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1. When a child goes to war (posted June 1) "The flat portrayal of child soldiers necessitated by the state of international law says these children can either be traumatised victims or they will become invisible."
2. I'm a black ex-cop, and this is the real truth about race and policing (posted May 28) "The victims were electrically shocked, suffocated, and beaten into false confessions that resulted in many of them being convicted and serving time for crimes they didn't commit. One man, Darrell Cannon, spent 24 years in prison for a crime he confessed to but didn't commit. He confessed when officers repeatedly appeared to load a shotgun and after doing so each time put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger."
3. 23 Struggles Kids Today Will Never Know Or Understand (posted June 3) Oh my goodness, remember MapQuest?
4. God Calls Caitlyn By Name (posted June 2) Amen.
5. Jon Stewart Made a Brilliant Point About Caitlyn Jenner That Nobody's Talking About (posted June 3) "I have to ask the most important question: Does she have a better body than Kim Kardashian?"
6. Toilet swirl (posted June 3) 2 videos which sync together, about the question of whether toilets in the northern and southern hemispheres flush in opposite directions. Totally worth watching.
7. June 4
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9. And here are all the links you could ever want about the Duggars:
Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s Interview with Megyn Kelly: Minimize, Deny, Obfuscate
The missing pieces of the #DuggarInterview: humility, responsibility, understanding
Defending the Duggars is defending rape culture
A Parade of Lies: The Duggar Interview Review.
In a Duggar world, the real victims take a back seat to their parents
Why Jill & #JessaDuggar were not "speaking for themselves" in their interview with @megynkelly
A Homeschool Alumna's Thoughts on Megyn Kelly's Interview of the Duggars
What happened to the Duggars could happen to your family. Here’s how to prevent it.
Megyn Kelly Asks Duggar Girls: Show Us On The Doll Where The Liberal Media Touched You
The Voice of False Submission and the Duggar Sisters’ Interview.
And one more thing: During the interviews, the question was raised of whether people are going after the Duggar family because of their "Christian beliefs."
Well, yeah it absolutely is because of their beliefs. Not their "Christian beliefs" though- it's because of their quiverfull/ purity culture/ Christian patriarchy/ anti-LGBT beliefs. It's because all these years, their message has been "This is the CORRECT way to have a family. This is GOD'S way" and now we learn what kinds of nastiness are hiding beneath the surface- and I believe it is their belief system which allows that abuse to happen and to be covered up.
These beliefs need to be attacked and destroyed.
(I'm all for Christian beliefs though. ^_^ You know, things like resurrection, justice, love, caring for the least of these. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.)
Hey Perfectnumber, your blog has been very encouraging to me lately. So much of your writing resonates with me, and I am also a young woman with Asbergers who has grown up in a Christian home but has lately been questioning a lot of what I was taught. I can really get behind a lot of your beliefs as a progressive Christian, but I was wondering how you reconcile your inclusive beliefs with Jesus's statements about the narrow road and how "No one comes to the Father except through me". How do you decide which parts of the Bible are true and which aren't? I'd appreciate your perspective. Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteThank you. I really like your statement about how if someone is genuinely trying to follow God, it's okay if they believe some incorrect information about Him because everyone does anyway. One of the reasons I started to question Christianity in the first place was because I realized that every Christian has different beliefs, even though they are supposedly following the same God. I wondered how they could all have the same Holy Spirit and yet have such conflicting beliefs. It makes a lot more sense to believe that anyone whose heart is in the right place is following Jesus, while anyone who abuses religion isn't following Him.That's why I would not call what you described "work-based salvation" at all- Hosea 6:6 suggests that our heart matters more to God than empty sacrifices, and James 2:14-26 states that if our heart is to follow God, then it will show through our actions. Matthew 7:15-23 supports this idea as well. Like you, I don't believe that all non-Christians go to hell- I don't even believe in the traditional idea of hell. However, while I don't have a clear idea of judgement either, I do trust that everyone will be rewarded according to what they have done. The only verse I still grapple with is Matt. 7:13-14, though- if the "narrow gate" doesn't simply signify Christianity (which wouldn't make sense anyway, since almost 1/3 of the world identifies as Christian), does that mean that there are only a few people who truly seek God, and the rest are evil and on the path that leads to "destruction" (whatever that means, perhaps total annihilation according to conditionalism)? Wouldn't that not make very much sense since we are made in the image of God? Also, wouldn't that be kind of a bummer? Anyway, thanks again for your thoughtful response, and for the book recommendation, I'll definitely check it out :)
ReplyDeleteAbout the narrow gate- yeah I don't know what to do with that passage either. At the time when Jesus said it, Christianity did not yet exist, so he couldn't have been referring to Christians vs non-Christians.
ReplyDeleteIt could mean, in general, it's hard to do the right thing, it's easier to just go along with what other people are doing. Then it wouldn't be about a one-time event ("are you a christian or not?"); instead, every time you're in a situation like that, and you have to choose whether to speak up and help people, or just go along with it- then you have a choice between the wide and narrow gates.
So maybe it's not about anything as extreme as heaven or hell- it could just be about how doing what's right generally leads to making a better world.
But I'm just speculating here. Just totally making this up. I feel like my mind is so stuck in the "Real True Christian" way of interpreting the bible, I don't know how to get out of that. This is just my attempt.
Yeah, I see what you mean- at first that interpretation seemed like a stretch, but then I realized it was because I was so used to the traditional Christian interpretation and had never questioned it before. I guess we both have uncharted territory to explore :)
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