Eric's Monday Sermon: The Last Word on Gender

Equality! What a great idea. But be real, equality requires sameness and that just is not where it is at. I do not want to be equal with my wife. She is a far far better her than I could ever be. Let us look at money. We say that 100 pennies equals a dollar. Fair enough we know what we mean. We mean very specifically that their net monetary worth is the same. We dang sure do not mean that half a pound of copper is the same as a small green sheet of something like paper."We are all equal" does not mean we have the same worth. It means specifically that we are supposed to be treated equally under the law. A scoundrel, rapist, lunatic hater of all is not equal to an upright, loving, caring, positive, contributing member of a good group. I do not want a cold, calculating, stern lacking compassion lady to be my nurse but I very well may want her to be my brain surgeon. I do not want equality I want opportunity to be more.

Did someone just complain about no equal pay for equal work? Let me let you in on a secret. Shhh, don't tell anyone else. That whole thing about not paying women the same pay for doing the same thing men do is not about gender. It is about our society's lazy tolerance of idiots. Yes, you and I let jackasses treat human beings badly. We allow our fellows to do stupid things. We are so afraid of rocking this little boat of ours that we sit still while bad people do bad things. It does not need to be that way. My family is not rich but we do fine. If there was a hint of gender bias negatively effecting someone in our little life, the proverbial crap would hit the fan. And it has. And we are none the worse for it. Maybe I can get to parts of those stories later on here, but let us keep it moving.

Equality is a myth if you think it means sameness. And thank God for that.Genders are real and thank God for that. If you believe that you are not treated equally simply because of your gender and you do not kick some butt to get it straightened out, then you are part of the problem. If you engage in treating people poorly because of their gender, then you are one sick SOB and you need some serious help. We leave the doors open here during the sermon and we invite you to use them. They will not hit you in the butt on the way out, because they stay open so you can return if you really want to change.

What kind of nonsense is all this judgmental garbage. Is it media made? Is it just because there are folks trying to get attention? Well probably a combination of a whole lot of things. There appears to be a very small percentage of people that suffer from a state of confusion about their own gender. My best estimates put it at somewhere around about 1/10th of 1 percentage of folks. Well statistically that would place it in the "anomaly" category. We are darned complicated bio-mechanical masses. It does not give me pause at all that some folks got wired a little differently than the majority of us. It just is not that hard to believe. Science reveals clear truth in this regard.

Now along comes some folks that are trying to tell me that other folks condemn this condition. Wow! If you think about it that is crazy. Some poor gal or guy is confused about their gender and someone else wants to harm them for that anomaly? Some folks want to limit their freedom? Somebody wants to mock them? That is just cruel and wrong. There but for the grace of God go I. Can you even imagine being all confused about your sexuality? I am not talking the passing of puberty and teenage fog, I am talking about a medically describable condition here. Nope there is no excuse for condemning someone for their biological hand that they were dealt.

OK now. That does not mean that going all public and making sexuality a cause celebre is cool. Fitting it into a nice media package and promotion is just plain weird. These celebrities making money off of the situation is, is, is - well bazaar. But that is what we get if we buy into the whole mass media and commercial hype. And of course they have created a controversy in order to give it more voyeurism appeal. If you tune in to see the latest of what these attention freaks are doing, just be real careful that it don't rub off on your real thoughts.

I was a freak once in the sense of statistical anomalies. I had Stage Four Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma with Pancreatic involvement. And I survived. That don't make me special. It just means I had a condition that is extremely rare to get and rarer to survive. I pray that all folks with this extremely rare condition of Gender confusion survive and thrive.

Let us just say that if you saw me coming in a dark alley you probably would quickly go the other way and holler for your friends. 6ft, some scars, Black Irish looking, 225 lbs and kind of a cowboy aura about me. On closer inspection you would find a 57 year old with a smooshed nose who looks at least 67. Now create a scenario where that guy is the primary care giver for a wonderful little 5 year old looking Asian and just starting kindergarten. Sure I show up holding my little buddy's hand and smiling. Well without a doubt the other mothers kind of giggle and clumsily ask if I am grandpa and think something weird is going on.

Hey, by all accounts I am a great house mom and mother. When his mom gets home he is scrubbed and taught and fed and exercised and happy and looking forward to sleeping and another day tomorrow. I am fully man but I am a great mom too. I reckon I am lucky because there is no confusion going on around here. We fully love in this home. And if that love requires that perhaps we take on roles traditionally left to another sex, well so be it, we embrace it.

On the other side. My wife is 4'10" on tippy toes, 90 lbs soaking wet and looks to be about 25. She has that Asian doll look about her. Her chosen profession is flooring. She deals with monsters of men in the construction industry. Her mere voice instills fear and angst among the toughest of slackers. She is not an equal among contractors she is a force. I wonder how she would take it if I told her she was equal to one of her competitor men, probably not well.

There is no doubt who wears the pants around here -- hey it is Southern Cal, she has to wear pants to work, I have 6 pair of shorts. I also have suits to wear when I get volunteer awards at my son's school.

Life appears to be pretty darn short. So let me get to the sermon part here real quick. You are awesome. God did not make mistakes. If you are one of the very very few who are confused I kind of thank you. You make me stop and take notice. You bring an awareness to the forefront. Maybe I just was taking this whole sexuality thing for granted. All of society supports me in being a somewhat normal man. They support my whole family deal and his and hers clothes. They make it easy for me to hold hands in public and snuggle in private. They have men's and women's restrooms and advertisements geared for my normal.

Well this walk with God makes me uncomfortable sometimes. I think that is what God has in mind. This cool verse always gets me because it is all like medieval sounding and ominous: 2 Timothy 1: 6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

So then I get to say: Stir it up. Don't lay dormant. Personally evolve and mature and take these matters with a sound mind and mix in the love and cherish the gifts you have been given. And likewise cherish them in others and check that dang judgment maker at the door.