To me, the saddest part about you hardcore God-worshipper types isn’t that you actually believe The Almighty is capable of this sort of behavior but, rather, that you believe it and continue to worship him.

Just look at his record:

1. Your God is a Jerk: This is the most obvious reason not to worship the kind of god you Hardcore God Worshippers worship. Among countless other transgressions, killing gays and sending them to Hell seems the sort of thing only a jerk would do.

2. Your God is Stupid: So, the Hardcore Worshippers believe The Heavenly Father smote Heath Ledger because he portrayed a homosexual in a big-time Hollywood movie. Does The Heavenly Father think movies are real? Does He not know that Heath Ledger was an, um, actor? It seems to me that an important quality of the ruler of the universe—creator of all things, all-powerful, all-knowing—is to not be a dimwit.

3. Your God is Inconsistent: If God’s policy is to exterminate celebrities who portray homosexuals in Hollywood movies, then why is Gary Oldman still alive? Harry Hamlin? Patrice Donnelly? John Leguizamo? Why the hell is Matthew Broderick not dead yet, or at least suffering a Hell on Earth? The movie Torch Song Trilogy, in which Broderick acted gay, could easily be the poster film of the so-called homosexual agenda: It highlighted the injustices perpetrated amid an inhospitable culture. It delivered an awareness of and disgust for gay bashing. It testified to the rewards and benefits of gay adoption. Torch Song Trilogy has all the content a homophobic god would detest, yet Broderick’s life is far from hellish. He’s married to Sarah Sexica Parker, for crying out loud. It’s just not consistent to allow him a life of bliss while worms burrow into Heath Ledger’s eyeballs.

4. Your God Has Bad Aim: Even if the ridiculous were true, that God targets gays and people who act gay in movies, well, his collateral damage is unacceptable. Even a blindfolded Dick Cheney in a room full of 100 old white guys and one quail has better aim than Your God.
How many heterosexuals who never acted gay in any Hollywood movies died on 9/11? How many hetero homes and lives were destroyed by Katrina and the wildfires? And what about the hetero babies, Lord?! How many straight babies must suffer before you consider subcontracting your hits to a pro!?
I could never worship a deity with bad aim. I need a sure-shot god who can put a bullet between the eyes of an actor who portrayed a homosexual in a Hollywood movie without getting so much as a speck of blood on any heterosexual, straight acting infants.

5. Your God is Bad at PR: Waiting until now to whack Heath Ledger is a weak PR move. God could have garnered way more press had he exacted his vengeance at the time of Brokeback Mountain’s release. You know, like at the world premiere—on the red carpet—maybe drop an anvil on his head with a thousand shutterbugs recording it for the world to see and heed.

PR prowess is a profoundly important skill for a deity to have. Even Zeus knew that. All his smitings made front-page news—like when he chained Ixion to a wheel and cooked him slowly over the fires of Tartaras. That’s how to get a message across.

I know what you’re thinking, Hardcore God Worshippers. You’re thinking The Lord’s actions don’t seem logical to us because “The Lord works in mysterious ways.”

Well, sorry, but you can’t have it both ways. You can’t say God works in a manner unknowable to man and then presume to know why he makes gay-acting actors overdose on pills. Besides, who wants to worship a mysterious deity? “Ooooh, you’re so mysterious God. Spooky spooky. We don’t know what you’re doing or why, but we love you soooo much.”

To hell with that noise. I need a god that works in transparent ways, a god I can keep tabs on—a real god would want that because a real god’s got nothing to hide.

You know, for thousands of years, humans have argued, fought and killed one another over which is the one true Lord. It seems to me, there’s no way any person can know this. It seems to me, the best we can do is just choose a deity that’s worth worshipping. Then, if we’re wrong, at least we aren’t wrong and worshipping a jerk.

It’s simple, really: All we have to do is look at our all our god options, scrutinize their manifests and the commandments until we find one we can get behind—a kind and wise god, a reasonable god, a common-sense kind of god that understands that movies are make-believe, a god who does not say, “Burn in Hell, queer,” but, rather, says, “I made you as you are, child, so go forth and be the best damn gay you can be!”, a god who loves all the people he creates, unconditionally, unless they are total losers—like rapists, murderers and Patriot fans—each of which The Almighty will deliver a thousand lightning bolts unto their faces, with sure-shot aim, so as not to hurt others. Anything less deserves our contempt, not devotion.

Ed Decker
02/06/08

A reader of the SD Reader accuses Decker of plagiarizing this article from a Reader columnist

Note - Due to a system crash, some comments were lost from some blog posts. This was one of those posts, so I posted those comments here:

As a Christian, I can say that none of these misguided souls speak for me or for God.

