So Many Words, So Little Time
You'd think with the kids gone, my word count meter would be going through the roof. However, I woke up with the same headache that put me out of commission last night, and didn't get it under control until 1:30 this afternoon. I was browsing blogs this evening when it started coming back, so I decided to come here and blog before I die [I'm gonna take some ibuprofen, too, hoping to head it off at the pass.]
Let's see, I was going to tell you about the books I got at Borders last night, but my head blew up, so maybe I can get through it tonight.
I got a book by Norman Vincent Peale called Positive Imaging. Last night I was looking up links to stick under the names for your clicking enjoyment, and I found this horrid article about Dr. Peale. It was written by a group calling themselves Biblical Discernment Ministries. Discernment is defined as: (discernment)
noun: perception of that which is obscure
noun: the trait of judging wisely and objectively (Example: "A man of discernment")
noun: delicate discrimination (especially of aesthetic values)
noun: the cognitive condition of someone who understands
noun: ability to make good judgments [I swiped those definitions from here, a site I love dearly.]
In the article, it claims that Peale never talks about salvation, or about Jesus as the way to salvation and a bunch of other crap that, if you've read the book, you would find simply isn't true.
Nothing pisses me off more than people who lie, which is probably why I am losing confidence in the president, and in many Christian leaders. I mean come on, people. President Clinton was impeached because he couldn't keep his pants zipped. Our current president spied on thousands of e-mails, phone calls, and who knows what else, okayed the mistreatment of suspected [not proven] terrorists, and then lied about it until he couldn't deny it anymore.
Why is it so evil for one president to have sex in the oval office that he has to be impeached [no, it wasn't okay that he did it, but the people he hurt were his own family.]? But it's okay for a president to invade the privacy of thousands of people in the name of fighting terrorism, and completely violate the Constitution in the process by ignoring the checks and balances that make our government at least marginally better than most? I mean he wrote an executive order that said he didn't have to get a court order to monitor the calls. Why? In all the years they've been getting secret warrants, the court has only turned the pres. down maybe three times.
I feel like the president is using horrid scare tactics to convince us that it's okay for him to ignore the Constitution in the name of the 'war on terror.'
Oh yeah, back to the article on Dr. Peale. What's up with that? I mean how many conservative Christians have completely trashed a person based on what they 'heard' about someone. I've had friends tell me that JK Rowling is a Satanist and has written other books with satanic messages. And that her Harry Potter books promote witchcraft.
Puh-lease! People, don't believe everything you hear! Not only that, but if you don't have the time to research stuff, don't freaking pass it on like it's gospel! I've read all of the Harry Potter books, and I can tell you that the Witchcraft and Wizardry you find in Ms. Rowling's books bears almost no resemblance to real Wiccan rituals. It seems like my fellow Christians freak out at the drop of the hat and see everything as a personal attack on their religion.
Christianity has been around for 2000 years. It has changed some [sometimes good, sometimes bad, and unfortunately the bad is way more visible] but, in the end, if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and you follow what he taught, I'd say that counts. However, it seems like Christians have focused on the salvation part [believing that Jesus is the Son of God] and not so much on the 'following His teachings' part.
You know the part about taking care of the orphans, widows, and prisoners? The part about loving your neighbor as yourself [note that he didn't say more than or less than yourself, just as. I think that means "as much as," or "at the same time as" you love yourself. You really do have to take care of yourself and do the things that keep you healthy to be an effective person. But some have begun to focus only on themselves and forgotten to love others too. Others have forgotten to take care of themselves. Neither extreme is healthy, nor is it what Jesus wanted.]
I saw on the History Channel the other night that there may have been a Gospel of Mary [Magdalene]. What archaeologists found in it was that Mary was trying to tell the male disciples that Jesus had told her some things after his resurrection that he didn't share with the men.
That sounds like all kinds of heresy, I know, but here's the thing. She said that he told her not to focus so much on the salvation part and more on the teachings part of Jesus's ministry. My brain says this makes perfect sense. Of course he would tell the woman focus more on his other teachings, since we're the nurturers, and she was probably supposed to remind the men of the other half of our mission. And it's natural that the men would focus less on the caregiving and more on getting people saved.
But I think Jesus intended for both parts to be exercised equally, maybe even with more focus on taking care of the weak than "getting them saved." Christians have been spouting sayings for years about this, "They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." And, "Don't be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good."
I'm still thinking about all this stuff [the previous was just a thumbnail of all the various topics that have been rolling around up there... hey, maybe that's why I got the headache from hell yesterday!]. It's like my whole life is in the midst of an overhaul, and I'm still not sure exactly where it is I'm heading. A little disconcerting, I'll tell you that right now. I keep joking to Hubby that I'm becoming a freaking Liberal. He just shakes his head [He does that a lot. He doesn't back away in fear of the lightning strike anymore, so I figure I'm making some progress!!]
