Thursday, August 27, 2015

Gun-na Piss Some Conservatives Off


I’m baaaaack!! I’m so sorry for the impromptu hiatus. I ended up quitting my job that I’d been at for about three years total, with a break in the middle during which I lived on Cape Cod, and I got a new job. This new job is in the insurance business, and I absolutely love it. The only thing was, I had to get my Property & Casualty insurance license, so I spent the better part of the month of August studying for that. I took the test last week and received my license yesterday, wahoo! It’s a very exciting career step, but it will take up more of my time than my last job did. I still plan on blogging, it just might not be as often (especially with football season only 14 days away!)


Anywho, enough about me. Today I’m going to touch on a very, very sensitive subject. It’s sensitive for a couple reasons - 1) a lot of people have very strong - and opposing - opinions about it, and b) this will probably touch very close to home for a lot of people. In light of recent events - as recent as multiple different happenings this very week - I thought it was about time I pointed out some things about why gun control is necessary.


I’m not writing this to spark a debate. I’m writing this to try and get people to understand something that will save lives. I considered whether or not to post gifs and pictures in here to lighten the mood a bit, but I think this is one of those topics where there’s just not a whole hell of a lot of humor to be found, so the only images you’ll see are ones relevant to the topic.


I am from Colorado. When the Columbine High School shootings happened in 1999, I was 11 years old and attending an elementary school about 15 minutes away. Teachers at my school had kids who attended Columbine, and it hit our community hard. I didn’t understand what it meant when my teacher told us right after recess that day that we were on “lockdown”. I didn’t know I was supposed to be scared, I just knew something bad had happened. I’m not quite sure when the severity of it hit me, but I do know to this day 16 years later, I still don’t understand why.


I live about 45 minutes from Aurora, where the movie theater shootings happened, just a short three years ago. This one was different in the sense that the gunman is still alive, unlike the gunmen at Columbine (I am purposefully not using these people’s names). Therefore, it sparked a highly emotional debate for everyone of what, exactly, his punishment should be. Personally, I have always been against the death penalty. I don’t believe using death as a punishment for death is effective. I also don’t like the fact that my tax dollars go to killing someone on death row. I would much rather my tax dollars be spent on rehabilitation programs for the prisons. To me, in order to understand how someone can murder someone(s) else, I have to believe they have a legitimate mental condition allowing them to block out compassion and empathy for others (cases of self defense and war would be the exception to that - I’m not saying killing is ever okay in any capacity, but when it’s not from a place of hatred then it’s different). I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but I know for a fact that the United States mental health system is shit, and that’s a few steps up from what it used to be. Yes, it is improving, but there’s still an unnecessary stamina surrounding mental health. Face it - we all have some sort of mental health issue in some capacity, whether it’s something like OCD or addiction, or something more severe that causes your brain to function differently than what most perceive to be “normal”. Whatever it may be, we’re all in this together. My point being, I would like to see these people who are in prison for hurting or/and killing someone else, go through rehab programs to get to the point where they can understand and regret what they did, and then spend the rest of their life in prison, having to think about what they did and the lives they took and the pain they put the loved ones of the victims through. A lifetime full of guilt and regret is a much better punishment - and way more effective - than the death penalty. Once you die, it’s over.


I’m not saying I don’t think people deserve second chances. Everyone does. If you can turn things around and truly feel remorse for your crime(s), then more power to you, and good luck with your fresh start. But I’m not on a jury here; that’s a judgment that’s made inside the “justice” (ha) system, and above my pay grade.


I mentioned that I lived on Cape Cod for a bit. I lived there from the summer of 2012 to the summer of 2013. I happened to be there during both the Sandy Hook shooting in neighboring Connecticut, and the Boston Marathon bombings about 45 minutes north of my house. That’s probably the one I remember the clearest, the Boston bombings. I had gone to take a nap because I was tired, and as I lay down, I checked Twitter on my phone to see if there was anything I needed to know before I fell asleep. There was. My nap never happened.


There was this statewide pride felt after the bombers had been identified and/or captured, though. The day itself was eerie and deserted, nobody on the streets. But when the one brother was arrested, everyone in Massachusetts - and in that area in general - banded together. If you know anything about baseball, you know that the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are one of the greatest rivalries in sports. After the bombings, the Red Sox played a game in New York, and Yankee Stadium blasted “Sweet Caroline”, traditionally a Boston tune, from its speakers to show their support. I imagine it was similar to what New Orleans was like after Hurricane Katrina - everyone bands together to help each other out, to provide a sense of community when it’s needed most.


