The Cure.

The justification for religious people's condemnation of homosexuality is that AIDS is a punishment from God for their sin.

So now that AIDS is virtually cured how can they continue to justify persecuting gays and lesbians?

Doctors can now stop HIV from developing into AIDS.
So no one dies of AIDS anymore.

And when treated HIV is undetectable which means that you cannot pass it on to your partner.

And there is a pill called PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) which can stop you getting HIV.

So AIDS is virtually cured.

This leaves the flimsy evidence of contested passages of scripture.

But now that AIDS is no longer a death sentence the fear that drives homophobia is gone.

And soon the condemnation will be gone also. 


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Heaven.

Gay men go to Heaven.

And the gay men who died of AIDS are in Heaven.

How do I know this?

Because God has promised me.

And I have seen them:

Clothed in white and sitting by the river, safe and happy in the Love of God.

Do not listen to those who tell you that gay men are damned to hell.

They are basing their views on outdated texts in the Bible.

Texts which have been challenged and discredited.

The gay men who died of AIDS are in Heaven.

And gay men will go to Heaven when they die.


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What Can We Do?

11% of the world's population go hungry every day.

1% of the world's population own half the world's wealth.

Rich corporations control the flow of money.

They pass their greed off as serving their shareholders.

It may be possible to get an item on the AGM agenda but if the shareholders vote it down what can we do?

Land grabs, slave labor, sweatshops, exploitation, intimidation, and corruption are common practices among the corporations.

But even if these practices are exposed no one ever seems to take responsibility for them.

They are denied, blamed on subsidiaries, justified, hidden, and ignored.

What can we do?


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A Father's Love.

We all seek our father's love.

We seek his approval and his blessing.

But God is our ultimate Father.

Jesus called Him Papa.

And God called him Son.

Love God and love your neighbor.

Then you will be Home.


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The Rod.

My grandparents' generation lived by the quote: "Those who spare the rod hate their children."  Proverbs 13:24 (NRSV)

This was paraphrased as: "Spare the rod and spoil the child."

But this is to instruct with violence and fear.

And violence and fear beget violence and fear.

But there is no evidence that God punishes wrongdoing.

"Why do the wicked live on, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?"
"Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them."  Job 21:7,9 (NRSV)

Jesus said: "'Do not resist an evildoer.  But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.'"  Matthew 5:39 (NRSV)

God's way is the way of non-violent Love.

And we should be the same.

 
[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S,A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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The Polite Assassin.

She'll try to kill you.

But she'll be terribly polite about it.


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Bad.

People who think that they are bad for whatever reason are jealous of good people and try to corrupt them and bring them down.

Failing this they try to kill them.

This scenario is played out in the Biblical story of Cain and Abel.

Cain is jealous of God's blessing of the virtuous Abel and kills his good brother.

But what makes people think that they are bad in the first place?

A dark side, demons, and a fascination with evil are common characteristics of bad people.

They may have been naughty children.

But God can take away their demons and turn them to the good.

If only they would pray.


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