Swaddling Clothes
14 years ago
Two Sided Coin #1
I'll admit it. I broke up with Facebook awhile ago but I still check it once every few days. I get lonely living by myself sometimes. I mostly want to know if I have gotten a message or if any one has fallen onto their death bed. Morbid - I know.
Tonight I was reminded again WHY I made this choice. It sucks me into a negative and argumentative mentality because, frankly, there is a lot of jumping on the bandwagon and, really, most of those wagons are loaded with one-sided half-truths. One of the things I like about how I function is that I believe that there are always at least two perspectives to every instance or idea. One of the things that bugs me the most is the one-track mob mentality. It drives people to fear, then hate, then ultimately to violence, whether spiritual, mental or physical. That's where all those wagons are going.
Example:
A FB friend posted this picture at some point this week.
In response, this person pointed out the truth reflected in this statement. Now, I have nothing bad to say towards this person. They are one amazing survivor and parent and my respect runs long and deep for choices they are making in life.
But, as a Christian and church-goer AND someone who has several much-loved gay family members, I let myself get riled up. But I stopped myself from crafting and posting a "rebuttal" on this person's page. I realized as I was typing that what I was really doing was a modern way of public shaming. Not good.
So, I decided to take it to the blog. I thought this was a terribly inflammatory statement from Mr. Gervais, so I decided to look under that first layer. The other side of the coin in this case is that there are 28 other types of organizations, besides religious, that don't pay taxes. These are called 501(c)3 organizations under the IRS tax code.
I thought, well, of those other types, there must be some tax-exempt organizations that advocate for gay and lesbian rights. I found one of the most prominent organizations, GLADD, in fact, also does not pay taxes as defined by this code. So, one could rebut that, in fact, gay non-profit organizations and religious non-profit organizations are equal in this aspect.
I could continue on but I am super tired right now. I just thought someone somewhere should put that out there.
**This is not my picture - it came from the inter-net and credit goes to whoever originally created it.
Tonight I was reminded again WHY I made this choice. It sucks me into a negative and argumentative mentality because, frankly, there is a lot of jumping on the bandwagon and, really, most of those wagons are loaded with one-sided half-truths. One of the things I like about how I function is that I believe that there are always at least two perspectives to every instance or idea. One of the things that bugs me the most is the one-track mob mentality. It drives people to fear, then hate, then ultimately to violence, whether spiritual, mental or physical. That's where all those wagons are going.
Example:
A FB friend posted this picture at some point this week.
In response, this person pointed out the truth reflected in this statement. Now, I have nothing bad to say towards this person. They are one amazing survivor and parent and my respect runs long and deep for choices they are making in life.
But, as a Christian and church-goer AND someone who has several much-loved gay family members, I let myself get riled up. But I stopped myself from crafting and posting a "rebuttal" on this person's page. I realized as I was typing that what I was really doing was a modern way of public shaming. Not good.
So, I decided to take it to the blog. I thought this was a terribly inflammatory statement from Mr. Gervais, so I decided to look under that first layer. The other side of the coin in this case is that there are 28 other types of organizations, besides religious, that don't pay taxes. These are called 501(c)3 organizations under the IRS tax code.
I thought, well, of those other types, there must be some tax-exempt organizations that advocate for gay and lesbian rights. I found one of the most prominent organizations, GLADD, in fact, also does not pay taxes as defined by this code. So, one could rebut that, in fact, gay non-profit organizations and religious non-profit organizations are equal in this aspect.
I could continue on but I am super tired right now. I just thought someone somewhere should put that out there.
**This is not my picture - it came from the inter-net and credit goes to whoever originally created it.
Today, I listened to a still small voice in my heart. It asked if I would go ahead and give some money in the offering today at church. I debated for a few minutes. I haven't "been able" to put anything in there for a few months. I proceeded to drop a small bill into the red velvet pouch, with the wooden switcheroo handles, that we use.
Flash forward to traveling after church with a friend back down the hill to the grocery store. We were siting in the parking lot talking. She turned to me and asks, "I wonder if you would let me bless you today." I said, "Ok. Sure." She handed me a gift card for this particular store almost four times the amount of what I had given at church today.
See what I did there... Yes. Thank you.
Flash forward to traveling after church with a friend back down the hill to the grocery store. We were siting in the parking lot talking. She turned to me and asks, "I wonder if you would let me bless you today." I said, "Ok. Sure." She handed me a gift card for this particular store almost four times the amount of what I had given at church today.
See what I did there... Yes. Thank you.
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