Yeah, so anyway, I'm sorry for griping around the world tonight, but it's been brewing for a while. Let me know if I made any sense, though, okay?
Until tomorrow, then.
Let's see, I was going to tell you about the books I got at Borders last night, but my head blew up, so maybe I can get through it tonight.
I got a book by Norman Vincent Peale called Positive Imaging. Last night I was looking up links to stick under the names for your clicking enjoyment, and I found this horrid article about Dr. Peale. It was written by a group calling themselves Biblical Discernment Ministries. Discernment is defined as: (discernment)
noun: perception of that which is obscure
noun: the trait of judging wisely and objectively (Example: "A man of discernment")
noun: delicate discrimination (especially of aesthetic values)
noun: the cognitive condition of someone who understands
noun: ability to make good judgments [I swiped those definitions from here, a site I love dearly.]
In the article, it claims that Peale never talks about salvation, or about Jesus as the way to salvation and a bunch of other crap that, if you've read the book, you would find simply isn't true.
Nothing pisses me off more than people who lie, which is probably why I am losing confidence in the president, and in many Christian leaders. I mean come on, people. President Clinton was impeached because he couldn't keep his pants zipped. Our current president spied on thousands of e-mails, phone calls, and who knows what else, okayed the mistreatment of suspected [not proven] terrorists, and then lied about it until he couldn't deny it anymore.
Why is it so evil for one president to have sex in the oval office that he has to be impeached [no, it wasn't okay that he did it, but the people he hurt were his own family.]? But it's okay for a president to invade the privacy of thousands of people in the name of fighting terrorism, and completely violate the Constitution in the process by ignoring the checks and balances that make our government at least marginally better than most? I mean he wrote an executive order that said he didn't have to get a court order to monitor the calls. Why? In all the years they've been getting secret warrants, the court has only turned the pres. down maybe three times.
I feel like the president is using horrid scare tactics to convince us that it's okay for him to ignore the Constitution in the name of the 'war on terror.'
Oh yeah, back to the article on Dr. Peale. What's up with that? I mean how many conservative Christians have completely trashed a person based on what they 'heard' about someone. I've had friends tell me that JK Rowling is a Satanist and has written other books with satanic messages. And that her Harry Potter books promote witchcraft.
Puh-lease! People, don't believe everything you hear! Not only that, but if you don't have the time to research stuff, don't freaking pass it on like it's gospel! I've read all of the Harry Potter books, and I can tell you that the Witchcraft and Wizardry you find in Ms. Rowling's books bears almost no resemblance to real Wiccan rituals. It seems like my fellow Christians freak out at the drop of the hat and see everything as a personal attack on their religion.
Christianity has been around for 2000 years. It has changed some [sometimes good, sometimes bad, and unfortunately the bad is way more visible] but, in the end, if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and you follow what he taught, I'd say that counts. However, it seems like Christians have focused on the salvation part [believing that Jesus is the Son of God] and not so much on the 'following His teachings' part.
You know the part about taking care of the orphans, widows, and prisoners? The part about loving your neighbor as yourself [note that he didn't say more than or less than yourself, just as. I think that means "as much as," or "at the same time as" you love yourself. You really do have to take care of yourself and do the things that keep you healthy to be an effective person. But some have begun to focus only on themselves and forgotten to love others too. Others have forgotten to take care of themselves. Neither extreme is healthy, nor is it what Jesus wanted.]
I saw on the History Channel the other night that there may have been a Gospel of Mary [Magdalene]. What archaeologists found in it was that Mary was trying to tell the male disciples that Jesus had told her some things after his resurrection that he didn't share with the men.
That sounds like all kinds of heresy, I know, but here's the thing. She said that he told her not to focus so much on the salvation part and more on the teachings part of Jesus's ministry. My brain says this makes perfect sense. Of course he would tell the woman focus more on his other teachings, since we're the nurturers, and she was probably supposed to remind the men of the other half of our mission. And it's natural that the men would focus less on the caregiving and more on getting people saved.
But I think Jesus intended for both parts to be exercised equally, maybe even with more focus on taking care of the weak than "getting them saved." Christians have been spouting sayings for years about this, "They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." And, "Don't be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good."
I'm still thinking about all this stuff [the previous was just a thumbnail of all the various topics that have been rolling around up there... hey, maybe that's why I got the headache from hell yesterday!]. It's like my whole life is in the midst of an overhaul, and I'm still not sure exactly where it is I'm heading. A little disconcerting, I'll tell you that right now. I keep joking to Hubby that I'm becoming a freaking Liberal. He just shakes his head [He does that a lot. He doesn't back away in fear of the lightning strike anymore, so I figure I'm making some progress!!]
Yeah, so anyway, I'm sorry for griping around the world tonight, but it's been brewing for a while. Let me know if I made any sense, though, okay?
Until tomorrow, then.
posted by Shelbi | 1:12 AM
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