I honestly started to wonder if I had some sort of rain cloud following me everywhere I went, because bad things always seemed to happen in the general vicinity of my home. That paranoia was only intensified after I met Aaron Hernandez when he was still playing in the NFL, before the general public knew about the murders. I’m terrified of meeting famous people now, because last month I met President Jimmy Carter and now his health is in poor condition.


I also recently had a dream involving a dear friend from high school, who got married last summer and moved to another state with her husband. The dream involved my friend, her spouse, and a ghost. I remembered waking up thinking I should text her to say hi, that my dream was a sign of something as they often are, and I should check in on her. I didn’t, though, because I had texted her a few weeks prior about having dreamt about her then too, and I didn’t want her to think I dreamt about her all the time, so I didn’t contact her. A few weeks after the dream involving the ghost, the same friend had an immediate family member who used a gun to end his life.


I’m not saying any of what has happened is anyone’s fault. There’s the argument that it’s the fault of the shooters/bombers/etc., but again, I have to cite mental health on those. Again, not excusing it, just looking for a way to understand it better personally. What I am saying, however, is we are capable of at least trying to prevent these violent crimes from happening. In fact, I’ve found some resources we can all use to get started on how to make a difference, because we all - myself included - say “someone needs to do something”, but most of us don’t ever do anything, and then it only gets worse. So here’s a website that I haven’t had as much time to browse as I would like, but it has a lot of resources and information, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. And here is one from our very own President, Gun Violence Prevention, encouraging us all to do something.

Speaking of presidents, yesterday President Obama made a very good - factual - point. Your opinion on politics here doesn’t matter - love or hate the guy (hatred isn’t really helping anything, but it’s okay to disagree with your president, that’s why America is a free country), he said that guns kill more Americans than terrorism. When looking for an article of that quote I could cite, I found this one from the Washington Post. The article is supporting and backing up what the President said, while also chiming in with their own opinion, in a respectful manner that doesn’t hurt anybody else. A+ journalism.


Here is a graph from that same WP article:




Wow. WOW. I never in a million years would’ve imagined that to be the case, although unfortunately it makes sense. I’d also like to point out right now that “terrorist” does not mean someone from any specific part of the world, or someone who belongs to any specific religion or organization - it means someone who uses violent acts against others. That could be anyone.


(Sidebar - the WP article has another graph showing the other things that kill Americans, like car accidents and cancer. Those things, however, are not intentional the way murder is.)


At the new job I started, I had to take some online video courses about the company and the field I now work in. One of the videos was about safety in the workplace, addressing things such as fire, natural disasters, and chemical spills. The section on violence in the workplace - whether it be from a fellow employee, a customer, a stranger, a domestic situation, etc. - was longer than the rest of the sections, combined. Not only was it longer, but when I finished that particular video, the very next one was only on workplace violence, and what we can do to prevent it or ensure the safety of ourselves and those around us while at the office.


I know what the Second Amendment says. I’m a very patriotic person. I love the fact that, if I don’t like my president or my senator, I have the right to voice my opinion about it without being thrown in jail. The Second Amendment does not, however, give me the right to physically harm the person I disagree with, or anyone else.

When the Bill of Rights was written over 200 years ago, my guess is those men never thought the world would become so terrible that we’d go around shooting each other for fun. Those who defend the Second Amendment need to do it in context, recognizing that it was written in a time when the country was a much, much different place. I also know my First Amendment rights, which gives me the freedom to tell you that your endorsement of guns is not helpful to this country, or this world.


The people I understand the least, however, are those who say “if everyone carried a gun the world would be a safer place”. Um, no. Life is not a movie. If someone walked into a crowded room - say a movie theater - and started shooting people out of nowhere, it wouldn’t turn into everyone else standing up and shooting him or her back. It would turn into no one knowing who the real enemy was, and shooting at everyone they didn’t know or trust, until there was a violent massacre which was what carrying guns was supposed to prevent in the first place, according to those with that line of thought.


