What the Bible says..LGBT

My my my how I struggle against people who claim to be christians, but whore the name in the act of hate against brothers and sisters who are different from them - specifically against the LGBT-(TQQSIUU) population.  The ones that claim that it is a sin to be gay, and that if you are you are surely going to hell. They say "The Law condemns it" - then they tell you "it's all in the Bible! Turn from your evil ways and be SAVED!"

UGH. This boils m blood.

Lord have MERCY.  

Brothers and sisters, I want to begin by stating that we, as Christians, are not called to live by the Law, but are called to live by the Spirit, given to us by the grace of God. (1 Corinthians, Romans, Hebrews). There is nothing you can do to deserve this grace, or to lose this grace, you can only accept it. Whether black, white, gay, transexual, inter-sex, married, unmarried, man or woman, or anything else for that matter. If you were created by God (which you are), then you're welcome to this grace. You cant earn it and you can't do anything to deserve it. There is simply nothing you can do. Nothing. Except accept it.  

If you are so freely welcome to it, indeed your brother and sister next to you - no matter how uncomfortable it makes you - is also freely welcome to it. 

So stop judging them, stop telling them they need to be saved. Stop telling them they are lost or some how inferior to you and denied your grace. Remember, you did not earn it, and neither can they.

No. Our God freely gives this grace, this spirit, this unconditional un-dying love - to anyone, anyone who chooses to accept it. 

Whether you like it or not.  

In this light, the law is irrelevant. Jesus made the law- which leads to death- irrelevant. To follow the law is to lead yourself to death. Be free. Leave the Law behind. The law that condemns you will condemn you to hell. You will never escape it or please it. (read 1 Corinthians (especially the last few chapters) or 1 Colossians (Ch. 12 and 13) or Romans (romans 8 is particularly good) or Hebrews (chapters 8-12 or so)or just about any part of the New Testament really, if you don't believe me). It's there. 

That, brothers and sisters, is what the Bible says.

There is good news- there is Gospel!

 You can be free of the law. Christ has come and He has risen! He has put the law to death and given us the spirit to live by - living through and by the spirit leads to life. And this spirit sees everyone as loved by God. As a perfectly imperfect impression of God and His love, and this spirit loves unconditionally - just as God does. It knows not how to hate or judge or condemn, but only to love.

That, brothers and sisters, is what the Bible says. 

The true mark of this Spirit within you is unconditional love for all. No matter what. No matter if this person is loving another, or torturing you. You are called to love them, to welcome them with open arms, to validate them as Gods child. 

So my challenge and question to Christians is this - 

Christ says from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

What comes out of your mouth?

Check yo self.

Judges Ch. 9

Reading judges now. Wow the Isrealites really have a hard time following God's law (who can blame them). Joshua is dead, Moses is long dead - and now the isrealites are left to follow God on their own. But, they stray and worship other gods and so things fall apart. They cry out to God who sends a judge to tell them what to do, and to rescue them - delivering them. God almost gives up on the Isrealites a few times. Still very hard. But, I really like this passage:

Judges 9:8-15

New International Version (NIV)

⁸ One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king.’
⁹ “But the olive tree answered, ‘Should I give up my oil, by which both gods and humans are honored, to hold sway over the trees?’
¹⁰ “Next, the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and be our king.’
¹¹ “But the fig tree replied, ‘Should I give up my fruit, so good and sweet, to hold sway over the trees?’
¹² “Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come and be our king.’
¹³ “But the vine answerevingd, ‘Should I give up my wine,^(A) which cheers both gods and humans, to hold sway over the trees?’
¹⁴ “Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Come and be our king.’
¹⁵ “The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade;^(B) but if not, then let fire come out^(C) of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’<sup>(D)


Thank you to http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+9%3A8-15&version=NIV for having typed this out in advance for me.</sup>

Joshua

I read through the book of Joshua pretty quickly because it's very eventful. Basically, the Isrialites come into the promise land and kill a lot of people to inhabit the land.

I praise God that he doesn't work like this anymore.

