Tuesday, April 06, 2004
A Question
I'm entirely uninspired for blogging, both yesterday and today. Even Jimmy stealing my idea, and Javier leaning in that direction too, doesn't inspire any humor.
I do, however, have a question. One of my students wants to know who pays for refugees to come to the U.S. There are 10,000 Hmong coming together this summer from a Thai refugee camp - I assume they aren't individually sponsored. I said I thought that refugees are sometimes personally sponsored by Americans, but even then, who pays for their flight and travel and resettlement expenses? Does anyone know? (I know, I know, you're thinking my students are conservative because they're concerned about who's paying for these immigrants who are going to come here and NOT SPEAK ENGLISH!!). The woman who asked the question is curious and thoughtful, and I want to give her a good answer.
As compensation to whoever can answer it correctly, I will give a fantastic compliment.
I'm entirely uninspired for blogging, both yesterday and today. Even Jimmy stealing my idea, and Javier leaning in that direction too, doesn't inspire any humor.
I do, however, have a question. One of my students wants to know who pays for refugees to come to the U.S. There are 10,000 Hmong coming together this summer from a Thai refugee camp - I assume they aren't individually sponsored. I said I thought that refugees are sometimes personally sponsored by Americans, but even then, who pays for their flight and travel and resettlement expenses? Does anyone know? (I know, I know, you're thinking my students are conservative because they're concerned about who's paying for these immigrants who are going to come here and NOT SPEAK ENGLISH!!). The woman who asked the question is curious and thoughtful, and I want to give her a good answer.
As compensation to whoever can answer it correctly, I will give a fantastic compliment.
Monday, April 05, 2004
New blog!
Sorry, no time to blog today. Why? Because I've discovered a new ground-breaking blog and I'm thinking about each thought expressed in it, and find that this is taking up my entire day. Step right up! Step right up! See a man blogging without a platform!
Sorry, no time to blog today. Why? Because I've discovered a new ground-breaking blog and I'm thinking about each thought expressed in it, and find that this is taking up my entire day. Step right up! Step right up! See a man blogging without a platform!
Friday, April 02, 2004
Day of Love
I've declared today to be a Day of Love. To celebrate, try to give and receive all the love you can today. My two first efforts toward that end:
1. I love the people in my small group, and we're meeting tonight. I'm going to bring "Better than Nose-Picking Appetizers."
2. I decided to dedicate our "DELIGHTFUL" poem to Dustin and Laura in honor of their engagement. Here's our poem:
DELIGHTFUL
Daisies and lilacs are lovely
Exactly what I wanted
Living out their days oblivious to their own needs
Ignoring the whims of human life
Growing along as though all that matters is the growing
Honoring both sunshine and rain with equal joy
Tended not, yet beautiful beyond measure
Full of hope, full of life, full of love
Understanding not what they bring to the world
Lingering on, long after life is gone.
Goodness gracious, that's one blogarific poem! Keep posted - we'll write something else together next week.
I've declared today to be a Day of Love. To celebrate, try to give and receive all the love you can today. My two first efforts toward that end:
1. I love the people in my small group, and we're meeting tonight. I'm going to bring "Better than Nose-Picking Appetizers."
2. I decided to dedicate our "DELIGHTFUL" poem to Dustin and Laura in honor of their engagement. Here's our poem:
DELIGHTFUL
Daisies and lilacs are lovely
Exactly what I wanted
Living out their days oblivious to their own needs
Ignoring the whims of human life
Growing along as though all that matters is the growing
Honoring both sunshine and rain with equal joy
Tended not, yet beautiful beyond measure
Full of hope, full of life, full of love
Understanding not what they bring to the world
Lingering on, long after life is gone.
Goodness gracious, that's one blogarific poem! Keep posted - we'll write something else together next week.
Thursday, April 01, 2004
Let's write a poem
Let's write a poem together, people. It will be an acrostic poem structured around the word "DELIGHTFUL." Please add a line of poetry corresponding with the proper letter in the comments section. I'll begin with "D".
I'll print the whole poem tomorrow. Feel free to do more than one line if we don't have enough willing participants!
Let's write a poem together, people. It will be an acrostic poem structured around the word "DELIGHTFUL." Please add a line of poetry corresponding with the proper letter in the comments section. I'll begin with "D".
I'll print the whole poem tomorrow. Feel free to do more than one line if we don't have enough willing participants!
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Always sex, all the time
"Is this cake really better than sex?" I spent last evening talking about sex with another professor and a group of students, and "Better than Sex Cake" was served. A stupid, stupid name for a recipe. I could ponder whether sleep is better than sex, or constipation relief, but not cake. I love college students. There were women at our gathering last night who were so centered in themselves, intellectually curious, and willing to be different. It made me glad to be part of their academic journey.
I'm hoping to go talk about sex with Porch people on Saturday. There is no end to talking about sex with Christians who finally realize it's OK to talk about it.
I told the college students about the women linked on my blog, both from the Porch and elsewhere. It seems that women's voices are somewhat different on blogs than in publication. By reading a blog, I see a woman's perspective changing over time, from intellectual to funny, from personal to political, from rational to emotional. In publications, it is almost always the rational, intellectual, and external "stage voice" that is heard. On a blog, more of the whole person is revealed. It's sad that, most of the time, the process of publication screens out so much of an author's humanity. I hope my students will start reading women's blogs, to get a better vision of how strong women sustain their lives in the church. The students said they want to be part of the church, and have already experienced silencing, marginalization, gender-based restrictions, and minimizing, and fully expect all of this to continue in their faith journies. They accept it because they love the Lord and love the church, but it just makes me furious. It's encouraging for me, too, to read about how other women cope and sometimes even thrive.
College Students Say the Darndest Things
Overheard in my Race, Ethnicity, and Peacemaking class: "I liked this book, even though it was about racism."
Oh, for cute!
I walked out onto my porch this morning and called out to a robin. "Hey, fat robin, I see you!" I thought about how the robin's big breast might taste like a chicken breast. Then I let Ruby out to chase the robin, and possibly eat it.
"Is this cake really better than sex?" I spent last evening talking about sex with another professor and a group of students, and "Better than Sex Cake" was served. A stupid, stupid name for a recipe. I could ponder whether sleep is better than sex, or constipation relief, but not cake. I love college students. There were women at our gathering last night who were so centered in themselves, intellectually curious, and willing to be different. It made me glad to be part of their academic journey.
I'm hoping to go talk about sex with Porch people on Saturday. There is no end to talking about sex with Christians who finally realize it's OK to talk about it.
I told the college students about the women linked on my blog, both from the Porch and elsewhere. It seems that women's voices are somewhat different on blogs than in publication. By reading a blog, I see a woman's perspective changing over time, from intellectual to funny, from personal to political, from rational to emotional. In publications, it is almost always the rational, intellectual, and external "stage voice" that is heard. On a blog, more of the whole person is revealed. It's sad that, most of the time, the process of publication screens out so much of an author's humanity. I hope my students will start reading women's blogs, to get a better vision of how strong women sustain their lives in the church. The students said they want to be part of the church, and have already experienced silencing, marginalization, gender-based restrictions, and minimizing, and fully expect all of this to continue in their faith journies. They accept it because they love the Lord and love the church, but it just makes me furious. It's encouraging for me, too, to read about how other women cope and sometimes even thrive.
