kerravonsen | Entries tagged with godstuff

Listening to the Minor Prophets while knitting, and there was this passage in Amos:

Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing? Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it? For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?

-- Amos 3:5-8

And this leapt out at me:

For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.

Yes, yes, "does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?" does say that God has caused the disaster, but unless God has revealed his secrets we cannot presume to say why God unleashed said disaster.

But so many times, so many many many times, self-righteous Christians declare that this or that natural disaster is a punishment on the wicked of that place, and it makes me so angry when they do. And now finally, finally I have a verse I can quote at those sadistic revellers in Schadenfreude, and ask them "Are you a prophet? Has the Lord God revealed his secrets to you? If not, then shut your mouth."

Current Mood: thoughtful

Just started watching "Moon Knight". (yeah, yeah, late as usual.) Interesting show.

And there's a line from the first episode which has stuck in my head.

(about the goddess Ammit) "She grew weary of having to wait for sinners to commit their crime before punishing them. Would you wait to weed a garden till after the roses were dead?"

Would you wait to weed a garden till after the roses were dead?

That's pretty profound. Flawed, but profound. Because of course most people would say, "No, you wouldn't wait; you would weed the garden to protect the roses." ( BUT... )

Current Mood: thoughtful

(I started saying stuff on Twitter this morning... realised it turned into a longer thread, so I'm posting an expanded version here.)

Sometimes the only thing I can do to "live in the world but not of it" is to be polite and silent, refusing to engage in discussions of morality, saying that other people's morals are NOT MY BUSINESS. Does that make me a coward? I hope rather it makes me a peacemaker. Take-home from this: if I am silent on a subject, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with you. I hope, rather, that I am following the command "Judge not, lest you be judged."

I am glad that I am not in a position to be required to judge, such as being someone in authority over others. That I am able to say "It is not my business what other people do, it is not my business how they choose to sin. We are ALL sinners. My sins are not less than yours."

It is not my business who you sleep with.
It is not my business how you dress.
It is not my business what bathroom you go into.

It is my business how I interact with you.
I will not shun you.
I will respect your pronouns, because I would much rather be polite than obnoxious.

It is your business how you choose to interact with me.
If you ASK me what my position on something is, do not expect me to lie. Being silent is the best I can do. Perhaps the fact that I disagree with you makes you feel that I am silently judging you. If you feel that, that makes me sad. It will not change my position, but it still makes me sad.

When I was younger, I was far too quick to speak up about what my position was, because I was insecure enough to be afraid that people might actually think that I agreed with XYZ if I remained silent, if I didn't quickly defend ABC instead, if I didn't correct people's assumptions. Perhaps I've gone too far in the other direction, but many painful interactions (and the internet is a TERRIBLE place to have nuanced discussions, really) have taught me that I ought to shut up instead. Mostly.

And I need to try not to worry about what I imagine people think of me. As do we all.

Current Mood: cold
Crossposts: https://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/1194142.html

Finished reading "The Android's Dream" by John Scalzi. First bit of non-fanfic fiction I've read in a while. Initially hard to get into, but soon got caught up in the shenanigans. So many shenanigans! It was fun. ( spoilery philisophical ramblings )

Current Mood: awake
Crossposts: https://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/1190894.html

So... today's sermon was on 1 Timothy 4:1-6. Or, as he titled it "Spotting the Fake". (If you want to listen to the sermon for yourself, here's the DPC Livestream with the timestamp where the sermon starts.) For the most part, it was a good sermon. For the most part, it was on-point and relevant and scriptural. Good points made about "some people see demons under every bush, while others don't believe in them at all". Good points about what a "seared conscience" is. Good points about those who want to add to scripture, take away from scripture, distort scripture. Good points about what legalism is. BUT. (Yes, there is a "but") But there was one point where he was unfortunately wrong.

I'm not sure if I want to laugh or cry about a sermon about false teaching having false teaching in it. ( So what was the problem? )

Current Mood: cold
Crossposts: https://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/1174086.html

I've been reading my eldest brother's PhD thesis. No, this is not a usual thing for me. But we were discussing punitive justice the other day (as one does) and he suggested I read it, and loaned me a copy -- a big hardbound book which looks twice as big as it actually is, because apparently PhD theses are printed double-spaced on one side of the leaf. Perhaps that's so examiners can write all over it? I dunno. Anyway, he said to skip the start and begin reading at chapter 3. I looked at the table of contents and began reading at chapter 2. Why? Because it looked as if chapter 3 was using concepts defined in chapter 2, so I wanted to understand them first.

