Setting Things Straight Review

[I’m shown sitting at a desk, conflicted, while looking over some notes and sighing dejectedly.]

Gureepo: [Enters from another room.] Hey, Psi, Oniwa-Sama let me in and—[notices I don’t look the best and grimaces] What’s going on with you?

Me: [Looks up] Oh, Gureepo. Sorry. I was just… trying to look at some things and it’s… been a bit difficult.

Gureepo: [Walks up, one hand on her hip] What do you mean?

Me: It’s… well, with all that’s happened recently; I wanted to return to fanfiction reviews. But… I’ve been having a hard time finding one. Particularly because so many I’ve not had time to finish.

Gureepo: Well… what about a one-shot?

Me: [Thinks then pulls out one note] There is one, but… it’s a bit hard to swallow.

Gureepo: Please, I’m sure it can’t be that bad—

Me: It has a man using religion to denounce homosexuality as evil.

Gureepo: Ohh… like those picketing guys my sisters and I saw once.

Me: Well, no… [I get up] Not to that extent: he’s just a guy who happens to be both a traditionalist and religious. But… the fact remains that, putting aside some people think believing in a higher power means you must oppose homosexuality no matter what, sometimes even just mentioning those subjects is almost guaranteed to be a spark for a flame war.

Besides… some stuff in the fic kind of strikes a personal nerve for me.

Gureepo: I understand, but would it really be that bad? Besides, your obscurity might make things easier.

Me: Even so, I don’t want to end up offending people or causing trouble…

Gureepo: Still, isn’t a part of life about taking risks?

Me: Well… I guess you’re right. Okay, I’ll give it a shot; if you do it with me.

Gureepo: What?! Why me?

Me: Because you’re not a Christian, therefore we can get a balancing act.

Gureepo: [Sighs] Very well. Let’s do this.

Me: Perfect! [I sit down and pull up a chair] Have a seat.

Gureepo: [Sits down]

Me: Well, you heard it right, folks! I’m finally coming back with my fanfiction reviews. And today, we’re going to be dealing with my first negative review; albeit one that is more “had good promises” than actually bad.

Gureepo: And I’m here because… apparently, Psi needed a opposite.

Me: You’ll get it as you get to know humans more.

Anyway, this time we are focusing on The Loud House fanfic Setting Things Straight. Now, for some background; in the last season, the show unveiled L if for Love, a romance-based episode that had quite a famous scene—in it, one of the Loud Sisters, Luna, was revealed to not only be bisexual but to have had a crush on a girl.

Gureepo: Even though not much has come of it other than showing more of Luna’s character, there have been strong reactions to the scene, both positive and negative, in regards to what has happened. Of course, some of the criticism has been on moral grounds, which only add to the confusion here.

Me: Yes, and this is where Setting Things Straight comes into place. Now the main story here is that it takes about Luna meeting with her “uncle” Greg, a Christian Pastor who became a family friend after convincing a friend of Luna’s to keep on living after a suicide attempt.

Gureepo: Anyway, the main story itself is about Luna coming out to Greg and discussing with him about matters of homosexuality and his faith. The two talk and interact, and begin to bond a bit more.

Me: However… this is where my problem lies. You see, Greg himself takes the traditional “homosexuality is always a sin, absolutely no exceptions” route. And while he is far more loving, just trying to encourage Luna to do what God wants, I… still have a problem with how he presents it.

Gureepo: What do you mean?

Me: You see, when Greg mentions homosexuality and the Bible, he talks about the “Christian” way, as if he’s speaking for all Christians everywhere. Now, I’m not denying that many Christians are against same-sex relationships—heck, maybe even most are; I don’t know the demographics. But the fact remains that, like it or not, there are Christians who believe same-sex relationships are just as spiritually healthy as opposite-sex ones. Some believe that homosexuals should be allowed to be together, and some advocate for marriage equality as well!

Gureepo: But Psi, what about the verses that Greg mentioned? Surely they count for something.

Me: A fair point. After all, the Bible does condemn homosexuality many times, and I think Rev. Shirley Guthrie himself made a good argument not to assume the Bible supports gay marriage. However, we also need to remember that many verses also contradict one another, and many churches have also chosen what to decide how to interpret certain verses. After all, there is the classic John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son begotten Son, that whosoever believe in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Gureepo: Well, yeah, but that’s one of the most popular verses. What’s the point?