College Students Say the Darndest Things
Overheard in my Race, Ethnicity, and Peacemaking class: "I liked this book, even though it was about racism."
Oh, for cute!
I walked out onto my porch this morning and called out to a robin. "Hey, fat robin, I see you!" I thought about how the robin's big breast might taste like a chicken breast. Then I let Ruby out to chase the robin, and possibly eat it.
Monday, March 29, 2004
I Like KP's BF
I know my absence was hard for many of you, but I'm back now. Someone suggested that it is good to play 'hard to get' - to not always be available, but that's not my style. My chosen style led to a hurtful parental insult that still plays in my mind - Jenell is "overeager with the boys." Is this better or worse than Naomi being an "overlaugher?" It feels worse, but then I'm not the overlaugher.
Welcome to Pete and Rus, two new strangers who for whatever reason want to read this blog! Rus makes kind comments to women on their blogs, so he's a good guy to have around. Pete and I have a a pleasant blog relationship, though he works about 1000 feet away from me at Bethel. Is our connection meant only for cyberspace? I'm worried that it will be spoiled if I walk down the hall and say 'hello' to him. Feel free to offer advice on this if you have some.
Do you have more money than you know what to do with? I know exactly what you mean. I look under my mattress and ask myself regularly, "What am I going to do with all this money?" Here's a suggestion - give some to the Missing GRACE foundation. I went to their dead baby conference this weekend (they call it a "stillborn/infertility/adoption conference"). It was healing. I only heard one or two stupid Christian platitudes - remarkable when death is in the room! It was straightforward talk about grief, restoration, medical care, options, etc. The dominant perspective on God seemed to be that bad things happen for inexplicable reasons, but we can be with God through them - He welcomes our intimacy when we are mad, sad, accusatory, weak, or in any other state. I learned alot about stillbirth, in vitro, and adoption -- issues related to my situation but that I don't know very much about. It was also a comfort to be in a setting where every woman had a dead baby - no one needed to feel like a specially cursed freak, because everyone was in the same situation.
I have two other good links. Naomi reminded me of this article abotu women in ministry. It's good in itself, but better with the comments that follow. I don't know much about women's experiences in emergent, so I don't know how strongly it relates to that specific area of the church, but it puts words to the frustrating processes that exclude women's giftedness from full expression in the church.
The other one is a Kathleen Norris article about Mary (thanks to Ted at CT). I put it here mostly for Laura Towle, but anyone who wants to reflect on Jesus' mother during Lent could read it.
Final reflections on the quality of my marriage.
Has your husband ever called you a dumb-ass? Before 7 am? It was a helpful insight for me this morning. I learn weight-lifting by imitating people who look like they know what they're doing at the gym. I did a move on Saturday that involved lifting with my back, which has caused quite a mid-back strain. I thought it was working my arms, but when I showed it to James, he said, "Honey, you're a dumb-ass. That is straining your back, not working your arms." Maybe I need to read about weight-lifting instead of imitating strangers at the gym.
I know my absence was hard for many of you, but I'm back now. Someone suggested that it is good to play 'hard to get' - to not always be available, but that's not my style. My chosen style led to a hurtful parental insult that still plays in my mind - Jenell is "overeager with the boys." Is this better or worse than Naomi being an "overlaugher?" It feels worse, but then I'm not the overlaugher.
Welcome to Pete and Rus, two new strangers who for whatever reason want to read this blog! Rus makes kind comments to women on their blogs, so he's a good guy to have around. Pete and I have a a pleasant blog relationship, though he works about 1000 feet away from me at Bethel. Is our connection meant only for cyberspace? I'm worried that it will be spoiled if I walk down the hall and say 'hello' to him. Feel free to offer advice on this if you have some.
Do you have more money than you know what to do with? I know exactly what you mean. I look under my mattress and ask myself regularly, "What am I going to do with all this money?" Here's a suggestion - give some to the Missing GRACE foundation. I went to their dead baby conference this weekend (they call it a "stillborn/infertility/adoption conference"). It was healing. I only heard one or two stupid Christian platitudes - remarkable when death is in the room! It was straightforward talk about grief, restoration, medical care, options, etc. The dominant perspective on God seemed to be that bad things happen for inexplicable reasons, but we can be with God through them - He welcomes our intimacy when we are mad, sad, accusatory, weak, or in any other state. I learned alot about stillbirth, in vitro, and adoption -- issues related to my situation but that I don't know very much about. It was also a comfort to be in a setting where every woman had a dead baby - no one needed to feel like a specially cursed freak, because everyone was in the same situation.
I have two other good links. Naomi reminded me of this article abotu women in ministry. It's good in itself, but better with the comments that follow. I don't know much about women's experiences in emergent, so I don't know how strongly it relates to that specific area of the church, but it puts words to the frustrating processes that exclude women's giftedness from full expression in the church.
The other one is a Kathleen Norris article about Mary (thanks to Ted at CT). I put it here mostly for Laura Towle, but anyone who wants to reflect on Jesus' mother during Lent could read it.
Final reflections on the quality of my marriage.
Has your husband ever called you a dumb-ass? Before 7 am? It was a helpful insight for me this morning. I learn weight-lifting by imitating people who look like they know what they're doing at the gym. I did a move on Saturday that involved lifting with my back, which has caused quite a mid-back strain. I thought it was working my arms, but when I showed it to James, he said, "Honey, you're a dumb-ass. That is straining your back, not working your arms." Maybe I need to read about weight-lifting instead of imitating strangers at the gym.
Friday, March 26, 2004
Life without blogging
I explored what life might be like without blogging, involuntarily. My computer broke down, and while I could tell you the whole story, it is just as boring as you suspect it might be. Life without a computer opened up quite a bit of time for me. I do have a computer at Bethel, but I vowed to avoid my office this week. I read more, I visited the Humane Society (I sit on the floor in the cat room and watch cats live their lives), I watched Chuck Norris give his testimony on TBN, and I walked in the woods near my house. A pleasant Spring Break. But I missed you all, so I'm glad to be back in the blog-iverse.
I started The Sacred Journey, and am enjoying it. I don't really understand how a family that is barely making it financially still has servants, but that must be an idiosyncracy of white life in the East during the 1930s. I am eager to read of how he becomes aware of the Lord seeking him - haven't gotten that far yet.
I've nearly finished Return to Nisa. She is an old woman now, reflecting on her life. All of her children died, and so did her husband, and that is her greatest regret. One of my favorite aspects of !Kung culture is that the !Kung are a highly cooperative and egalitarian culture, so they accuse each other of stinginess all the time. The accusations of stinginess create social norms for sharing (to avoid the accusations). The anthropologist shows up after two decades, and Nisa says, "You left and never came back. I will die alone here without you. What did you bring me?" I think it's similar to the way we debase and shame the poor - it strengthens the social norm for private property and wealth accumulation. Marjorie Shostak, the author, is going to die of breast cancer by the time the book ends.
