Farewell Homefront Radio
Homefront Radio has taken his blog offline. This is a pity. He is an excellent, insightful writer with much to add to the current debate. His main reason for discontinuing is that he has been suffering with some health issues and feels that he must concentrate on getting well, and blogging is at best a distraction. Moreover, he has been receiving some rather nasty e-mails from some “Christians” and doesn’t want to waste any more time on the negativity of such exchanges.
From one of his e-mails to me:
"I got some particularly vicious emails from a pack of Christians saying my suffering was obviously judgment from God for my sinful ways. They said any kind of medical help was a waste of time and taking doctor's help away from people who really deserved it."
Nice. Jesus must be proud. I guess that they are referring to The Gospel According to Falwell where Jesus kicked the crap out of the homosexual and then prevented Mary Magdalene from washing his wounds, saying, “Dad-damned homo! Go back to Sodom and start shopping for your asbestos suit.”
He continues:
"Being stupid, I tried to reason with them. I should have remembered you can't do that with Christians, for if they had capacity for critical thinking they wouldn't believe in the bible to start with."
"Being indoctrinated myself as a kid to have a moderately knowledgeable working of the bible, I threw the Beatitudes back at them, specifically The Gospel According To Luke (around 6:24 or so): "
'Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.'
"(Not that I believe in heaven, mind you, but *they* do, and I knew it would get up their nose). "
"Then things got *really* nasty. They seemed to find it bizarre that a homosexual can touch the bible without bursting into flame. It was when they said my mother had obviously failed to raised me properly and said they hoped her cancer returned that I just suddenly thought:
"I am so weary of this".
Well, there it is then:
They hope his mother’s cancer returns.
What is it with these people?
I have been thinking a lot about homosexuality and the whole Christian problem with it. Jesus never even mentioned homosexuality. He did however say that sex with anyone outside of your marriage is a sin. If you get divorced and have sex with someone else, that is a sin. If you have sexual thoughts about someone who is not your spouse, that is a sin. So I must conclude then that Christians are to make no distinction between homosexual sex outside of marriage and heterosexual sex outside of marriage. They are equal in the eyes of their saviour.
I wonder how many of these Christians adhere to Jesus’ rules regarding sexuality? I wonder how many of them realize that if they made love with their spouse prior to marriage (never mind someone they met at a bar or a party after donning a fresh pair of beer-goggles,) or if they got divorced and remarried and made love with their new spouse that they are guilty of exactly the same sins as the homosexuals that they are constantly judging and berating?
I was raised a Christian, but I can’t claim to be one for many reasons, least of which is the fact that I don’t believe in any supernatural tomfoolery. I did learn a few things. Some of the things that I learned was:
You can’t be a Christian if you are a racist.
You can’t be a Christian if you help to make poor people’s lives more miserable.
You can’t be a Christian if you are pro-war.
You can’t be a Christian if you care more about wealth than about suffering.
You can’t be a Christian if you are constantly judging the actions of others.
You can’t be a Christian if you are pro-gun.
You can’t be a Christian if you are mean to homosexuals.
Need I say it?
You can’t be a Christian if you are a Republican.
Mr. Homefront Radio concluded his thoughts on this subject with the following:
But here's the simple reason i'm glad i'm not a Christian. Being filled with hate all the time just takes so much work. Where's the joy? No matter what hardships life brings me I have my few days of bitterness and then I move on and concentrate on the good that's left. Imagine a life where all you do is look for the faults of others and scream disgust and point fingers of blame? Where's the simple love for life in an existence like that? I have no idea what my immediate neighbors here get up to. If they need help, i'll give it to them, but other than that it's simply none of my business.
I often quote John Lennon quoting Mal Evans in situations like this:
“Everything is the OPPOSITE of what it is…”
Farewell Simon. Please continue to grace my blog with your sage advice and insightful commentary. I hope you get well soon and live a long and happy life.
From one of his e-mails to me:
"I got some particularly vicious emails from a pack of Christians saying my suffering was obviously judgment from God for my sinful ways. They said any kind of medical help was a waste of time and taking doctor's help away from people who really deserved it."
Nice. Jesus must be proud. I guess that they are referring to The Gospel According to Falwell where Jesus kicked the crap out of the homosexual and then prevented Mary Magdalene from washing his wounds, saying, “Dad-damned homo! Go back to Sodom and start shopping for your asbestos suit.”
He continues:
"Being stupid, I tried to reason with them. I should have remembered you can't do that with Christians, for if they had capacity for critical thinking they wouldn't believe in the bible to start with."
"Being indoctrinated myself as a kid to have a moderately knowledgeable working of the bible, I threw the Beatitudes back at them, specifically The Gospel According To Luke (around 6:24 or so): "
'Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.'
