Posts in ‘Faith in Life’
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Last Minutes w/ Oden
From December 23, 2009 @ 6:00 am
As Swiss Miss said, this video is truly impactful. It’s a very short documentary about an ex-con and the last moments with his dog. Don’t watch it unless you’re prepared to cry, and please consider clicking through to watch it in HD.
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Amanda Beattie on Egalitarianism vs. Complimentarianism
Amanda Beattie is an Intercessory Missionary at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City on the Night Watch who blogs over at Meditations by Night. Her posts are always quite thoughtful and thought provoking. I’ve had the privilege of meeting her a few times at various events up at the Prayer Room and her humility and earnestness for God have always made an impression on me.
Recently, she started studying the debate between Christian Egalitarianism and Complementarianism and is publishing her thoughts along the way on her blog. Her most recent post sparked a discussion on the subject in the comments of her most recent post and it’s been very intriguing. While I believe that we disagree on these points, I think her thoughts are worth reading and her blog is worth looking at regularly if you don’t already.
It never ceases to amaze me how long it takes to prepare these little blurb posts. It’s all the links and such.
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The Internet and Facebook
I run to the computer. If I’m stressed, angry, depressed, bored it’s to the computer I go. To check my email (again, and again, and again), mindlessly go on Facebook, read look at my feeds, or go on Mothering forums.
Some people run to their TV, others run to people, others text. A few run to Christ when they’re stressed and I long for that to be true for me.
I always thought that the internet was stopping me from running to Christ. Take away the internet and I’d be free. But the more and more cold-turkey trials I do, or the more that I think about it, it really just boils down to a heart issue. If it wasn’t the internet it’d be something else. If I lived in the 18th century it’d be knitting, or cleaning or something else that is less addicting than Facebook. It’s all the same, even with the Israelites. They ran to actual “physical” gods while I run to cyber space (which I suppose is a god too).
So now that I’ve determined my problem (a.k.a. my heart) what do I do about things like the internet and Facebook? Do I tear out my right eye? But if it’s a heart problem I can’t remove everything. Do I keep them because of their usefulness? But, really, how useful is Facebook? What, I can comment on pictures of people that I already know? To keep in contact with people that I really don’t care about anyway? I can spy on people’s more flamboyant sins by looking at their photos? Sigh.
I’ve removed TV from my life and I have to say that I’ve never once, ever, ever regretted it. I don’t need to be able to chat with people about what happened in the latest Lost episode in order to love them. Is Facebook different? Is the internet different?
I guess the real question has to do with time. I spend SO much time on the computer. Is a shallow relationship with God really worth my name on Facebook?
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Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortion?
What you’re really asking is if Christians should take the pill. It was my question a couple of years ago and all I wanted was a web-page or pamphlet that put it in layman’s terms for me: yes or no. I was (and still am) avidly pro-life and I did not want to accidentally participate in something I believed was wrong.
Short answer: the pill can cause abortion.
Long answer: the pill was created with one objective and that was to stop the woman from ovulating. There were two side effects to these hormones:
- The cervical mucus would thicken, making it harder for sperm to get to the egg
- The lining of the uterus would thin, making it difficult for a fertilized egg to attach (which is why people on the pill have lighter periods)
So what’s this mean?
I know it’s not as black and white as we would like but if you are pro-life the phrase “can cause abortion” should be enough. “Well,” you say, “I’ll just believe that God wouldn’t allow that to happen. God could prevent that.” Yes, He could, but why are you so sure to test your faith on death rather than life? If you have enough faith to believe that God would stop the egg from being fertilized when the uterus lining couldn’t support it, then you have enough faith to believe that God wouldn’t allow you to get pregnant if it wasn’t His timing. He’s the author of life! We somehow bought into this idea that God throws life around like it’s nothing. “Oh, she got pregnant AGAIN? Oh, geez. Here, let me give it a spirit and soul real quic- oh, no! Another one?! They’re acting like rabbits!” I’m not against birth control, but I just feel that in an effort to feel more in control we’ve compromised for the sake of convenience. It is easier to take a pill, but that doesn’t mean it’s right.
