**This is from a series I will be posting on my other blog Free & Faith. Thanks to Reddit for the hashtag idea.**
When I talk to most people who don't believe in God, it's because they think the Bible is a book of fables and myths.
I've heard all the usual things from non-believers about God. They call Him "the old man in the sky" or refer to Him as mean and unloving and unjust.
When checking Twitter recently - mainly to see if the rumors of its demise were possibly true - I saw this:
Many, many agnostics and atheists present arguments to do with people being "good" or "bad", poor, sick, sad, etc. They wonder how a loving God could "allow" such situations as the rich getting away with things or the poor being mistreated.
The main argument I hear from some people right in my own family has to do with sexuality. "Why does a loving God hate gays?" is one I've heard several times. One person I am close to has decided that their gay lifestyle is just fine with God.
Probably the main thing I hear from people in online forums has to do with evolution. A lot of people can't bring themselves to even consider the idea of a Creator God. They can easier believe in the "Big Bang".
I can talk about all those other things another time but, I want to deal with evolution in the next few (or more) posts. In my opinion, evolution is harder to believe in than anything. To me, evolution is almost a ridiculous theory. Even when I was in school, hearing about a Creator God in church and being taught evolution in school, neither idea seemed to outweigh the other. Of course, I was young and had never thought critically about either belief.
This is what I want to hear from people who believe in evolution to do: Explain like I'm five (thanks Reddit) why you believe in evolution. Or why you don't believe in a Creator God? And I want details.
I've said before, here and elsewhere, that my faith is not blind. I don't believe based on feelings or emotions. I do feel joyful that I have come to believe in God. Without that belief, I would have no hope outside of living this life here on earth. It's not been a really bad life, but if this is all there is to be, how sad that would make me.
So the next posts will all be some of my questions and some of my opinions.
Does anyone remember Alex Haley's Roots? I read the book when I was a teenager. When the movie came out, my family was right there in front of the television set from beginning to end. It was a very emotional thing for us. Years later, I tried to trace my ancestry and only got a few generations back before I hit a slavery wall. Once I ran out of census records, I ran right into slave records that were murky and random. I got further than I expected because I had some older relatives who had oral genealogies to share.
I have carried around with me the notes and "trees" I started. Every now and then I pull them out just to refresh my fading memory. A few months ago, a young nephew asked me to send what I had collected. That's when I realized that I have all that information still packed away somewhere from my last move. Frustrating. This is part of why I started doing the "Griot" posts (which I have slacked on lately... But here's one and the other that I did.)
Today, I spent a little time online halfheartedly looking at different ancestry sites. In the process (and this is maybe because I have been doing Bible study with an Orthodox Jewish Bible) I wondered just how far back anyone has managed to trace their roots. Mormons are wonderful about keeping genealogical records, but it was the Jewish people I was curious about.
Like most people who have read the Bible all the way through, every time I do it, I speed-read through the genealogies. I used to think of them as the "dratted begatteds" (only because they seem tedious to read through). Today, though, I suddenly found it all very interesting.
Did you know that there are people who have traced their families all the way back to King David? That's just insanely amazing to me. I worked over a year during my spare time just to get back to my maternal grandmother's father!
Gretchel
She died just months after I was born so all I have for memories is that one photo. Beautiful woman with a shadowed past. Something about her parents not being happy with her choice of a spouse. Thanks to the disagreement, she never talked about the parents to her own children. My mother never met her grandparents and I now have very little information about them. Yeah.
Anyway, when I found out about those people tracing their bloodline back as far as King David I was stunned. Then I read this about people who can (kinda, sorta) trace their line all the way back to Adam. Yes, that Adam. Garden-of-Eden Adam. Eve's husband.
Mind. Completely. Blown.
By the way, there is a possibility that proving Davidic roots may entitle people to ownership of some seriously prime real estate. Seriously prime.
As for me and my house (see what I did there?) all I ever wanted was trace my roots back to before they got planted in Louisiana, Texas, and
Arkansas. Even for the relatives I did manage to trace, there are gaps from when they moved around during a census year. I think I might have to figure out a way to get an Ancestry.com membership back into my budget. Back in the day, the price was reasonable, but those people have lost their minds with the high prices now. Yikes. To be honest, Ancestry only made things slightly easier for me. So maybe I will just have to do some digging on my own. I better get to it.
Okay, folks, I'm going to "go religious" on you but, hang with me because there's something in here that even atheists might like.
How do you picture Jesus? I'm sure people of all faiths (or none) would be interested in knowing what he actually looked like. I have started reading other versions of the Bible in my personal studies. This weekend, I read passages from some of the Messianic Bible versions.