"(Not that I believe in heaven, mind you, but *they* do, and I knew it would get up their nose). "
"Then things got *really* nasty. They seemed to find it bizarre that a homosexual can touch the bible without bursting into flame. It was when they said my mother had obviously failed to raised me properly and said they hoped her cancer returned that I just suddenly thought:
"I am so weary of this".
Well, there it is then:
They hope his mother’s cancer returns.
What is it with these people?
I have been thinking a lot about homosexuality and the whole Christian problem with it. Jesus never even mentioned homosexuality. He did however say that sex with anyone outside of your marriage is a sin. If you get divorced and have sex with someone else, that is a sin. If you have sexual thoughts about someone who is not your spouse, that is a sin. So I must conclude then that Christians are to make no distinction between homosexual sex outside of marriage and heterosexual sex outside of marriage. They are equal in the eyes of their saviour.
I wonder how many of these Christians adhere to Jesus’ rules regarding sexuality? I wonder how many of them realize that if they made love with their spouse prior to marriage (never mind someone they met at a bar or a party after donning a fresh pair of beer-goggles,) or if they got divorced and remarried and made love with their new spouse that they are guilty of exactly the same sins as the homosexuals that they are constantly judging and berating?
I was raised a Christian, but I can’t claim to be one for many reasons, least of which is the fact that I don’t believe in any supernatural tomfoolery. I did learn a few things. Some of the things that I learned was:
You can’t be a Christian if you are a racist.
You can’t be a Christian if you help to make poor people’s lives more miserable.
You can’t be a Christian if you are pro-war.
You can’t be a Christian if you care more about wealth than about suffering.
You can’t be a Christian if you are constantly judging the actions of others.
You can’t be a Christian if you are pro-gun.
You can’t be a Christian if you are mean to homosexuals.
Need I say it?
You can’t be a Christian if you are a Republican.
Mr. Homefront Radio concluded his thoughts on this subject with the following:
But here's the simple reason i'm glad i'm not a Christian. Being filled with hate all the time just takes so much work. Where's the joy? No matter what hardships life brings me I have my few days of bitterness and then I move on and concentrate on the good that's left. Imagine a life where all you do is look for the faults of others and scream disgust and point fingers of blame? Where's the simple love for life in an existence like that? I have no idea what my immediate neighbors here get up to. If they need help, i'll give it to them, but other than that it's simply none of my business.
I often quote John Lennon quoting Mal Evans in situations like this:
“Everything is the OPPOSITE of what it is…”
Farewell Simon. Please continue to grace my blog with your sage advice and insightful commentary. I hope you get well soon and live a long and happy life.
posted by The Viscount LaCarte at 11:10 AM
9 Comments:
Thanks for reminding me the very reasons I left the Christian "faith." It is more of a death cult now.
I just can't live knowing that God is such a mean-spirited a-hole. Fortunately, I know that SHE (yes, I said she) isn't.
Jesus wept.
iesous
Oh...ohhhh...ohh...grxxxspklll....oh, have I got a motherfucking humdinger coming on. Ohhhh....I'm one rehearsal and four coffees away from "addressing" this "pertinent issue".
xxxhthuyfhfhihasdfASDOISDAFHEW
lerbetq
I'd been wondering why I couldn't access his blog. I'm not happy it's been taken down but I'm glad it was a decision and not a necessity brought on by the health issues.
I get the feeling Simon will be around, reading.
And I'll chime in on Christianity just to add that I could never practice it anymore for pretty much the same reasons as you, Al.
How 'bout that Republican base, huh?
I know a good number of Christians who are kind, thoughtful, compassionate, and horrified by the vicious intolerance and hatred that has been shown to Simon.
What I admire about them is their humanistic values. I suspect they would have turned out to be fine people even if they had never been exposed to Christianity or any other religion.
How we treat our fellow humans-- as far as I'm concerned, that's where the rubber meets the road. All other questions are beside the point.
Dem, I know what you mean ... I also know some good people who are Christians (and I have a mighty high regard for many of the things Jesus said). I wish they'd take back their religion from the assholes who act as its mouthpieces.
duuzzjks, and I mean it.
Decatur and X,
I've met those same people, and I tend to agree with what DD, said,
"I suspect they would have turned out to be fine people even if they had never been exposed to Christianity or any other religion,"
and that is the point. To me, organized religion is at best superfluous, and at its worst a deadly virus of the mind.
"Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."
- John Lennon
"I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong."
- John Lennon
DAMN IT!
So that is what happened to Simon.
He was one of my favorite writers too.
Well, Simon I hope you get better and I hope one day you return with your stories about growing up in Austrailia.
I loved each one.
Your friend TeddyPig.
TP:
This is old - I don't know what has happened to Simon recently. His blog is gone - his email is gone.
We miss him.
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