Month: December 2013

Phil Robertson and Duck Dynasty

It’s been awhile now since I wrote about anything that specifically dealt with the spiritual side of sexuality. That all began to change though when I caught wind of the news about the words Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame shared in his interview for a GQ article.

In it, he shared:

“It seems like, to me, a vagina — as a man — would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.” 

He went on further to say:

“Everything is blurred on what’s right and wrong… Sin becomes fine. Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men. Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers – they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself, it’s not right.”

Being a gay male myself and currently in a monogamous relationship with a partner who I love dearly, it saddens me to see someone take a whole group of people in this world and denounce them so openly, especially given the fame he has gained. Of course Phil is entitled to free speech and I know there are probably many more who feel the same way as him out there in this world. But it’s really not him, or anyone else that so openly denounces homosexuality, that bothers me. It’s how they all don’t realize what they’re saying is the exact opposite of what being a true Christian means.

Jesus Christ walked this Earth and practiced offering love and light to everyone. Not once does the Bible ever recollect anything about Jesus denouncing two men or two women for being together in a loving relationship with each other.

Too many Christians continue to take a text written 2000 years ago and use it as a weapon against a whole set of people on this Earth who have souls just like them. They share their opinions, and not facts, based upon those writings in the Bible to say who is or isn’t going to Heaven and who is or isn’t going to Hell. The reality is that they aren’t God, Jesus, the Disciples, or anyone else from that time. They aren’t all-knowing or all-seeing. They have their opinions that are solely being based in their minds as facts because of what they read in the Bible.

Phil Robertson is an example of this. While he is entitled to his free speech, he’s not practicing spreading the love and light that Jesus once tried to spread on this Earth through the comments he said in that GQ article. What’s even harder to swallow is all the thousands of comments I’ve already seen written online in response to A&E’s decision to place the man on hiatus from Duck Dynasty. Many of those people are claiming themselves to be Christians like Phil, except they are spewing hate, anger, rage, spite, malice, and other things that are more bestowed from those living in darkness.

It’s not my place to tell Phil Robertson how he should feel. He feels as he does and interprets the Bible from his own viewpoint. But I can understand why A&E placed him on hiatus from appearing on Duck Dynasty. In today’s day and age, a bad public image for a person of fame, or any company that represents that person, can end up destroying both’s reputation. I’m sure that A&E is afraid of losing viewers and offending any of those that are either gay or support gay rights who might either watch Duck Dynasty or other programs on their network.

Regardless of everything I just said, I do want to say that I have never have watched Duck Dynasty nor have I ever been into hunting. But my deepest truth about all of this controversy is the following. If I had been watching the show and then caught wind of Phil Robertson’s words speaking out against homosexuality, I wouldn’t be watching it anymore. It’s as simple as that for me these days when it comes to anyone or anything that speaks out so negatively against the whole gay community. Speaking out against anyone with such slander is not walking in the footsteps of Christ nor is it spreading any love and light on this planet. It’s only creating more darkness instead.

I spent many years not understanding why God had me be born gay if it was such a sin. Thankfully that changed when God helped me to see that being promiscuous with my sexuality was the actual sin, but loving one man with all my heart, mind, and soul was not. Unfortunately, people like Phil Robertson, and the others in this world who feel as he does about gay people, might not ever understand this. Hopefully though, one day they will.

But like everything else, such as when the CEO of Chick-Fil-A went through this very same issue quite recently, this Duck Dynasty issue will eventually blow over too. And when it does, another incident in similar nature will sadly just take its place. This will happen over and over and over again until people like Phil Robertson begin to take a different look at homosexuality. You see, it’s on the day when EVERYONE can start realizing that two men or two women loving each other unconditionally is acceptable and blessed in the eyes of God, that we’ll all be a lot more loving as Jesus Christ once was.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Be The Change!

Have you ever been around someone who always seems to complain about everyone in their life and finds something wrong with each of them? If so, have you noticed how those individuals also seem to always place the blame for the problems they have in their life on everyone else but themselves? The sad thing about all of those individuals who are like this is that they expect the world has to change before their life will get better. Ironically though, the one person that truly needs to change to make this happen is the one person they’re not complaining about or placing the blame on, and that’s themselves.

Mahatma Gandhi once summed this up quite perfectly when he said “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”

Unfortunately, I spent much of my entire life doing the exact opposite.

I once loved to criticize almost everyone I spent time with. It was a common thing for me to get angry about something they were doing. I’d often tell myself that my life would be so much better if they would just change certain aspects of themselves. But what I never realized is that each of those aspects I was wanting those people to change were the things I most needed to change within myself. Each of those people I was hoping would change were only being a mirror for me to take a deeper look into myself, except the reality was that I didn’t want to.

The best image I can conjure up of when someone becomes like this in their life is to think of a person crossing their arms, frowning, and pointing their finger in a disciplinary way at everyone else. The real truth in this image is that their finger needs to be pointing at only one person and that’s back at themselves. I’ve learned over the years that any anger or frustration I feel towards anyone is something I still have work to do around within myself. For years, I avoided that work though. I really just wanted the world to change to make my life feel better. But as Gandhi inferred, it really doesn’t work that way. Waiting around for the world to change only left me in a constant state of irritation and feeling let down.