I leave it up to your conscience- you now know the facts and are therefore without excuse.
“So what kind of birth control can I use?”
Any kind of barrier (male condoms, female condoms, etc.) will not cause an abortion. Anything that works by wiping the uterus (and therefore killing any life that was attached) is an abortifacet. Many people who are against this method are o.k. with the pill but in reality they do the same thing. The difference is that the pill’s main goal is stop you from ovulating while something like the Nuva Ring’s main goal is to wipe the uterus clean. But they both inhibit the uterus from supporting life if they succeed.
My preferred method is the Natural Family Planning method in which a woman learns how to identify when she is ovulating (3-4 days out of the month) and then can either refrain from having intercourse or using a barrier method during those days.
For more information Mark Driscoll did a great sermon on the different types of birth control here.
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Bitter Sweet
I feel like the Christian walk is bitter-sweet. I was thinking about this on Sunday because it was the only way that I could describe worship that night. Trying to work out your salvation is extremely bitter because it requires a lot of death. You must continually die to yourself and get as much of “you” out of you so that more of Christ can fit in. Any sinful desire, thought, and notion has to be taken captive and then smothered. At times it’s near exhausting (especially/only if you’re not relying on God’s grace, which is 90% of the time for me) and I can understand why so many people are asleep.
However the actual communion with God, the one-on-one time where you’ve finally begun to believe that my sin is actually forgiven and I don’t have to say “I’m sorry!” to God over and over again in order to pay penance, is extremely sweet. Kind of like those few times in worship (should it be more?) where you can actually feel God’s presence and all you can do is hold your breath. And then I think about wine and how it’s so awfully bitter but can be sweet at the same time; I understand a little bit more why Christ chose wine to be the symbol of his blood.
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Sacrificing Your Child
I think a lot about (proabably too much) what it would be like to loose Fiery. Usually it’s an unexpected death but once in awhile I think about how the Father killed his Son for us and I think of what it would be like to willingly kill Fiery. Killing her for the world (gosh, this post is so morbid) is a bit too big for me so I try to think in smaller terms like the city of Norristown.
I can’t even comprehend what it would be like to sacrifice her like that but more importantly I would want her death to be honored and revered. She was sacrificed so a region could come closer to God. I would demand that people take advantage of what she gave her life for (right now she wouldn’t understand, so this is more about me) and what I had to go through as her mother. I would want every individual in Norristown to know, to hear, to care, to grieve, etc.
I don’t think I’ll ever understand what God went through, but I could not help but think “what a waste!” if I sacrificed my daughter and no one cared, no one paid reverence, but instead people cursed her name, split over meaningless theological arguments about why she died and if she died, and the majority of Norristown wouldn’t even think of her on even a daily basis (even those who believe she actually died), or me for that matter who killed her to make their lives better. I’d be completely outraged.
We had a very expensive hostas in our front yard left over from a previous family who used to live in our apartment. Yesterday a three year old hacked the life out of it and now it’s just a pile of steams. I was shocked at how much I grieved over that plant and how angry I was at that little boy for killing something so beautiful. How tasteless. It was just a plant and a three year old boy! How much more if it was my daughter and the world.
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What angers me most about myself
is my blantant competitivness with my daughter. I really don’t mean to do it, in fact, I try really, really, really hard not to. But for some reason I can’t stop comparing her with other babies.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with comparing… saying “oh, she’s crawling, and she’s not,” or “he’s more verbal than she is” is totally fine. What I tend to do is compare in order to make myself feel better, or compare in order to come up with some conclusion about why my baby is better. “Oh, she’s more independent, that’s because I don’t let her cry it out, a.k.a. my baby’s coping better with the world.” or “she was doing much more mentally at that age, she must be smarter.. and that’s because I did this, this and this with her.” (kudos for me) Blah, blah.
