Freaks To Hate
Freaks to Hate
At one of my first visits to a carnival I saw many strange things. But the most fascinating one was the man with no arms. The rest of his body appeared perfectly normal but his arms were short stubs with small short, undeveloped fingers. He was just one of the several freaks the carnival charged us fees to look at. The exciting thing about him was his ability to paint pictures and this led people to stand for a long time as beautiful landscape pictures developed on his canvas.
This painter held his brushes in his mouth as he dipped them into the paint and then applied it to the canvas. It looked messy at first leading me to think that I could do as well. But as he continued we saw a beautiful oil painting appear before us. We all applauded his fine, beautiful work.
As we rode home after the show I chose to ride on the seat next to Mama as she drove the horse and buggy up the pitch dark road. I asked mama why that man didn’t have arms and hands like the rest of us. She was always attentive and willing to answer any question asked of her. She said, ”Since the stubs had undeveloped fingers on them, we know that he didn’t have arms and then have them cut off. Evidently he was born with those little stubs instead of regular arms”.
At one of my first visits to a carnival I saw many strange things. But the most fascinating one was the man with no arms. The rest of his body appeared perfectly normal but his arms were short stubs with small short, undeveloped fingers. He was just one of the several freaks the carnival charged us fees to look at. The exciting thing about him was his ability to paint pictures and this led people to stand for a long time as beautiful landscape pictures developed on his canvas.
This painter held his brushes in his mouth as he dipped them into the paint and then applied it to the canvas. It looked messy at first leading me to think that I could do as well. But as he continued we saw a beautiful oil painting appear before us. We all applauded his fine, beautiful work.
As we rode home after the show I chose to ride on the seat next to Mama as she drove the horse and buggy up the pitch dark road. I asked mama why that man didn’t have arms and hands like the rest of us. She was always attentive and willing to answer any question asked of her. She said, ”Since the stubs had undeveloped fingers on them, we know that he didn’t have arms and then have them cut off. Evidently he was born with those little stubs instead of regular arms”.
Then after hesitating a minute or so she continued,” The creation of a baby involves a long and complicated process before it is born, and sometimes one [or more] of the body parts doesn’t get finished or may have a little mistake in it. Sometimes babies come with club feet, crossed eyes or an allergy to peanuts caused by some error in their pre-birth assembly. Mamas are sorry when these things happen but it can’t be helped and we don’t understand why it happens.”
It was many years later when I noticed the crossed eyes of that girl in the math class and remembered the very wise and compassionate explanation Mama had told to me on the way home from the carnival.
Mama is not here now. If she were I would like to ask her why homosexual persons are like they are and how they got that way. I am confident she would give me an answer much like the one she gave about the painter who had no arms.
When we see persons with club feet, crossed eyes or other deformities we tend to feel sorry for them and silently rejoice that we have such normal features. Yet, persons with a different sexual orientation get very different treatment. This puzzles me. It seems to me that the complicated process of assigning female or male features to a developing fetus might result in a mistake now and then. My questions to persons who hate homosexual persons are either ignored or bring me the simple explanation that homosexuality is an acquired condition, that persons choose that lifestyle like a person chooses to play football instead of playing chess. Everyone knows that.
Accepting the idea that homosexuality is a chosen lifestyle is very difficult. It automatically classifies the homosexual subjects as stupid fools. I can’t imagine a sane person choosing to enter a group of persons who are harassed at every turn, are refused membership in churches and many clubs, who go into court at a distinct disadvantage and who receive harsh criticism for wanting to exercise rights that belong to them and every other citizen.
Letters to church leaders seeking answers to questions regarding homosexuality and the church’s rules on the subject don’t get replies.
Personal questions are usually answered with meaningless statements like, “Everyone knows that homosexuality is a sin.” Sometimes the answer will be in the form of Biblical quotation of a verse that doesn’t address the issue. I have heard no one answer with a quotation of Jesus Christ in which he condemns homosexuals or states that they should stay hidden away in closets. Instead of accepting homosexuals as brothers in faith, we are seeing churches refusing them an opportunity to hold office and in some cases refusing to admit them to membership.
Some brave churches who accept homosexuals in good faith find themselves looked upon as deviant, despised organizations. They are urged to adopt programs that will ‘save’ the lost persons and persuade them to accept the normal style of sex life. They insist that the church leaders of the past have established rules that prove that such persons cannot live the “Christian” life and that they should not be accepted as members.