I see reality all around me today. Nisa lost her entire family to various illnesses and lives with grief, but she does, in fact live. Marjorie Shostak kept learning about the world and its women even during her demise. Frederick Buechner spends decades reflecting on his father's suicide, and becomes more human and more loving for dwelling on such sadness. Nubby, a mangy cat at the humane society, is missing both ear tips and half his tail, probably to hypothermia. Despite impaired balance, he plays with a ball and trots around as if he is just as beautiful as the able-bodied cats. And, this morning, I see lilacs, roses (thanks to Marlene and Mary), daffodils, and rhubarb sprouting in my yard. I thought winter might do us all in, but here we all are again in the spring. We who survive grow in the humus made of those who die, and someday we will become humus for others.
I explored what life might be like without blogging, involuntarily. My computer broke down, and while I could tell you the whole story, it is just as boring as you suspect it might be. Life without a computer opened up quite a bit of time for me. I do have a computer at Bethel, but I vowed to avoid my office this week. I read more, I visited the Humane Society (I sit on the floor in the cat room and watch cats live their lives), I watched Chuck Norris give his testimony on TBN, and I walked in the woods near my house. A pleasant Spring Break. But I missed you all, so I'm glad to be back in the blog-iverse.
I started The Sacred Journey, and am enjoying it. I don't really understand how a family that is barely making it financially still has servants, but that must be an idiosyncracy of white life in the East during the 1930s. I am eager to read of how he becomes aware of the Lord seeking him - haven't gotten that far yet.
I've nearly finished Return to Nisa. She is an old woman now, reflecting on her life. All of her children died, and so did her husband, and that is her greatest regret. One of my favorite aspects of !Kung culture is that the !Kung are a highly cooperative and egalitarian culture, so they accuse each other of stinginess all the time. The accusations of stinginess create social norms for sharing (to avoid the accusations). The anthropologist shows up after two decades, and Nisa says, "You left and never came back. I will die alone here without you. What did you bring me?" I think it's similar to the way we debase and shame the poor - it strengthens the social norm for private property and wealth accumulation. Marjorie Shostak, the author, is going to die of breast cancer by the time the book ends.
I see reality all around me today. Nisa lost her entire family to various illnesses and lives with grief, but she does, in fact live. Marjorie Shostak kept learning about the world and its women even during her demise. Frederick Buechner spends decades reflecting on his father's suicide, and becomes more human and more loving for dwelling on such sadness. Nubby, a mangy cat at the humane society, is missing both ear tips and half his tail, probably to hypothermia. Despite impaired balance, he plays with a ball and trots around as if he is just as beautiful as the able-bodied cats. And, this morning, I see lilacs, roses (thanks to Marlene and Mary), daffodils, and rhubarb sprouting in my yard. I thought winter might do us all in, but here we all are again in the spring. We who survive grow in the humus made of those who die, and someday we will become humus for others.
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
And the Lord said, "Can I find just two good women in the land?"
Kathleen Norris. Her husband, David Dwyer, died last October from respiratory problems. She writes about their relationship in Amazing Grace. He struggled with physical health and severe depression over and over, and it was hard for their marriage. She writes about this, and about how she discovered Christianity and pursued it, but he didn't. She said that other Christians thought this 'unequal yoking' would be very hard for her. She said that Christianity is all about loving people more, and wouldn't that be good for her marriage? She said she became a more loving person, and more accepting of him, because of her faith, and so Christianity was a blessing for their life together. How sad that death has parted them. He was a poet, but I couldn't find much of his writing on-line. Here's one poem about war.
And if she's not a great public speaker, what do I care? (of course, I'm not the one who spent good money to have her come to a conference!). I am easily tempted to play a role and enjoy the spotlight when I speak in public. It's hard to have integrity in both public and private - to be the same person regardless of venue. It's encouraging to hear of someone who seems unable to play roles for an audience - maybe she's just the same person, regardless of whether that persona is effective in a particular context.
Marjorie Shostak. She wrote Nisa, a life story ethnography about a !Kung woman from Botswana. The !Kung are the hunter-gatherer people in southern Africa of "The Gods Must be Crazy" fame. Marjorie was a late 1960s feminist, and went to the most extremely different culture still present in our world to discover the universal bonds that tie all women together in ur-solidarity. She found, of course, that women are very different from each other, and that while she has much in common with Nisa, they also have insurmountable cultural differences between them.
Fourteen years after her first fieldwork, Marjorie developed breast cancer, while still breastfeeding her third child. She had a compelling urge to go back to spend time with the !Kung, and so she went to Botswana for a month. This is written up in Return to Nisa, a lovely book I'm reading now. This is a better feminism than The Secret Life of Bees. It's about women as they really are, in their cultures and with their men and families. I'll write more as I keep reading.
Self-interested question of the day: Have you read an anthropology book that you really liked (an ethnography about another culture)? Can you even remember what you read in Anthropology 101? I'm looking for a compelling, well-written ethnography to use next fall in Intro to Anthro. Last year I used a terrible book about the Nuer. I may use Return to Nisa, but what have you read?
Second self-interested question: If I were to read Buechner (don't get too excited, Jimmy, it's just an 'if'!), where should I begin?
Kathleen Norris. Her husband, David Dwyer, died last October from respiratory problems. She writes about their relationship in Amazing Grace. He struggled with physical health and severe depression over and over, and it was hard for their marriage. She writes about this, and about how she discovered Christianity and pursued it, but he didn't. She said that other Christians thought this 'unequal yoking' would be very hard for her. She said that Christianity is all about loving people more, and wouldn't that be good for her marriage? She said she became a more loving person, and more accepting of him, because of her faith, and so Christianity was a blessing for their life together. How sad that death has parted them. He was a poet, but I couldn't find much of his writing on-line. Here's one poem about war.
And if she's not a great public speaker, what do I care? (of course, I'm not the one who spent good money to have her come to a conference!). I am easily tempted to play a role and enjoy the spotlight when I speak in public. It's hard to have integrity in both public and private - to be the same person regardless of venue. It's encouraging to hear of someone who seems unable to play roles for an audience - maybe she's just the same person, regardless of whether that persona is effective in a particular context.
Marjorie Shostak. She wrote Nisa, a life story ethnography about a !Kung woman from Botswana. The !Kung are the hunter-gatherer people in southern Africa of "The Gods Must be Crazy" fame. Marjorie was a late 1960s feminist, and went to the most extremely different culture still present in our world to discover the universal bonds that tie all women together in ur-solidarity. She found, of course, that women are very different from each other, and that while she has much in common with Nisa, they also have insurmountable cultural differences between them.
Fourteen years after her first fieldwork, Marjorie developed breast cancer, while still breastfeeding her third child. She had a compelling urge to go back to spend time with the !Kung, and so she went to Botswana for a month. This is written up in Return to Nisa, a lovely book I'm reading now. This is a better feminism than The Secret Life of Bees. It's about women as they really are, in their cultures and with their men and families. I'll write more as I keep reading.
