Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2006 07:07:59 -0700 (PDT) From: Puer Amore Subject: The Ice Storm PT VI THE ICE STORM (PT VI ) By Barry pueresamo@yahoo.com Disclaimer: This work is one of fiction. Any resemblance of persons or places mentioned in this story to actual persons or places is only slightly more than coincidence. Copyright 2006 Barry. All Rights Reserved. Our sleep wasn't as peaceful this time and I woke in the middle of the night to find Travis holding on to me, ever-so-tightly and sobbing in his sleep. Travis, I said, shaking him very gently. Baby, wake up, Sweetie. You're having a nightmare. Barry? He exclaimed. Thank God it's you, he declared, as he wiped the tears from his precious eyes. Who else would it be, Sweetie? I asked. He smiled at me and said, usually, when I have this dream, one of the other boys throws a pillow at me to wake me up and shut me up. What sort of recurring dream are you having, my sweet boy, that upsets you so? I asked. My Dream? He said. Well...It's my Dad and he's handing me over to Satan cause I'm a Fa...cause I'm gay. I'm sorry to say it, Travis, my love, but your Dad has stinky stuff for brains. Like smegma? He asked. Actually, Sweetie, I had something even more stinky in mind, but smegma works too. Your Dad is a smegma-head, sweet boy. I smiled. YEP! He agreed. So why do all the smegma heads want to put gays in Hell? Oh Boy, I said. What a question! This may take a while sweet Travis, so hold on. I informed him. He snuggled up tightly to me, replaced his arm around me and said OK. I'm holding on. I chuckled and said, well then here we go. The hatred of gays and the notion that love between two men is an abomination is all rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding regarding how sex works, sweet boy. In ancient days, and really up to the last hundred or so years, the male semen was regarded as the "seed". In fact the word semen means seed. The notion of sperm and ovum were completely unknown. Thus, the ancients thought of semen as a potential or even as a first phase human being, in and of itself. The womb was only a vessel for the "seed" to be placed to grow to fruition within. So, Sweetie, when one believes that semen is already, in and of itself, the initial stage of a human life, then certain conclusions are the inevitable result. Such conclusions are largely found expressed in the Bible. Fundamentalists like your father.... Smegma-Head! He inserted. Yes, Sweetie, Smegmahead. I agreed with a grin. So, as I was saying, all the conclusions arrived at from this misunderstanding regarding the nature of sperm are to be found in the Scriptures. While most of them are logically sound, they all spring from a false major premise. Major what? He asked. A major premise is the starting point, upon which one builds a syllogism or argues a case. If it is shown to be false, the entire argument, or case, immediately falls apart. I don't know about smart, Sweetie, but I have studied the topic and read much about it. Have you ever noticed, sweet boy, that all the condemnations in the Scriptures regarding homosexuality are directed at the Male? I asked. Only Male homosexuality, and even Male masturbation, are condemned as abominations. There are NO Scriptural condemnations of Female homosexuality or Female masturbation, are there? I asked. None that I've ever read, he replied. Females masturbate! He blurted. Sure they do, Sweetie, but that's another topic. I instructed. If the ancient understanding of the nature of semen had been correct, then the following ramification would be equally correct. Any expulsion of the semen, other than into the womb, would be infanticide, like abortion...the murder of a baby. Thus, Male masturbation and homosexuality were condemned by the ancients, more so because they considered each an act of infanticide, not so much of being sexually naughty. This was because the sperm or semen was expelled, in either case other than into a womb. Females, therefore, Sweetie, found no condemnation on such matters in the Scriptures because they are not semen producers. The role of the Female, in those days was considered quite secondary and resulted in a mindset of male superiority and the celebration of the birth of sons over daughters. Daughters could never be more than a mere vessel for the sperm of someone else's son and of some other family. So, Male homosexuality and Male masturbation were especially condemned as abominations because they were considered acts of infanticide. Modern science has taught us, only within the last hundred or so years, that until a sperm actually unites with and fertilizes an ovum, or egg, which we refer to as conception, THERE IS NO HUMAN BEING INVOLVED! I concluded. That's RIGHT! He interjected. I knew that from science class. But you didn't make the connection, huh? I asked. NOPE! He replied. So, you see, dear boy, semen was sacred to the ancients, and the testicles, which produce the semen, were cradled in their sacred tabernacle, the scrotum. Didn't think of your scrotum as a sacred tabernacle, did you Sweetie? I asked. Nope! My family and the Temple think of ones private parts as something nasty, dirty, and evil. He replied. Nonsense, I replied. Ganymede would never think such a thing...Neither would most educated and enlightened Moderns. STUPID SMEGMA HEADS! He added. Well, it's not so much that they are inherently stupid as that they are ignorant, my precious one, but if one believes in something called culpable ignorance, the smegmaheads will have much to answer for one day. I instructed. Where did you learn all this stuff, Barry? He asked. You're a genius! He added. Hardly, I chuckled. I long ago felt that I owed it to myself to, at least, consider all sides of the argument and understand what goes on in the minds of these Neanderthals, who would like to put us in Hell in God's name. So, I spent a lot of time studying Hermeneutics, Soteriology, and other serious theological disciplines, as well. Herman-whatics? He inquired. Hermeneutics, Sweetie, is the serious, scholarly study of the scriptures. It involves understanding the scriptures as expressed in their original languages and in the context of the literary constructs of those languages. It's complicated to explain in a short session. Just know that persons who think they "know the Bible" simply because they have read it, and usually in the King James Version, in fact don't know crap. Bible scholarship is something one can spend a lifetime at, literally, and many have. So, my love, You must try to put all this repressive brainwashing, inflicted upon you by these Neanderthals, behind you, It'll take time, of course, but I'll be right here with you You are precious to me, to Ganymede, and certainly to God. Hell does NOT await anyone with the kind of love you hold in your heart, sweet boy. For God is Love, as they say. He understands true love in every case. End of lesson, Sweetie. I proclaimed. Travis looked up at me with those compelling blue eyes and said. Barry, I love you so much! And I love you, my sweet boy, now and always. I affirmed. Now try to get back to sleep. Morning will be here before you know it. Travis never suffered from that horrible nightmare again.