Oh, and what is my brother's PhD thesis actually about? It combines theology and psychology in an examination of the Eden narrative in Genesis from a psychological perspective. But not a Jungian symbolic perspective, or of trying to get into the psyche of the author, but examining the psychology of the people in the story. As people, not symbols. But I haven't gotten to that bit yet. I've only just read chapter 2, where there's a defining of terms. The terms of "guilt" and "shame". I don't know about you, but for me, guilt and shame go hand-in-hand so much that I've found it somewhat difficult to untangle them in my head. I mean, I know they're different from each other, but I haven't been sure what precisely it is that distinguishes them. Reading that chapter 2, I it found rather clarifying, so I decided to stop and write this post. The following are my reflections and thinky thoughts about what I got out of it.( Read more... )

Share your thoughts, if you will.

Current Mood: thoughtful

Whenever I hear the above phrase, I'm not sure whether I should roll my eyes or grind my teeth.
"As long as it gives you comfort" is a phrase used by non-Christians towards Christians in order to demonstrate their tolerance and enlightenment. What it really demonstrates is patronising smugness. "Let those silly little Christians cling to their harmless delusions, their crutches, because they aren't brave or strong enough to face reality."

Bollocks. Bullshit. Rubbish. Three hundred times NO.
( Read more... )
I wonder what would happen if I said "As long as it gives you comfort" to a non-Christian? I think I'd have to be pretty annoyed to do so, because I'd be saying it sarcastically. There's no way I'd say it straight.

Current Mood: cold
Crossposts: https://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/1124900.html

Just had an interesting conversation with a couple of women who knocked on my door claiming to be "theological students" "practising a presentation". I put those in quotes because I now think that they weren't... well, technically you could argue that they were, in the sense that all those who read the Bible are studying the Bible and thus are "students". Really, I think they were doing what Evangelicals call "witnessing": going up to random strangers and trying to persuade them to change their beliefs. The clincher for this was when they started trying to persuade me to come to their church (the church opposite the McDonalds on Blackburn Road, which I think they said was a "Church of Christ" but I'm not entirely sure). But that wasn't until later on in the conversation. Darn it, I just realised that I should have encouraged rather than discouraged them from coming back. Why? Because they need to be rescued from what sounds like (to me) a rather unhealthy church. Oh well. I guess all I can do now is pray for them, poor lambs.

( what they actually said )

Current Mood: sympathetic
Crossposts: https://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/1121623.html

People keep on talking about "King of Kings and Lord of Lords", and forget that God is also "Artist of Artists". When there was nothing, he dared to imagine EVERYTHING.
We are made in the image of God, which means we are also creators.

Current Mood: sick
Crossposts: https://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/1101143.html

Saw this on twitter this morning:

Cultural appropriation of rainbow

Of course, everyone is mocking the original tweet, but it did get me thinking. Because, as a Christian, it has annoyed me for a long time that I can no longer use a rainbow as a symbol of God's love. Because the symbol is more commonly recognised in these times, as belonging to another group, symbolising something completely different. And that makes it feel like it has been stolen. Is that cultural appropriation? I'm not sure that it is; after all, the rainbow is up there in the sky, and people have used it before the LGBTQ movement to symbolise other things, such as ending racial discrimination. So why do I feel as if it has been stolen? Partly, I expect, because the LGBTQ symbol represents something completely anathema to God's teachings. Other uses of the rainbow haven't been for something hostile to Christianity. Does that hostility make it cultural appropriation? I don't know. It is something, but I'm not sure whether "cultural appropriation" is the right term for it.

Hey, thoughtful people, what do you think?

Current Mood: hungry
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/1081419.html

Pondering on this:

"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it."

---- Romans 7:15-20 (NIV)

Thing is... it isn't as if I don't want to do the things that I do, or I wouldn't do them. I want to do them at that moment. But... the problem seems to me, that I have contradictory wants that are incompatible with each other. I don't mean "the battle between good and evil in my soul". It isn't that straightforward. If it were, it would be easier to choose between them.

Take this example: I want to go to bed at a reasonable time, so I get adequate rest. I also want to keep working on the project I am working on. It's not like one of these is evil, but they are incompatible with each other when it's after 11PM at night. Why is it that I keep working on the project when I also know that working on the project will prevent me from sleeping?

Want #1: keep working
Want #2: stop working

I can't do both.

I'm wondering if this is a combination of inertia (keep doing what you are currently doing) and inability to grasp delayed gratification -- that is, the project is here now in front of me, the good sleep is more ephemeral, because it isn't like I will fall asleep as soon as I want to. The Superego knows that I ought to stop, while the Id just wants to keep working.

And in the meantime, I get tired.

Current Mood: tired
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/1076415.html

I was pondering bible-studies I had participated in, and I realised something. Many Christians just sit around in bible-studies and wait to be told what to think. How totally bizarre! What do they think bible-studies are for? A place where someone in authority (the leader) spoon-feeds them pre-digested doctrine, and then they have a cup of tea and a gossip?

Don't they want to find out for themselves? Do they think themselves incapable of finding out for themselves? Or not qualified? Or not authorised? Or is it just like too much hard work? It's a text. Read it. Think about what it says. Figure out what it means. Like we did in English at school.