What boggles me so much about myself is how much of a hyprocrite I am. When I see a fellow attachment parenter who has a very “attached” baby I think to myself “oh, that child just loves his mommy.” And I contribute the trait to the child’s personality. But if a non-attachment parenter has a very “attached” baby I quickly think to myself (before I can snuff the thought out) “they should have held him more.” THAT’S ABSOLUTELY ABSURD! I feel absolutely disgusting thinking that and I want to run up to the mother or father who I thought this about and apologize (which I’m not really sure would be that productive). How in the world is that loving?!
I don’t think it helps that our parenting style is wildly different from our friends. I feel constantly defensive. Like I have to prove to every one that I am not ruining my child, but at the same time I don’t want to be constantly on the offense: trying to prove why my parenting style is better (even though I obviously think it is, or else I wouldn’t be doing it).
But this totally gets in the way of any friendships I want to maintain and strengthen. Instead of having a “real” conversation with someone it’s all a big word game- how can I make sure 1) not to offend by disagreeing with how their parenting their child and 2) how to best make it seem like that my parenting style is causing my child to thrive (specifically when we’re talking about our children- which is so hard to talk about anything but). It’s awful and I hate it (!!!) I just want to love anyone who disagrees with me without being caught up in all of our differences. sigh
This is something I’ve been praying about for awhile and I want it out of me as soon as possible.
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There should be no controversy at all over the Pope’s comments regarding the efficacy of condoms to stop the spread of AIDS.
There’s been an explosion of controversy over pope Benedict XVI’s comments during his first visit to Africa regarding how effective condoms actually are at stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS. Responses seem to range from abject rage to flippant humor. To be honest, this whole controversy has baffled the heck out of me and I hope that Benedict holds his ground on what is really a no-brainer. The fact that so many intelligent people can be so blind to their own inconsistencies confuses me deeply. I wanted to take some time then to outline what really happened (rather than the sound-byte-ism that already seems to have set in amongst the popular media) and then discuss why I feel it’s so ridiculous. Hopefully we can reason this out because, when it all comes down, this is not and should not be a controversy; It’s just plain facts.
Benedict’s Actual comments
I looked up the actual quote in order to be sure that the media wasn’t intentionally distorting what the pope said in order to have a sensationalist story. The comments (according to the article published by Catholic News) are as follows (with the preface by the CNS for the context):
Lest it be taken out of context, here is the exchange that took place on the pope’s plane. The question’s premise was “The Catholic Church’s position on the way to fight against AIDS is often considered unrealistic and ineffective,” and the pope responded
I would say the opposite. I think that the reality that is most effective, the most present and the strongest in the fight against AIDS, is precisely that of the Catholic Church, with its programs and its diversity. I think of the Sant’Egidio Community, which does so much visibly and invisibly in the fight against AIDS … and of all the sisters at the service of the sick.
I would say that one cannot overcome this problem of AIDS only with money — which is important, but if there is no soul, no people who know how to use it, (money) doesn’t help.
One cannot overcome the problem with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, they increase the problem.
The solution can only be a double one: first, a humanization of sexuality, that is, a spiritual human renewal that brings with it a new way of behaving with one another; second, a true friendship even and especially with those who suffer, and a willingness to make personal sacrifices and to be with the suffering. And these are factors that help and that result in real and visible progress.
Therefore I would say this is our double strength — to renew the human being from the inside, to give him spiritual human strength for proper behavior regarding one’s own body and toward the other person, and the capacity to suffer with the suffering. … I think this is the proper response and the church is doing this, and so it offers a great and important contribution. I thank all those who are doing this.
OK. No exaggeration as far as I can tell. He says it. “On the contrary, [condoms] increase the problem.” What I haven’t seen reported anywhere though is his reasoning behind the statement, which is rock-solid sound as far as I’m concerned.
The apparent position of pro-condom parties
The fact is that the apparent position of the pro-condom constituency seems to be the same position of current public school sex ed curriculum designers, namely that people are going to have as much sex as possible with as many people as possible so the most we can do to stem the flood of STDs (such as HIV/AIDS) is to make them impossible to transmit during, well, sex. At least, that’s my best estimation of the current situation. If I’m wrong, please correct me (’cause I just hate being wrong).
