On telling the truth that hurts/offends

Lots of people complain about ANY Christian who stands by the Bible on homosexual behavior.
I already told my tale of battling this temptation for years myself and how bad it hurt when people handled this truth-telling obligation the wrong way, but I want to illustrate the point with a different sin, since sin is the same thing no matter what form it takes.

When I think of people speaking truth that is not comfortable and someone being alienated as a result, I think of when I was admiring this particular group of people.
They do really interesting things like trapeze artists or sort of like dancing in the air and swinging around, but they are hanging by huge hooks shoved through the skin on their backs and shoulders. The swinging and such they are doing is pulling harder on those wounds. It would be pretty cool if they weren't hanging by really big piercings, but they are, so... it's not.

It was on Ripley's believe it or not, and they were explaining the deeper meaning s of "body altercation" it is a meditation/zen type thing but instead of relaxing into an altered state of consciousness, one shocks themselves into one through self-torture. Very demonic, and more clearly so than T.M. or some other unhealthy spiritual things people sometimes do. I was totally enthralled and in love with it.

My dad and sister got upset (probably the one thing they should not have done though, lose their cool and yell), and dad talked about how we treat our temple and quoted a verse, I don't remember which. He said, "drinking isn't as bad as that!" (which is wrong, getting drunk is a sin, just like this is). He said doing this to yourself is like doing this to Jesus (he was right, it hurts Jesus to see stuff like this as if we did it to Him).

I got offended and accused them of judging. I think I quoted or misquoted some lame verse all out of context. I went on like they were mistaken about what they were saying. My dad corrected my obvious error, which I then disagreed with and said he was judging and tried to act like I was being the nice, Christ-like one taking the high road and he wasn't, and like he didn't make logical sense. He also said having pleasure in someone else doing it is as bad or worse than actually doing it, and I think he also mentioned that Christians aren't supposed to revel in things that hurt God, and that you can't minister to people by doing that, but maybe my memory injected that because I know it now in hindsight. I'm not sure...
My sister said something like, "You know its wrong and you don't have anything to say to prove it isn't. You just won't admit it because you think it's cool." I was FURIOUS, and yes, I was further alienated from them in this argument. Would a different response have helped? I doubt it. If they had soft-pedaled it, like saying, "Maybe we see the Word differently and that's just fine. I don't agree with it but you should do whatever's in your heart. I'll try to keep an open mind..." Then it would have planted a seed of confusion more than I already had! I really believe that. Later, when I let God deal with me and renew my mind/spirit, I got over that unhealthy perception - with a vengeance.

Sometimes truth actually hurts. The truth that homosexuality was a sin hurt a lot when I was tempted for it, but I still accepted it as truth and persevered until I was free, until my thoughts lined up more with God's thoughts.. Even if folks get upset, when they are willfully doing what they should know is wrong and are choosing not to know better, they need to hear the truth even if they hate it, just like I did.

Since ALL sin looks like this (above) to God, telling someone its ok to continue in sin is like advocating for THIS in the name of Jesus and in the name of love - and actually very strong emotional bonds form between the practitioners of this "art." People are drawn to it, as I was, by a sense of connection, belonging, strength, "beauty", a lure of "freedom" (believe it or not), a "high" caused by an altered state of consciousness, plus maybe other stuff.

Now, if I were reaching out to the guys doing this, I would NOT handle it the same way; only a person who claims to know Christ who did that or was enjoying watching something like that (like I once did) requires such heavy handedness. If I was talking to the men themselves, I would have to be less "dogmatic", if you will, because they are on the outside. They need truth too, yes, but do not carry the responsibility of being salt and light that professing Christians do. These guys are not being hypocrites or misrepresenting Christ to the world; they are just the regular lost that all of us have been.

Today, I feel bad for those guys instead of admiring or envying them, and sickened by people who look on with relish. ALL sin looks like this to God, in the spirit realm - be it drinking, or porn, or homosexual actions, or B&D/S&M, or T.M. or Wicca or "the Left-hand Path," or lying, or stealing, or enjoying watching this kind of stuff, or anything else. Sin is sin, period. It is destructive to us on the inside and it hurts God to watch it, like this should probably hurt to watch especially if you were the mother/father of someone in this film, which I have cut screenshots out of to spare you having to watch it in case you feel you probably shouldn't or are not allowed to by parents (for good reasons).