Years ago, my mother regularly watched a show called Zola Levitt Presents. Every now and then, I would sit and watch with her. That was the first time I ever thought seriously about the fact that Jesus was Jewish. As silly as it sounds, up until then (and I had to be at least 22 or 23) in my mind's eye, Jesus looked like this:
That's not Jesus.
That's Robert Powell
The actor Robert Powell isn't a savior but he played one in Jesus of Nazareth. Such a beautifully done movie with an amazing cast. Before that movie came along, I had imagined Jesus looking like the classic painting that was hung somewhere in the homes of most black families. You might remember the ensemble of paintings your grandma gave pride of wall space to - Jesus, MLK, and JFK.
However, my mind's eye (and the movie and paintings and so many church fans) got it wrong. Jesus was a Jewish man so he most likely did not have those brilliantly blue eyes and I'm pretty sure he didn't have the whole rock star look. Looking back on that movie now all I can think is that the late Michael Hutchence would've wished to be that fine. I'm not being flip. Just look at that photo again.
According to the Bible “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.” (Isaiah 53:2 NIV) It's been opined that based on his racial makeup and manual labor occupation as a carpenter, he was probably of a darker complexion and had some sun damage to his skin. Along with the Bible identifying him as being not very handsome (whatever that means), he may have looked more like this:
Listen, I am not pointing fingers at anyone else's ignorance here but my own. Not only did I have the wrong idea about Jesus's appearance, but I just about had heart failure when I heard the Lord's Prayer spoken in the languages Jesus used.
Uh, why doesn't he sound British!?!?!? I'm just kidding. Some filmmakers aren't kidding.
Now, it had at some point in my much younger life occurred to me that we Westerners had the wrong impressions of Jesus. And some people were just completely stupid on the subject. I can remember some kind of anti-semitic rally or demonstration taking place near wherever my family was living back in the mid-'70s. My mother and her friends stood in support of the Jewish people. What was so silly is that there were only about 6 Jewish people in that community. Maybe the racist idiots just wanted something to rally about. Who knows? But I remember my mother shaking her head in disgust at the people carrying crosses while they chanted about "dirty Jews". Much like the Klan and other so-called 'Christians' who hate just to hate or judge in hate, these people forgot, I guess, that their Savior was Jewish. (And, by the way, the saying is not "Judge not" with a period at the end. It is "Judge not lest you be judged." People always forget that last part. So, you can judge others if you're free of sin. Anybody? Go ahead. I'll wait. I'll just be over here taking this plank out of my eye.)
My whole point is, I have never fully appreciated everything about the Lord I serve. Like most people (I'm assuming), I tend to think only in flavors I know of. Now that I have it in the forefront of my mind that Jesus talked, walked, ate, prayed, and lived Jewish, I get it. I can see a little deeper into my study of what he said and did while on Earth.
Just like I did in seeing Jesus in my shallow and one-dimensional way, I do the same thing in other areas of my life. I have got to work on that. I need to start viewing people as they are and not how I want or imagine them to be. Same goes for life and situations in general.
One of the sayings I remember from my childhood in Texas was "Can't see for looking." It was your response when you saw something shocking and someone asked if you "saw that". I apply it to my life in other ways. Sometimes, when I make an immediate judgment about a person or situation based only on shallow information, I later realize I missed the bigger picture. Can't see for looking and sometimes, can't hear for listening.
I'm not the only one with this weakness. This is the reason that a lot of us have shallow and ever-changing standards of beauty. It's why we assume intelligence based on slick looks or words. It's why we so often don't see the full worth of people and life. We're too busy looking at the cover to read the book. Because that takes time, doesn't it?
At any rate, I'm really enjoying my Bible studies now more than ever. By the way, for those of you who may not own a Bible - or a lot of Bible study resources - you might want to check out eSword or My Sword Both have a variety of Bible versions, concordances, commentaries, and other help. Both are free (with expanded options for purchase). I've been using eSword and I'm amazed at the number of tools available in both the app and pc versions. Usually, when studying my Bible, I have to sit by my computer with 20 browser tabs open to all the different resources. A single app or program is more productive. Actually, the modules for the two 'sword' products are somewhat interchangeable and updates are being made all the time. Check out both no matter which operating system you use. I'm currently using eSword on both my Windows pc and Android phone. Here are the links:
By the way, there are huge selections of language options in both programs. There's a slight learning curve but, hey, I managed to figure it all out so...
That's it for now. I hope that at least some of this information is useful to you guys out there. Even if you're not "religious", information is always good to have.
Peace
--Free
Sharing a few of the songs I've been listening to this evening
During church the last few Sundays, I noticed how many people use their Bible apps on tablets and phones instead of traditional Bibles. I am one of the app people. I always come home and make notes in my traditional Bible, but my phone is so much easier to use during church services.
