"My Personal Pinterest Board"

http://www.mommamadeitlookeasy.com/2012/04/are-we-doing-our-children-a-disservice.html

Valuable parenting advice. Consider this my personal “Pinterest” board. 

“Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin”

Something else worth reading: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/waymon-hudson/dominic-sheahan-stahl_b_1456663.html

For once, I was heartened by the comments rather than the opposite. I’m starting to feel more and more optimistic that people are starting to recognize that WWJD is not aligned with the decisions they “justify” with belief and religion. For another example:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/24/paul-ryan-challenged-by-georgetown-faculty_n_1449437.html?ref=fb&ir=Politics&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=820654,b=facebook

Are people, both conservatives and liberals and non-labels, finally “getting it?” And by “it” I mean the rampant misuse of Jesus’s name to defend all sorts of horrors, such as shaming Dominic Sheahan-Stahl and crafting budgets that harm the poor in our communities. 

I sighed in particular at one familiar comment: “we don’t hate you. We dislike and shun the lifestyle you lead. You are always welcome but your way of life is not.” (grammar cleaned up to protect the ignorant J) How can those mutually exclusive propositions ever be true? How can you "dislike and shun" everything that makes me *me* and yet still say you "love" me? I'm not buying it. How would you express that dislike, anyway? By asking me not to come to your home/school/church? By insulting my family, my children? How can you welcome me and love me with all that Christian goodness if you're so busy judging me?

Others defend the “love the sinner, hate the sin” ideology in the guise of “I care about you, so I want you to stop doing what you’re doing so you can go to heaven.” It seems so well-meaning. But what are those people really saying? I hate that excuse: “I have no problem with YOU, just with what you’re DOING.” I’d love to meet a person who really didn’t have a problem with ME and yet would still say that.   

"A NY Times Op-Ed"

A NY Times Op-Ed worth reading while you wait for a new post J:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/opinion/the-challenge-to-marriage-equality.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211

Comments to follow.

"First piece of advice"

First piece of advice broken already: write every day. Part of this was a terse pile-up at home over what could/should/would be blogged about. Blogger friends defended my side, but Danoah hit home with his revelations about all the comment meanies out there. Now, I like to think I have thick skin, but I don’t. And since I’m writing about a sensitive issue, I know I can expect some random person to randomly find my site (or perhaps not-so-randomly, if they’re really mean and seek out people to hurt) and type-throw insults about how I’m going to hell, yada yada. So I will keep this more or less anonymous, potentially to my own readership detriment, but in the overarching goodwill goal of protecting my current and future family. After all, future baby-to-someday-be has privacy rights, or will anyway (once he or she is born, I am quick to say, as I don’t believe privacy rights begin in the womb), and may not appreciate the world knowing how he or she was conceived, born, and loved passionately. Well, at least, that might not be appreciated come the “ugh, mom” years of middle school. So moving on – but that’s my first disclaimer. Hopefully not many more to come!