The Religion of Hating?

Earlier this week,  Miss Ginger pissed off an old family friend so badly that she was "unfriended" on facebook.  Not the first or last time that will happen,  but that is probably the closest Miss Ginger has ever come to having someone she considers "family" reject her for who she is and what she believes, so she will admit it kinda stung.  


Today, Miss G  thought of her newest ex-friend when she saw this clip of Pastor Joel Osteen on the View- (ex-friend is a big fan of PaJo!)





Now, let's level the field here:

Miss Ginger is not really a fan of the View.  She has a certain respect for Barbara Walters, gained partially by reading her autobiography, Audition.  She loved Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act 1 and 2, so she can't really hate on her.  And even though she finds Joy Behar very nasal and annoying, the woman does come up with some funny lines!  And she's always quick to defend the gays! I think there are some other women on that show, but they are insignificant to Miss G.

And in the same spirit, Miss Ginger does not particularly hate Joel Osteen.  As far as she knows, he lives the pious life he claims to lead.  Other than the unfortunate airline stewardess bashing, which was really caused by his trophy wife, Victoria, he has managed to build the worlds largest church without raising a whole lot of scandal.  God knows he's been good for Houston-  if he hadn't bought Compaq Center to expand his congregation, that relic would probably be suffering the same neglect and decay as the Astrodome.  Thanks to Joel and his followers,  Greenway Plaza has remained a well-maintained, vibrant part of the city! 


But, Miss Ginger digresses- back to the interview.  


Joy demonstrates her total lack of professionalism as an interviewer.  As a matter of fact, the conversation degrades from an interview to an attack:

Rev. JOEL OSTEEN: Well first off, Barbara, I should finish that sentence. I should make it clear. I don't think it's God's best for your life, I don't think it's not God's best making us. As far as that pastor is concerned, I don't know that individual situation. I think that - I believe the Scriptures teach us that a pastor in leadership like that is not going to stay in a Christian church like ours. But I don't know whether he's, whether he should come out or not. I believe maybe being open -

WALTERS: If he's in a Christian church, should he get out of the Christian church if he's gay?

OSTEEN: You know, I think that's totally up to him. I don't know. I mean, the main thing Barbara, is we are for people. Sometimes we get stuck on -

JOY BEHAR: You know it's not a choice, Pastor. It's not a choice, and therefore I don't think that God would look askance at homosexuality in that way, because it's not a choice. They're born this way, people are born this way. They are what they are.

OSTEEN: Well, I think that's -

BEHAR: And so the Christian church should embrace that notion.

OSTEEN: Well, you know what Joy -

BEHAR: You wouldn't reject somebody that had a deformity.

OSTEEN: Yeah, no I agree.

BEHAR: Or something else.

OSTEEN: Yeah, I think that - (Applause)

BEHAR: I don't mean to say it's a deformity, but there are other things that are embraced.

Osteen doesn't fare much better.  He sort of hangs his head and stammers, and just gives in to the whipping.  But the he recovers,  and eloquently summarizes why Miss Ginger has a hard time with the whole Bible thing!

OSTEEN: But if you came to our church, Joy, you would see people from all walks of life. We don't have a sign at the door no gays, no drunkards, no people on drugs. We're for everybody, we're not against people. So we're helping them to become -

BEHAR: But when you say that the Bible is against gays, that makes people get bullied, and bad things happen to people because of what the people say about that.

OSTEEN: Well, it's -

BEHAR: It's terrible.

OSTEEN: I think the difficulty Joy is we're not for bullying. I mean, if you follow our ministry at all, we're for uplifting people. But there's the Scripture that we can't necessarily change.

And there lies the issue Miss Ginger can't get past:  "But there's the Scripture that we can't necessarily change".

So let's get this straight (so to speak):  The Bible was written over 2 million years ago in a language no longer spoken,  by whom we have no idea.  It has been translated, interpreted, simplified, amplified, illuminated, glorified, or otherwise manipulated thousands of times over those years.  Yet Osteen is willing to stand behind "scripture" that he knows can cause hatred, bullying, and ostracization! Really?!  You feel good about preaching from that book?  Scripture that you know has been "interpreted" to oblivion?  And you are willing to preach that living your life the way you were born is a sin?

The comments in the Houston Chronicle's blogpost about the episode are just plain scary! 

