A Greater Challenge

Earlier this morning, I was SMARTING. Bad. When someone hurts you, even for the right reasons, it can still really send you into a tail-spin. You are right side up sometimes, and right side down at other times. This morning, I was right side down. I was right, but I was down. And I came down on several denominations for either preaching or practicing doctrines or customs that I don't at all agree with (which in some cases, I do think of as satanic in their own way, but anyhow). I did this mainly because I have a right to say what I please, even when people don't like it (they don't have to keep reading an entry if they don't want to), and because my blog is mine: I can say what I want here and feel relatively safe about it. People are free to comment, but mainly anyone who disagrees with my descidence isn't likely to stick around long enough to bother. Therefore, for once, I can be heard (by those who care about where I'm coming from) without someone coming along and correcting me, just because they think they know what my intentions are, what's best for me, etc, then I know I can say what I need to without fear of being unduly ridiculed. One thing I like about Blogging is that I can get a complete thought out without being interupted and misunderstood, as is so often the case in voice-communications with me. I AM learning to just let people be who they are, and correct me all they like without taking them seriousely, but that IS a long process.

Anyone who happened to visit my blog and read that entry this morning and is now reading this later on will automatically notice that it's missing. I felt compelled this afternoon to save it as a draft and try to get some more sleep (my sleep patterns are SO screwed up these days). Now I feel compelled to express myself in a slightly more mature fashion. Blame it on hormones, lack of sleep, not always eating well, and not getting enough water. Or blame it on my human nature. I don't care - just BLAME something, blame it!

I think the more mature way of dealing with the issue of why I don't belong to this or that religion is to, first of all, restate the first two statements I made, and then simply make one solid list of everything I've come across that I don't believe in, regardless of which denomination it came from, and really, not even cast blame on specific denominations. I'll let that go and let you surmize for yourself all the different religions I do not agree with, ok? This is my way of meeting a HUGE challenge for me: expressing myself without hurting others in the process. I am Spirituall Married to God and am Adored by Him, but I'm still growing, learning, and still challenged in some areas. I'll thank those of you who are Saved to Forgive me for that, and to keep me in Prayer. The rest of you, I'll thank to just watch me grow and be satisfied with that.

So, here are the two statements I made this morning:

1. I don't like religion in general. I like Spirituality better, because of the direct Relationship with God that it IS. I don't like any system that tries desperately to please God, or otherwise sooth one's soul by trying to please one's self. Calling on God brings me many more rewards than calling on others for answers. Do I ask others questions about life, God, etc? Yes, though most of the time it's just to show them where I'm going with something. Very rarely do I ask non-retorical questions, though it does happen when it seems that God will actually use a person to direct me. Yet I NEVER just rely on what someone says, at face value, without asking "Is this what God Himself wants me to learn here?"
2. "Order" and "Community" are not what they used to be 2,000 years ago.

And here's one long list of everything I DON'T believe in:

1. Abusing the OT tithing system and paying off big bucks to professional administrators.
2. Not taking people seriousely as individuals and not focussing primarily on the cross, the Lamb, etc. Caring more about doctrines than people's immediate need for Love.
3. Teaching/practicing the OPPOSITE of the following: God never stops Loving you, never makes you pay for your sins, and wants nothing more than to take you home to be with Him, yet He can't wait, so He comes down in the form of the Holy Spirit to be with you now. He fixes up your life from the inside out and doesn't require you to do a thing, as if you could anyway.
4. "Family oriented" means that if you're over 25 and single, either you need to get hooked up (or in some cases, depending on who you talk to, get laid), and if you aren't doiing that, then you ought to work with little kids or else you are a "pew warmer."
5. Telling little kids in a church setting how they are expected to express their genders through dress, interests, knowledge, behaviors, psychology, etc.
6. Church schools withholding any form of education from teen girls that it does not withhold from teen boys.
7. Advocating kicking girls out of private school for getting pregnant. THESE GIRLS NEED TO BE SHOWN SSAALLVVAATTIIOON!!! The gospel doesn't kick people out for ruining their own lives. It keeps people in the family." Perfect love casts out all fear, because fear has to do with punishment. Words to ponder. Ok, I'll go back to being "mature" now.
8. Focusing on the outward more than on the inward.
9. Leaving individual people broken and dying alongside the road, erm, isles. Keeping people in the "sinner needing Salvation" state. Treating people like they are never more Loved by God than as His children alone. Never helping them learn that He's Calling them into an even Closer Relationship than just that!
   
