Uh-huh.

I really can’t go along with the self-serving “straights are the good ones, gays are mistakes” argument, I see it used too frequently by people who have no other source of self-esteem than the fact that they are straight.

I have a friend who tells me there’s something in Vedic literature about how various sexual positions result in homosexual children. I believe these are the ones that are the MOST fun.

So I expect we’ll be around for the duration.

Cynthia

I’m from a Christian tradition that teaches everyone has a right to be wrong and that God alone holds the marking pen. Thus I’m uncomfortable with the term “Dogma” since it seems to abdicate the individual’s responsibility to figure out what s/he believes.

I think it’s OK to kid and tease a bit, but I always try to avoid unpleasant and uncivil arguments. If both of us aren’t smiling at the end, we’ve done something wrong.

If there’s any dogma about lesbians, it’s entirely extrabiblical.

So there IS wiggle room!

My consistent observation is that people are able to use the Bible to support their prejudices, whatever they are. I’m not going to hit that tar baby. Bible quote battles, to me, are all heat and no light.

I do not look to the Bible, or any dogma for that matter, for validation. In future posts, I’ll be explaining how I honor how people seek God, but dogma, not so much. Dogmas relating to women, gays and lesbians strike me as being entirely motivated by greed, sexual lust and lust for power posing as divine revelation.

I honor your love of God, which transcends all dogma, so let’s always have our attention on the fact that that is our common ground.

Steve, thank you for taking so much time and thought in your comment, and Deuce, thank you for your comment, too.

Cynthia

“Ceiling Cat Approves” is in a rotator folder and those photos come up randomly. “Ceiling Cat Approves” just tickles me and I always feel like that photo is a good omen. To have it come up less often, all I can do is add more photos and leave it to the randomizer. I’ll be adding photos gradually.

For the photo, “In da beginnin, Ceiling Cat created da erth outa thin airz,” I have a plug-in that lets me insert text and/or photos in various places in my theme. I like this Ceiling Cat photo and put in the HTML for it to appear after comments. I thought it would come up after ALL the comments, not after EACH comment. Since it’s the latter, and it turns out to be such a large photo it’s intrusive and people don’t know what to make of why it is showing up — which is just because it makes me laugh, and after some comments I figure I need that — I’m going to have to find a new home for the creator Ceiling Cat — maybe my “About” page.

About the heirloom tomatoes, yes, those are photos of my tomatoes in the rotator box with “Ceiling Cat Approves.” I have to put seeds in this week.

I have been stalled on two e-book projects for some time now and the momentum from pulling this blog together and getting it going will help me get them finished in the next few months. One e-book is about living wills and end-of-life care decisions and I will be posting about that soon since Melanie Phillips wrote a column this week of the most towering ignorance that will, mark my words, make euthanasia as pandemic in the U.K. as it is in Holland if her view prevails. My experience in caregiving and end-of-life care gives me ample credentials to set her — I hate to use this word, but, oh well — straight. The other book is about heirloom tomatoes and where to find all the best plants and seeds for them.

Do you have any specific tomato questions?

2) I would like to know more about your heirloom tomatoes. They look very good!

Actually, Steve sounds like much more of a bible scholar than I’ll ever be, but a former pastor of mine described the breakdown in Old Testament rules somewhat differently: providential rules (regarding the Hebrews’ relationship with God) and prudential rules (rules given to the Hebrews to allow them to prosper (by keeping the healthy, e.g.), but not actually theological laws).

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