Ebony's Pearls

"what quote(s) would your character(s) give for one of your stories?" - From pbackwriter

You must read this book. It is a matter of honor. And food. - Varg from A Thousand Days to Freedom

Denastenion provided us with the ability to read, and it is not good to deny gifts from gods. Read everything. Start with this book. Denastenion will bless you. - The Chosen One from The Blood Bond

On the shelves are many books, full of many words. Among them rests this book, this book that speaks of stars and family, of hope and love, and of travails too great for mere mortals to bear. If you find it, read it and become more than mortal - Lt. Jera Smith from Riddle Me Dee

Eh, what's not to love? Pizza, pirates, True Love, aliens, explosions - and pizza! Read it with a stack of fresh pizzas, you'll need them. - Ben from Pizza Boy Saves the Universe

When you read this book, don't touch any purple hairy frogs! - Kupachem from Misty Sphere of Dooooom

In my story, you'll find out just how much trouble ordering a gargoyle for your garden can be. - Mira from A Stone Heart

I've watched dark_christian from the beginning, but never joined for many reasons.

One, I'm paranoid enough that I don't want to speak my thoughts on a community where I know there are those watching it with less than kind intentions.

Two, although it's supposed to be about speaking up against "dark Christians" ie those Christians who have taken bits and pieces of Christianity and made of it a repressive and dangerous beast, it has always tread too carefully to avoid offending Christians. I'm sorry, but if those Christians are offended by what has to be said about some of their membership, then they are directing their ire in the wrong direction - they should be looking at the Christians who are blackening their religion and act upon it, not attacking those who point out the stains.

Three, too much censorship occurs there, both from the moderators and from the members who have to curb their thoughts and words in order to avoid offense. This is a touchy subject, and there are people who will take the words said personally no matter how carefully parsed a thought may be. There's no avoiding offending people when speaking about a subject as dangerous as this one. There are moderators on dark_christian who would silence anyone who says any negative thing about Christianity - and that sort of defeats the purpose of the community.

This is why, when I have anything to say about Christians that I want to say on line, I say it here, on my LJ, where I can say what I want and, if necessary, silence those who would chastise me for speaking out. I don't silence those who speak to the matter at hand and offer insights and information I may have missed, just the ones who attack either me, as a person, or other commenters on my LJ. Attack the facts, not the people and we'll get along just fine.

There is a lot I don't commit to the internet, here or anywhere, but that doesn't mean I am not doing anything off the internet. I spend a lot of time working with homeless people, and it shames me to think that Christians, a religion supposedly founded upon Jesus charity and acceptance, would turn people in need away just because they are poor or in desperate straits or not themselves Christian. I was appalled in the May 9th tornadoes to learn that there were churches that had locked their doors against these suddenly homeless people because they were afraid the desperate people would steal from the church or damage it. I am constantly appalled by all these prosperity ministers who say poverty is a deserved condition, that their God has taken his favor away from them as punishment, and that good Christians would be favored of their God by displays of wealth and powerful jobs, so the poor should be left to suffer their just punishment. I am constantly appalled by Christians who starve, beat, and sometimes kill their children in an attempt to drive "devils" out of them where no devil other than age-appropriate behavior exists. I am constantly appalled by Christians who run conversion camps to convert presumably homosexual children into heterosexual children - many of whom are too young to even care about sex. I'm sorry, but if a child is a virgin, they have no clue what their sexual orientation really is. They may think or hope it is one way or another, but it's only after they become sexually active that they will know for sure. Abusing prepubescent children over a presumed sexual orientation is - wrong on so many levels, I can't begin to discuss it here (although I have at length in other, off the internet, venues). I am constantly appalled about how these so-called Christians can wreak all sorts of abuse and damage and walk away from it unscathed, unpunished by their peers, and often unpunished by our laws.

Christians are not above the laws of our land. No one of any religion is above the secular laws of whatever country they dwell in. Secular laws are there to help people of various religions and cultures live together as neighbors and co-workers. Secular law is the lubrication that keeps us from killing one another over doctrinal differences.

When one religion ignores secular law and metes out its own justice upon those not of their religion, it causes serious repercussions - wars of the nastiest sort, pain and suffering beyond belief.

dark_christian was presumably a place where we could gather to discuss the abuses of secular laws some Christians were engaging in to the detriment of their religion and our country, and possible ways to combat it.

That's not what it is anymore.

I am considering withdrawing from even watching the community anymore. If I wanted to hear Christian apologetics, I'd listen to well-researched, scholarly ones, like Josh McDowell, Lee Strobel, Tertullian, Frances Schaeffer, Thomas Aquinas, C. S. Lewis, Blaise Paschal, Abraham Kuyper, Cornelius van Til, Anselm of Cantuerbury, Russell Berttram, Jonathon Edwards, Aristides, and Augustine of Hippo.

In fact, I have read all of these and more.

It doesn't change the fact that there are Christians today, here and now, who are less Christian than I am, yet demand everyone consider their way as the One Right True and Only Christian Way. They are trying to control our schools, our laws, our politicians, and our lives.

I won't let them.

I'm also not going to fight for a blogging community I never felt comfortable enough to join.

I think I've answered my question about whether I will continue to watch the community or not.

It took me until today to realize this is the big UTAustin/OU game - and that's why there were so few people at work Friday.

If y'all live north, just ignore this post. By "cold front", I mean temperatures will drop into the mid-80's.

Still, it's a cold front, and temperatures are dropping. It might even be comfortable mowing that shaggy lawn of mine.

I have a few raspberries still ripening on their canes, and my fall garden is going in this weekend. Most of it should be ripe and harvested before the hard frosts come in January. Since the main fall garden is located along the south wall of the house, it may not experience frost until February.

It'll be another month or two before the temperatures fall below 50 for daytime highs. We might get a light dusting of snow on Cookie Day.

See, the reason I brought up the cold front is because cooler weather reminds me that Cookie Day is approaching, one of our holiest days of the year.

Far too many of my dearest Numenists are far away - some in Iraq, some stationed elsewhere in the US, some pulled away by their employment - so my Cookie Day mailing list is rather long. I have to bake their share of cookies far enough in advance that they get their cookies in time to celebrate Cookie Day, and then there are the cookies for Cookie Day itself.

And the cooler weather means I need to decide - quickly - what cookies I'll bake this year.