I was mostly skimming over what it said, just general information about crafting and how this person hadn't been able to do much crafting for a while but had managed to complete several projects for swaps they had signed up for. They then proceeded to list a few of those projects which I knew little to nothing about. It was when I was almost at the bottom of what they had written that I read something that made me pause, literally, then reread a bit before continuing to read the rest of the last sentence or two.
From what I read it would appear that this person signed up for some kind of swap with the theme of men. They proceeded to say that they had taken some liberty with the swap rules and made something with "an lbgt twist". They went on to say that what they had made contained old photographs "of two men showing clear affection/love for one another" and that it's done "tastefully"...whatever that means.
This short statement that I read by someone that I do not know, that has no bearing or involvement in my life, has left a mark on my day that may linger long past today. I find my mind turning again and again to that short statement I read and how it was put across, to an audience of mostly elderly women, as being something done in ''good taste'' and how the maker hoped whoever received the item they made would love it.
My first thoughts were to think that this is a subject that cannot be done in ''good taste'' no matter what the method used. That it is a subject that is not in ''good taste''. My second thought was to be glad this was a swap I was not a part of and that if I had been I would have had to refuse to swap with this person. But my thoughts didn't end there, hours later I am still struggling with the ''good taste'' part of this.
First, the people this was addressed to are, for the most part, not an audience that overall are going to be sympathetic or supportive of the subject this person chose to use. I did dig a little deeper and discovered the person that made the statement is an older man that says he is a "gay white man". I can't quite figure out how he fits in with this group of mostly older ladies, a group that seems to be all women and only a few of which are under age 50. His only connection seems to be that he participates in the type of crafts these ladies do. Which is really neither here nor there except I was trying to make sense of the situation for myself. I asked no questions, made no comments, all my involvement consisted of observation and quiet looking around and 'listening'.
And so here I sit, hours later, having spent most of the day on an outing with my family, with my mind once again turned to this brief experience I had this morning. It lingers on in my thoughts. I guess I'm trying to make sense out of something that to me makes no sense.
Maybe I'm too stuck in my ways, too old fashioned, too...whatever word someone might wish to apply to me. Maybe I am all that and more but I will take any name anyone wishes to throw my direction rather than accept the unacceptable as being in ''good taste''.
We have reached a point in our American society and almost in our worlds society where evil is called good. We do still have a few countries in this world with enough sense to call a spade a spade and to hold certain things to be unacceptable to whatever extent they see it. America is no longer one of those countries. Gone are the days when right was right and wrong was wrong. Now right is what is determined in ones own mind and wrong is whatever anyone wants to claim it is, unless, of course, your idea of right and wrong dares to suggest that someone else's right is in any way wrong.
And honestly just writing that sentence makes it all out to make as little sense as it actually does make.
A few days ago a 'Christian' woman I know made a statement before sharing her opinion on something. It was a qualifying statement, one that kind of apologized for her opinion before she ever gave it. It was a modern statement that did not exist ten years ago. That would have been a foreign concept fifty years ago. It was a statement that made me shake my head that she even bothered to use it. She said, "haters gonna hate" and then gave her opinion.
That three letter qualifier, something that wasn't even needed, has now become many peoples apology of sorts before they give their opinion. I've seen people that don't want anyone telling them what they are doing is wrong say, 'don't judge' before saying whatever is on their mind but now it appears that people that want to say something that might be taken the wrong...or right...way are qualifying it, apologizing for it, by saying, 'haters gonna hate' before they say what they want to say.
There was no qualifier on the man's statement I saw today. No 'don't judge', no 'haters gonna hate'. What he said was simply thrown out there with a statement about how his sin was in ''good taste'' and how "hopefully whoever ends up with it will love it". I can't help thinking that at the very least there should have been something in there to whoever is coordinating this swap asking if this type of thing is okay and offering to withdraw if no one wants what he made.
I also have thought of how I would have been contacting the person in charge and refusing to swap with him had I been in the swap. In fact my thoughts as I read his comment were to think 'if I got it I would burn it'. And I really would burn it. It is a representation of that which my Lord detests. It is blatant sin. There is no good use for it except to burn it.
But...
This man made no apology. He did not ask if his project would be allowed in a swap whose theme was supposed to be for something manly. He simply said he took liberties to do something with an 'lbgt twist' and that it was done in ''good taste''.
What he did was take liberties to take something so simple, make something manly, something masculine, and turn it into a chance to push homosexuality onto a group of people that are not real likely to be very accepting of it. In fact, the group he pushed it into leans strongly toward very feminine, very womanly, very pink, rose themed crafts. And it's into this 90% ultra feminine craft loving group of women that he pushed his 'lgbt twist' item.
And in a group of I don't even know how many people, he got a grand total of three replies. None of them, unfortunately, told him that his project did not belong where he was trying to place it. No one spoke up and said, 'I don't want what he made' or 'I won't swap with him'.
Why?
Either those comments were kept private and made only to the coordinator or else people have been so...repressed...that they dared not speak out. Unless they saw nothing wrong with it and didn't speak out because this horrific sin has so infiltrated their minds and hearts that they are now blase' about the whole thing.
I know longer know the answer. I know I would have refused to swap with him. Maybe I didn't help matters because I didn't speak up either, not in that group anyway. I held my thoughts and my tongue. I kept quietly to myself and have yet to speak a word about the encounter to anyone, not even my husband. Not because we won't talk about it but because the opportunity has not yet presented itself.
The thing is though, this encounter came on the heels of two others. Those other encounters, one of my own making, one something my husband shared with me, have absolutely no connection to each other nor to this one. The only common ground they have is sin. Sin that is not hidden, sin that there is no shame in anymore, sin that is often blasted at everyone.
I did not sit down to write this post with any ulterior motive and I am not seeking teach anyone anything. I am trying hard to pull my own thoughts together on this. For that reason I am not searching out Scripture or posting Scripture in this post. I know what Scripture says about sin, about homosexuality, about the evil in this world. I am merely working through my own thoughts here, for the sole purpose of clearing my own mind.
I tried to clear my mind without writing a word. I had no intention of making a blog post about this but then I had another encounter. This latest encounter was actually something written by a reformed preacher. I did not go looking for it, it was shared with me. I wouldn't have even read it except I didn't realize what I was reading until I got to the end of it and saw the name at the bottom. Up to that point I thought the person that shared it with me had written it.
But I did read it and even though it was written by someone I do not promote, support, read, or listen to...what they wrote in this article went right along with these other encounters I have had lately.
I won't go into all that here in this post though as I need a bit more time to think and pray over these things. What I do know is that these four unrelated experiences in my life, all brief, all happening in a passing sort of way, have all come together in my mind in a way that means I will most likely write more on this subject. Just not here. Not today.
One thing at a time. One post at a time.
And for today my mind is still stuck on the sin of homosexuality being in "good taste".
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