Me: The point is that many will say this means you only have this life to convert and Universal Salvation is not only impossible, it is a heresy altogether. However, the very next verse states, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." That can sound an awful lot like Universal Salvation since it sounds like faith in Jesus is not necessary for salvation as a whole. Of course, there are people who believe in Universal Salvation and believe everyone still needs to convert--they just believe it can happen in the afterlife and will happen to all eventually--but the fact remains that you can't ignore one verse simply so you can make a point about another.

There is interpreting a text, and then there is refusing to believe that you can be wrong about something you don’t understand completely. Moreover, acting as if the Bible has predetermined interpretations that verses must work around isn’t theology; it’s an unwillingness to admit that we don’t always know and can often lead to verses that do not immediately agree with those “predetermined interpretations” being pushed aside so the Bible can appear more simple than it really is.

Besides, there's the fact that King David once said his love for his friend Jonathan was deeper than that of any woman, which leads to the question of, "Is David referring to platonic or romantic love? Especially due to the views of love at this time."

Gureepo: I’ll give you that, and I’ll admit that what is popular is not necessarily right or unchangeable. But still, certainly what Greg here says is fine to Luna. I mean, it’s not like he is treating her as subhuman; merely telling her that he feels pursuing a romantic relationship with a girl is not healthy or what his God intended.

Me: That is a good point there, and it is for that reason why I do respect that Greg is being kind enough to try and discuss it that way. It is the same for a lot of Christians, and people in general, who don’t support the LGBT community; they don’t do it out of malice, but a genuine belief that it’s not right to indulge in those kinds of relationships and thoughts.

The problem I have though is that according to Greg, he is not saying he’s not speaking for himself or for people like him; he is speaking for Christians everywhere, or at least for the “true” Christians that “take the Bible seriously” and believe that either these interpretations of the Bible are correct, or that everything in the Bible is a lie. Regardless of his views, for him to say something like that is not only very arrogant, it goes against his talk about how Jesus criticized self-righteous religious figures because he himself is not willing to consider Luna’s views or the views of Christians who don’t agree with him.

Gureepo: While I do agree with this to an extent, in that Greg does seem to have a view that he can’t be argued with and never mentions other Christian viewpoints, I also have to admit that Greg is not as bad as that. Greg himself is merely speaking what he believes and never mentions or condemns the viewpoints of other Christians. At worst, Psi’s views are technically right; to Greg, what he says and believes is what all other Christians who truly love their enemies say and believe, other interpretations and denominations be damned!

On the other hand, Greg is not critical of Christians who do take that view that homosexuals aren’t always going against the Christian God’s commandments; he seems more ignorant, expecting all agree with him. The most we hear of this is when he mentions the… Uhh, let’s see here… [Shifts around some notes]

Me: [Whispers] Wh-What are you doing?

Gureepo: [Whispers] I need to find the name of the church.

Me: You didn’t look before! How did you not know?!

Gureepo: I got conscripted here, okay?!

Me: But you said you knew them before!

Gureepo: That was a little information.

Me: Ugh, here I’ll just tell you, it’s—

Gureepo: No, no! I can do this! [Continues to look around while I grumble. Eventually, she picks up something] [Out loud] Aha, here we go! So, Greg criticizes the Westbore Bapetist Church.

Me: It’s Westboro Baptist Church.

Gureepo: [Snidely] Will you be quiet? [Normal] Now, anyway, Greg only mentions them, and says that they aren’t real Christians because they don’t love others and instead condemn anyone who doesn’t hold up to their standards. If anything, Greg is just mentioning what he believes is right and is focusing on that exclusively. He’s not going out of his way to attack anyone who disagree with him, and even portrays Luna as really respectful and receptive--despite Luna, and apparently the Louds altogether, in this story presumably being largely secular.

Me: Fair enough; still, his claims about how all Christians would agree with him implies he either is ignorant at best, or has a view that either people agree with him or they go into one of two extremes. Either they are those who believe that because the Bible condemns homosexual behavior, it means homosexuals are subhuman and unworthy of love, or those that don't take the Bible seriously. Either one doesn’t make him look as good as he thinks, and it might indicate that Greg is unwilling to put himself in a position where he could be wrong.