Churches are organizations made up of people of certain beliefs. Those people have the right to organize and establish rules for the operation of their groups. They have the right to establish rules and standards for membership, fund raising and spending. In order to avoid the evils associated with a ‘state church’ the American people are granted the freedom to organize any group to do almost anything under any types of circumstances and call it a “Church”. The churches are populated by a very wide assortment of persons. They may hate the Jews, the communists and the infidels of the Islamic faiths or any other group they choose to hate.
The leaders and members of the Christian churches generally live by the Teachings and example of Jesus Christ. That is, until some individual or group gets together and decides that in certain respects the established churches have ‘gone astray’ and in some specified respects are not practicing true Christianity. The splinter group organizes, raises funds and sets about its task of bringing the church back to the style of church it was meant to be, as Jesus Christ would have it be. The group’s agenda usually selects a convenient cause which they feel they can use to enroll members and raise funds needed to carry on their program, whatever their cause might be. Topping the agenda of many of these groups is hatred of the homosexuals.
As a way of drawing us back to the basic subject, I presume to challenge any of the churches or splinter groups to explain why they hate homosexuals and to explain how homosexuals are produced, with reliable scientific support for that explanation. Such an explanation is the only way to remove the stigma the church organizations have placed on themselves by their treatment of the homosexual community.
Jerry Clements 3/5/07
It was many years later when I noticed the crossed eyes of that girl in the math class and remembered the very wise and compassionate explanation Mama had told to me on the way home from the carnival.
Mama is not here now. If she were I would like to ask her why homosexual persons are like they are and how they got that way. I am confident she would give me an answer much like the one she gave about the painter who had no arms.
When we see persons with club feet, crossed eyes or other deformities we tend to feel sorry for them and silently rejoice that we have such normal features. Yet, persons with a different sexual orientation get very different treatment. This puzzles me. It seems to me that the complicated process of assigning female or male features to a developing fetus might result in a mistake now and then. My questions to persons who hate homosexual persons are either ignored or bring me the simple explanation that homosexuality is an acquired condition, that persons choose that lifestyle like a person chooses to play football instead of playing chess. Everyone knows that.
Accepting the idea that homosexuality is a chosen lifestyle is very difficult. It automatically classifies the homosexual subjects as stupid fools. I can’t imagine a sane person choosing to enter a group of persons who are harassed at every turn, are refused membership in churches and many clubs, who go into court at a distinct disadvantage and who receive harsh criticism for wanting to exercise rights that belong to them and every other citizen.
Letters to church leaders seeking answers to questions regarding homosexuality and the church’s rules on the subject don’t get replies.
Personal questions are usually answered with meaningless statements like, “Everyone knows that homosexuality is a sin.” Sometimes the answer will be in the form of Biblical quotation of a verse that doesn’t address the issue. I have heard no one answer with a quotation of Jesus Christ in which he condemns homosexuals or states that they should stay hidden away in closets. Instead of accepting homosexuals as brothers in faith, we are seeing churches refusing them an opportunity to hold office and in some cases refusing to admit them to membership.
Some brave churches who accept homosexuals in good faith find themselves looked upon as deviant, despised organizations. They are urged to adopt programs that will ‘save’ the lost persons and persuade them to accept the normal style of sex life. They insist that the church leaders of the past have established rules that prove that such persons cannot live the “Christian” life and that they should not be accepted as members.
Churches are organizations made up of people of certain beliefs. Those people have the right to organize and establish rules for the operation of their groups. They have the right to establish rules and standards for membership, fund raising and spending. In order to avoid the evils associated with a ‘state church’ the American people are granted the freedom to organize any group to do almost anything under any types of circumstances and call it a “Church”. The churches are populated by a very wide assortment of persons. They may hate the Jews, the communists and the infidels of the Islamic faiths or any other group they choose to hate.
The leaders and members of the Christian churches generally live by the Teachings and example of Jesus Christ. That is, until some individual or group gets together and decides that in certain respects the established churches have ‘gone astray’ and in some specified respects are not practicing true Christianity. The splinter group organizes, raises funds and sets about its task of bringing the church back to the style of church it was meant to be, as Jesus Christ would have it be. The group’s agenda usually selects a convenient cause which they feel they can use to enroll members and raise funds needed to carry on their program, whatever their cause might be. Topping the agenda of many of these groups is hatred of the homosexuals.
As a way of drawing us back to the basic subject, I presume to challenge any of the churches or splinter groups to explain why they hate homosexuals and to explain how homosexuals are produced, with reliable scientific support for that explanation. Such an explanation is the only way to remove the stigma the church organizations have placed on themselves by their treatment of the homosexual community.
Jerry Clements 3/5/07
posted by Jeremiah | 4:49 PM
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