I felt that way frequently in so many of my closest relationships where I kept telling myself that things would get better if only they would change “this” or “that” part of themselves. Years were shed off my life waiting around for those changes to happen with each of them. They never came though and basically I became blinded from seeing the real truth in that I wasn’t changing either. As when I really started focusing on making spiritual changes in my life, I began to grow apart from most of those relationships. That’s only because I started seeing how each of them were unhealthy for me. It’s when I started observing how those relationships were nothing more than two unhealthy people choosing to stay with each other and remain toxic. The more I worked on changing, the more I grew apart from each of them. The less I worked on changing myself, the more I became afraid to leave them and instead focused on the changes I felt they needed to do.

Thank God, this isn’t the case anymore as my levels of anger and frustration with others are so much less today. I believe that’s much in part due to all the work I’ve done within myself to change and grow spiritually. I don’t maintain relationships with people anymore who aren’t willing to put forth the effort to change. To put in more precisely, I don’t want to be around anyone anymore who constantly complains about others or blames others for their misery in life. Doing either is really just their way of shifting the focus off of the fact that they don’t want to put forth the hard work and effort it takes to change to see their world become a better place.

For all those years I didn’t want to see that truth, I lost friends because they were changing and I wasn’t. And as I said a minute ago, I also stayed in relationships that were toxic and only became more sick because of it. Even worse, I fell in addictions to deal with my stubbornness to change. It eventually became a very lonely place to be in and that’s what forced me one day to look in the mirror and say maybe I need to change.

The bottom line is this. When everyone else is gone from your life and you have no one else to complain about or place the blame on, I encourage you to take a moment, breathe, and glance into any mirror. It’s in there you will see the person you really are complaining about, who is most deserving of your blame. As it’s you who is the one that needs to start making some serious changes in your life. I can promise you though once you start doing so, that much healthier people will begin gravitating back into your life and you’ll also begin seeing the world around you a whole lot better too…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

An Even Deeper Look Into Littering…

Yesterday I spoke about the people who frequently leave their trash behind in public places, such as at movie theaters, with an expectation that someone else will clean up after them. Today, I want to discuss a related subject about the people who purposely litter directly in the environment.

Littering is a big problem, especially in the United States. I’m sure you’ve seen it happening at least once, and most likely even more then that, around you at some point in time. Or maybe you’ve even done it yourself here and there thinking it’s not really that big of a deal for the rare times you have. Well here are 10 interesting facts you may not know about when it comes to the downsides of littering:

  1. Over 800 Americans are killed each year in litter-attributed motor vehicle accidents.
  2. It takes 50-60 years for an aluminum can to decompose, 450-1000 years for a plastic bottle, 20-1000 years for a plastic bag, 2-10 years for cigarette butts, and ironically, it even takes up to 2 years for orange peels and banana skins to decompose.
  3. Litter strewn areas actually lead others to want to litter even more in those areas.
  4. Many small animals crawl into bottles or jars getting stuck in the process and slowly starve to death. They also get caught in those plastic shopping bags, six pack rings, and old fishing lines and then they can’t get away from danger or they suffocate. And every year, millions of animals die this way.
  5. Many plants and areas abundant with natural vegetation are destroyed each year due to the toxicity created by litter.
  6. Litter removal costs almost 10 percent of district budgets statewide and usually is in the amount of millions. This only leads back to us with higher taxes and more money coming out of our pockets.
  7. Close to 20 percent of roadside litter is actually recyclable.
  8. Many cigarette butts thrown out car windows lead to roadside brush fires and wildfires.
  9. Much of the toxic litter gets consumed into crops and livestock on farms that eventually makes its way to our tables to consume.
  10. Spitting chewing gum out of our mouths into anywhere in the environment is a major health issue because of the bacteria contained in it, as well as the chemicals needed to remove it off the roads and sidewalks where it lands. Gum is also not biodegradable and animals often mistake it for food where death can occur from them trying to digest it.

I’ve always been curious as to why people purposely litter, even when they know at least a few of these facts. Through my Internet research, I was able to discover the number one reason why is that people are too lazy and can’t be bothered to find a trash receptacle. Some other reasons included the lack of environmental education, not having a sense of pride in their community, or being raised in families who littered themselves.

Doing all of this research into littering has truly opened my eyes quite a bit. I’ve seen how even some of my own past actions can change now. It saddened me to realize that my former gum spitting habits and fruit remains disposals out my car window could have caused great harm in a world I’m trying very hard to create more love and light in. Educating myself on this topic has definitely changed my perception completely. Choosing to repeat these actions now would be unspiritual and just plain ignorant on my part.

I’m really glad I did the research on the litter problem in our country. It helped me out tremendously and it’s my hope that it will help educate others as well. But the education factor is only the beginning. Changing one’s littering behaviors is obviously the next step. And maybe even more importantly than this is something else we can all do, that my Higher Power showed me will help to reduce the litter problem in our country…The next time you see any litter on the ground nearby, try picking it up and bringing it to the nearest trash bin. You’ll be surprised on how much this actually ends up influencing others who observe this to start looking at their own behaviors and do the same. Maybe then our litter problem will start to drastically reduce in our country…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson