D: Your Sex blog entry is completely wrong. I read the Marcus Borg e-mail, I saved the Marcus Borg e-mail, and most importantly (I went back and checked), I responded to the Marcus Borg e-mail thanking you for sending something that enlightens me and promising to get to your other e-mails this summer. But you don't remember that because you're so busy tearing me a new one for not reading the Marcus Borg e-mail, which I did. You're probably right on the money when you say that I'm afraid of getting really deep into religious discussion because I want to avoid the topic, but before you accuse me of not reading your e-mails, please get all the facts straight.
Me: I thought your email said you were putting all those emails aside (Marcus Borg included) to read sometime in the summer. Apparently, I misunderstood. Or misread. I apologize for mischaracterizing you.
Me: I don't mind you calling me out when I have made a mistake, but I really didn't appreciate the tone of this email.
D: I did that on purpose to convey how much I didn't appreciate you completely ignoring me telling you that I read the e-mail and appreciated it. That really pissed me off.
Me: I'm sorry I made you angry. And I'm sorry I didn't get my facts straight. I'll post your response later this evening.
D: I accept your apology.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Religious emails
What bothers me most about you not reading my emails on God is that it seems as if you are pushing God (and by default, the religious part of me) away, choosing to shut him (us) out like you did as a child in church all those years ago, sticking your fingers in your ears and going "La-la-la-la-la" for fear that what you hear might have some sort of effect on you.
I can understand you not reading the Search for Significance emails. The main principles are sound, but it has some fundamentalist viewpoints that cloud the message a bit. I always felt uncomfortable with those viewpoints but didn't want to throw the baby out with the bath water. Besides, I didn't know how to explain the things of God to you in any other manner.
The Marcus Borg email, the most recent one I sent you, has a totally different feel to it. There's none of this "You are inherently evil so Jesus had to come to save your wretched ass so you can avoid the wrath of God" overtone. His focus is on God's unconditional love. Period.
I wanted to share that info with you. I felt you deserved a different perspective on what the spiritual life is like. And I wanted to discuss that perspective with you, but you haven't read the email yet. I have to be honest and say it hurts a little. I don't fully understand why it hurts, I just know that it does. I know in my head that ultimately it has nothing to do with me. But head knowledge doesn't always translate to heart knowledge.
One of my concerns is that my spiritual side will always be the part of me that you never truly get. And as a result, I will never be able to connect with you in any significant way on matters of religion. And it will be my cross to bear as if it were some sort of punishment for marrying a man that didn't share my spiritual perspective. But that says more about me and my lingering warped views about God than it does about you.
I'm hoping that patience, tolerance and mutual respect will help us to conquer such obstacles. I must admit that those characteristics are not fully developed in me yet, so the road may be bumpy for us in this area for quite some time. But if you're willing to hang in there with me, I'm certainly committed to making it work. Maybe I'll even get to the point where I don't care so much about those emails.
I can understand you not reading the Search for Significance emails. The main principles are sound, but it has some fundamentalist viewpoints that cloud the message a bit. I always felt uncomfortable with those viewpoints but didn't want to throw the baby out with the bath water. Besides, I didn't know how to explain the things of God to you in any other manner.
The Marcus Borg email, the most recent one I sent you, has a totally different feel to it. There's none of this "You are inherently evil so Jesus had to come to save your wretched ass so you can avoid the wrath of God" overtone. His focus is on God's unconditional love. Period.
I wanted to share that info with you. I felt you deserved a different perspective on what the spiritual life is like. And I wanted to discuss that perspective with you, but you haven't read the email yet. I have to be honest and say it hurts a little. I don't fully understand why it hurts, I just know that it does. I know in my head that ultimately it has nothing to do with me. But head knowledge doesn't always translate to heart knowledge.
One of my concerns is that my spiritual side will always be the part of me that you never truly get. And as a result, I will never be able to connect with you in any significant way on matters of religion. And it will be my cross to bear as if it were some sort of punishment for marrying a man that didn't share my spiritual perspective. But that says more about me and my lingering warped views about God than it does about you.
I'm hoping that patience, tolerance and mutual respect will help us to conquer such obstacles. I must admit that those characteristics are not fully developed in me yet, so the road may be bumpy for us in this area for quite some time. But if you're willing to hang in there with me, I'm certainly committed to making it work. Maybe I'll even get to the point where I don't care so much about those emails.
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