stay single.
But if you are in a relationship, let God’s love screw it up.
If you are in this situation, continue to do right by your spouse and continue to let the light of Christ shine through you. You will be in my prayers.
Never mind that he suggests being married to a non-Christian will lead people away from God in the same breath as he suggests those in that situation let God light shine as a beacon to non-believing spouses. Never mind that he mixes old Testament and new convent stories to build a fiction that fits his “us or them” world view, and never mind that he somehow sees a healthy marriage as abhorrent and evil. I’m tired of the hate masquerading as love. These legalistic bastards are are so out of touch with a message of love that they remind me of old school racists. It pisses me off.
I left a couple of comments over at the Landus’s blog. He deleted them. Love and tolerance… got to love it. Apparently the moderation policy only allows people of faith to post.
I’ve been married 30 years. My wife’s a Christian, I’m an Atheist. We tolerate each others beliefs. It works. I’ve seen it work in other relationships. It’s based on love and respect, not some externally imposed law or biblical principle. The marriages I know that have failed over this issue were tragic examples of zealous intolerance on the part of Christians. Intolerance, lack of empathy, intractable legalism and the opposite of true love, benevolent externally driven hate masquerading as God’s love. It starts with the advice of people like Landus. It ends with inexplicably bad breakups, divorce, child custody disputes, and the proliferation of hate.
I have simple advice. Love others and love will come back to you. Just like the late Bradley Nowell said, “Let the lovin come back to me.”