I understand the argument that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. While that is true, I’ve found it to be people with guns kill people. I recently had this very debate with a friend of mine, who is pro gun. He said if we didn’t have guns, we’d have something else as a weapon, and cited parts of history and wars before the invention of guns. He made a good point - we will always find a way to harm each other, for some unknown reason. However, when somebody has to kill someone using a knife or a sword, they have to get a hell of a lot closer to their targeted victim than they would with a gun, which means less chance of getting away, which means higher risk, which makes someone less likely to kill in the first place, generally speaking, than if they had a gun (or a bomb, but that’s another debate). Think of all the people who might not have died when they did without guns - President Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., etc. Think of the wars that may never have happened, or escalated to the points they did if there had never been any guns, or any sort of weapon like them.


I am genuinely asking those of you who are pro gun to explain to me - civilly and respectfully - why you think guns are okay. I understand that people enjoy them for things like hunting (which still isn’t okay to me, but I eat meat so I don’t really have any room to talk), but how many hunting “accidents” have happened where another person has been accidentally shot? I mean, our own country’s vice president did it, while he was in office.


My other point is keeping guns in the house, especially when you have children. If you have it locked in a safe on the top shelf of your closet, that’s great, but how is that going to help you during a confrontation? You’re not going to have time to get it to protect you or/and your family, so what’s the point of even having it in the first place? And if you keep it somewhere with easy access, that means the other members of your household have easy access to it as well, which means you probably shouldn’t piss anyone off because anger breeds foreign emotions that are hard to control when you’re in the moment. Here is one of my favorite points ever on gun control, from Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley, and here is the accompanying tweet that went with it:




Movies and television have made human death such a common happening that we, as a society, have disassociated ourselves to death and murder. I will be the first to admit that I can watch action movies where characters shoot each other and not feel affected because I’m so used to it, but I cannot watch any movie where an animal dies, and that includes the Lion King. It’s too hard. But that’s because society hasn’t pounded into our brains that it’s normal to randomly kill an animal for no reason, or because you don’t like the way they look or how they think. Using a gun to shoot someone else is so commonplace these days after all, so why should we be bothered by it?


I’ll tell you why: because, once again, death is not the punishment murderers seem to think it is. All it does is hurt the ones who love the person killed, but the person killed can’t feel that remorse for having hurt his or her loved ones because they’re dead. No matter what afterlife you do or don’t believe in, we can all agree that your physical body is no longer working when you die, therefore not allowing you to walk home and check on your family. The other reason death is not a punishment is because, once again, when you’re dead, you don’t care anymore what happened in this life. If you pissed someone off and they killed you, they’re the ones continuing to live on with murder on their conscience, while your spirit is now free. So, really, when you murder someone, you’re only making life harder on yourself, for so many reasons. Threatening someone or making them fear for their life is, once again, a lot more effective than just killing them out of your way (once again, not condoning that behavior, but someone who is alive is going to care a lot more about what happens to them than someone who is dead).


I am someone who is fascinated by serial killers. I’m not really much for gore, but I am interested in the psychological behavior of people like Charles Manson, Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac, Hannibal, all of them. How did they get to be someone who murders for sport? Is it nature or nurture? Are they born with that evil or does the ever worsening condition of the world cause them to need to kill?


I feel like this always worsening world wouldn’t be so bad if we all stopped hating each other so much. If you want to dye your hair polka dotted purple with a lime green mohawk, go for it! Express yourself. I think I’ve said this in my blog before but it’s worth pointing out again - as long as you’re not hurting yourself or anyone else, be who you want, do what you want, act and look and dress and talk how you want. There is a line in one of Miley Cyrus’s songs that says - “it’s my mouth, I can say what I want to”. Regardless of your personal feelings about her (which, once again, is it really your place to judge?), she makes a good point. It’s so true! We each have the right to say and think what we want (thank you, once again, to the First Amendment), but the people we say those things to also reserve the right to disagree, and vise versa. I mean, think of how boring the world would be if everyone had the same tastes and interests. We’d never learn anything! I love learning about people with different religions, different favorite foods, different clothing style, different musical tastes. It expands my horizons and makes me a better, more well rounded person.


I also feel the need to throw this out there - if you want to say something that involves having to describe the race, weight, style, or any other physical characteristic of a person, then it’s probably not a comment that needs to be made, or even thought, really, but I’m not getting into that one. When it’s something positive, such as complimenting someone’s appearance or style or whatnot, then that’s fine. But when it’s gossiping to your friend because you saw someone at the mall and you didn’t like the way they looked, then it’s really a completely unnecessary thing to bring up. Not to mention a waste of your time, because why the hell does it matter? If they’re not hurting anyone, let it go, and if they are hurting someone else, you can still talk about what happened without having to describe their physical appearance or heritage.