Self-interested question of the day: Have you read an anthropology book that you really liked (an ethnography about another culture)? Can you even remember what you read in Anthropology 101? I'm looking for a compelling, well-written ethnography to use next fall in Intro to Anthro. Last year I used a terrible book about the Nuer. I may use Return to Nisa, but what have you read?
Second self-interested question: If I were to read Buechner (don't get too excited, Jimmy, it's just an 'if'!), where should I begin?
Monday, March 22, 2004
A Dream, a Book, and Opal
Dream.
I enjoy reading about Anna's dreams (not sure if I'm supposed to link to her or not so I won't). I've been working on my subconscious in therapy, and it's changed my dreams. The other night, in my dream, I was a small faithful Christian. Two large accusers came and shouted at me, "God doesn't love you. Just look at Daniel 3. If he loved you, he wouldn't have killed your babies." I said, with both fear and confidence like the guy in Pilgrim's Progress, "God's presence is with me and with my babies. He loves us and is with us whether we live or die. God's love covers the living and the dead."
It was a blessing of a dream. The spiritual landscape I was taught as a child is surfacing. Characters, colors (mostly racialized, unfortunately), places, scriptures, and words squeeze through cracks in my consciousness. Even things that I would say I no longer believe still live in my imagination. Fascinating.
Book. I finished The Secret Life of Bees this morning. I really liked it, except for the feminist parts about women's unique spiritual power and women clutching each other, mothering each other, sharing womyn's incredible knowledge and insight, and enjoying their naked bodies in a nonsexual way. Hooey. I prefer stories about men and women finding God and finding themselves together, as life really is.
Opal. Without my knowledge, Opal learned Irish dancing and was practicing it on my sleeping body last week during the night. The cats are now banned from our bedroom entirely at night. I said to James, "It's like sleeping in a hotel!" We both are sleeping better than we have for three years. But to Opal I say, "I'm sorry. It's all James' idea." Ruby doesn't really care about it one way or the other.
I'm going to do some stalking today - try to learn about Kathleen Norris' husband's death. Kathleen Norris. Kathleen Norris. Kathleen Norris. Maybe if I write her name many times, she'll find my blog next time she googles herself. Then she can know how much I love her. Tell me who you're in love with right now, in a foolish "I love you and all your ideas" kind of way. Your intellectual, theological, or literary heartthrobs at the moment.
Dream.
I enjoy reading about Anna's dreams (not sure if I'm supposed to link to her or not so I won't). I've been working on my subconscious in therapy, and it's changed my dreams. The other night, in my dream, I was a small faithful Christian. Two large accusers came and shouted at me, "God doesn't love you. Just look at Daniel 3. If he loved you, he wouldn't have killed your babies." I said, with both fear and confidence like the guy in Pilgrim's Progress, "God's presence is with me and with my babies. He loves us and is with us whether we live or die. God's love covers the living and the dead."
It was a blessing of a dream. The spiritual landscape I was taught as a child is surfacing. Characters, colors (mostly racialized, unfortunately), places, scriptures, and words squeeze through cracks in my consciousness. Even things that I would say I no longer believe still live in my imagination. Fascinating.
Book. I finished The Secret Life of Bees this morning. I really liked it, except for the feminist parts about women's unique spiritual power and women clutching each other, mothering each other, sharing womyn's incredible knowledge and insight, and enjoying their naked bodies in a nonsexual way. Hooey. I prefer stories about men and women finding God and finding themselves together, as life really is.
Opal. Without my knowledge, Opal learned Irish dancing and was practicing it on my sleeping body last week during the night. The cats are now banned from our bedroom entirely at night. I said to James, "It's like sleeping in a hotel!" We both are sleeping better than we have for three years. But to Opal I say, "I'm sorry. It's all James' idea." Ruby doesn't really care about it one way or the other.
I'm going to do some stalking today - try to learn about Kathleen Norris' husband's death. Kathleen Norris. Kathleen Norris. Kathleen Norris. Maybe if I write her name many times, she'll find my blog next time she googles herself. Then she can know how much I love her. Tell me who you're in love with right now, in a foolish "I love you and all your ideas" kind of way. Your intellectual, theological, or literary heartthrobs at the moment.
Friday, March 19, 2004
Spring-break-irific!
I declared Spring Break for myself last night, one day before it officially begins at school. People everywhere, get yourself a job that includes Spring Break!
I consulted with a Bible scholar yesterday (Mike Holmes, the preacher at the memorial service), and he added to my arguments against marriage of the spirit. He said that the Romans didn't record the weddings of the non-citizens, poor, and marginal. There were no legal weddings for Jews, so the Jews had their own public, communal wedding ceremonies. It's only been a few hundred years that church and state weddings have overlapped as they do in the U.S. More often, the church has its own wedding procedures that the state may or may not record or observe. Christianity has always considered marriage to be a public act that is part of a broader community - marriage of the spirit is probably not what Jesus or Paul were referring to when they spoke of "fulfillment of the law" and "letter v. spirit of the law." And, of course Robert Buck is right - this is all an argument about sex, more than it is even about marriage.
Rachel wrote wonderful comments about marriage, children, sex, and longing. My colleague Lisa McMinn (sociology at Wheaton) wrote a new book titled "Sexuality and Holy Longing." It's like "Sex for Christians", but better. Really, I just like the title. She says intimate desire is never perfectly fulfilled - the area of sexuality and intimate relationships is part of our lives where everyone experiences both deep longing and deep disappointment (though some people much more than others). Part of human experience is longing for completion, for redemption, and living our entire lives without it, or just with glimpses of it. She sees both the goodness of God's creation and its brokenness everywhere, rather than splitting things into "singleness - bad", "marriage - good."
I'm not writing this to patronize single people, but to encourage myself. I see such a long road ahead of James and I, no matter what the outcome. Along with peoples' affection that is focused on us (cards, food, love, etc.), it is a deep encouragement simply to live life with others who also long for the good gifts of God and live without. There are long roads ahead of many of us, and to me, this feels like solidarity. The suffering is not a gift, and I'd take it away from myself or any of you if I could, but I'm also grateful that God gives us perspective, solidarity, friendship, and grace as we suffer. And sometimes we can receive His gifts with even more gratitude because we're so desperate for anything good to hold in our hands.
Question for the day: Did you go to the Emergent conference? What happened with Kathleen Norris? Someone else's blog (forgot whose) implied that people didn't like her. I love her. She is writer-rific, blog-irific, and she should be emergent-rific.
I declared Spring Break for myself last night, one day before it officially begins at school. People everywhere, get yourself a job that includes Spring Break!
I consulted with a Bible scholar yesterday (Mike Holmes, the preacher at the memorial service), and he added to my arguments against marriage of the spirit. He said that the Romans didn't record the weddings of the non-citizens, poor, and marginal. There were no legal weddings for Jews, so the Jews had their own public, communal wedding ceremonies. It's only been a few hundred years that church and state weddings have overlapped as they do in the U.S. More often, the church has its own wedding procedures that the state may or may not record or observe. Christianity has always considered marriage to be a public act that is part of a broader community - marriage of the spirit is probably not what Jesus or Paul were referring to when they spoke of "fulfillment of the law" and "letter v. spirit of the law." And, of course Robert Buck is right - this is all an argument about sex, more than it is even about marriage.
