“I’ll make a bet with you,” Robertson said. “Two guys break into an atheist’s home. He has a little atheist wife and two little atheist daughters. Two guys break into his home and tie him up in a chair and gag him. And then they take his two daughters in front of him and rape both of them and then shoot them and they take his wife and then decapitate her head off in front of him. And then they can look at him and say, ‘Isn’t it great that I don’t have to worry about being judged? Isn’t it great that there’s nothing wrong with this? There’s no right or wrong, now is it dude?’”
Robertson kept going: “Then you take a sharp knife and take his manhood and hold it in front of him and say, ‘Wouldn’t it be something if this [sic] was something wrong with this? But you’re the one who says there is no God, there’s no right, there’s no wrong, so we’re just having fun. We’re sick in the head, have a nice day.’”
“If it happened to them,” Robertson continued, “they probably would say, ‘something about this just ain’t right.”
If you've managed to avoid Christian fundamentalist circles, this probably sounds like the biggest bunch of bs you've ever heard. Unfortunately in this world, they really do believe that if you don't believe their version of the Bible, then you have no basis for right and wrong, that your marriage doesn't have any hope of succeeding, that you're going to hell and that you must be the most confused, despairing person out there. They pity you, which to me is incredibly offensive and disgusting.
This speech by Robertson started to solidify some random thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head lately.
For instance, I've heard versions of this many times over the years:
To me, this implies that your marriage is somehow better when both parties love and worship the same God. And conversely, if you don't worship God, your marriage will fail, or will somehow fail to be "as good" as a Christian marriage.
The problem with this is that I know plenty of crappy, failed "Christian" marriages, and plenty of great marriages that are not Christian. If this were true, the divorce rate in the Church wouldn't be the same as the divorce rate in the world. I should know. I divorced a pastor. If anyone should have had a handle on God and marriage, it should be the pastor and his wife, right?
I feel like when we make these absolute statements, which really are just dogmatic assumptions, we fail to really hear and see the people standing in front of us; the people we work with, love, talk to, hang out with. When we don't listen to those who are different than we are, it's easy to become self-righteous in our own supposed goodness.
I decided to ask some friends, who are atheists, or who just aren't Christian, where they found their moral compass. Assuming that an atheist has no moral compass, just because he's not Christian, as Phil Robertson and many others do, is the height of arrogance.
Most of these people I know are some of the nicest, kindest, most moral people I know. They are amazing husbands, wives, fathers, mothers and friends.
Everyone I talked to said very similar things. If you have ears to hear, read on.
My friends told me that most of them were taught right and wrong by their parents. They had parents to teach them how to be kind to others, how to be in relationships that were healthy, how to help the downtrodden, and how to love, forgive and say sorry, how to respect themselves, others and the world around them.
Most of them said something along the lines of, "If it's hurting someone else, it's wrong."
Ummmm, kinda sounds like someone else I've heard before.
"Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, "Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
My friend, Alan, said something similar drives him:
Aleister Crowley, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the law, love under will.” I think you'd enjoy reading his thoughts in depth:
And I have to agree with all of my friends, whether they believe in God, the universe, Karma, or they don't know what they believe, Love supersedes all.
I personally believe God is Love. And whether or not a person believes in God, He still loves them and has placed his Love in them. Why do we love others? Because they are made in the image of God. Because they are worthy of love because they exist. If something I say or do or support or suppose, makes another person feel UNloved, it's wrong. You don't get to choose if you think someone feels loved. If they feel unloved by you, you are not showing love. Show love in a way that speaks to each individual heart.
This whole idea of what love is and what right and wrong is, is very close to my heart, because my husband does not identify himself as a Christian. And yet, he shows Christ-like love to me and to our children everyday. By serving, by giving, by kindness, by gentleness. His words and actions speak love loudly in my life. His actions convince me that God loves me, because if an imperfect (as great as he is) human being can love so greatly, how much more does God love me, and all of us, perfectly?
I have met many professing Christians, who are convinced of their greatness and righteousness, who are the most unloving people I know. I have known many who do not profess Christ, to show amazing love to all.
I believe God has written His love on our hearts; on all our hearts. We would do well to remember, that no matter what our religious preference is, if we are unloving to those made in the image of God, we are nothing. We accomplish nothing.
I Corinthians 13:1-3 "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."
Love is everything. Love is God. God is Love, and without it, I don't care who you are, you are nothing.
If you love with an "if", you accomplish nothing.
If your desire to make people understand what you believe is the Truth, but do so in an unloving way, you have made your words and actions useless. Love is the Law.
Choose to listen.
Choose to hear.
Choose to affirm.
Choose to empathize.
Choose to love.