You don't have to like everybody, but you don't have to call everyone you don't know or understand a "piece of shit", either. 


I will never get how or why people could ever think guns are a good or necessary thing. It’s a hot button topic for me and I’ve had to keep my mouth shut lately as I work with people now who are pro gun. These people are wonderful and sweet and very helpful and we are able to find common ground, because despite our political differences, none of us are hurting anyone else and therefore we can find a commonality in simply being human.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Ace of Bi's


Tumblr can be a great place (it can also be an awful place but I tend to stay away from the negative side of it as much as I can). It’s where I’ve learned to not be so judgmental. In fact, I’ve learned more about not judging people from Tumblr than I ever did the whole time I was regularly attending a Christian church. It’s where I’ve made some lovely friends, and “met” people from all over the world where I’ve learned about their cultures. It’s also where I discovered that not only am I not the only asexual person out there, but I’m also not the only asexual/bisexual person out there.


Being bisexual does not mean I want to sleep with everyone I see, male or female. It means I am attracted to one’s soul no matter what their gender is. 


(I cannot BELIEVE I am using an N'Sync gif but it was just too good to pass up. BSB For Life!)

If I wasn’t ace, then, yes, I probably would sleep with my partner, whether they were male or female. But I am ace, and therefore would need a relationship where sex isn’t a thing. Do you know how hard that is to find?! I’ve accepted that I will be alone forever because of it, but I do know of people on Tumblr who are asexual and in relationships, even married. Some of their partners are also ace, some aren’t, but because they love each other, they make it work. Gasp! You can love someone without sex being involved? Who knew.


Let me give you some background on asexuality, just to put it in context. There’s a spectrum of how it looks which is different depending on each individual, and I don’t want to speak for them so I will tell you how it looks for me. It means I am not interested in sex, or any sort of sexual intercourse, with anyone, at all, ever. I do not want to have it, I do not find it desirable. 


It has nothing to do with whether or not I’ve had bad sexual experiences (I really haven’t). The same way that, if you’re straight, it’s not because you had a bad homosexual experience, you know what I mean? It’s not a choice. If it was, I would obviously choose to fit in with everyone else and understand what all the hype around sex is all about. But it’s not a choice, and I don’t understand sex the same way people with a sex drive don’t understand people that are ace. If it helps, look at asexual as another sexuality, just like straight or gay or bi.

I do not mind answering questions about asexuality. I know it’s rare and hard to understand and I am totally willing to raise “awareness” (for lack of a better term), as long as the person asking the questions is respectful. It is not something that can be changed, or turned around. It is not to be looked at as a “challenge” or because I haven’t yet met someone who “knows what they’re doing”. For some people who consider themselves ace, they still have a bit of a sex drive, or a sex drive when it comes to their partner, etc. I am not one of those people, so I can’t really answer questions about that because I might not know how it works for them. But anything else, I don’t mind talking about and trying my best to explain it to you, so feel free to message me if you can be respectful about it and not offensive and I’ll be the same in return.



I often get asked “how can you be asexual and bisexual?” Let me tell you: the same way you’re not. It’s no different than people who are straight and have a sex drive - it’s just how they are, and, once again, none of it is a choice. Some people might not discover it until later in life (I was almost 25 before I realized I liked girls as well and then so much of my past made so much more sense, it was honestly a relief that I wasn’t stuck only having to date men), but that doesn’t mean they suddenly “chose” it. I had a (Christian) friend ask me about a year ago when did I “choose” to become bisexual. I didn’t. I just didn’t realize it before. Hindsight’s 20/20. It was also a bit of a relief when I realized there was actually a legitimate term for my lack of a sex drive - it wasn’t just me, there wasn’t something wrong with me, and it was in fact enough of a thing to have a name. It still sucks being asexual and I feel like I don’t fit in, at all, ever, with anyone, because I can’t relate to any sex related talk, but at least I know I’m not alone.


I guess the plus side is I don't ever have to buy expensive lingerie because no one else will ever see it!


(No gifs/pictures are mine, all credit goes to their owners)
(Quick Author's Note - I will be moving my blog over to Word Press - ciaracakes, as the formatting over there is a lot easier. But I wanted to do one last one on here before I do the complete move. Thanks for reading!

Sunday, June 28, 2015

God Vs. The Gays

DISCLAIMER: This post is not intended to disprove or discredit what the Bible says. It is simply trying to explain the evolvement of the human race since Biblical times.