10. Pressuring kids to join clubs where they are required to march around in wanna-be army style uniforms like mindless drones.
11. Requiring any form of Worship at all.
    
12. Not teaching what I've learned in the last year about the Holy Spirit's influence on individual lives for their own benefit because God Loves them too.
13. Keeping molestation between little kids a secret and not warning them against it before the age of 5. Poo-pooing it as "cute." It's NOT cute. It's devistating.
14. Any church, religion, or system (even secular, and this includes web sites) where the majority of it's long-time members simply operate on fear alone.
15. Preachers/Elders/Fathers not even researching what they preach first, but instead using "stalk sermons" to give to their congregations.
16. Being works driven for salvation
17. Using statues in any required religious observances at all. This does not include dramatic props for the purpose of spreading the gospel. Essentially, worshipping statues or holding them or the things they represent in high regard along with the Bible.
18. Relying on a single prophet or prophetess for "clarification." Particularly without being willing to completely publish the unedited manuscripts verbatim for the study of those who question the validity of that prophet or prophetess. Using a single prophet or prophetess in it's religious classes or in it's sermons as a backup plan or as a "fill in the blanks" source when something can't be found in that church's chosen source of scripture. God's Spirit is higher than any human being, and is COMPLETELY CAPABLE of "clarifying" things in the hearts and minds of His Followers, ALL on His VERY OWN.
19. Using any particular objects as rights of purification along side baptism (relying on those objects for purification/Salvation). This does NOT mean that objects never have any sentimental value to a person who has a Relationship with God. It just means they aren't to be relied upon for purity/Salvation.
    
20. Teaching and practicing prayer to dead people, regardless of how good they were. Practicing "roll playing" regarding the lives of the living or the dead (i.e., be like so and so, 'cause they are a great person - take on their name and be as much like them as humanly possible at all times, otherwise, you aren't Saved). Jesus is my ONLY model, and He's a whole lot more than just a role model! He Lives in me, and Works within me. I don't need to "pretend" anymore.
21. Teaching that specific objects MUST at all times be used in conjunction with prayer or else somehow the prayers of honest people just can't be heard by God or something.
22. Any church who's sole purpose is to knock down one or more other churches/religions is one that I will not darken the doors of again.
23. Teaching or practicing that laying on of hands is an absolute requirement for receiving the Holy Spirit.
24. Believing in Zionism.
25. Not saying something if a kid is cut down on by an adult.
26. Teaching that the Bible can't be understood by common people, and that only those who've been through a Seminary are able to really understand, practice, and articulate it.
27. Teaching that happiness is a sin.
    

(LOL - yeah, I just counted them. Heh, looks like I need a 28th to add to my list of herrassy! Hmmm... How 'bout "Teaching satanism/witchcraft...")

Alright, I hope that's better. I will say here that I do believe that all people of all faiths have *something good to offer. Just don't plan on hearing me come here to this blog and say "Hey folks, guess what? I've found 'THE" church!" I refuse to join one particular church and scrap all the others. I just don't see any good in doing that.

I do want to give you the same challenge that I gave you in my other blog entry. It's pretty good, actually:

I challenge you to this mental AND emotional/Spiritual task: I challenge you to become friends with people who you will never agree with regarding religion/doctrine. I challenge you to visit what you may see as their "prisons" and learn that you may (or may not) be living in one of your own. I challenge you to look into the "dark side" of your mind and be honest with yourself about what you see going on around you and ask yourself "What DO I really feel about what I see here? Is this ok with me or not? Why or why not?" I challenge you to take the leap of faith that God won't let go of you, and that He'll only use this experience to your advantage.

Yeah, I kept the list in the same order as before, as that was just easier for me. If it will settle your mind, comment below about it, and I'll gladly "mix 'm up" for you ;) They are still the same, regardless, which is why I'm not bothering to do that.

*I do intend to learn to LISTEN more and talk less when others are sharing their views with me. I also am learning not to feel defensive, though that is, as I've said before, a LONG process.

A Question for Herod

When evil is found, what is to be done with those it kills from the inside out? What is the Call?

Resistance is Futile, Part II

Hmm... After such a stark, blunt, and I have to admit generally negative, yet incredibly truthful post as the last one, I think I'd like to write on the other side of the coin for a moment before I head off ot bed. I said before that I would only write on it once. In a very Real way, that's true - I did. Now it's time to let Jesus have a crack at it (meaning, He's had a "little talk" with me about this, and explained a few things to me about "resistance" and "irresistability.") I'm letting Him move through me here as He will. That doesn't mean that there's none of "me" in here. It just means that He and I are sometimes hard for me to tell apart, though at other times, it's really quite obvious. Or is it?

Last time, I pointed out the woes of forced religion, how cultish it is, etc. I will breifly restate here that I believe it to be cultish because even when people are of the same denomination/religion as each other, it's against their "inalienable rights," at least in THIS COUNTRY, the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, to, even under freely signed contracts, be forced to worship any diety who is believed or not believed to be real by said people. In other words, it's just sick to do that to someone, and all I know is that the God I Know and Trust doesn't do that to me.

Ok, so this time, the lighter side of the coin: the other half of the debate. "My" (His) side of it ;)

I AM OF GOD, as I've so plainly stated. Can others resist me or the God I worship? Well, plenty of old friends and ex-boyfriends have "resisted" me quite easily, so I guess where I'm concerned, resistance is FAR from futile! But now God? He's another story altogether. Um, I've MET Him, through His Spirit, and believe me - He's a Great Guy! Quite a catch! And you know what? He CAN'T resist me ;) In fact, I'm His weakness, heh. I was telling Erik about that when I first realized it almost a year ago now (is it really summer already?).

Yet I will say this: I didn't have GOD Living in my heart back in the day, so I can see why I was so resistable. It's not that there was anything wrong with me, per sey, but there wasn't anything extra special about me either, as so many people so adequately informed me. But now? Hmm... I can only hope and pray that Jesus can be seen in me periodically, and be the Iresistable "perfume" (oh drats, there I go again with another "true cliche") that will attract the hurting, the lost, the "sinners" to me so that I can point them to Him.

And to be completely honest, I think that's what "community" should be for, my dear June F., whereever you are... (Sorry, just HAD to stick that one in there, for old time's sake). It's NOT about making people do what you think God wants them to because you think it's right, and you are just SO SURE that the Holy Spirit will somehow see this as some grand opportunity which you, the great genius that you think you are, somehow managed to dream up all on your very own (college boards, you know who you are), and use it to your advantage for you! That's NOT a God-filled "community"! Gah! What in TARNATION is wrong with you people who ACTUALLY think that is somehow NOT a "creepy" idea???

God-based Community should simply be a bunch of people who God has chosen Himself to Move upon through His Spirit as He will for His own Purposes, as individuals independant of eachother's ideologies (or even their own) about what His "will" ought to be (according to their own interpretation of His will based on what they read in their own particular Bibles and on how they were raised in their own families, of course). I will say this much: though I believe that God NEVER intended for any individual or group of individuals to come up with some Utopian government based on their own religios ideologies, and though I RANT and RAVE on the topic, I will say this much: I'm a Democrat (that's NOT code for Liberal, and no, I'm not overly conservative either) because I BELIEVE and PRACTICE in independance for each individual NO MATTER WHAT. Why? Because I trust GOD to run my Life and to protect me from all the whacked out weirdos out there who would attempt to harm it. That's not a Brag. It's a Fact. So, in the end, all those silly people who actually think that forced worship attendance and/or participation is a good idea -- they can HAVE their wacko ways. That's just fine with me. Just don't EVER believe for one MINUTE that I'll EVER darken your doors again. I honestly just think you folks are very twisted.

As Erik loves to remind me, THERE IS NO LAW. Only God. Jesus is the Epitomy of God in a human being through the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? It means that, if God = Love = Heaven's Law = Jesus = Holy Spirit, and if the Holy Spirit can (and believe me, He DOES) Live and Love in human beings, if God's purposes are ALWAYS carried out in the end, then quite frankly, it's just silliness to make up laws for human interaction in the first place.

Should there be DMV laws? You know, I've thought about that somewhat... What causes people to need laws? Periodic abscent-mindedness? It used to be that if you got pulled over for obviousely doing something that was not intentional or the result of being under the influence, you got a WARNING and then never had to worry about it again, because you and that cop knew that you are normally a decent, law abiding citizen and you just made an unintentional error in judgement. Kinda reminds me of how God dealt with accidental killings in the OT. You had a chance at survival. But what causes people out on the roads to intentionally break the law, or to drive under the influence? In some cases, it's true that mental-health issues play a part in this. But can the law determine who has mental-health issues and who doesn't? Can it stop that person from doing stupid things? It can only deal with the aftermath when they've already done something dumb. But what about the other cases, where normally intelligent, clear-thinking individuals break the law? That's not too difficult to figure out, really. Either they ARE under the influence (think for awhile about everything that gets people to "party"), or they are angry with the law itself "I hate the law and think it's stupid, therefore I will forgoe it this time and just do the opposite instead, regardless of how stupid it might be (or whether I really want) to do this or not, and regardless of the consequences to me or my loved ones." It all boils down to intentions. If it's willful lawbreaking, then obviousely, there is hatred for the law! Perhaps it's hatred toward law enforcement, because some police officer POed someone at some point in their life, so now they want revenge. Who knows? The point is, it really boils down to hatred, one way or another.

