Hi there you wonderful person you! :D
How's it going? On my end, life's been busy. But the gist of its busy-ness will have to be shared with you some other time.
Okay, so between 3 and 4am this morning I was trying to catch up on some of the blog posts of folks I follow on Wordpress.com (that account is kwiksie.wordpress.com, in case you were wondering) and I came across this oooold post by blogger Micahel J. Pittman (Here's the link to it: (http://michaeljpittman.com/2014/11/21/im-a-married-man-who-loves-another-man/comment-page-1/). Basically, the post was great and I learnt a thing or two from it. As you can see from the link, the title is a bit controversial and so the first person who commented on it expressed her displeasure at the fact that a believer like him would use the 'cheap trick' of controversial titles just to get readers, especially when there are likely brethren who could be misled into thinking the post would help them in their struggle with homosexuality.
Hmmm. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Of course, I understood her standpoint (I personally hate it when I get misled by a News headline on Yahoo mail, thinking it's something serious and finding that an article is actually just a bunch of worthless gossip. #sigh #smh) but then I thought the title was pretty creative and something you could just 'read between the lines' to grab. Nevertheless, i decided to comment. But because I'm still learning to talk less and give less lectures over statements of two paragraphs, my comment on the post ended up being lengthy enough to become my blog post for today. ^_^
Please try to simply read it as though you were the one who posted the comment and I am now sending you a response, okay? Excellent! :)
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Assuming his intentions are primarily to garner attention from readers may not be the best approach. Love gives the benefit of a doubt sis and since (I believe) your goal here isn’t just to ‘Tell-him-off-cus-you-can’ but rather express concern and be your brothers’ keeper, an accusatory assumption may not quite do the trick because truth is none of us really like that (especially if we just made a mistake or have been misunderstood) and all it does is put one on the defensive and could prompt a person to be un-receptive to sincere and even profitable counsel.
Your point does make a heap of sense though and i can totally appreciate your concerns. You see a title, expect to see one thing, read the post, and find something else. I know. But you see, getting folks to be interested enough to sit and read something in our mega fast-paced era is not the easiest task in the world so you need to catch their attention – make them want to go beyond the first glance (just in case they clicked your blog link accidentally, lol). This is not me trying to defend anything though, I’d just like you to be a little more generous with that benefit of a doubt we give ourselves. :)
Now on many of my posts – whatever genre they are (prose or poetry) I sometimes get a title in my Spirit and that’s even what brings the ideas for the actual content flooding in. I’m all God’s (Spirit, soul, body) so I know my creativity and inspiration are totally from Him – that doesn’t mean I don’t need to make adjustments 95% of the time, alter diction a bit, get feedback, etc. Why? Because although I know what was put in my heart and what i intend to pass across, people can perceive things in all sorts of ways so breaking things down is sometimes necessary. Yet I try to put myself in the shoes of my reader, and i can honestly say some titles I use would interest me if i were randomly browsing the net or going through blogs i follow or mistakenly clicked on a link, etc. Have I then chosen to mislead and deceive if i used a pun in my title or some witty metaphor (because that’s really the fun thing about literature) or at least just make you curious enough to give my blog more than a cursory glance? Have I chosen to mislead if I force you to try to read beyond the words to the meanings behind them every now and then?
When I saw this post, I got that He was referring to Jesus after half a second. Why? Because first, he used the present tense and not past (I am…who loves…). I haven’t read too many of his posts, but I think I've seen one that talked about his relationship with his wife, its progression, their submission to God’s will, purity, etc. If he was gay all through their courtship, I’m thinking he would have mentioned it at least once (if not to us then her) or it would be part of his testimonies of growth in Christ, establishing his authority as a believer and all that. An honest believer should not keep something like that from his intended so it’d be expected that they hold off wedding bells until he receives the manifestation of his freedom from that lifestyle. Follow my drift?
Some titles like those are very easy to misconstrue because majority of us have preconceived notions; but we should share some of the blame of misinterpreting with that fact, and not dump it all on the author fam. I mean, do you attack the director of a movie because there was too much suspense? Or if the plot twist didn’t align with your expectations? (Well, some folks do…and others often just appreciate the irony). ;)
Yes the title can give many the wrong impression (myself included) but that doesn’t make it valueless when you’ve gotten over that surprise; yes some brethren (and even none brethren) might have been anticipating a testimonial/testimony of sorts that could help them make practical their love for God and live in righteousness and purity, but hey, that’s not what it was. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing to gain from the post! They could apply the understanding that they as members of the church – Jesus’ bride – are on this mission called life to do His will and serve His purposes and not necessarily to pay attention to every urge or emotion (no matter how strong) that tries to derail us from this focus. I am fully aware that it can be a trying and difficult struggle for many and i can never claim to know what such brethren are going through because I don’t. What i do know is that there are millions of sinful lifestyles and habits that are mega-tough to let go of and discipline the flesh to abstain from – but then that’s why we have the Holy Spirit and God chose to redeem us by grace through faith, because He knows it’ll take more than a blog post from Michael Pittman to renew our minds and cleanse us from the filth of our former lives (the way we lived before accepting the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ).
So my very lengthy point is, those struggling with homosexuality SHOULD believe that there is someone who understands – way better than the author of this post even – what they’re going through (especially if they’ve already met Jesus). They should also go beyond THINKING they have a chance at a godly lifestyle to KNOWING they do – because when Jesus said he’d already won the victory for us over SIN, SICKNESS, POVERTY, DEATH; when He breathed His last on that cross and said ‘It is finished’…He meant it. Life does not revolve around our preferences, or opinions, or emotions, or convenience, or what we think we have legit right to , etc. - True life revolves around Jesus Christ and the word says He has made all that we need to succeed in this race to heaven available to us (2 Peter 1:3) – including the grace and strength and resilience to fight the urges of our past sinful natures. When something is shared out of a sincere love for God and His children and is in line with scripture, it can minister to anyone. What’s important is your attitude. A beautiful song full of devotion and worship to God may minister to and convict one person and be just an entertaining tune to another – you’ll only find value in something when you search for it. Positive or negative.
In all sincerity, my brethren battling homosexual desires can take from this post (and this comment) that their love for their Lord and Savior Jesus – the bridegroom – MUST precede and define/guide every other love, relationship, lifestyle, etc. That love is beyond romantic feelings and attraction and emotions and sex. That the agape love that should be the lifestyle of the believer is way more spiritual than it is carnal/physical. You can never walk in agape without God’s grace and the enablement of the Holy Spirit – and the good news is, WE’VE GOT BOTH! So we should know we’ve already won the victory over every sin that used to be ‘second nature’ and are no longer subject to Satan’s dictatorship. We grow into living holy through the renewal of our minds by the word of God! Blog posts and articles and devotionals are all very nice but their main goals should be to strike a hunger in you to seek out the real deal, the full picture in the Holy Scriptures and ask God that the eyes of our hearts be enlightened (Ephisians 1:17) so we know exactly what He’s saying to us and how we can apply to everyday living – even as we work out our salvation (Philippians 2:12).
Please forgive me for writing another blog post in the guise of a comment. ;)
Blessings and Peace. <3
:)
xxx, Kwiksie ~