Rachel wrote wonderful comments about marriage, children, sex, and longing. My colleague Lisa McMinn (sociology at Wheaton) wrote a new book titled "Sexuality and Holy Longing." It's like "Sex for Christians", but better. Really, I just like the title. She says intimate desire is never perfectly fulfilled - the area of sexuality and intimate relationships is part of our lives where everyone experiences both deep longing and deep disappointment (though some people much more than others). Part of human experience is longing for completion, for redemption, and living our entire lives without it, or just with glimpses of it. She sees both the goodness of God's creation and its brokenness everywhere, rather than splitting things into "singleness - bad", "marriage - good."
I'm not writing this to patronize single people, but to encourage myself. I see such a long road ahead of James and I, no matter what the outcome. Along with peoples' affection that is focused on us (cards, food, love, etc.), it is a deep encouragement simply to live life with others who also long for the good gifts of God and live without. There are long roads ahead of many of us, and to me, this feels like solidarity. The suffering is not a gift, and I'd take it away from myself or any of you if I could, but I'm also grateful that God gives us perspective, solidarity, friendship, and grace as we suffer. And sometimes we can receive His gifts with even more gratitude because we're so desperate for anything good to hold in our hands.
Question for the day: Did you go to the Emergent conference? What happened with Kathleen Norris? Someone else's blog (forgot whose) implied that people didn't like her. I love her. She is writer-rific, blog-irific, and she should be emergent-rific.
Thursday, March 18, 2004
No laughing please. Not even a smile or a giggle.
I've lost my humor for awhile - not a scrap of it to be found. I'm not particularly depressed, just working too much. I think all my energy has gone to work and none is left for fun. If you want humor, read Will Ferrel's Harvard commencement speech linked off KP's blog - that was funny. Keep reading here if, for God only knows what reason, you want to explore my thoughts today.
These thoughts are related to a Bethel situation, and please don't think I'm talking about church in a round-about way, because even though I probably am, it's not intentional. A student asked me (in public, so it's OK to blog about it) about what Jesus meant by the spirit of the law. "If Christians are supposed to live by the spirit of the law, then why can't my boyfriend and I get married in our hearts? The marriage ceremony has to be timed for the convenience of family and friends, but we're ready to be married now, and isn't the marriage in our hearts the truest marriage, according to Jesus?"
On a pragmatic level, I said I think this approach is too prone to self-deception. A couple may tell themselves they are more committed to each other than they really are, and either individual may do that as well, especially under pressure of sexual desire. This "spirit marriage" also removes marriage from community and makes it entirely personal, which makes the 'marriage' vulnerable because it has no social support. I also told her that I speak from experience - I had dated someone for 5 1/2 years, and we planned to be married, but then he dumped me. From this, I think you aren't really married until the ring is on your finger (with James, we seized the day and had a short engagement!). James and I could split, but our legal marriage makes that much more difficult than Scott just breaking off an informal but serious dating relationship.
But what did Jesus mean and not mean by the letter and spirit of the law? Does this argument even speak to the legality of marriage? Three of my ideas - please critique them -
1) Jesus wasn't talking about Roman law or state law. He was talking about the true meaning of religious law. I don't think he meant that individuals should handle matters ranging from anger to murder, and that violence should be no longer a matter of the state. In America, we may need to increasingly build up our religious marriage "laws", but it doesn't mean we abandon the state altogether.
2) We might be reading our culture into Jesus' words when we radically individualize the sermon on the mount. Jesus was concerned that people were making religious law too small and too technical, and he said it really is large and spiritual. "Getting married in our hearts" seems like a radically individualized and narrowing of the law - I think marriage is public and communal - a commitment that by its very nature needs many people involved.
3) Nowhere in church tradition have people understood Jesus' words to be reducing the necessity of public, ceremonial, legal marriage. Even before there was legal marriage in Europe, they did it ceremonially through the church (correct me if I'm wrong). Sometimes we need to break with tradition, but on this one, I think tradition might be right, and Americans Christians might be too American in their thinking.
What do you think? I need to get back with this student and talk to her about it, but I'm not sure what direction to take it. I'm going to consult with a Bible scholar too, about what Jesus meant with the spirit/letter deal.
Peace to everyone today. You must just love me if you're reading this - there is plenty of better stuff out there in the virtual world!
I've lost my humor for awhile - not a scrap of it to be found. I'm not particularly depressed, just working too much. I think all my energy has gone to work and none is left for fun. If you want humor, read Will Ferrel's Harvard commencement speech linked off KP's blog - that was funny. Keep reading here if, for God only knows what reason, you want to explore my thoughts today.
These thoughts are related to a Bethel situation, and please don't think I'm talking about church in a round-about way, because even though I probably am, it's not intentional. A student asked me (in public, so it's OK to blog about it) about what Jesus meant by the spirit of the law. "If Christians are supposed to live by the spirit of the law, then why can't my boyfriend and I get married in our hearts? The marriage ceremony has to be timed for the convenience of family and friends, but we're ready to be married now, and isn't the marriage in our hearts the truest marriage, according to Jesus?"
On a pragmatic level, I said I think this approach is too prone to self-deception. A couple may tell themselves they are more committed to each other than they really are, and either individual may do that as well, especially under pressure of sexual desire. This "spirit marriage" also removes marriage from community and makes it entirely personal, which makes the 'marriage' vulnerable because it has no social support. I also told her that I speak from experience - I had dated someone for 5 1/2 years, and we planned to be married, but then he dumped me. From this, I think you aren't really married until the ring is on your finger (with James, we seized the day and had a short engagement!). James and I could split, but our legal marriage makes that much more difficult than Scott just breaking off an informal but serious dating relationship.
But what did Jesus mean and not mean by the letter and spirit of the law? Does this argument even speak to the legality of marriage? Three of my ideas - please critique them -
1) Jesus wasn't talking about Roman law or state law. He was talking about the true meaning of religious law. I don't think he meant that individuals should handle matters ranging from anger to murder, and that violence should be no longer a matter of the state. In America, we may need to increasingly build up our religious marriage "laws", but it doesn't mean we abandon the state altogether.
2) We might be reading our culture into Jesus' words when we radically individualize the sermon on the mount. Jesus was concerned that people were making religious law too small and too technical, and he said it really is large and spiritual. "Getting married in our hearts" seems like a radically individualized and narrowing of the law - I think marriage is public and communal - a commitment that by its very nature needs many people involved.
3) Nowhere in church tradition have people understood Jesus' words to be reducing the necessity of public, ceremonial, legal marriage. Even before there was legal marriage in Europe, they did it ceremonially through the church (correct me if I'm wrong). Sometimes we need to break with tradition, but on this one, I think tradition might be right, and Americans Christians might be too American in their thinking.
What do you think? I need to get back with this student and talk to her about it, but I'm not sure what direction to take it. I'm going to consult with a Bible scholar too, about what Jesus meant with the spirit/letter deal.
Peace to everyone today. You must just love me if you're reading this - there is plenty of better stuff out there in the virtual world!