One asstit made the comment: "What if Pedophiles say they were born that way? Does that make it ok?"  How crazy is that?  Pedophilia is an aggressive act- a crime committed by pathetic bullies who prey upon victims who are innocent and vulnerable!  The fact that Miss Asstit would use pedophiia and homosexuality in the same sentence proves her ingnorance.  That, and the fact that capitalized "pedophilia" as though it were a religion worth recognition!

Several others got off on this tangent about eating seafood- apparently PaJo doesn't eat shellfish because the bible tells him not to!  Two million years ago, when there was no refrigeration, anti-bacterial soap, and Clorox, it probably wasn't a great idea to eat shellfish. Someone ate an oyster and got sick, someone else wrote a psalm about it, and the rest becomes the gospel?  It's crazy!  Even those crazy Cajuns were smart enough to figure out that it was a sanitary issue, and realized that they would only go to hell if they ate an oyster when there was no "r" in the month! 

 Miss Ginger is fine with that one-  it just leaves more of those luscious bivalves for her!

And finally, someone else got busy speculating about the fabric in Osteen's suits, since apparently blended fibers are an abomination in the bible.  Well,  all I can say is:  Miss Ginger KNOWS where Osteen shops,  and she can guarantee that the suits who buys are made of modern blends of wool, rayon, viscose, silk, cotton, and a myriad of other fibers.  Not only would a 100% wool suit look like hopsack, he would sweat his balls off in one- assuming Vickie hasn't had them removed already!

Really, the gist of it is this: WHY are christians so damn worried about what other's do?!!  The jews don't expect me to light a candelabra in December, as long as I let them leave work early on Rusha Homa!  The hindus would prefer I didn't step up bugs, but they are not telling me I will go to hell if I do it!  Why do the christians care what the hell I do when I close my bedroom door?!  I sure as hell don't care what they do!

Kinda reminds me of a joke Daddy Ginger used to love to tell:

Q: Why is it forbidden for Southern Baptists to fuck standing up?

A:  Someone might think they are dancing!

More Southern Goodies with Miss G!

After we got to NOLA yesterday, Bubba G and I found out that Harrah's and Budweiser sponsor an even every Thursday during crawfish season call Bugs, Buds, and Bands, out on the street near the casino. What a deal! with a Total Rewards card, crawfish were $1.00 a pound, and Budweiser products were $3 each! We even got our picture taken for free by a chick from the BreweKrewe! What a great time we had!

Today, it poured a gullywasher here in NOLA! Such a storm that there was NO WAY Bubba and I were going out to the Fairgrounds for JazzFest! What a muddy mess that would be!! So, we stayed close to the hotel at first, and went to Felix's on Iberville Street for lunch. Felix's is cattycorner across the street from the famed Acme Oyster Company, where there is always a line. Miss G is constantly amazed as to why! Acme is delicious, don't get me wrong, but Felix's is just as good, if not better, and NEVER has a line!!

While many parts of the country serve these lucious bivalves as "raw oysters", here in NOLA they are more commonly known as "royerstyas" and they are served in a very special way! Do you see the little cup in the middle of the plate? It comes to the table with only a couple of lemon slices in it. On the table upon arrival there is a big jar of ground horseradish, a bottle or Tabasco, and a squeeze bottle of ketchup. Since everyone has there own tolerance for heat, one is allowed the chance to create their own cocktail sauce with just the right amount of "kick". Miss G always starts with a big glob of horseradish, and works her way from there.

After lunch, we needed to find a place to hole up and shelter from the rain, so Miss G took Bubba to the Bourbon Pub, figuring we could at least grab a brew and run if it wasn't fun or if Bubba wasn't comfortable there.

Well, wuncha know that Lisa and Tim were working, so it was like old home week for all at the back bar! Lisa has worked at the Pub as long as Miss G can remember, and Miss G and Bubba went to college with Tim, so there was lots to talk about and catch up on, plus lots of fun sharing stories about the "glory days" of old! We drank and carried on until almost dark, when Miss G realized she better get some food into Bubba pronto!

After a pit stop at Clover Grill, we headed to Molly's at the Market to visit our favorite NOLA feline, Mr. Wu. As usually, Mr. Wu was holding court on the back bar, and was as happy to see us as we were to see him!