Deuteronomy

Well, I've made it through Deuteronomy - a book I really liked actually. Like I mentioned in my last post, I feel like I finally started seeing the heart of God as revealed in the New Testament through Jesus. God promises to be God, and the Israelites promise to be His people. But wow- thank you Lord for sending jesus to fulfill this promise because we were in such bondage to the law, which seems so simple yet is so impossible to follow.

I couldn't help but feel like I could never measure up to all of the laws and rules, and I kept thinking wow, am I a failure? Do Christians still need to follow these laws?

And after reading some New Testament passages, like those found in  1 Colossians and 1 Corinthians, I am glad to learn that to follow the law is to lead yourself to death (precisely because it's soi mpossible to follow), but tht we have been set free from the condemnation of the law if we accept Jesus' sacrifice. That instead, we are to be led and to follow the Spirit through Jesus Christ. That to follow the spirit means to not need law. That all of our failures to follow the Law have been forgiven, completely forgiven. Now we are called to be liberated and to follow through the Holy Spirit. How amazing? God has not only forgiven us for our failure, but has given us new life, a new way to worship him- from our heart rather than out of duty.

Praise God.

Deuteronomy 15

In Deuteronomy, chapter 15, Moses lays out the new law concerning the Sabbatical Year for the Jews just before they enter the promised land. The sabbatical year comes around every 7th year, and in this year all are liberated from their outstanding debts to one another, including service in the form of slavery. Like I said in my previous post on Deuteronomy, I am excited to be reading this book because it is out of this book that Jesus uses passages commanded to turn down the devil. It is in these passages here in Ch. 15 that I can really see the heart of Jesus, and the law God was trying to mend in the hearts of his people.  A few passages that especially stood out to me were:

Deuteronomy 15:4-5
There will, however, no one in need among you, because the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy, if only you will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today.

Deuteronomy 15:7-9
..do not be hard hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be.

Deuteronomy 15:10-11
Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. Since there will never cease to be some need on the earth, I therefore command you, "Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land."

Deuteronomy 15:13-15
Provide liberally out of your flock, your threshing floor, and your wine press thus giving him some of the bounty with which the Lord your God has blessed you.

Deuteronomy 15:18
Do not consider it a hardship when you send them out from you free persons, because for six years they have given you services worth the wages of hired laborers; and the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

Romans 14:13-23

Paul talks about eating here, but if it serves you replace food with anything else that might cause others to stumble, food, sex, clothing, smoking, etc..

Emphasis added, verses bolded especially stood out to me.

Romans 14:13-23

(NRSV)

 Let us therefore no longer pass judgement on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling-block or hindrance in the way of another. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual edification. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you eat; it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble. The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve. But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat, because they do not act from faith; for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

(NIV)

Romans 14:13-23

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love.  Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval. 
  Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. 
 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.  But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. 

Christ: A sacrifice to sin. Romans

I have been reading Romans lately to gain perspective on a lot of things, but more specifically perspective on homosexuality. But an interesting thing has been emerging for me. Lately I have been really trying to understand Christ more. I get that he died for our sins, and through him we are saved. But Paul really outlines some interesting things about Christ in his letter to the Romans. Like Romans 3:21-31

²¹ But now apart from the law the righteousness of God^(AB) has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.^(AC) 22 This righteousness^(AD) is given through faith^(AE) in^[h]Jesus Christ^(AF) to all who believe.^(AG) There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,^(AH) 23 for all have sinned^(AI) and fall short of the glory of God,²⁴ and all are justified^(AJ) freely by his grace^(AK)through the redemption^(AL) that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵ God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,^[i](AM) through the shedding of his blood^(AN)—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished^(AO)— ²⁶ he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

²⁷ Where, then, is boasting?^(AP) It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. ²⁸ For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.^(AQ) 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,^(AR) 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.^(AS)31 

(from: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%203&version=NIV

Emphasis added)

