feotakahari

"Sin has qualities of a mistake or messing up (ἁμαρτία), but far more than that it is the breaking of relationship.  The Fall was the breaking of the relationship between God and humanity, but because the relationship between God and humanity is literally the center and purpose of all creation, the effects of this rupture spiral outward: humanity is separated from God, the relationship between man and woman is splintered, and the harmony between humanity and the rest of the non-human world disappears.  Although humanity is never abandoned, there is a real and important sense in which we are stranded on the far side of a chasm we are not capable of breaching, and no one on our side of the chasm can quite reach each other, either."

Without us, you will be alone. This is the vilest lie that Christians tell, and many other lies spring from it. Without us, you will be empty. Without us, you won't know right from wrong. Without us, you will never understand what love means. And of course, with us, you will no longer suffer, and you will be united with something that truly loves you and understands you.

This is how you look at two men who love each other, and say they'll be so much better off if they're apart. God is love, and their actions aren't favored by God, so what they feel must not be love at all. To break it is no sorrow, but merely the creation of a new and better bond that will make them happier than they would ever otherwise be. Then you're surprised when they kill themselves.*

This is how you look at a distant tribe, and say they'll be so much better off as your slaves. Their practices are strange and heathen, and the true God could never be found in their worship. In your service, you will show them the way, and you will redeem them into the Christian bond that will make them understand God's love. Then you're surprised when they burn your house down.

This is how you claim to unity while breaking down the entire world into those who are like you and those who must learn. This is how you claim to empathy while refusing to understand the people you say must change. This is how you build upon yourself like a spreading virus, with a society where everyone learns to be like you and talk like you and say the same things you say, because they know what will happen if they differ. This is how you slowly strangle the woman who wants to lead, the child who wants to learn, and the man who wants some actual choices in his life. This is how you become a stain upon this world and convince yourself you're bringing paradise. This is your lie, and I refuse to let it stand unchallenged.

*The Captive Mind observes how the Soviets argued that in the modern world, all art other than pro-Soviet art was incapable of having meaning. Then they did their best to create a society in which it was impossible for artists to create and share meaningful art that wasn't pro-Soviet art. There's a similar mechanism in trying to make it as hard as possible for gay people to sustain romantic relationships, all the while saying that gay people aren't really in love.