You know what has always driven me nuts?  It's those people that have their 'things'.  It doesn't matter what it is, from a sports team, to Diet Coke, to Coach brand handbags.  They take a product, person, place, whatever, and blindly make it their whole identity.  It is not until later in life, when many these people get together, under the roof of a religion, does the problem become serious.

It starts out innocently enough.  Maybe it's that kid in your class that loved Mickey Mouse.  The kid had a Mickey lunch box, T-shirt, book-bag, etc.  He couldn't tell you why he liked Mickey, or even any one thing in particular that he liked about him, just the he liked him.  It was his 'thing'.  At some point his mom probably decided that it was cute if she made little Timmy into a 'Mickey Kid'.  That way, if one of her friends at bible study were going to Disneyland she could say, 'Oh my little Timmy, he just LOVES his Mickey!  I don't know what I am going to do with that little bugger!', and feel like she had some sort of ownership over all things Disney.  

As for little Timmy, the 'thing' problem was still pretty harmless but Timmy was going to grow up into an adult.

In my late teens/early twenties this problem not only continued, it got more prevalent.  It seemed more and more people, took hold of more and more 'things'.  They became far more serious about their ownership of said, 'thing'.  I had this guy at work that just loved the Mariners and all things related.  He would make it known, pretty much upon introduction, that man, oh man, did he ever LOVE those Mariners!  There was that chick that LOVED Orlando Bloom.  Her e-mail address was something like iloveorlando@.  She would sit in chat rooms all day telling everyone how SHE was his biggest fan.  Or there was the lady who loved all things M&M.  We once went on a team building trip to Vegas and she would do nothing but hang out at the M&M factory.  I don't think she even enjoyed the factory after the first hour but that didn't matter.  It was her 'thing' and she had to show us all how much it was hers.   Even if that meant wasting her entire trip there, bored to tears.

Although these people annoyed the shit out of me, it was still a harmless practice.

Here is where the problem comes in; these people are now adults.  They have joined, or become more active in, their church.  They have let go of their individual 'things' to take hold of the churches 'things'.  There is a switch from having a 'thing' that they love, to having a 'thing' that they hate.  Do you know what they hate?  Abortion, gay marriage and liberals.  Simple as that.  Miss iloveorlando@ has now become chselife4bby@.  Mariner games have gave way to Promise Keepers.  Like little Timmy, they can't tell you why they hate it, or really anything in particular about it all.  Just that they hate it.

How can an entire group of people all have the exact same hateful passion?  How in the hell does believing in Jesus, who taught about love and acceptance, have one fucking thing to do with being a republican?  I do not see the correlation between Jesus and any of these issues.  Yet they are an entire HUGE group of people acting as though the first lines in the bible read, "Jesus says, 'No abortion.  Marriage is between a man and a woman only.  Vote Republican.  You may pick and choose at will through the remainder of this Book".

Don't get me wrong, I am not even trying to insinuate that I have a clue as to how Jesus would weigh in on these issues.  I am just saying that they don't either.

I didn't have many questions for M&M girl or Mariner guy.  Their 'things' weren't important, they didn't effect me.  These new ones are, and do.  They effect us all.  Even if they could not produce an answer, I would love for them to at least consider the following -

Regarding Abortion (and their burning desire to ban it under all circumstances) - 

Foremost, why is this even a concern for you?  Do you need it banned because God needs a mere mortals help in deciding life and death issues?  Does He not have this one covered?   Does He not possess this power to decide if a life is to be born (or extinguished)?  Is it that you lack faith in His power or is it arrogance in your own?

When people die, don't you say, 'They are in a better place, God needed them more than we do and God has called them home?'  If you believe this, why would you even want/force anyone to come here instead of that, 'better place'?  That seems cruel.  Cruel that you would want to take away their chance to walk with Lord in the Kingdom of Heaven, without ever having to endure the sufferings of Earth.  And crueler, since their sufferings here on Earth, on average, will far surpass the norm.  Possibly born to a mother that is not ready emotionally or financially to be a mom?  Born with birth defects, possibly severe?  Many reasons.  If and until, you and Sarah Pallin are ready to insure these kids do not have to suffer the consequences of your will, it does not seem very Christian of you to try to enforce it.  Second, what happened to the 'God needed them and called them home' part?  Is it again that God needs your help?  If I were Him, you guys would really be starting to tick me off.

I had two extremely close (of the BFF variety), childhood friends became 'born again' a few years back.  We are no longer friends.  Not because I rejected them for changing so drastically, but because I would not change with them (the fact that they kept telling me my grandparents are in hell was an added bonus).  Getting back to my question - both of these friends had abortions in their teens, and both immediately upon becoming Christian many years later, became vocal opponents of it.  You become born again - you hate abortion and think being gay is a choice.  No ifs and or buts.  Anywho, according to them, thanks in part to their decisions to have abortions, did these woman find their way to the Lord.  I have to assume their story is not an unusual one.  Here is my question (finally) - why would you want to take this same path to finding Him away from another woman?  Again, why do you think God needs your help?  He couldn't help change a woman's mind if He so chose?  He couldn't have a chat with her?  You are always bragging about how he talks to you...

You say that you are so pro-life right?  Every life is just so fucking precious to you right?  These fetus's are innocent so they need your protection right?  Well then how can you be PRO WAR?  Where is your 'every life is precious' in that case?  Innocent children get killed in war too you morons.  It doesn't make any sense. 

I am not even going to get into the other two 'things'.  Being against gay marriage is so asinine in my book that it doesn't even merit argument.  Loving Jesus equating to being a Republican is also such a ridiculous notion that it too, is without argument.

Socrates said, 'The unexamined life is not worth living'.  Is it is fair to say that the unexamined blind following of anything, be it an idea/notion/religion/'THING', is not worth following?

These people with their 'things' used to annoy me.  Now I feel sorry for them.  It is truly embarrassing that they mindlessly adhere to manufactured notions, so obviously unexamined.  Embarrassing that they then shout out their ignorance to the world.

I am not bitter though.  Nope, not at all.