In February 2006, the 105 year old Sanctuary of Minnedosa United Church was destroyed by fire ... in the days following there was a rush to get ready to rebuild. A committee was organized, an architect was hired, plans were made and everyone was ready to get on with it ...The problem was and remains, that words of forgiveness and reconciliation have been shuffled aside in the rush to rebuild what was and to "get on with it". In January 2007, I posted a entry entitled "God DOESN'T Hate Goths", which has continued to generate comments. One appeared two days ago, and unless you're heading into the archives, you'll never see it ...
So, today I decided to bring the comments forward and offer them for you to reflect on. They are not a unified voice, but they are words that those of us who TRULY love the church would do well to heed. Unfortunately, too often other agendas crowd in, and the TRUTH that is being sought by followers of Christ, Goths and everyone in between is lost in the petty nonsense that Christians call "gospel" ... and somewhere God is weeping over Her human family.
So, with my thanks to those who have share their comments - I offer them to my readers:
Anonymous said...
So, in no way am i a Christian. I believe in God, but the buck stops there. I've listened to metal and its many subgenres (death metal, black metal, sludge, grindcore, doom, industrial, crust, bla bla bla) for years now. I have, shockingly, never committed an act of violence against a group of people of faith, or anyone for that matter. im a rather peaceful person (peace activist, actually).
in any case, a friend of mine gave me a link to this website and introduced it to me as 'from the people who brought us Godhatesfags . . . Godhatesgoths!' which, of course, made me crack up on the spot, and led me to have to check out this site. this is some of the stuff we do when were bored. as we occasionlly find fundamentalists just as much a joke as they find us, its rather entertaining.
after skimming around and reading about all the 'atrocities' thatve so graciously been attributed to rather troubled people who happen to listen to dark music, i clicked the provided link to this site. its hard for me to support something like arson of a place of worship, because i sure as hell (no pun intended) wouldnt want someone to burn down my local venue.
after reading the dated article, i clicked the link of the more recent artile, whch was coincidentally today. the smile of my face has yet to leave
thankyou so much for being as understanding and open minded as you are. this means quite a bit to me to finally have religion somewhat defending the troubled people who take blame on behalf on the music i love. its a misrepresentation, at the least, of how caring some of the people in the underground community can be.
not asking to be converted, im not asking to convert any of you. i just wanted to say thanks.
peace
- Travis Slumber ((90YW/oS))
Sunday, January 21, 2007 3:21:00 PM CST
Karin Rios said...
I appreciate your thoughtful words very much It is good to hear a Christian say such things about God and the love of God. I think what happened to your church was just dead wrong and I am sad for you and your church members. I hope you continue to heal from this act of violence. If I may I need to say though that I am sad to hear that these youth were put in prison for this crime. I have researched youth violence and have worked with troubled kids for years at a commmunity centre and know that incarcerating them generally only makes them better criminals who go on to commit more and more crimes. Since they are youth-I would have hoped to hear some creative way that would have been propsed to help them work through and out the rage that caused them to do such a horrid thing. Let me stress again it is not ok that they burnt down a church but after reading your excellent blog entry I thought that your statement about them being in jail and GOd's love were incongruent. Yes we need to be held accountable for our cruel actions but putting youth in jail is not I believe and I know to be helpful for their healing or their victims healing.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007 4:35:00 PM CST
Connie said...
In some ways I can understand why the people who created the website that links to this blog entry would be driven to make such a website...Goths are scary people on sight, and if you don't bother to get to know them better, the first impression you have can have a lasting impact on how you see other people who look that way for the rest of your life.That being said, I must say some other words. I am 15 years old. I am not a Goth, but I have a cousin who is. She is 21 years old, and she is one of the NICEST people you could ever meet. Yes, at first sight she looks to be a frightening Satanist who looks like she sacrifices babies in her spare time, but she doesn't. Instead, she works at a clothing store she owns, and she goes to school. Yes, she participates in some activities that I don't think I'd consider being active in, but that doesn't mean I don't love her. I DO believe in God, but I don't follow Christianity. The burning of your church certainly is something to be concerned about, but I agree with Karin Rios that the perpetrators should not have been put in prison. Mr. Taylor was right when he said that Christians have a horrible history...my mom is a mental health therapist and she says she deals with many Aboriginal clients who have been horribly traumatized by the things the priests have done to them in the name of God. As you said, God most likely hates the people that say God hates a certain kind of people. Thank you for bringing attention to a crucial issue that most people are not aware of. Peace be with you.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007 10:24:00 PM CST
Anonymous said...
I came across godhatesgoths.com, I think it may be a joke. Even so, people are pretty unaccepting overall when it comes to goths. I consider myself goth, I was forced to go to church when I was younger but I am not a Christian, although I know enough about it to know that that site is made up of false information about Christianity. It's sad that extreme Christians give ALL Christians a bad name. Most of my friends who are goths hate Christians for the sole fact that the ones they have met are so unaccepting and judgemental. I think it's awesome that you have posted up this article. So true!
Monday, November 12, 2007 6:43:00 AM CST
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