I finally got one. My first “you’re going to hell for your lifestyle” message. I’ve been pretty lucky. The worst I’ve gotten before was, “well, you’re sinning, but we’ll try to love you anyway.” I’ve actually wondered if this type of message even really existed anymore.  In light of the events in Orlando this weekend, I was being quite naive.  I started this blog a few nights ago.

But one morning I opened up my email and there it was, “A message directly from God”. Now, before anyone gets riled up in my defense, this doesn’t really bother me. Which is partly why I feel like it’s not true. I feel like i would feel strongly if it was really hitting home.
So, first off, I apparently got an email…

…directly from God. Ok I can’t help being sarcastic here. Used to be God used angels as messengers. Now he uses email. Glad he’s keeping up with technology.

Know why my title is called Well Played? I believe in God. Conversely I believe if there is Light there must be Darkness. Call it what you will. Darkness, evil, the Absence of Light, Human Ego, sin. But I take a step back and give a “well played” nod to the Evil One. His best tactic is using religion to hurt people and divide. What a smart idea! So much evil is done in the name of religion it’s really quite ingenious. Because you don’t step back and do a double take. You immediately think “geez, I want nothing to do with God, church, Christianity if this is what it’s like. ” How easy! And people throughout eternity have used this tactic to get others to believe all sorts of things. But it’s not really from God.

When people start passing on messages from God to others, we need to do some serious evaluations. First of all, I don’t believe God would convict someone else’s heart about what I am doing. If God has something to say to me, I believe He would choose the direct route and come directly to me. When I look at this email, a lot of things pop out at me. I can almost admire someone’s convictions and cojones to send such an email. I believe this person may have actually been losing sleep over this and in a way I can respect this decision. It must be a huge relief to step up and say it and get it off your conscience! But I don’t believe God really works this way. First of all, I obviously have a different opinion on my love for a woman as a sin. But even that aside, there’s no where in the Bible that tells us that homosexuality is a bigger, worser sin that is sure to get you in Hell pronto, compared to “lesser” sins. The Bible doesn’t directly equate these two. And Jesus certainly didn’t talk about this.

At first when I received this email, the human side of me reared its ugly head. I imagined firing a hurtful email back, pointing out as many sins as I could think of back at this other person. I could come up with a few, even though I barely know her. After all, a sin is a sin, even if we were to agree that my relationship is a sin. Why would homosexuality be a bigger sin than gluttony, sloven ways, lying, etc.? (I’m not accusing this person of any of these). But I want to be a bigger person here. Not because I really am (trust me, I’m not), but because it’s the only way to fight back. Through love. I may not be able to bring myself to show outward love to this person, but I can refrain from hurting back. I can decide this doesn’t hurt me because I am choosing to not let it hurt me, and that I don’t feel there is any truth in this message.

As a Christian, standing on the inside, if someone feels righteous enough to give me a message from God, I feel that I have the footing to call BULLSHIT. This doesn’t fool me. It doesn’t ring true. This is NOT a message from God. And I know in my heart that it’s not. This is not the God of the Bible. This is not Jesus. This is human, ego, evil, the absence of Light, whatever. So cleverly disguised. Who knows what it really is. Best case it’s fear of the unknown. Bigotry. Fear of hidden human feelings. Homophobia. It could be piety. It could be anything. But worst case it’s a further tearing apart of God’s children. It’s been happening since the beginning of time and this is no different. This drives people in general apart but it most certainly does not bring people to the Light. It does not draw them closer to God. It is a wedge between humans and their Creator that is made up by humans themselves. Not homosexuality, but the message that some decide to interpret from God himself. That is the wedge. I see this more each day. It’s sad, that the Christian community on the whole isn’t bringing people closer to God, but rather driving them away by their interpretation of Scripture and proclaiming themselves in the right, in the know.

I guess a bigger message I want to pass along isn’t “hey, look, another Christian telling me I’m going to Hell, aren’t they all crazy and this is just further proof you shouldn’t be a part of that movement.” My message is that this is BULLSHIT. This isn’t from God. God is Love. God is Light. God loves His children. We will never stop getting this message but we can stop listening to it. We can face the Truth and put our fingers in our ears, smile and say, “thanks, but I know that’s not true. I know God has me in His hands.” However, I must also believe this message to be true about the person who sent it. God loves her too, even misguided. It’s true for everyone across the board.

Lastly, if you catch that last line, apparently I can actually go onto YouTube and find out EXACTLY what will happen to me in Hell. Holy Shit! This is quite a breakthrough! For eternity Man’s biggest question is the afterlife. We can think, study, guess, interpret, but no one can say what it’s like. But it’s ACTUALLY on YouTube! Incredible! Our infinite question has been on YouTube all along! So, so, so glad technology has once again stepped up and connected us to the Great Beyond. Thank you, interwebs.