Almost all Christian churches do not subscribe to the Fred Phelps viewpoint; I have yet to hear the pastor at my church say anything derogatory about gays even though the church itself condemns the lifestyle.

I don't know if Heath Ledger was a Christian or not so his salvation is left up to God to decide.

God was jealous and wanted Heath all to himself for some hardcore man-on-god action. He indeed works in mysterious ways. For Christ's sake, he put Saint "Peter" at the "gates to heaven," do we need any more hints?

Posted by
frank

Ed, thanks for your article about God in the latest issue of SD CityBeat. It's always unfortunate that one or two completely irrational (and un-biblical) voices of a church authority are taken to heart, by the general public, as "That's what it must say in their bible..."

The Word is from God... not man, so we must always go to the source material before we take some person's words as truth.

God is not the God of death... Satan is. Heath Ledger was not killed by God, he did it to himself with drugs, I'm sure, with a lot of assistance from his "inner demons".

I do not believe that God creates people as gay... With literally every single gay person I have ever had the chance to talk, in depth with, there is always a deep-deep seated challenge, in one form or another, with one of their parents, or inevitably some form of past, childhood abuse.

God loves everyone He created - even the murderers and rapists... He has tried and tried and continues to try to get their attention, to help get them straight - but some people just can't break free of the stranglehold that Satan has upon them. God weeps for these people He loves so much. He knows that if they would only allow Him to be a part of their lives, surrender to Him, that they would be able to live such a full, blessed and joyous life.

God will never force himself, or his will, upon anyone. We are all given the choice, at many points in our lives, to invite Him to guide us through this very difficult World.

The next time He knocks on your heart and asks you to let Him in, at least give Him a chance to let you know what He's thinking...

God speed,
~Matt

Matthew, Thanks for your kind comments. Finally, a letter from the kind of Christian who interprets the word of Jesus the same way I would were I a Christian.

Still, I must respectfully disagree with some things you said.

“I do not believe God creates people gay”

I think you are so wrong on this. I know so many gays who say they had homosexual thoughts and feeling before they even knew what that was. They did not choose to be gay, it chose them. And even if you believe their sexuality is the product of childhood abuse, or some other “deep seated challenge,” well, wasn’t it God who put them in that environment in the first place?

Secondly, and this is the main reason I just can’t get on board with you and most other religious types, you make several declarative statements about what God says, thinks, and does.

“God loves everyone he created.”

“[God] weeps for these people”

“God will never force his will on people”

I just don’t know how any human being can know the mind of God, or speak for him or clarify his motives.

As for me, I’m agnostic. Maybe God exists, maybe he doesn’t. I haven’t seen any proof either way. So I wait and wonder.

Ed

I understand your anger regarding the statements made by some of these "Christian" leaders messed up statements about Heath Ledger. Unfortunately there are extremists in every religion. I am a Christ Follower who believes there is a little too much judgement going on from people who have their own problems they should be worrying about. There are may verses in the Bible that tell you to concentrate on you own stuff rather than pointing you finger at your brother. Also, all sins are the same at the foot of the cross. So, as far as sin goes, that guy thinking about humping his neighbor's wife is in the same boat as the gay guy or the liar or the prideful guy or the gossip or the theif.......blah blah blah. By the way, all of them including the murders can be save. Heck the apostle Paul was a murderer. The whole stinking premis of the New Testament is Jesus died to save us. None of us are perfect, we are all going to sin. We all need to try to do our best. Most importantly...WE NEED TO LOVE EVERYONE!

God Bless You Ed. I love your stuff!

Posted by Woody

I agree completely with what "Matt" had to say regarding this article. I don't know who he is, but thanks Matt!! And he is not saying these things because he's figured out what God is thinking...we know what God is thinking because He very clearly explains it to us in His word!!

It really sucks that so many so-called Christians make all kinds of declarations that turn people off. The bottom line is that Christ created us with choice...we all have the opportunity to choose if we want to accept Him into our hearts or not. It saddens me when people turn Him away because it is a choice that determines your eternity and it is soooo simple. It seems almost easier than spending our lives being "agnostic". Just being undecided until we die is almost scary!!

Again, I have to say thanks to Matt...I couldn't put it clearer or kinder than he did.

these people, these "christians"



need to worry about themselves... according to scripture the penalty for sin, is death



therefore, Heath has paid the price and he has the better opportunity for his heavenly reward

than these "christians". any heavenly reward is subject to Jesus Christ to decide..



I can no longer worry about anyone who has died, I worry about me.



Some people can and never will be able to understand that.



Sincerley,



Wade Hicks