THROWING STONES

THROWING STONES

(c) 2006 By TONEY ATKINS

    It intrigues me when readers accuse me of trying to shatter faith and of being a lover of "niggers" and "queers."

    In reality, I am a lover of all people who value life, who treat each other with mutual respect, who do not hate, murder, rob, maliciously gossip about or intentionally physically or emotionally hurt another person.

    As far as my personal faith is concerned, I am a believer that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

    If my thoughts that are  intended to make a reader think for himself or herself have the ability to "shatter faith," then there's not that much faith to shatter.

    Riding on the train of thought of some of these critics, I have to say that I have to laugh at the tired phrase, "If God had wanted homosexuals, He would have created Adam and Steve instead of Adam and Eve." What if He had created Adam and Steve? Since the biology wouldn't have allowed for procreation, there would not be overpopulation and hunger; there would still be a Garden of Eden; the earth of God's creation would likely still be beautifully green and the waters would be a sparkling blue, the air and drinking water would be clean, free of harmful chemicals and other contaminants; there would be not hatred and discrimination, and therefore, no wars -- it would be a great place in which to live in peace and freedom.

    And since we all know that God created everything, including the serpent or snake or whatever it was that tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden and got them thrown out, perhaps there would be no reason to fear the seen and unseen slithering and crawling things -- spiders and snakes, bacteria and viruses or anything else that is invisible to the naked eye.

    Forget Adam and Steve. Being human, they could have made a mess of things, too. Adam and Eve obviously weren't happy with what they had and were ripe for temptation, and look at what has happened since -- hate, discrimination, war, fear, disease, pestilence, hunger, too many "marriages" that end in divorce, leaving children to suffer the worst of the consequences, too many religious beliefs and denominations that cause far too much confusion, disrespect for others, too much self-indulgence -- I believe you get the message without painting a montage.

    Too many of us are eager to throw stones at the sins of others when we won't even acknowledge our own sins. We want laws, but then we abuse them or simply don't obey them. We don't think beyond what those of propagandize religions and politics want us to think, and that in itself is sinful. We hate and fear what we don't even try to understand.

    No one is perfect on God's still partly green earth, not me, not you. I wouldn't even try to tell you what to think or what to believe, because that's not my place. I would like to see people of all races, colors and creeds to think about what could make us, as individuals, better residents of this God-given planet and about what we all could do to make the world a better place instead of destroying it a little more each and every day.

    Meanwhile, I can only wish you love, peace and a body-and-soul-healing faith. Go with God. He's pretty great. (And maybe you'll even learn to like your neighbor instead of being afraid of him or her.)

(Please visit my web site at www.toneyatkins.com/ .)

    

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