(None of the gifs or pictures are mine, credit goes to all owners.)

I started attending a fairly “liberal”, nondenominational Christian church about eight years ago. This church has a support group for women who have had abortions, has female pastors, and I’ve met some of my gay friends through this church. I loved how nurturing it was, how it - for the most part - preached acceptance, just like Jesus did.


I grew up atheist and found God on my own after graduating high school, in no small part due to this very church. It was a good place, a safe place, and for that I will always be grateful to it. However, many of the people who attended this church were not as accepting as the church tried to exemplify, and therefore I gradually began detaching myself from associating with the word “Christian”. While I may agree with their beliefs, I don’t like to call myself a Christian - I don’t even like to say I’m religious. ‘Spiritual’ is a better word, and, from what I was taught at this very church, my relationship with God is strictly between Him and myself.


Now, with recent Supreme Court events that have happened, I was curious to see what this church had to say about them. I hadn’t been attending services regularly (to be entirely honest, for the past few years I’d only gone on Christmas Eve), but that’s a whole different story. I was aware that this church live streams their sermons, and then saves them online so we can watch them at our convenience. When I went to their website to find out if the recordings had been posted yet, there was a link on the front page to “A Statement From Our Pastor”. This pastor is someone I highly respect, both as a man of God and as a human being. I wanted to see what the statement was, so I clicked on it, where I was met with these words (I will not be linking the page out of respect to the church and the pastor):

“On Friday the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states. With all due respect to the court, it did not define marriage, and therefore is not entitled to redefine it.
God created man and woman and established marriage. His decisions are not subject to review or revision by any man-made court. God is clear about the definition of marriage in His word:
‘That is why a man leaves his father and mother, and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh’ Gen 2:24
Through thousands of years of cultural change, God is the same and changes not. In the multitude of nations that rise and fall, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever!”


I would like to start off by saying the pastor worded this very eloquently and respectfully, and I appreciate that there’s substance behind it and not just another “God hates fags” type of statement. That being said, let’s explore the context surrounding Genesis 2:24:

(NOTE: All of the Bible verses I cite will be coming from www.biblegateway.com, the NIV version, as I haven’t opened my own hard copy Bible in years and have absolutely no idea where it’s hiding...which might be a sin somewhere in the book of Leviticus, too. Oops.)

Genesis 2:21-25 - “But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.’ 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”

So, one verse after the one referenced in the pastor’s statement, it clearly says neither Adam nor Eve felt shame for being naked. But don’t we all wear clothes now, for that exact purpose - to not feel shame? So if God doesn’t change, then wouldn’t we all still be walking around naked, sin or no sin? Wouldn’t we still be flooded or plagued or whatever else happened in the Bible? Shouldn’t God be the first one to evolve with the times, considering He knows about them beforehand? It doesn’t change who God is or the fact that God is unconditional love. It just means He’s watching us grow and learn to love each other. Shouldn’t that be the first thing religions support? Plus, what was the whole point of God sending His son to die on the cross for us in the first place if none of us ever sinned?


Now, I have read (some) parts of the Bible, and there are a lot of things we do besides being homosexual on a regular basis that the Bible says not to do. Also, something I was taught at this very church was that sin is sin is sin. Sexual sin is sexual sin - premarital sex (which happens just as often, if not more so, as homosexuality does) is just as much sinning in God’s eyes as homosexuality allegedly is. I’d also like to know God’s opinion on those of us gay asexuals - there’s no sex involved in our relationships, so then shouldn’t gay be okay? Shouldn’t it be okay anyway?


Of course, some of these no-no’s are things that (I would hope) we would never do anyway, like have sex with an animal (but, hey, I’m not here to judge). Then there are, of course, the obvious ones, like don’t steal or lie or sleep with a family member, but let’s touch on some of the more interesting and thought provoking ones for a moment.


Drinking Alcohol In Holy Places

Leviticus 10:9 - “You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.”

Now, I have taken part in Communion at church, and while the specific church I’m talking about is very good at offering grape juice and gluten free bread for those who would prefer, they do offer wine as well and I have stood at church on more than one occasion, drank wine, and not died. It specifically states this is a “lasting ordinance for generations to come”. So, if God doesn’t change, as the pastor’s message states, then shouldn’t those of us who have ever taken part in Communion (or brought a flask to a funeral, or had champagne at a wedding taking place inside a church, etc.) be dead? Didn’t Jesus drink wine at his last supper, which could easily be defined as having taken place in a “tent of meeting”. Is that actually why he died, because he drank wine?!