Gureepo: I suppose that is fine. But still, what about the rest of the work?

Me: It’s… not the best either. Putting aside that Greg spends way too much time on the whole “choosing to be gay is sinful” view, he doesn’t really do anything else. He does give a comparison where he talks about how Christians who are against rock ‘n roll music are just doing the same thing—even if he himself likes it—and says that the problem is that some people believe in tearing others down when they should build them up.

Putting aside my problem that it’s… kind of confusing to see the analogy, I feel here Greg is being too lenient; we can talk all we want about how we’re trying to put in the right principles, show people the right way, but we also need to remember that the Bible doesn’t nicely put everything into perspective. It was written at a time when things like electricity, computing technology, and the scientific method weren’t around; so, saying things like “if it’s new, it must be bad” aren’t always the best views to let slide.

Along with that, I found the writing to be… really mediocre. It was pretty dull and dry, kind of cringey at some points, and it’s ultimately pretty amateurish at best. Some of the descriptions are nice, but they are pretty simple and altogether not really all that exciting. Besides, he spends paragraphs focusing on the same thing and it feels like he’s just trying to shoehorn in as much of his views as he can. Putting aside most of the talks are pretty standard Christian discussions, he really goes all around with his quotes and gets so anvilicious with his views, it hurts.

Gureepo: I do have to agree with that; regardless of personal beliefs or principles, Greg does not seem to grasp that sometimes, a criticism by Christian groups can just be unreasonable, just like any other groups. For instance: my sisters and I enjoy gardening—having trained as druids and all—yet there have been times where some fellow youma said that it was a useless hobby and we should focus on other, more "meaningful" pursuits. Sure, at the time the Dark Kingdom was in Antartica, where gardening isn't that practical, but since we visited community gardens in disguise when off the clock, we could do that kind of stuff just fine! Are we supposed to believe that they are okay simply because they might be "looking out for us" or is there a part of them that simply refuses to believe someone else's life or beliefs are okay?

Me: I would also add that there is the question of new things that help us, like vehicles, medicine, construction machines, and the like. None of those are mentioned in the Bible, and they’ve helped us in ways we’ve never imagined before! If there was a group, religious or not, proclaiming these to be evil, why should we assume that they might have a point? What about people like antinatalists? People who believe that one biological sex is closer to evil than the other? Supporters of the Great Chain of Being Doctrine?

There's also the problem that some people will criticize something on the basis that it's just something they don't like. For instance: I'm someone who likes the occasional foray into darker media, and as such enjoy works like Dark Heresy, The Second Apocalypse, and H. P. Lovecraft's stuff. But one thing I remember from my own family, or at least my parents, is that they felt if I was interested in this stuff meant there was something wrong with me and I needed to change. Despite not having tried any of it and just assuming that "dark" equals "evil" or "Satanic".

Simply being well-intentioned doesn’t mean that they get a free pass to do whatever they want, or for them to be given buckets of grace; nor does it mean that being "loving" automatically excuses unreasonable, self-centric behavior and an unwillingness to admit the possibility that maybe it's human bias and not the Holy Spirit. Especially when Greg himself states that Jesus got angry with holier-than-thou religious leaders. If Greg is going to argue that’s what Jesus would do, why is he suddenly being so passive with people who are acting that way?

Gureepo: Speaking of Greg himself, I have to admit… Greg felt really unrealistic. I mean I’m not an expert on pastors, but some of the stuff sounds like he’s patting himself on the back and he doesn’t really make mistakes. Like, he saves a girl from suicide, makes his way into the Loud Family’s hearts and becomes a surrogate family member, always keeps even-tempered and friendly with Luna no matter what, and in his presence she never questions or gets angry with him. She basically accepts whatever he says at face value and never asks questions, at worst saying she doesn’t like what he says but will take it into consideration.

Me: Yeah, plus the amount of praise Luna showers onto Greg makes it feel like he's more concerned with ego than with trying to make a good argument. Combine that with the fact that the writer’s actual username is lttlgreg and he admits Greg is a self-insert, and well… it feels like that a part of this was just to have himself be seen as an “awesome preacher who can’t be argued against!" and turns Greg in the story into something of a Gary Stu.