In other words, the entire hope of the secular humanist agenda regarding solving the STD (and, oh God, the pregnancy) problem rest firmly on making sexual activity consequence-less. If people are going to have sex we must make it painless in every possible way. I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few short years a company has come out with a drug that makes the feeling of regret and violation one often feels when they’ve slept (or had intimate relations of any sort) with someone they’re not truly connected with go away (either that or we’ll have so forcefully acted against our conscience that we’ve stamped that impulse out). However, right now, we have physical fish to fry, like millions dying of a disease in Africa.
The terrible justice in the presence of these diseases based on the intention of God for sex
I hate to appeal to logic here but I want to nonetheless. Briefly, though, lets cover God’s position on sexual relationships. Sex is a gift to be experienced between one man and one woman in a marital relationship, monogamously and singularly, for the life of an individual. There, that’s settled.
Oh, and, I know how to cure AIDS.
Actually, not only AIDS. I know how to cure every single STD on the planet. Guess how long it would take me? One generation or less. Here’s my prescription. Every single person follows God’s plan outlined above for sex. People who are already infected with sexually transmitted diseases should only be able to get married to people who also have STDs. Once this generation (of infected and non-infected) pass away…
Bam!
Done.
Finito.
Adios.
You see, the reality is that there is a terrible justice in the rise of the STD problem. God has a plan for sexual relationships! We broke the plan. And oh my gosh! Something bad happened!?
Well… Yeah.
God has never gotten himself into the position of making sin painless. Instead, he tells us very clearly throughout the whole of scripture that there is a consequence for sin, namely death. We want God to make sin painless for us because we love to sin. Sinning is our natural bent! It allows us to make a god out of whatever we want.
To be clear, I don’t believe that God magically created AIDS in order to punish the homosexual community (or the heterosexual community for that matter). I’m not one of the crazy Christians who go and picket the funerals of homosexuals who have died. I also don’t believe that we should not extend mercy to those who are suffering and hurting. On the contrary, it’s our duty to love all who are oppressed and enslaved (meaning, of course, all of us). But that’s where the logic of the pope comes in that I agree so deeply with and that all of these incredibly smart people that I like so much seem to be blind to.
I’m not a great lover of the pope, by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t even really believe that the Catholic church is particularly great with issues of philosophy and logic (I mean, they really miss some blindingly clear interpretations of Scripture). Despite that, on this point they are dead on. The STD problem (and unlike pregnancy, it really is a problem) is a direct function of our behavior as sinners. It has nothing at all to do with condoms except that condoms are a way to make sinning “consequence-less”. Please notice the quotes around “consequence-less” (<- there, I did it again just in case you missed it the first time) because I mean it be sarcastic. There are consequences for sin, no matter how much we attempt to cover them over. The fact is that we’re facing an epidemic of STDs all around the world because of our behavior, and condoms do nothing but exacerbate that behavior!
It’s like the Internet and porn. Before the Internet, there was most certainly pornography. However, it wasn’t the industry it is today back then. Why? Because most people weren’t bold enough in their sin to be seen walking into an adult bookstore! But now that we have an enabler (our ISPs) that allows us to “anonymously” sin (or, “consequence-lessly”), the industry has exploded. Before there was social pressure around porn. There still is, but it’s easier to skirt around. In other words, the direct consequences of the sin were taken away (social ostracizization, face to face contact with people who now knew you were into porn, reputation in your local town, etc.) and the sin exploded (because we wanted to do it all along, but now it was less painful).
And that’s the pope’s point. Condoms help to enable the behavior that’s the true cause of the problem. Throwing more condoms at it and making sex less painful won’t solve it. The world is broken like this (disease, death, wars) because of sin. Enabling sin, no matter how good we get at it, will always produce consequences that fit the crime. And, God forbid, if we’re successful enough to truly artificially wipe out STDs, the final judgement will be the only warning many receive that their lifestyle was an offense to their creator that deserved punishment.
There is no debate here. Please, live up to the intelligence that you display in so many ways elsewhere.
Addendum: A glaring contradiction?