 I think we all look like that (above) to God and angels when we sin and pursue sin, and like justify it or whatever. We sit there hurting ourselves like crazy and think that it's great. We might even want to let the world know or raise awareness of how great it is and how wrong anyone who insists that its wrong is. Other times, we might point our finger at someone else's sin who disagrees with us and say "Look how wrong they are...! That means I'm right!" or some other ridiculousness.
We just can't understand why a God who loves us would absolutely demand that we stop.
Truthfully though, how could He love us and not?

Godspeed

~Mother Star

On the Conflict in the Middle East

Here's what I have so far for my middle Eastern global awareness project in Painting class. It's due Jan. 26th at 3 pm. I needed to touch it up a bit, improve the quality When the snapshot was taken. 

I used a black and white pattern and added Stars of David and a red crisscross weaving.
The red can represent blood, the stars of David and the Pattern in the back are inter-locked by the red, symbolizing the pain and bloodshed on both/all sides of all the conflict out that way now, and how everybody there is likely feeling many of the same things. Everybody's afraid of somebody, worried about violence and their family and what will happen if this or that group comes to power or comes to their area. Some feel a war against the other people is necessary, some people know that violence just makes everything worse. Feeing the same things usually binds people together, though in this case that doesn't usually seem to be working.... 
All humans are really related to each other if you go back far enough, so in a way we are all "brothers". Abraham is the common ancestor of all these people, so that is another way that this is a war between relatives.
The red could also represent the blood of Christ with the power to redeem everyone and all things, to make all things new and make all people, even the most contentious, part of one big family. Jesus was Jewish. That's what the Abrahamic Covenant and the Blessing and the Law and the Prophets was all about. Through that nation, all nations would be blessed, and we have been, through Christ Jesus.

I guess its a pretty controversial picture, once I explain it...

I pray for God's comfort and for the ministry of his angels for everyone affected, directly or indirectly,by this conflict. I pray for salvation and restoration at every level. I pray for an end to all war-mongering, fear-mongering, and hate-mongering by those who profess Christ as their God and Savior. I stand with Pope Francis and others around the world in prayer for peace.

Godspeed.

~Mother Star

Adventures in RCIA - Ecumenism

For those who want to know, Catholicism and Protestantism are essentially the same. The things that unite protestant churches also unite them to Catholicism.
There are people within every sect that have notions outside of the precepts of that sect. There are also misunderstandings and mistakes that people sometimes assume are a reflection of the beliefs of a sect or determine whether or not the whole sect is Christian or not.
This is where prejudice often comes from.

Calvinists and Pentecostals have HUGE differences between themselves. Larger, I think, then between Pentecostals and Orthodox or Pentecostals and Catholics. There are also Charismatic Catholics. Pope Francis is one of these , He has addressed several Charismatic conventions. It was upon reading this I decided it was time to join the Catholic Church. It was something I though seriously about for along time, and that is what did it. I note that this Pope is extremely interested in unifying Christians from everywhere, and emphasizes ecumenism.He feels the Charismatic movement plays a vital role in this, and I agree.

So, in the spirit of unity and ecumenism, I present some of my thoughts about ecumenism, and how it could be practiced. I do intend to resume volunteering and activity with the local A.G. church after my RCIA class ends, provided my services are needed and accepted and the demands of making a living allow it. It will not interfere with Mass, as I go to Mass on Saturday afternoons and can attend any day of the week - that was actually another reason for making the move now, I had a work schedule that made Sunday morning service hard to get to and the A.G. church stopped having service on Wednesday nights.

Godspeed.

~Mother Star

Sometimes I Worry About Losing My Faith

"To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen."
Jude 1:24

Since it'sChristmas season, I thought now would be a good time to write about how the Christmas story and the whole story of Christ turns our deeply held concepts about "power" upside down. In the process, I am also working out an issue that a struggle with in my spiritual life.

I have been exposed to evolution teaching and many other kinds of teaching. It doesn't bother me one way or another.  If I accept the part of what they say that were convincing - not all of it was - and even if accept thestuffthat wasn't, it does not change anything of substance. I don't worship God because God made the world in six days by a certain method. I worship God because I have litarally seen miracles, because I have obeyed and seen it work, and disobeyed and seen it not work. I worship God because I have experienced God's grace and God's love first-hand. If I think the creation story is metaphoric, the important parts that alter how I live my life and believe the universe works are still there. My soul-realm (mind, emotions and will) does not cause me problems because of "science". My weakness is not found there. My weakness is found in the area of gender, and cross-cultural study. Satan always uses our gifts to try to destroy us.