Gureepo: Luna’s portrayal isn’t the best either; while I haven’t seen much of the Loud House, Luna does seem to be pretty smart and it’s a little hard to believe she hasn’t even heard of Jesus when she lives in a country populated mostly by Christians. Besides that, in one episode I saw, Lana was shown praying, implying that the Louds did grow up in the faith or at least have regular access to it through Lana. Moreover, Luna never really asks Greg questions about, “What do Christians think of people who claim they’ve never chosen to be gay?” or “What about scientists who claim that sexual orientation isn’t always a choice?” She just… accepts whatever Greg says, to the point where it feels like if they were talking about something else, like the Earth being flat, Luna would just consider it a valid point and wouldn’t go any further. At most, she might say she “doesn’t like what he has to say” but other than that, she trusts Greg’s arguments to an almost sheep-like degree.

Me: Yeah, that is a problem; especially since there are those who believe that the Louds themselves are Catholics or at least Christians. I will be generous and admit that this could have been written before the episode aired, but it is strange to see Luna as being… almost ignorant of the basic ideas of Christianity, Western or not. This is especially jarring considering that the Louds in the story are portrayed as warm, loving, and willing to accept other viewpoints, so presumably that must have meant they came across someone besides Greg.

Due to this, it really makes Greg look like that he just wanted to make Luna look like an “ignorant heathen” who just doesn’t know who Jesus is or has even heard of Christianity. While there might be some people like that, and I will forgive Greg for not being aware of Catholic or Eastern Orthodox views of salvation and atonement, this is just confusing and insulting. It implies that those who don’t believe are completely ignorant of even the most basic views of Christianity, something that a lot of believers and non-believers would attest against.

Gureepo: It’s for this reason that I can’t say this is a really good fanfic. Sure, Greg speaking out and stating what he, and perhaps many people like him, believe is fine. But when it becomes just him rambling on and making Luna out to be just an naïve non-believer who is willing to accept everything, it makes me wonder if Greg truly interacts with people like Luna in real life. Or even people who disagree with him in general. Greg tries to make himself a paragon of love and virtue, but succeeds in portraying himself as a man who doesn’t want to get off his high horse while acting like he never was on one to begin with. At best, it makes Greg look inconsistent; at worst, it makes Greg look like he’s not in touch with reality.

I will give a pass to what he believes, simply because I am pretty ignorant myself about all the ins-and-outs of Christendom, but I will admit that a man who disregards or even refuses to learn about the views of others will not be able to convince others to share his own.

Me: I second that notion, and along with that I think that Greg falls into many pitfalls I’ve seen others amateur fanfiction writers fall into. His main characters is an author avatar who is seen as practically perfect by the Louds, or at least Luna, and he's always being given praise even though we never actually see him do anything praise-worthy.

While I think Greg’s heart was in the right place, and he does handle the situation much better than others, the fact still remains that he doesn’t try to empathize or understand Luna from his perspective. Basically, he might be more patient and kind with her than others, but at the end of the day, he wants Luna, and subsequently anyone who is associated with her in some way, to consider his views while he doesn’t even have to hear her own. What’s worse is that, with his portrayal of Luna, he shows that Luna is both someone who doesn’t want to agree with him and yet is unwilling to ask anything more than the most basic questions. At most, she just goes along with whatever he has to say and if she has any problems, it’s more of a personal issue of change instead of conflicts between traditionalist views/Biblical "inerrancy" and real-life findings.

For this reason, I can’t really recommend it either. It’s not the worst fanfiction I’ve ever read, but I do feel that not only did it take complex issues and make them insultingly simple, it feels almost like that Greg himself doesn’t even seem to know about life beyond his own home.

Gureepo: Well, that was… good, I think.

Me: Yeah, thanks for your help. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Gureepo: [Blushes slightly and giggles] Oh please, it was nothing. So, what do you want to do now?

Me: [Getting up] Well… I guess with all of this talk, I think it might be good to balance out this bad faith story with a good one.

Gureepo: [Gets up and starts to leave with me] Oh really, what were you thinking?

Me: Hmm… tell me; have you heard of The Last Temptation of Christ…