This past Sunday, after a really detailed study of the part of the Book of Daniel that relates to the 70 weeks of the end times, I added some topics to my Flipboard app. "Apologetics" is one of my favorite topics and, through an article on Flipboard, I learned about the Got Questions? app.
Got Questions is one of those sites I generally refer to when I, well, have questions. I was surprised that I had never heard of their Android app before now. I was even more surprised to see how good the app is. I never thought that an app could live up to the best of the site, but it does. Because my phone is with me more than my laptop is, I actually prefer the app for regular use.
After downloading, I was given a choice of updating the content (of questions) and this update feature is on the menu for refreshing as needed. The app is in a great format of categorized questions with a Search option. Also, users can "Favorite" questions that then show up on a menu for quick re-reads.
Of several reviews I read before downloading, the only negative ones had nothing to do with the design and function of the app (there were a few users who had problems with content and theology). In my experience, the app runs very, very smoothly on the Samsung Note4 (Android version 4.4.4) and quickly. In my opinion, there are no problems with the theology or content I've seen yet, and I have sense enough to check every and anything to do with that against the Bible.
BEST part? Got Questions is FREE and the app is also available via iTunes and Windows
My top use for this app - other than my own study purposes and general curiosity - is to find a starting point for discussions among my friends and family when certain topics come up. When I just want to read up on something, I can check the Random Article feature. Even for someone not of faith, this would be a good app to have for getting a general handle on questions about what Christians believe.
Great app, great resource, and just handy, handy, handy.
If you know of similar (and good) apps, feel free to share with me.
If you read the various news articles about this plan for behavior modification, you might be angry about it, but, really, this kind of plan has been in place for years.
Media hustlers created cravings for so much of what society focuses on: beauty not brains, sex not love, thin not healthy, trendy not useful. For many generations we have been receiving messages about how to see ourselves and others. The idea of thrift and moderation in anything has been replaced by a consumerist attitude that has us replacing material things before we need to.
This "new" idea is portrayed as being for the good of all, but if we can't handle the sense of right and wrong and good and bad we are born with, why introduce anything new? Why not just start giving credit to the original idea?
Of course, I am Christian so my beliefs are becoming outdated. A lot of people believe Christians need to be re-educated. Maybe all these new ideas for behavior-training a society is to enforce what the Bible has already talked about:
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)
There's a sort of proof of what I say in the fact that probably half the people who read that are groaning at my "ignorance."
I'm not really sure where that thought came out of my thought ramblings, but - there it is.
My usually wandering mind has been focused lately on prophecy, prophecy, prophecy... I don't feel especially clear-headed tonight, but I wanted to talk about prophecy and Bible study. Please bear with me.
I almost don't even want to mention it, but along with my Bible readings, the recent school shooting is what prompted this post. Senseless murder, unnecessary death, all kinds of hate. So much ugly stuff happening. How horrible are the words "the latest" before any other words like "school shooting"?
At the rate we are going, everyone will be killed off before the Mayan Calendar nonsense can be proved right or wrong. Personally, I believe what my mother used to say: "The Bible is fulfilling itself." This was her mantra every time there was something ugly in the news. I always did the sigh/eye-roll routine when Mom said her thing. These days though, I am turning into my mother.
Not long along, I watched an interesting video called "The Daniel Project." The link here is to watch it (for free) on Hulu.com, but this is the link for The Daniel Project site. (Interesting tidbit: the presenter - Jeremy Hitchen - is an atheist. I suppose since he is mostly paid for voice-over work, this was just another paycheck.) I noticed that there was a "Daniel Factor Conference" in August this year (Link is to Part 1 of video.)
What I wonder, is how that Hitchen fellow can remain a fully committed atheist when he heard the points made in the T.D.P. video? Sometimes, I hear less factual or impressive info from an atheistic p.o.v. and am pressed against my own faith. My beliefs are rooted in a religion (one I bet my very life on). Is Atheism a religion? If not, what are atheists like Mr. Hitchen counting on?
I look at just a couple of points that are often mentioned by eschatologists - those who study prophecy:
Israel becoming a nation again (in a day, no less) May 14, 1948. Prophesied by Isaiah.
What was done to the Jews during the Holocaust was foretold so clearly by Isaiah - down to the fact that they would be branded.
For those who are interested, here are a few resources for your perusal:
I have to say that among all the different ministers, denominations and conflicting studies in Christianity, it's sometimes tough to find good information. I have never found any disagreement between the teachings of Ankerberg & Martin and the Bible. The most important thing to remember when doing any Bible study is that, when in doubt over what a man (or woman) says, go back to the Bible itself. Pray for understanding. Just pray.