But. But! You may say, isn’t your own belief in the forgiveness of sins a direct contradiction of your premise that we should get what we deserve? No, I don’t believe so. For one, the forgiveness of sins is an act by a merciful God who is giving us something that we in no way deserve. He does this so that his kindness might lead us to repentance, not so that we could sin all the more so that grace may abound. As believers we are to relieve suffering wherever we can, but never in a way that makes sin more comfortable. Always we are to be contending for the morality and ethic that God ordained the universe to express. And please don’t join the crazies who are saying the the Pope doesn’t want to relieve the AIDS epidemic in Africa. He clearly states that he does. What he disagrees with is the method. In effect, he’s saying that we should not relieve suffering in a way that encourages the sin that ultimately causes it. I think that covers my bases… :\
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Moving Backwards in Women’s Rights
Our country prides itself on how much we as women have achieved independence. Most of us have the opportunity to enjoy these freedoms: we’re not property, we can vote, we go to college (and more women than men do) and we can even sue if we feel a certain company or employer is discriminating against us. These are all fine and good and I am personally grateful for these rights and freedoms.
What this country doesn’t know is how many freedoms we as women have lost in the name of equality. When the emphasis of women’s rights was placed on having equal rights with men, it came at the expense of our rights as mothers. Did you know that out of 168 countries 163 of them have PAID maternity leave? (the US is among the 5 countries that don’t) And it’s normally 14-20 weeks long? We as women are lucky if we KEEP OUR JOB after we’ve had a baby! Pssh, paid maternity leave. Not to mention a horrible system of pressure-inducing (no pun intended) obstetricians and pediatrians (most of whom are male) who makes us feel horrible if our child doesn’t fit in a growth and milestone chart. I’m not against a male doctor but why are they allowed to tell us how to parent when most of them are unexperienced or feel like children should be like pets: good and predictable.
Does America have ANY idea how important our jobs are? WE made the Hitlers, the Martin Luthers Kings, the Barak Obamas, the man who mugged you, the Jesus who saved you and your pastor’s wife who encourages you. Do you have any idea how different those individuals would be with a different mother?!
Oh, God! And we wonder why the ADD, ADHD, and mind disorders galore are so rampant in our country (and pretty much only our country). Is it because motherhood is so devauled in the U.S.? Is it because our society’s life style can’t afford one income and thus puts pressure on undeserving mothers that they need to put their kids in daycare so they can keep up with the pace? So your child who is just highly gifted, or, hell, just a two year old has to be put on medications that dull them so they’re more managable because we as mothers are stressed out under all of this lack of support?
The biggest thing that hit me as I newly ventured into motherhood was how hard it was. I had no idea. Up until that point I had been given constant messages that I could still maintain “a life” and teach a child life. This is a hard job. It’s a round-the-clock job that never.lets.up. And what do we get for it? “Someday when our kids go to college we can go back to school and actually do something with our lives.” Like teaching a totally dependent being how to be independent and impact the world for good isn’t doing something.
My point is this: the very job that builds up a nation’s foundation is being compeletely neglected. Society is make our job much harder than it already is. Most women are ashamed to say “I’m a stay-at-home-mom” when someone asks “what do you do?” I shudder to think what this country will look like 50 years from now. We’ll all be bemoaning the state of this country’s leadership while our agressive, untouched, suped up on meds, children run it.
This makes me SO ANGRY.
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I want it to be rich
On Sunday we went to see our friend’s babies get dedicated (three babies all with the same set of grandparents!). The preacher at their church is an older man (80s?) and has been saved for a long time. What hit me so much was not really the message that he gave but how rich his relationship with God was (or is rather).
It pains me how much of that I lack. I know I’m making progress. In fact, I could not be happier with my progress (by God’s grace). I feel constantly stretched and tried and it feels good, even if I don’t respond well to the trying.
I don’t know what a rich relationship with Jesus looks like. I think a key to experiencing that is getting into the Bible more. I have a daily reading plan but I don’t feel like I’m “eating the scroll.” I feel like I need to be meditating on Scripture (a.k.a memorizing, but not mindlessly). If Jesus IS the actual Word than I feel like an idiot for not doing it sooner because how obvious is that?!