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Just lie back and think of Jesus
Last night I gave a talk about sex to the Bethel students at an evening student forum. As usual, I fight pride and puffed-up-ness as I always do when I get to enjoy a spotlight. I also feel humble in talking about lust and masturbation to men (chances are, they're the ones who wrote those questions). Seems my perspective is fundamentally limited, but perhaps I can at least give the impression that it can be safe to ask such questions. It felt really good, though, to feel that my sons, and the God who gave them to me, have changed my faith in some profound ways. I didn't talk about them or about grief, but the changes come through when I talk about anything of God.
Afterwards, a student stayed after to ask me about grief (though it wasn't the topic, students had prayed for my family in chapel last fall, so everyone knows what happened to me, and this student had also suffered a recent death of a loved one). She said she tries hard to monitor her thoughts because she knows that thoughts of jealousy, despair, or bitterness are sinful. I was so sad for her. I tried to suggest to her that grief is grief, and why would God sit up there judging and smashing us when we're already down? I said I can't get past negative feelings without just fully feeling them -when I give them lots of attention, they seem to be satisfied and then eventually go away. When I repress them and judge them as sinful or not, then they keep sneaking back on me.
I just felt terribly for her. Then I came home and went to bed. In my dream, an imposingly large Christian appeared and told me it is a sin to keep my babies' urns. He said I had to get rid of them and forget about them, or else I was sinning. It pisses me off that we keep repeating this horrid theology, and that despite years of trying to grow healthy, all the bullshit is still in my memory and subconscious and can be triggered.
But, of course, whenever there is a public forum on sex, there is good humor...
College Students Say the Darndest Things
My favorite questions of the night:
1. When married people have sex, are they supposed to just think of Jesus through the whole sex act?
2. What do you like about African-American Christianity?
Last night I gave a talk about sex to the Bethel students at an evening student forum. As usual, I fight pride and puffed-up-ness as I always do when I get to enjoy a spotlight. I also feel humble in talking about lust and masturbation to men (chances are, they're the ones who wrote those questions). Seems my perspective is fundamentally limited, but perhaps I can at least give the impression that it can be safe to ask such questions. It felt really good, though, to feel that my sons, and the God who gave them to me, have changed my faith in some profound ways. I didn't talk about them or about grief, but the changes come through when I talk about anything of God.
Afterwards, a student stayed after to ask me about grief (though it wasn't the topic, students had prayed for my family in chapel last fall, so everyone knows what happened to me, and this student had also suffered a recent death of a loved one). She said she tries hard to monitor her thoughts because she knows that thoughts of jealousy, despair, or bitterness are sinful. I was so sad for her. I tried to suggest to her that grief is grief, and why would God sit up there judging and smashing us when we're already down? I said I can't get past negative feelings without just fully feeling them -when I give them lots of attention, they seem to be satisfied and then eventually go away. When I repress them and judge them as sinful or not, then they keep sneaking back on me.
I just felt terribly for her. Then I came home and went to bed. In my dream, an imposingly large Christian appeared and told me it is a sin to keep my babies' urns. He said I had to get rid of them and forget about them, or else I was sinning. It pisses me off that we keep repeating this horrid theology, and that despite years of trying to grow healthy, all the bullshit is still in my memory and subconscious and can be triggered.
But, of course, whenever there is a public forum on sex, there is good humor...
College Students Say the Darndest Things
My favorite questions of the night:
1. When married people have sex, are they supposed to just think of Jesus through the whole sex act?
2. What do you like about African-American Christianity?
Monday, March 15, 2004
Things I Learned This Weekend.
1. Fermenting pineapple creates gas that makes the tupperware pop upon opening with a powerful sound and twisted smell.
2. Lentil soup can be left out for days without smelling bad.
3. Plain yogurt separates its flavor. The sour flavor separates out and gains a lot of strength.
4. Rotting meat smells just like it tastes when vomited.
5. A few pieces of lettuce left in tupperware for days are no problem.
Public announcement. James, who neither reads nor creates blogs, asked that a public announcement be put out to the blogiverse. I'll leave it in quotes to preserve its accuracy. "Those blog people should know that you also heat tomato-based sauces in plastic containers in the microwave, and then hide them in the dishwasher instead of scrubbing the stains off." There you go.
Comment: Feats of strength?
Hugo ran a marathon this weekend. What was your feat of strength accomplished this weekend? I slept in until 7:30 on Saturday, and still managed to take two naps during the day. That was remarkable for me.
1. Fermenting pineapple creates gas that makes the tupperware pop upon opening with a powerful sound and twisted smell.
2. Lentil soup can be left out for days without smelling bad.
3. Plain yogurt separates its flavor. The sour flavor separates out and gains a lot of strength.
4. Rotting meat smells just like it tastes when vomited.
5. A few pieces of lettuce left in tupperware for days are no problem.
Public announcement. James, who neither reads nor creates blogs, asked that a public announcement be put out to the blogiverse. I'll leave it in quotes to preserve its accuracy. "Those blog people should know that you also heat tomato-based sauces in plastic containers in the microwave, and then hide them in the dishwasher instead of scrubbing the stains off." There you go.
Comment: Feats of strength?
Hugo ran a marathon this weekend. What was your feat of strength accomplished this weekend? I slept in until 7:30 on Saturday, and still managed to take two naps during the day. That was remarkable for me.
Friday, March 12, 2004
Can You Help Save This Marriage?
Please help me settle a marital dispute, one in which I am clearly in the right. I work VERY HARD at my job, and on Mondays, I take both my lunch and dinner to work b/c I have a night class. I left my tupperware in my office for two days, and brought it home Wednesday. This morning, Friday, there are still five containers with rotting remains: curried beef, yogurt, pineapple, vegetables, and lentil soup. James has cleaned the entire kitchen twice, but the containers are still sitting on the counter.
He says, "You can't just pass off your rotting food on me."
I said, "If you really loved me, you'd clean my rotting food."
He said, "Get over yourself."
I said, "That doesn't feel like love."
Who is right? Should I clean my own tupperware, or leave it sitting out as a test of his love for me? I'm prepared to wait it out.
College Students Say the Darndest Things
Three women students are sitting in a student lounge. I, too, am sitting in the lounge reading...er... eavesdropping.
Woman 1: I think Christians are better looking than other people.
Woman 2: What?!
Woman 1 (waving arms): Just look around! These people are very attractive!
Woman 3: Well, at least they're clean-cut.
Woman 2: Yea, for sure.
My Day Begins
Strengthened by your encouragements, I'm going to write now. Right now. Here I go. Don't try to stop me.
Please help me settle a marital dispute, one in which I am clearly in the right. I work VERY HARD at my job, and on Mondays, I take both my lunch and dinner to work b/c I have a night class. I left my tupperware in my office for two days, and brought it home Wednesday. This morning, Friday, there are still five containers with rotting remains: curried beef, yogurt, pineapple, vegetables, and lentil soup. James has cleaned the entire kitchen twice, but the containers are still sitting on the counter.
He says, "You can't just pass off your rotting food on me."
I said, "If you really loved me, you'd clean my rotting food."
He said, "Get over yourself."
I said, "That doesn't feel like love."