I have been deeply blessed by exposure to matriarchal and matrilineal societies,indirectly. In a way, it feels like I have been cursed by it. Trying to present God to a culture like that, and in some ways to my own mind as I have changed through this education, becomes a challenge. I think part of it is that the biblical scholars on whom I rely for information have the same problem as traditional anthropologists - they are raised with patriarchy and it blinds them.

What constitutes "power"? What image comestoyour mind when you hear that word? Do you have an image
of something violent? Something or someone that you want on your side for physical reasons? Fear-based reasons? What do you believe "power" is?

The Minagkabau, a matrilieal culture in Indonesia, have a very different image of power than Wessterners and other traditionally patriarchal cultures do. Their name means "Victorious Buffalo" in their langage. The story behind it goes as follows:

The Javanese and the Minang had a battle of sorts overwho would control what is now Minang territory. The Javanese are patriarchal and more warlike than the Minang. The Javanese combatantwas a great Bull Buffalo,but theMinang had a very hungry baby Buffalo,withknoves affixed to its head. When the Minag's Baby Buffalo entered the combat zone, he or she darted under the Javanese Bull in search of nipples for nursing, which of course the Bull did not have. Because of the knives on it's head, itgored the Bull to death and won the battle without even understanding battle or intending to trying to win one.

The Baby Bull only did what nature programed it to do, it had no thought of battles or power or "glory." This story demonstrates a major underpinning of Minang worldview: out of weakness comes strength.
Naming themselves for the Victorious Baby Buffalo in this story keeps this philosophy tied to who they are,howthey identify themselves. Jesus,our saviour, did not come to save us swinging 5 ft. claymores, screaming battle cries, and dropping carcasses left and right. That is what many expected him to do. He came as a helpless baby. He was born into peril, and into a kind of slavery. He was born to an oppressed and subjugated minority teenager, in circumstances that could have easily been misconstrued and led to a lot more trouble.

Did Jesus saves by "kicking butt"? No. He saved us by giving his life for seemingly nothing. The tyrants did not fall, prisons didn't burst open and free everyone in them. The economic situation remained the same. No unjust laws were repealed. On the cross, He shouted, "I thirst," he was not too proud to make His needs known. The veil of the temple was torn, making it clear that something big was done. Saints who had died rose and spoke to many during that time. Yes, crazy things happened, but not the kind of things we are prone to worry about. The obvious miracles that day were not what we equate with success and power. If there is one thing our God is not, it is a chest-thumping, pig-headed, patriarchal-enculturated male on a power-trip. That is not the YHVH Jesus reveals to us.

When I measure power by the production and violence-based, patriarchal, Western way, Jesus is not very impressive. If I measure it the "matriarchal" (that word is kinda inaccurate about everybody it is applied to due the "arch" in it. They are not so hierarchical as we are) way, Jesus becomes incredibly awesome. This time of year, we celebrate a woman who accepted profound shame among her people though an "unplanned" pregnancy. We celebrate a relatively poor man who swallowed his pride and married her anyway, accepting the financial responsibility (because it was a patriarchy) for a baby that wasn't his. We mainly celebrate a baby born into terrible circumstances, who lived a hard, short earthly life, and died for us by torture and injustice. On the third day, He rose again. They all were willing to suffer whatever for God's will, which was to save us. This is the example we're supposed to follow, and and the priorities we are supposed to measure our lives by.

In being directly opposed to our image of power and how it functions or can be measured, the Minang worldview is actually probably one step closer to the God we at least say that we serve. The problem arises when I read Scripture about how this society runs its home and how their different worldview leads them to organize their society. It actually works well and has provided them mellinia  of stability, but flies in the face of the way I am told God wants family life ordered. The image of abig umbrella with Jesus' name on it,followedby a smaller umbrella that says husband/father, and another smaller one below it that says "Wife/mother" and etc. Is where I have problems. I really don't believe it. Most of the scripture people use to support that, I can see how it could mean something else, but I don'tseehowIcoudserve a God who institutes an less functional and senseless system

I sometimes worry that,through studying these things I will become so alienated from the patriarchal-thinking church leaders, freinds and elders I know and end up unable to recieve encouragement from anybody's messages, unable to minister to anyone around me, and and end up losing my faith.