Hatred is the opposite of Love. So is sin. Hatred = sin. But what did Jesus come to do? Did He merely come to wipe the slate clean as a form of fire insurance for willful sinners who go on sinning until He comes back? If you really think about the assumptions made in over half the sermons preached in churches today, you'll realize that this IS the impression given by those well meant sermons. Yet this is just not the truth (though it does keep people's butts in the pews, faithfully handing over their arms and legs to support broken down systems of religion). What then DID Jesus come here for? What was His point? What in the world did He do that ought to make Him Irresistable to me today? (Note to self - that's what it feels like for Jesus to type through my hands. I kinda didn't realize what I was saying there until it was written.) He did wipe the slate clean, that's true (I'll write on that topic later, I think). But He did MORE than that. He not only gave the Holy Spirit to His talmid (those He disciplined the hearts and minds of like any good Rabbi would, His disciples), but He gave it FOREVER and FOR EVERYONE!

Ok, let's sum this up.

Hatred is the opposite of Love. So is sin. Hatred = sin. God = Love = Heaven's Law = Jesus = Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit Lives and Loves in human beings, and God's purposes are ALWAYS carried out in the end. The Holy Spirit works and moves through those who God has chosen Himself to Move upon as He will for His own Purposes, as individuals.

Not only is THAT "Community" for real, but you know what? Honestly, as I've learned for myself, that's the kind of Community that's, well, Irresistable! God puts it Together Himself - He DOESN'T NEED our "help" in doing that! As if we are good enough to know how on our own? Are we really THAT conceited to think that we could play God in each other's lives, or even have some fathomable idea all on our own of "WWJD"???

Gah! GRRRRR!!!!!!!!! It's NOT "What would Jesus do?!!!!!!!!!!" It's "What IS JESUS DOING right now, all on His very own?!!!!" It's certainly NOT "What do I think should be done here?!!!"

It's all about You, God, not me, not anyone else. Just You. I give up.

We Are of God, Resistance is Futile

An Ode to Forced Worship

Ok, folks. I'm just going to write about this once, and then I'm done. I'm in a good mood today and don't need to hyperfocus on something that I just can't condone or take seriousely anymore - fear based religion.

While my personal exposure to the cultish practice (of forcing members of one's own religion to attend and/or participate in worship services for said religion) has been entirly through the Seventh-day Adventist denomination's education system (one which in general, I can NOT recommend for those who want more highly advanced educations in anything other than medicine and education), there are 3 other major religions which practice this in some form or another: Catholocism, Judaism, and Islam. The majority of protestant Christian religions and at least Hinduism if not others as well, have fought heavily AGAINST such practices within their own ranks, because they see the wisdom in allowing an individual (or a "brother") to "work out his own Salvation." They know that if something's worth going to or participating in, people will come of their own accord and will want to come back again. They WON'T NEED to be forced into it based on pressure from family/friends, gun-point/threat of torture/threat of expulsion & hell, or some silly contract threatening expulsion from school and from a church's "loving community."

What's the purpose of that contract? It's a way of saying "You, the individual, don't matter to us, the group. Rather, your time-card is what's important to us here, so that we can manipulate the numbers and make ourselves look good to the outsiders who don't know we are using your time-card as a way of forcing you to either participate or leave. We also enjoy harassing you in our place of worship if you choose not to listen to what we tell you to. You don't have the right, when spending your time with us, to be the individual God made you to be, to participate or zone out at random, to come and go as you choose." That's the REAL purpose of it. Everything else, all the other excuses you've heard for such silly things, are just disguises for the truth. Why do people, in my case SDAs, sign such contracts? We don't - they merely are paragraphs in student handbooks which are referred to in other contracts we do sign because if we don't sign them, we aren't allowed to go to SDA schools. Those contracts also include such silliness as dress-codes and food-consumption codes. However, they include important things, such as non-violence and multi-cultural tollerance, which are very important. What's the overall idea of these codes? Someone, back in the day, got the bright idea that if students are faced with these demands, and refuse to sign such contracts, then they must of course be saying that they don't agree with those lofty ideals at all! Of course if they agree, they'll sign, right?