Who is right? Should I clean my own tupperware, or leave it sitting out as a test of his love for me? I'm prepared to wait it out.
College Students Say the Darndest Things
Three women students are sitting in a student lounge. I, too, am sitting in the lounge reading...er... eavesdropping.
Woman 1: I think Christians are better looking than other people.
Woman 2: What?!
Woman 1 (waving arms): Just look around! These people are very attractive!
Woman 3: Well, at least they're clean-cut.
Woman 2: Yea, for sure.
My Day Begins
Strengthened by your encouragements, I'm going to write now. Right now. Here I go. Don't try to stop me.
Thursday, March 11, 2004
A Below-Average Blog
Dayton's -- I mean Marshall Field's -- is up for sale. Somehow Marshall Field's is a point of stability in my childhood memory, even though it is just a store and we rarely shopped there. It's disturbing that its name changed, and now that it's being sold.
I'm blogging late today because I taught an extra night class last night for a colleague who is out of town. I tried to sleep in, but still I'm really tired. It's so much easier to come in as a guest speaker than to have the class for the whole semester. I teach better as a guest - I think I give it all my energy, rather than thinking about what needs to happen in the next class sessions. Our topic was homosexuality. I let them make collages, which always seems to be a hit.
I didn't write last Friday, which is my Lenten practice. I'm afraid to write badly on the topic of suffering, so I just want to keep the thought in my head where they look so good. My writing is all about Romans 5, the text for the sermon most of you heard a few weeks ago. I plan to stay home tomorrow and write, no matter what.
If you'd like to comment today, here's two ideas-
1. Offer me some encouragement for writing tomorrow.
2. Tell me something you're looking forward to in the next 24 hours.
I'm looking forward to not going in to the office tomorrow.
Dayton's -- I mean Marshall Field's -- is up for sale. Somehow Marshall Field's is a point of stability in my childhood memory, even though it is just a store and we rarely shopped there. It's disturbing that its name changed, and now that it's being sold.
I'm blogging late today because I taught an extra night class last night for a colleague who is out of town. I tried to sleep in, but still I'm really tired. It's so much easier to come in as a guest speaker than to have the class for the whole semester. I teach better as a guest - I think I give it all my energy, rather than thinking about what needs to happen in the next class sessions. Our topic was homosexuality. I let them make collages, which always seems to be a hit.
I didn't write last Friday, which is my Lenten practice. I'm afraid to write badly on the topic of suffering, so I just want to keep the thought in my head where they look so good. My writing is all about Romans 5, the text for the sermon most of you heard a few weeks ago. I plan to stay home tomorrow and write, no matter what.
If you'd like to comment today, here's two ideas-
1. Offer me some encouragement for writing tomorrow.
2. Tell me something you're looking forward to in the next 24 hours.
I'm looking forward to not going in to the office tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
If you had to choose...
If you had to choose between being a hot athlete or having a normal name, which would you pick? Laugh no more at Gary Heffelfinger - he's an award-winning skater!
My dh ("dear husband" abbreviation on fertility-related discussion boards) works at the Mall of America. We were talking about why people shop so frequently. If it really made them happy, then wouldn't it be satisfying for awhile? Instead, it seems that people pursue happiness, but then have to do it over and over and over - maybe shopping doesn't deliver all that it promises. Of course, the same process happens for sex, but this is as it should be.
When does shopping make you happy? I rarely shop impulsively, but last week I had a hard day and decided to leave work early and shop for a wedding present (shopping for someone else softens the moral finger-pointing in my head). I bought a pig-shaped salsa bowl hand-made in Chili at a just-trade Mennonite store. Then I bought myself some tulips because I liked their shade of pink. Both of these things did, in fact, make me happy, or at least pleased. And now, five days later, when I look at them, they still make me happy.
For you, when has shopping failed to deliver promised happiness, and when has it actually paid off?
And last, a P.S., a posting on March 8 from Christy that was encouraging to me, and maybe to others at the Porch.
If you had to choose between being a hot athlete or having a normal name, which would you pick? Laugh no more at Gary Heffelfinger - he's an award-winning skater!
My dh ("dear husband" abbreviation on fertility-related discussion boards) works at the Mall of America. We were talking about why people shop so frequently. If it really made them happy, then wouldn't it be satisfying for awhile? Instead, it seems that people pursue happiness, but then have to do it over and over and over - maybe shopping doesn't deliver all that it promises. Of course, the same process happens for sex, but this is as it should be.
When does shopping make you happy? I rarely shop impulsively, but last week I had a hard day and decided to leave work early and shop for a wedding present (shopping for someone else softens the moral finger-pointing in my head). I bought a pig-shaped salsa bowl hand-made in Chili at a just-trade Mennonite store. Then I bought myself some tulips because I liked their shade of pink. Both of these things did, in fact, make me happy, or at least pleased. And now, five days later, when I look at them, they still make me happy.
For you, when has shopping failed to deliver promised happiness, and when has it actually paid off?
And last, a P.S., a posting on March 8 from Christy that was encouraging to me, and maybe to others at the Porch.
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
The cake was eaten with Colleen, KP and Anna, and they ate most of it before I even got there.
I ate a lot of chocolate cake last night
Sugar is a powerful healing force in the universe, and I'm grateful for it. I have too much going on, both in the material world and in my mind, to blog today. Somehow I feel obligated to say that, rather than just leave the blog blank.
A few miscellaneous notes about my day, just so you can know what I'm up to:
- I'm going to the Good Earth for lunch.
- James took out the recycling this morning.
- I came up with a brilliant phrase on the spot for Ruby. "What do you want? You can have whatever you want. I love you, and love means giving people whatever they want."
- My skin looks bad today (because I stayed up too late eating chocolate cake).
- The Thomas Kincake puzzle is now sold (ebay), and you all missed out.
Sugar is a powerful healing force in the universe, and I'm grateful for it. I have too much going on, both in the material world and in my mind, to blog today. Somehow I feel obligated to say that, rather than just leave the blog blank.
A few miscellaneous notes about my day, just so you can know what I'm up to:
- I'm going to the Good Earth for lunch.
- James took out the recycling this morning.
- I came up with a brilliant phrase on the spot for Ruby. "What do you want? You can have whatever you want. I love you, and love means giving people whatever they want."
- My skin looks bad today (because I stayed up too late eating chocolate cake).
- The Thomas Kincake puzzle is now sold (ebay), and you all missed out.
Monday, March 08, 2004
Oatmeal cookies and global conspiracies
A bit on fundamentalism, but first, two happenings from the weekend.
1. As an act of mourning, I made Martha Stewart’s perfect oatmeal cookies, and added chocolate chips, pecans, and dried cherries (from Carla’s Bon Appetit). The recipe called for too much butter, and now they are totally flat and crispy. Not inedible (I’m eating one right now), but not perfect. Then I made the oatmeal-raisin cookies off the oatmeal container, and they were much better. Sorry, Martha.
2. Psychological triumph: I set a boundary with someone in my life who doesn’t know boundaries. I cried and threw a tantrum beforehand because I was afraid of people being mad at me, but then moved on. Well, actually James set the boundary by making the difficult phonecall, but I let him do it – so I should get some credit!
