Hi Arbie

Thank you for your comment at Provoketive Magazine (http://provoketive.com). We’re creating a space of rich conversation about life, faith, justice and culture without judgment. Our desire is to provoke the reader’s imagination through conversation and open up spaces of dialogue, learning, and hope.  We want to invite you to come back soon and continue to participate in the conversation. 

Thank you,
Jonathan Brink
Provoketive Magazine

You posted the following comment:
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To wiskers, Austin, Ken, and Marni:  I'm sure glad so many people know what God intends and what he considers "normal."  Whew!  What would I possibly do with myself if I didn't have an enlightened elite to tell me exactly what's best for my life?  I wouldn't have known that the golden rule wasn't a good enough principle upon which to model my own thoughts and actions.  I don't know where I'd be if I didn't have them to craft and pass laws that try either to outright prohibit me from being intimate with someone to whom I have committed my whole life and being, or at least to confer upon themselves the right to stick their noses obsessively, authoritatively, and creepily in my bedroom and make me suffer and feel ashamed and stigmatized about whatever I do there with another consenting adult.  What would I do if I didn't have all this helpful "moral" guidance to gently persuade me that I desperately need to return to the Christian faith?

Why, without all of these things, maybe I would have never left the faith in the first place, or at least not have shaken the dust off my feet on the way out.

I regret coming here and naively hoping that I would encounter arguments different from what I expected (although there were a few comments that inspired gratitude and hope).  I'll leave you all to quibbling about what the holy books say about this, that, or other, or what word to use to describe a wedded couple of which you don't approve, or how/whether Leviticus is to any degree relevant to our modern society.  I think I'll stick to trying to live my life by having a realistic view of human nature and aiming to help and not harm others.  Not because God or a book told me I should, but because it *just makes sense.*  Not because I'll get a reward in heaven, but because we all need a real, helping hand when we're down, without anything being expected in return.  Because life is tough and short, and the last thing we need is people tying up monstrous burdens to place on other people's backs without lifting a finger to help.