Episode 41 - The Gospel of Hate — Here's What I Don't Get

Greetings, worshipers! It's church time here on HWIDG, unless you happen to exist outside of our pre-determined standards of acceptability. So, grab your hymnals and turn to page 666 because today we going to read from the following passages:

-False Surprise Surgery
-Gambling
-Pimple popping videos
-The Gospel of Hate

Here's something that really bugs me about surgery - the wait. All of the prep work and the scheduling and the anxiety. It's just horrible. But, having one sprung on you with no warning can be horrifying. Now take the worst of both worlds and mash them together: your find out you're going to have to have emergency surgery, but as soon as you get yourself in the proper mindset, you're told you have to wait. Now imagine that, during that period of scrambling to prepare your life for an unexpected six weeks of recovery time, you cancel some important appointments. Then, when you find out that you didn't have to, you can't undo the cancellation. Now imagine that the thing you've cancelled is something that you've been needing to do for, oh, say, twenty-eight years, and this is the first window of opportunity you've had. And, you may not get another window. Yeah. Welcome to my weekend. Welcome to my life. If I had known that I was going to be jerked around, I'd have never cancelled that appointment. But, that's how life is. Everything is a risk. And speaking of risk . . .

I, very sarcastically, can think of no better way to spend my hard-earned money than to withdraw cash from the bank, walk straight across the parking lot to an open sewer, and just chucking those crisp greenbacks right into the muck. That's essentially what gambling boils down to, except you have a very slim chance that instead of washing your Benjamins away, the sewer will throw them, plus a few more, right back at you. So, every time you feel like being "bold" (see also: stupid) you march your happy tail over to that sewer and just start chunking it down. Nevermind that there are safer ways to invest your money, with lower risk and a pretty good chance of a payout (if you know where to invest). Nevermind that you could have just saved up that money instead of wasting it. Nevermind that your landlord isn't going to take too kindly to your excuses when you can't pay your rent. I've heard that taking risk is simply an urge for some people. Like a pressure beneath the skin that just builds and builds until, one day, you have to pop that bubble. And what you get for your trouble is a bunch of mess. Speaking of popping bubbles full of mess . . .

A few years ago, there was a meme floating around about finding your way onto "the wierd part of YouTube". And that was an accurate description. If you press the 'flush' handle on YouTube and just allow the stream of suggestions to wash you away, you'll eventually go down the drain into the YouTube sewer where you'll find, scattered amongst the floating currency, videos of people popping pimples. Why? Why is this a thing? Why is it popular? And why can Uncle Buck not look away? It's vile, disgusting, and putrid. And speaking of things that are vile, disgusting, and putrid . . .

Long time listeners of the show are aware of Uncle Buck's Christian faith, and are also aware of Tab's benign atheism. It's a soft difference of opinion that, between us, is handled with grace and respect. But Tab was on a research junket to his favorite house of worship when he learned of something that is the opposite of Grace. It's called The Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and, as Tab retells it, it basically boils down to "If you're sinful, you aren't welcome in church". We go into this at length in the episode, but we both have similar (yet slightly different) takes on the fallacy. Tab (rightly) believes that such an edict is the epitome of religious elitism, and fundamentally contradicts the core values of Christian faith, one of which is "love thy neighbor as thyself". Buck (also rightly) believes that the edict contradicts the Great Commission, which is to spread the Gospel, because it tells sinners (the very people who would NEED Jesus) that they aren't welcome in the Cool Kids Jesus Club. We can't use any swear words in our titles or descriptions (because iTunes will remove us if we do. Been there, done that) but there are no non-rude words to describe the people who profess such a wantonly destructive message. Tab and Buck agree in calling it "The Gospel of Hate".

We get caught up on some voicemails and Tab gets disappointed by a new toy. What was it? You'll have to listen to this week's episode to find out!

Don't forget to join the Call-In Episode on Monday September 11th at 9pm eastern and tell us your issue, it's all happening on the HWIDG Discord.