Verse 26 there really gets me. It was here that something started stirring in me about Christ. Christ was God's sacrifice of atonement to Sin. Wow. Paul goes on in Romans to explain how, just like all of man fell to sin through one man (Adam), all of man is released from sin by God through one man (Christ). All of sin is washed away because God sacrificed His only son, Christ. Christ lived a sin- free life, which no man could do. This is why it was necessary for God to make himself into a man in Christ, for to be sinless you must be God, but to atone for the sins of humanity, you must be human. In this way, God himself atoned for our sins, through Christ Jesus, for all who believe. And all who believe are called to be a part of another Kingdom, not this world, bound by desires of the flesh (which are sinful and lead to death), but to be a part of Gods Kingdom, bound by desires of the spirit (which are righteous and lead to eternal life). 


Wow.


What does this mean?  
It first means that there is a battle within us- a battle of desires of the flesh and desires of the spirit. The desires of one will always leave us unsatisfied, no matter how hard we try to fulfill them - these are the desires of the flesh. Like greed, pride, gain, self-indulgence - things that serve individuals, but are shallow and fleeting. And then there are the desires of the spirit - God's spirit, the Holy Spirit. These desires serve others, find joy in loving and caring for others, in community and in putting others first before the individual. It is this nature that is at the heart of all of us - whether we choose to live it out or not. It is the denial of this nature that leaves us hungry and yearning for more. Often times we turn to the desires of the flesh, but really it is the spirit we need to turn to. Denying the spirit and turning to flesh is the nature of sin.


However, I think it means that we need not worry about our sinful nature, that it has been overcome for us, and that if we choose to leave it behind and die to it and follow Christ, we can be a part of something greater, free from worldly desires - materialism, individualism, self-sufficiency, greed, pride, sexual immorality and many more. Instead, we can be relieved of these burdens and participate in something far greater than our individual needs and desires. We can be a participant in the glory of God, and live out a life that fills our spirit with joy and gladness - service to others, love, kindness, genteelness, community and so much more. Indeed, it is in the desires of the flesh we turn to fill a never ending hunger which will starve our spirit and kill our faith, but to christ we turn to quench our eternal thirst and find true life.

The Book of Numbers

Wow, so it has been a little while since I have written a post.

No, it's not because I have been too busy. I haven't been that busy. Since December my life has really, and enjoyably, slowed down.

It's not because I have forgotten, or given up on this project. I think about it often.

It's because I have been reading the book of Numbers.

Well, if reading is what you want to call it. It was more like zoning out while following the lines of words on the pages. You know, that trance state you get into, then you realize after completing the page that you have no idea what you just read? It was like that.

It was grudgingly detailed, full of laws and rules, and do this and don't do that. Numbers of people in the land, names and numbers of tribes. How to sacrifice, how to punish... Calendars, and names, moving from here to there. Israelites complaining, not following Gods commandments, God reprimanding them and putting down more laws. plagues, death. lots of old testament stuff.

One interesting thing that did happen, was that Moses didn't pass on a message to the Isrealites correctly, and God reprimanded him by telling him he would not be able to go to the land that God had promised, the land that moses is leading the people to.

Another interesting concept in this book were the cities of refuge, although I don't have any interesting comments to make.

There were a few other events that did happen, but to be honest, I could hardly tell you what. I just tried to get through it. I bet a lot of it was pretty significant, and important. I am sorry I don't have much more to say than that.

Tyler did point out to me that this book was written before the Israelites had asked for a king, so God was their king and so created all of the laws of the land. That made a lot of sense to me, and made me think how important this book must really be if it is how God would govern, or did govern.

But I have finally completed it. I don't remember much of it. I spent most of the time 'rea

The Ten Commandments - Lessons from Exodus

The Ten Commandments

Eventually the Moses calms down and stops releasing his rage on the Israelites. Then the Lord calls Moses back to the mountain to give him, once again, the ten commandments. These are the commandments, that if only we would abide by, would make the world a better, maybe even a perfect, place. 

1.   I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods besides me.
2.  You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children if those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. 
4. Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days a week you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work-you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, but rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
5. Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that your Lord your God is giving you
6. You shall not kill
7. You shall not commit adultery
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife; or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to you neighbor. 