Against peoples’ advice to listen to a better radio station (NPR is just so…straightforward and based in reality!), I didn’t listen to the radio and instead read the magazine Prophecy in the News. When I was 16, I read “88 Reasons Why the Rapture will Happen in 1988” and was afraid for that entire year. Now they’re writing prophecy each year based on the psalms – Psalm 104 predicts 2004, for example. I’m not falling for it this year. I did, however, find some beliefs in the magazine, and found a few in my head, to add to the list.
1. Numerology helps us understand the Bible. God has buried mysteries in there that come clear with use of numerology.
2. Haitians can’t be helped because one day, long ago, all the Haitians came together and dedicated their island to Satan.
3. Rock music is based on syncopation from Africa, which is why rock music lets Satan into your soul (Africans obviously being controlled by Satan).
4. African-Americans are cursed because of what Ham did to Noah – no point in trying to help them.
5. The Bible lends itself to chronological charting of the future.
6. God loves you, but he gets mad really easily (look what he did to his son).
7. Bill Clinton is an antichrist figure that parallels Nero.
I don’t want to simply collect an exhaustive list of these beliefs. I’m trying to place the beliefs sociologically, and articulate the worldview that lies behind them. I think the conspiratorial, supernatural, demonic beliefs are held by a subset of fundamentalists and evangelicals, and by a greater percentage of charismatics – is this right, or is my perception as bigoted as number 2,3,4 above? The beliefs about God and the Bible are more mainstream fundamentalism, and they ring in the subconsciousness of many evangelicals.
The worldview behind fundamentalism? The ideology seems to be supported by a number of basic beliefs, some of which are quite contradictory.
1. Nature of God: God loves you and wants to save you, but he also hates you and takes pleasure in doing justice which may involve damning you forever.
2. Nature of God: God is all-powerful, but can’t protect even his own children from Satan.
3. Nature of humans: Humans are weak and totally sinful, but still can be held accountable for making the free and good choice to choose Christ.
4. Nature of the world: Greek dualism – the body is bad and the spirit is good.
5. Nature of humans: God made all humans in his image, but some are so sinful they cannot be redeemed (Haitians, Africans, all Blacks). Just religious legitimation for racism, which is neither original nor difficult to perceive.
6. Bible: Bible is all true and speaks plain meaning in literal terms. Yet we also need numerology, codes, and derivative charts to understand it.
7. Conspiracy: Maybe this comes from late 19th c. liberalism – the sense that people are after us trying to destroy our movement. Conspiracies abound – weather control, gov’t, end times, Bill Clinton… They’re mostly on talk radio in the middle of the night, when people can’t think critically anyway.
Do you have more to add (or do you have a perfect oatmeal cookie recipe to share with me)? That’s enough for me today. I’m really thinking of buying Tim LaHaye’s book of end times charts. In the Thief in the Night films, a man put up the charts in his basement and brought in his neighbors to teach them the truth. I’d like to analyze the charts. But do I want to spend $20 on Tim LaHaye stuff? Maybe not - there's plenty free on-line. Here's a fairly good chart, but it doesn't have any drawings of beasts, the lake of sulphur, or the horsemen of the Apocalypse. Oh well - you have to pay for illustration.
A bit on fundamentalism, but first, two happenings from the weekend.
1. As an act of mourning, I made Martha Stewart’s perfect oatmeal cookies, and added chocolate chips, pecans, and dried cherries (from Carla’s Bon Appetit). The recipe called for too much butter, and now they are totally flat and crispy. Not inedible (I’m eating one right now), but not perfect. Then I made the oatmeal-raisin cookies off the oatmeal container, and they were much better. Sorry, Martha.
2. Psychological triumph: I set a boundary with someone in my life who doesn’t know boundaries. I cried and threw a tantrum beforehand because I was afraid of people being mad at me, but then moved on. Well, actually James set the boundary by making the difficult phonecall, but I let him do it – so I should get some credit!
Against peoples’ advice to listen to a better radio station (NPR is just so…straightforward and based in reality!), I didn’t listen to the radio and instead read the magazine Prophecy in the News. When I was 16, I read “88 Reasons Why the Rapture will Happen in 1988” and was afraid for that entire year. Now they’re writing prophecy each year based on the psalms – Psalm 104 predicts 2004, for example. I’m not falling for it this year. I did, however, find some beliefs in the magazine, and found a few in my head, to add to the list.
1. Numerology helps us understand the Bible. God has buried mysteries in there that come clear with use of numerology.
2. Haitians can’t be helped because one day, long ago, all the Haitians came together and dedicated their island to Satan.
3. Rock music is based on syncopation from Africa, which is why rock music lets Satan into your soul (Africans obviously being controlled by Satan).
4. African-Americans are cursed because of what Ham did to Noah – no point in trying to help them.
5. The Bible lends itself to chronological charting of the future.
6. God loves you, but he gets mad really easily (look what he did to his son).
7. Bill Clinton is an antichrist figure that parallels Nero.
I don’t want to simply collect an exhaustive list of these beliefs. I’m trying to place the beliefs sociologically, and articulate the worldview that lies behind them. I think the conspiratorial, supernatural, demonic beliefs are held by a subset of fundamentalists and evangelicals, and by a greater percentage of charismatics – is this right, or is my perception as bigoted as number 2,3,4 above? The beliefs about God and the Bible are more mainstream fundamentalism, and they ring in the subconsciousness of many evangelicals.
The worldview behind fundamentalism? The ideology seems to be supported by a number of basic beliefs, some of which are quite contradictory.
1. Nature of God: God loves you and wants to save you, but he also hates you and takes pleasure in doing justice which may involve damning you forever.
2. Nature of God: God is all-powerful, but can’t protect even his own children from Satan.
3. Nature of humans: Humans are weak and totally sinful, but still can be held accountable for making the free and good choice to choose Christ.
4. Nature of the world: Greek dualism – the body is bad and the spirit is good.
5. Nature of humans: God made all humans in his image, but some are so sinful they cannot be redeemed (Haitians, Africans, all Blacks). Just religious legitimation for racism, which is neither original nor difficult to perceive.
6. Bible: Bible is all true and speaks plain meaning in literal terms. Yet we also need numerology, codes, and derivative charts to understand it.
7. Conspiracy: Maybe this comes from late 19th c. liberalism – the sense that people are after us trying to destroy our movement. Conspiracies abound – weather control, gov’t, end times, Bill Clinton… They’re mostly on talk radio in the middle of the night, when people can’t think critically anyway.
Do you have more to add (or do you have a perfect oatmeal cookie recipe to share with me)? That’s enough for me today. I’m really thinking of buying Tim LaHaye’s book of end times charts. In the Thief in the Night films, a man put up the charts in his basement and brought in his neighbors to teach them the truth. I’d like to analyze the charts. But do I want to spend $20 on Tim LaHaye stuff? Maybe not - there's plenty free on-line. Here's a fairly good chart, but it doesn't have any drawings of beasts, the lake of sulphur, or the horsemen of the Apocalypse. Oh well - you have to pay for illustration.
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