But those of you who have gone to SDA schools - how many of you, who know exactly what I'm getting at here, honestly agreed with the forced worship clause in the student handbook of your college of choice that referred to it, when you signed that contract? How many of you thought "Oh, yes!!! I want to sell my soul to this college to do with it whatever this school wants to? I trust THEM implicetly, because of course, they are SDA, and they know what's right all the time!" I didn't think so. See, real, genuine, honest, and THINKING people don't think that way. Only drones of any particular religion do.

I would like to point out that in all 3 major religions mentioned above, much violence against others who see God differently has been done in the name of God by people who were forced, either by family or by gun-point (either will work for the devil quite nicely), to worship God regularly. And I would like to point out that the rate of domestic violence in all three of those major religions is rivaled by both Adventism AND the rest of the world. Though in Adventism, it's "hush-hush" (excused away, usually blaming the girlfriend or wife for making some mistake somewhere along the way, because she's supposed to be smarter than he is, of course) and swept under the carpet completely (at least in public, at church). Put another way, we SDAs aren't any better than anyone else when it comes to that, and God is usually the topic of contention "God wants this done this way, not that! You should listen to me!" Should? I have to? Really? No. In other words, if domestic violence in the Seventh-day Adventist church, or in any of the other major religions (as if SDA is a major religion, which it's not, but don't tell other SDAs that) is to be curbed, one major way of curbing it is to "set the captives free" by discontinuing forced worship.

Did you know that those wonderful, God-adoring, happy-pappy SDA teachers you had in school only went to church because they were FORCED TO in order to keep their jobs? That's right - it's a requirement of the SDA Education Department that an SDA teacher attend church a certain number of times per year OR ELSE THEY'RE FIRED. That tells me that those wonderful SDA teachers who we think are so Godly really wouldn't attend church if they weren't forced into it. Does that make them unGodly, that they wouldn't attend church? Nope. It means that Godly and unGlodly people alike are being forced into an environment that they don't really want to be in, all in the name of making the SDA denomination look good (to itself, not to outsiders, who in all honesty don't give a rip 'cause most of them have never even HEARD of SDA - just get out in the community and actually ASK sometime and find out for yourself, if you haven't already).

Yeah - peculiar alright. Godly? Hardly. God gives freedom of concience EVEN AFTER "conversion." He NEVER forces anyone to worship Him at any point in time during this lifetime. Who are we to try to be above God? LOL. Forcing worship doesn't put us above Him or even in His ranks. It's demonic. Only satan would force someone to worship (him, of course).

So what's wrong with church that they wouldn't go? Hmm... Try attending one sometime, and you tell me - there's plenty (forced labor for adults in the SS departments, boring song-services with unpronounceable words or else "Kumbiah" (sp), money guilt-tripped out of pockets on Sabbath, sour faces and judgmental eyes, uninvolved or insincere "topical" sermons, unhealthy or allergenic foods at potlucks, poorly planned outings, parents who openly make fun of their spouses/kids, bad parking, difficulty finding a particular church due to bad directions given by some woman over 80 who answered the phone... Having the thought "And I got all dressed up for THIS???") to keep in mind when answering THAT question.

Some "legal wrangling" SDAs in the SDA Educational System will say "Well, if you are against forced worship, then you MUST of course be against worship at all! What's wrong with you? Don't you love God?" That's twisting one's words when one expresses any form of "dissent" regarding the requirement of worship. The requirement of it is what is wrong, not necessarily the worship, although from what I've seen, the worship isn't really worth attending most of the time anyway. Why in the world should worship have to be scheduled? Think about that for a second. If it's genuine, it won't have to be penciled in between History class and Ethics in Religion. It'll happen spontaniousely on it's own. To require any human being to worship with others, as if they aren't able to worship on their own if they're going to worship God at all, kills the private, personal relationship they COULD be cultivating with God (rather He with them on HIS own time, not someone elses) because it distracts them away from Him and instead puts the focus of their attention onto some silly speaker who thinks they know SO MUCH...

Case in point: as you've read this, how much private, personal time have you spent just with God without being focussed on me or my words about Him at all?