A friend brought to my attention that I haven't been posting consistently for the last month or so. As if I don't know this without being told. So here are my latest thoughts and rants:
Moving took a ton out of me. My lack of energy sometimes astounds me. There's days where I have to trick myself into getting out of bed. I'll tell myself that if I don't get up, I will be missing something vital that life outside my bedroom has to offer. I got a gift cert from one of my girls and I got some beautiful wall art with it. Haven't hung up a thing yet. The art I got is sitting in a corner of the living room. I have some more, smaller pieces on layway & it can stay there until I feel like risking my life on the step stool. I've been beating hell out of myself for being such a slug, but now the fam has jumped on that wagon. "You only need the energy to get up, that will get you going." Or, as one of my friends said the other day, "Half of getting something done is just wanting to." Really? What's the other half - a magic wand?
Yeah.
Or my sister or one of the brothers will call up and make me feel guilty. "Yes, you're sick, but I'm going to come kick your ass if you don't get up and move." (Or they'll play the Mama card: "Mama would want you to be stronger than this." You do know that black people and Jewish people are true brothers and sisters, don't you? No one can play the guilt game better.) I've actually started lying. When certain numbers pop up on Caller ID, I can sound like I'm running a marathon - while I'm actually half in a sleep-coma.
Anyway.
So, even though I feel like crap (whine, whine, whine), I am up today and actually checking off a list of things to be done: laundry, post on blog, laundry, clean the bathroom, laundry, take out something for dinner, laundry, pick up prescriptions, laundry, finish D.J.'s video in time for his birthday, laundry, make my calls to the out-of-state aunties, laundry...
I really do need to do something about my life.
A friend of mine who travels in and out of town, and who is a little more than a friend but a little less than a lover, thinks I need to go away somewhere. Yeah. He has a job and things like credit cards and disposable income. My food stamps just got shut down - all $19 freaking dollars. Whoops! No more extravagant food purchases for me. Gonna have to live without that fresh spinach that I love...
Okay. I'm done with the whining. On to the good stuff:
I am getting back into reading my Bible. I used to be good about studying and praying on the Gospel, then I got sick and fell into my pity-pot. Something my 12-year old nephew said made me feel ashamed and just knocked chased me to my knees in prayer: "I love you, Auntie Roo. I'm so glad you didn't die when you were in the hospital. I prayed for you."
That made me cry with gratitude and shame. I don't want him to know that I was in danger of dying, but to my little nephew, I am old. Old and close to death! LOL. Funny/not funny. I love that little dude.
The truth is, even though I didn't die, maybe, as my mother used to say, God was trying to tell me something. Maybe I need to learn to listen for His voice. Yesterday, I watched a video called The Daniel Project. Good stuff, if you like Bible prophecy. Good stuff if you need motivation dust off your Bible.
Anyway, I apologize for such an unorganized post. I swear I think that sometimes I only post because typing at 70wpm is something I can still do and feel good about.
So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great. (Job 2:13)
I have been listening some to the contending politicians. Some are doing a lot of talk about people in need. What they are saying is not very thoughtful or insightful By that I mean that they are not thinking deeply about what they say and they are speaking on things into which they have little personal insight. How do I know this? Because I have said some of the same things in the same way.
Little did I know - back when I was pontificating on it - that poverty and need is not a stereotype. There is no stereotype for those conditions. There are stereotypes for actions and consequences, but not for conditions and circumstances.
I am black and female, on food stamps and medicaid. Sounds like a what some would call a stereotypical situation until you think more about how I got here and have some insight into how it affects me.
I was previously of a different "stereotype." A woman in a solid family, working in skilled fields of employment - as a corporate trainer for a customs broker, then as a real estate clerk, then as a specialist in a state unemployment office. Yes, the irony. I owned an average home (nothing fancy, but not shabby, and in a very decent neighborhood), drove an average car, had the average "working stiff" lifestyle. I never considered myself as being financially poor, but realized that I was not upper middle-class or above and was content with that. I have no criminal history - in fact, I had a Homeland Security/FBI clearance for my brokerage employment - and my neighbors felt safe living near me. I was liked and respected.
That was about six years ago.
Understand, please, that living does not always go as we plan. Things happen that you don't expect to. Economies stumble, families lose members, hasty decisions turn out badly, people lie to each other. One thing leads to another - another same sort of thing, another good or better thing, or another bad or worse thing.
In my case, I have been led to where I lost a house, finances crashed badly, emotional health suffered, then physical health followed.
Here I am. Black. Female. On food stamps. On medical aid.
I am not a statistic or a stereotype. I am a person trying to heal and get back to a better place in life.
Please don't talk about me as if I have a color-coded, bar-scanned tag plastered across my forehead. Don't try to popularize your opinions - to win votes or friends or an argument around the office - by labeling my situation. You might be right here where I am someday. If not you then maybe your son, daughter or other loved one.
In the meantime, don't wait to be where I am to gain compassion.
I am taking action to get better and to get out of this situation. That's really all anyone else needs to care about.
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