What do they teach them at these schools?

Yeah, I know. They teach them to hate learning.

Thank God for fandom, where people analyse texts in minute detail, for fun.

Current Mood: thirsty
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/1074226.html

Things would be a lot simpler if God were not merciful.

Justice would be swift, vengeance would be complete. People would get exactly what they deserve; instant Karma for everyone. One could use someone's status in the world to determine their status with God. All misfortunes would be judgements, and all good fortune would be an indication of merit.

This is the God that many people seem to want. Especially the self-righteous. This is the God that they have created in their own image: swift to anger, slow to forgive.

If God were not merciful, things would be simpler. They would not be better.

For one thing, humanity would have been wiped out a long time ago.

Current Mood: pensive
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/1068824.html

The difference between envy and jealousy is this: with envy, you see something that someone else has, and you want to have it as well; with jealousy, you see something that someone else has, and you want to take it away from them.

I remember being jealous of someone's attention once; it was an ugly feeling. I did not like the me that I was when I was feeling it.

I suspect/speculate that the Fall was caused by Lucifer being jealous of God's attention to these puny beings called mankind.

Though the problem with using jealousy as an explanation is that it is often used as an excuse; that is, "You're just jealous" is a counter-accusation used by party B when party A has a grievance with party B, and party B does not want to acknowledge that party A has any right to this grievance. This is used for anything from terrorism (Isama Bin Laden was apparently jealous of America) to negative fanfic reviews (yes, I was accused of jealousy by someone whom I gave a negative review to, which was completely illogical, because by that logic, I would give negative reviews to any story that was good).

Current Mood: cold
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/1066042.html

So... INTJs are apparently scary and sinister. I've pondered this on and off for a while, since I am an INTJ and absolutely not scary or sinister (though I can produce a rather good Evil Laugh). I was prompted to get back to this subject by this article, which points out, among other things, that in fiction, INTJs are usually cast as villains... because INTJs make very good villains on the surface: cold, rational, solitary, brilliant... masterminds. Of course, calling the INTJ type "The Mastermind" reinforces this impression.

But the impression is WRONG. In real life, INTJs are no more likely to be villainous than anyone else. No less, but also no more. As the article says, "In real life, do-gooders like Nikola Tesla and Isaac Newton were INTJs. Jane Austen and CS Lewis were also INTJs."

So why do people get it so wrong?
( Read more... )

Current Mood: thoughtful
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/1040313.html

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. (Proverbs 26:4)
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. (Proverbs 26:5)

Current Mood: okay
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/1002298.html

Sin is like a broken promise. No matter how many promises you keep, they can't mend the broken one.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/982224.html

"The Generous Mr. Lovewell" by MercyMe is a great album. It makes me want to write fic about The Generous Mr. Lovewell, who performs random acts of kindness and then vanishes as mysteriously as he appears, leaving people saying "Who was that man with the bowler hat and the balloon?"

Only I'm now wondering if he has an evil twin, The Dutiful Mr. Meantwell.
( Read more... )
(Crossposted to Bearing Witness)

Current Mood: tired
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/980784.html

Christianity isn't a walk, and it isn't a race; it's a marathon. The point isn't to come first, it's to get to the finish line; to keep going, no matter what, to not give up.

Current Mood: pensive
Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/977566.html

There is no "us and them". There is only "us". Why can't they see that?

...Ooops.

That was a sequence of thoughts which occurred to me a couple of weeks ago. I struggled with it for a while. Because how can I embrace "them" when "they" do awful things? How can I embrace rich men and politicians and other distasteful people? How can I love my enemies?

Then it came to me.

There is no "us and them". There is only "me and you".

That is my new mantra. I am trying to live by it.

To explain: sure, every person is part of a group, indeed, part of many groups, and those groups do inform that person's behaviour. But each person is also an individual, sole and unique. So treat every person you interact with as an individual, no matter WHAT groups they may belong to, even if they are part of the "not-we".

Being Continuum last weekend, I tried to keep this in mind... and my life has already been the richer for it.

\o/

(Yes, there will be Continuum report, but probably tomorrow.)

Crossposts: http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/968942.html

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I am the Kat that Walks By Itself

and all places are alike to me

Entries tagged with godstuff

Quote the Quote

Gardening as a Metaphor for Good and Evil

Here I Stand

The Android's Dream

Reflections on Today's Sermon

The Illumination of Chapter 2

As Long As It Gives You Comfort

Strange Words

Thought For The Day

Cultural Appropriation?

I do do not do don't do stuff

The Text, the Whole Text, and the Context

The Quality of...

Pondering

Many People Think That (Marmalade Is Nicer) INTJs Are Scary

My favourite pair of Proverbs

Thought For The Day

The Generous Mr. Lovewell

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