All this Hullabaloo over Wholesome

Did you ever read Moby Dick? It was required in my 11th grade English Literature class. I will never forget sitting through class after class as my peers dissected each and every chapter noting any and all biblical references.

Those conversations were always lost on me. I always thought Captain Ahab was just a frustrated sailor who allowed obsession to ruin his life. I am simple like that and I wasn’t looking for there to be something more, on top of something more, on top of something more. I am sure the references to the Bible were there, but I had never read the Bible cover to cover, so I just saw the one simple story.

This same type of feeling has come back to me over the last few weeks as I have read blog after blog and comment after comment about what is wholesome.

You see, lately there has been a great deal of writing, ranting, debating, and well lecturing about what is wholesome. If you have missed it, I am discussing the World Vision U.S. gay-marriage conversation and also the Honey Maid wholesome family commercial.

(For more on the World Vision conversation click here and here.)

(To watch the Honey Maid Commercial and response click here and here.)

For a long time I was steering clear of this topic because WHO AM I to weigh in when there is already so much noise on the subject.

However, the articles that I have read seem to have authors whose backgrounds tend to be of the traditional version of wholesome. I guess that has just rubbed me the wrong way and I feel like it is okay for me to add my voice to the noise. So if you don’t want to read any more on this topic stop now – turn back dear reader and go back to whatever it was that you were doing before and forget you were ever reading this. If not, then I hope you don’t mind me adding my two cents.

First of all, and I know I am going to get slack for this one, but the Bible is a book. It is a collection of human recollections of events that have been translated over time. Just like any other book, movie, piece of art or even human interaction, or witnessed event perception alters interpretation.

For me I don’t rely on a book to dictate how I should feel about something. That just isn’t me. Instead I get really quiet and listen to my heart. I do this because in that quiet I “hear” God’s voice in my heart and in my soul. Those are the pieces of me that are connected to God.

What do I hear in those quiet times?

LOVE

ACCEPTANCE

UNDERSTANDING

COMPASSION

FORGIVENESS

DO YOUR BEST

IT IS ALL GOING TO BE OKAY

YOU ARE ENOUGH

LIFT OTHERS UP – DO NOT PUSH THEM DOWN

Not once have I heard –

THERE IS ONLY ONE RIGHT WAY

JUDGEMENT

CONDEMNATION

COMPARISON

I believe that God let’s us choose our own best way. She created us and all that is around us. She doesn’t judge, condemn or belittle. God knows each soul and she offers…

LOVE, COMPASSION, and UNDERSTANDING

So to me I think wholesome is love. All the kinds of love, not just our own personal acceptable standard of what love is and means. When people stand in the way of other people who are just trying to love one another that is…

JUDGEMENT and CONDEMNATION.

No one is getting hurt by two people who are trying to create a life together out of love. It has never altered the strength of my marriage or relationship. It hasn’t ever made my children think anything negative or disparaging about the world.

I do concede that we all have a right to our own opinions and beliefs, but we are not entitled to impose our way of life or belief systems onto others.

Laws are meant to protect us, to keep us safe, love isn’t hurting anyone or putting anyone’s lives in jeopardy. I think all different kinds of families are wholesome.

I also think LOVE, UNDERSTANDING, and ACCEPTANCE can change the world for the better. Coming together can do so much more than standing apart.

I would like to know that my children will get the opportunity and the freedom to love and marry whomever they chose. To be able to create a family and have that be accepted on equal footing with other human beings.

My two cents worth,

M