I Won't Do It Anymore!`

Well, I am going to make a commitment today. I am not going to do it anymore! Nope, I am going to stop. I am going to quit. I will no longer partake of the argument anymore. Well, I am going to try.

That is my pledge to myself. Bishop Spong has decided the same thing, only his is a commitment not to partake of those who are homophobic. He pledges not to argue with them anymore because the argument leads to no where. Those who try to argue that homosexuality is an abomination, is a SIN, is something that is a choice, Bishop Spong will no longer talk with. I totally agree, but I am going to take it one step further.

I will not argue with those who want to polarize politics or religion. I will not get into a verbal spar with those people who want to turn everything into an us versus them, who want to say they are right and everyone else is wrong, who say God is on their side and not on the other's side. It is a useless endeavor. Anyone who is so certain about their opinion and God's position are the new Pharisees and will only cause hate and discontent.

All the argument does is bring me to their level, and that is a level I don't want to go to anymore. Their negativity is killing me. Their hostility raises my blood pressure. Their belligerence darkens this world, and I used to help them bring the in the darkness. I don't want to anymore. The light of Christ gives me hope, gives me strength, gives me power, power to live, power to love, power to not partake in the garbage anymore. I believe if more people would stop the negativity, the world might become the place where God wants it to be. Wouldn't that be an amazing transformation? If more people would allow the Holy Spirit of God to transform them into the people God desires, then the victory of God might be complete! That would be, well, there is no adjective that would describe it. I might be nieve, a dreamer, but I think that is what God is calling us all to be, a dreamer of God's love.

This is my pledge to myself and to others. I might be hard, in fact, it will be a challenge, but by God's grace, I will be victorious.