Daredevil Thinking

This number, by Poets of the Fall, is titled "War". I first heard the song when I was playing a game that my roommate had introduced me to, Alan Wake. There was something very surreal about fighting off a horde of possessed psychopaths to this epic tune.

This music is actually a live-action cinematography showing off for the game itself, including major characters like Alan, Alice, and glimpses of Barbara Jagger and the Taken. Throughout the scenes we see Alan traversing through the woods surrounding Bright Falls with a flash flight and flares, stumbling across pages of the manifest that plays such an important roll in the story.

"War", "The Poet and the Muse", and "Children of the Elder God" were all composed specifically for the Alan Wake soundtrack.

An innocent person is attacked, beaten, and then burned to death by an anti-gay mob in Nalukolongo. Photo source: Uganda Gay on Move

It's been a long time since I've posted anything on this old, dusty blog. But only seconds have passed since I last dared to think. I was reminded of this little corner of cyberspace - my little corner - when I happened across a news article reporting that the Ugandan parliament had finally passed the dreaded "Kill the Gays" Anti-Homosexuality Bill. I felt my heart sink and my head swirl when my mind registered the headline.

I don't like pointing fingers. It merely adds to my own burdens; and like poison, accusations can bring just as much calamity to the accuser. Yet, I won't sidestep the blame either. We caused this to happen. Us Christians are just as much at fault as the shameless politicians that supported this legislation.

In 2009, American evangelist pastor Scott Lively visited Uganda under the pretense of spreading the Message of the Gospel. Instead, he spread a message of hate and ill-contempt for gays. Like wild fire, his rhetoric tore across the country and reached the ears of the nation's elite. Almost overnight, a bill that would set in motion a wave of intolerance towards an entire people was drafted and proposed on the floor of Uganda's parliament. And the mind-blowing part of it all... he doesn't deny any of it. He gladly takes credit for it, as well as taking credit for Russia's sudden aggression toward gays.

What in God's Good Name just happened...?

Were we not Commissioned to go forth and "make disciples of all nations" and to teach others to "obey all that I have commanded" (Matthew 28:16-20)? And what was it that we were commanded to do?

To love one another. To convey the message of eternal life. To honor our Father in Heaven.

The picture you see above at the top of this blog... is that an example of love? I see children standing around a burned corpse, that had fallen victim to hatred and disdain, intolerance. Is that an example of conveying the message of eternal life? I see a dreadful warning of death and ostracism. Finally, is that an example of honoring God? I see nothing but murder, and that is far from honoring anything.

In Paul's letter to the Romans, he said:

8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”[a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. - Romans 13:8-10 (NIV)

Pope Francis I, a man of striking action and humble words, demonstrated this passage the best when he openly stated in an interview several months ago, "Who am I to judge a gay person of goodwill that seeks the Lord?"

'Who am I?' 'Who am I?!' Your Excellency, you're the bloody Pope for Heaven's sake! The Holy See! The Supreme Pontiff! St. Peter Incarnate! God's Chosen Representative on Earth! If anyone is someone, it's you, dude!

But no... he simple and humbly says, "Who am I to judge?"

In this day and age, a person of such power lowering himself like that is unprecedented. The Old Man Club (the Vatican) is shocked! But where is that love in Africa? Where is that humility, that sanity, that compassion, and that virtuous piety (two words that sound like an oxymoron in regards to today's Christianity) in Uganda, where innocents are being run down in the streets because of their sexuality? Where is that same light in the Third World, where women are considered inferior to men, or even equated to property? In regions where education is scarce and the fear of the unknown clings to people like a viper's snare?

Do you see now why I say that we are the ones at fault here? Yes, "pastor" Lively basically spoke with venom seeping through his teeth, and other extremists of the Far Right are equally responsible for carrying out similar acts of hatred, but we of the Way and the Truth and the Life had - and have - the power to put an end to it, to stop it before the fire spread too far. But we stood by and bickered among ourselves about "political correctness" and "orientation vs. a lifestyle choice" and "God vs. the gays" and so on and so forth.

Meanwhile, 30% of gay youth take their lives near the time they turn 15. A conservative estimate reflects around 1,500 suicides per year among gays and lesbians. Add on murder, torture, and rape... the hatred for each other and ourselves is even more staggering.

Obviously, I'm fairly liberal. Half of my family is fairly conservative. We are not of the same minds... but I do not begrudge them theirs. Frankly, it shouldn't matter which side of the political, social, or religious spectrum you're on when it comes to the obvious, plain-as-day suffering of countless human beings. This much is clear: We are called to love the loveless, to feed the hungry, to shelter the homeless, to heal the sick...

The following words are my message to Uganda:

Knock this off. We messed up, and we messed up big time. We should have come to you with a message of peace. We should have taught you about Christ's Love, not Satan's Hate. We should have shown mercy and compassion, rather than contempt and rebuke. We have condoned murder and pride. We have sat idly by and argued among ourselves while letting your (and our) citizens suffer at the hands of cruel humans. Forgive us. Forgive yourselves.

I forgive you. I forgive you because you were wronged. I forgive you because you were led astray. I forgive you because you were blind by our selfishness and our pride. Most of all, I forgive you... because I love you.

Do not dare... to not dare.