An Artist -- and a Hermit!!

 I'm an artist...and a hermit!!

Most artists will say creating objects is a part of their nature. It's virtually a necessity, and I get that totally.

But a hermit? Well, some artists are outgoing and gregarious, and some are just the opposite.

I'd say I've withdrawn from the social life partly because I just never learned how to fit in that way. But much of it has to do with not wanted to get hurt by people anymore.

Granted -- no one likes to get hurt. But I'm a bipolar dinosaur -- not severely, praise God, but the depression that comes with it makes hurt a devastating event. And it doesn't always take much.

For example, I'm a Christian who has had friends of both sexes -- including females when they were single. But once they get married, they dropped me like a bag of dirt. And I never understood why -- they never even explained it to me! To "avoid all appearances of evil?" Isn't that a rather extreme interpretation of Scripture?

Well, anyway, it's been an ongoing source of hurt for me -- losing friends just because someone got married.

I actually looked up the topic, and this article seems to take a well-balanced take on the issue. Maybe all but the most conservative (or Pharisee-ish) Christians might see some value in it.

There are other, as I tend to say, "Pharisee-ish" positions I've seen that are incredibly irritating to me, including stands on scientific topics by people who admit they never did well in science classes. (Surprise, surprise!!) Some Christians get addicted to certain interpretations of the Bible that go well beyond any detail the Bible provides.

So I got into the habit of avoiding people and especially Christians. It wasn't a conscious decision when I thought: "I think starting today, I'm going to be a hermit." It just happened, although it does seem to raise the ire of Christians -- we're not supposed to be "loner Christians". I hear the excuses about how I should look past the misguided, sinful efforts of the sheep who come to church looking for...who knows what.

And I always say -- "If I don't have an excuse, neither does the church."

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com