Mistreating Foreigners


Leviticus 19:33-34 - “‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. 34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.’”

Hmm...hmmm!! Now, I won’t speak for this specific church on this one because I do not recall them ever expressing an opinion on political issues like immigration (which doesn’t mean they never have, I just don’t remember hearing it), but I will say the majority of people against gay marriage are conservative. The majority of conservatives don’t exactly welcome immigrants into the US of A with open arms. But, see, the funny thing is, if you live in America, then, guess what? At some point in the not-so-distant past, your family immigrated here from another country. Mind boggling.


Women Speaking In Church
1 Corinthians 14:34-35 - “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.”
What the hell is this 1950’s sexist bullshit?! I mean, come on! I, a woman, have spoken in church, during services and at other times, to friends, to God, even in front of large groups of people. I have also sat at sermons in this church where women - usually the pastors’ wives - stand on the pulpit and preach. Or where female missionaries come and tell us about the (amazing) work they’re doing overseas. So, if you don’t think I should be allowed to get gay married, then you can’t allow your wife or daughter to speak in church. Wait - what’s that? The times are different now? Women are revered as human beings in some parts of the world? In some households in our very own neighborhood? But, yeah, no, things don’t change.
Playing American Football

Leviticus 11:7-8 -“And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. 8 You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.”

Okay. The pastor spoke about the Broncos from the pulpit often. He’d even make fun of my Patriots often. We had Bronco players attending that church. There would be a significant drop in attendance on Sunday mornings when the Broncos had games at the same time. I have played football IN THE CHURCH PARKING LOT. THE CHURCH ITSELF HAS A FLAG FOOTBALL LEAGUE. What are American footballs made of again…?

Working On Saturday

Exodus 31:14-1515 - “‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. 15 For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death.”

This church - and many others - hold services on Saturdays.

And, for the grand finale, my final BOOYA point that makes me want to dance around in my underwear:

Getting Remarried After Getting Divorced

Look, it happens. I can’t speak from experience, as I have never been married, divorced, or remarried, but I do know and understand there are certain circumstances in which a divorce is necessary. Isn’t an individual’s happiness more important and valuable than staying with someone who makes them miserable just because the Bible tells them to? Isn’t true love the whole point of why we’re here? Don’t we all make mistakes? Haven’t we all fallen in and out of love before? Isn’t getting a second, third, fourth chance at finding the right person the whole point of what keeps us going?

If I recall correctly (and I do because I just looked it up), Deuteronomy 24:5 says this: “‘If a man and a woman have been married less than one year, he must not be sent off to war or sent away to do forced labor. He must be allowed to stay home for a year and be happy with his wife.’” So...do they or don’t they want us to be happy?! Anyway, sorry. Back to my original point of getting remarried after getting divorced:

Mark 10:10-12 - “When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11 He answered, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.’”

Okay, that’s pretty clear, but, let’s just jump back a couple verses, shall we?
Mark 10:2-5 - “Some Pharisees came and tested [Jesus] by asking, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ 3 ‘What did Moses command you?’ he replied. 4 They said, ‘Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.’ 5 ‘It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,’ Jesus replied.”
Whoa. Whoa. Wait a minute here. WAIT. A. MINUTE. If...if Jesus is saying, right here, that Moses said divorce was okay because everyone’s hearts were hard back then, does that mean Moses also said, that gay marriage was not okay because people’s hearts were hard back then?
I will pause and allow you to take a moment to let that sink in.

Like, I get it, okay. As the leader of a very large, very well known, very successful Christian church, there is of course an obligation to follow the word of the Bible. In fact, one of my favorite things about the sermons at this church was how the pastor would always talk about something relevant to everyday life, and back up what he was teaching with what the Bible says. Exactly what a pastor is supposed to do. And I don’t mean to call out any one person or any one church because I know this opinion is shared amongst many, and, like I said, I do have a lot of respect for this church and for the man who posted this statement. But, like, the thing is, calling out one subject so publicly that you have to post a message about it on your website, all the while ignoring the fact that you’ll be working on Saturday and are probably going home to eat a cheeseburger (Leviticus 3:17), trim your beard (Leviticus 19:27), then watch the latest SportsCenter update on which NFL player has been arrested this week for beating his wife, makes your statement null and void.