It's obvious God wants us to only worship and love Him, to bring our trials to Him alone, and to treat Him and others, with dignity and respect.

Can you remember to abide by them, or will you too (like me, and the Israelites), forget?

 Oh yes, the rest of the book is filled with ways that the Israelites can make sacrifices to give thanks to God. It's very detailed. Almost all of the traditions are ones we Christians have deviated away from, but I am guessing that later God teaches us new ways to honor Him. I know he denounces animal sacrifices. We will see about the rest.

Until then- give thanks through prayer and faith. Go up to your neck, be brave, God will always provide exactly what you need, when you need it.

Reminders why God shows His power - Lessons from Exodus

Reminders- Why God shows His power

Shortly after God calls Moses to the top of a mountain, where he spends 40 days and 40 nights and is given the ten commandments. But, while he is gone, the Israelites grow impatient, lose faith, create idols and begin worshipping them. When God finds out about this He grows so angry He wants to kill them all, but Moses pleads with him and God agrees not to. God shows mercy.

 Moses descends the mountains, sees the idol the Israelites are worshiping and is filled with rage. Moses throws the stones with the commandments God had given him and breaks them, and then releases his own rage on the Israelites. A lot of Israelites are killed, but many still survive. Although I am disturbed by the massacre, it is here that I finally begin to understand why God was so adamant about showing His power in these days. The Israelites were full of doubt, and eager to follow whichever 'god' they believed would provide for them. Unlike Moses, their faith wasn't in God alone, but in whatever any god could DO for them, and if they weren't getting what they wanted, they were quick to serve whomever or whatever they thought would get them what they searched for. What shallow faith.

And after all God had done from them! After all of the plagues, after the separation of the waters, after being provided abundant food and water (food literally rains from the sky in this book); all it took was 40 days of Moses' absence, for them to turn on God and worship an idol. Really? If the acts that God had done hadn't convinced them yet, what would? What could? God shows very human emotion here- so much frustration with the people who He has done so much for. What unfaithfulness! What doubt! Understandably, He is quite angry. Had they forgotten what God had done for them? Had they forgotten His power? Quite possibly - yes. Surprising? Maybe not. 

Don't we all do this? Aren't these the trials and tribulations we all fight?

Just like me, as long as God is providing I am content and happy and worship God easily. But, as soon as I feel He is no longer there, I begin doubting. I get angry, I turn to alternatives. Don't we all do this? Haven't we learned by now that God is greater than us, and can do anything? That He was here before we were ever born, and that He will continue to be here after we are gone? That He created us and everything we know and beyond? He is greater than I, and will never leave me. It is only ME that leaves Him.

But in a way, this is our condition - not just today but a condition of the Israelites as well.  A side-effect of the fall- we no longer completely and utterly trust in God- now we have knowledge, and we try to be gods ourselves.  But this is our fight, our fight of faith. NOT to give in to the temptation of denying that God will provide- this is the hallmark of superficial faith. Not to be steadfast in love and belief in God only while things are going well, like the Israelites- but to hang on through the trials and tribulations - like Moses. My prayer is to be more like Moses- steadfast in faith. Knowing that if God put me here to do something, He WILL provide everything I need exactly when I need it. There is no need to doubt or be scared. And if I feel He is not near, to pray harder, to hang on longer, to keep going up to my neck, so He can perform a miracle. 

Forgetfulness and Doubting - Lessons from Exodus

Shallow Faith

Forgetfulness and Doubting

And so God clears the path. He steps in and separates the waters of the sea so that the Israelites can pass safely, and closes in on the Egyptians who are close behind them. 

For me, if I was alive at this time and with the Israelites, had I not yet been a believer, I would love to think that after seeing this I would never ever doubt God again. Think about it. Would a huge miracle like this make you believe in God and His awesome power, had you been there to see it? Would you have ever been shaken again, had you walked along the bottom of a dry, ocean floor, with the waters held up like walls around you, only to close right after you finish walking across? 

I think I would. But, then again, the Israelites didn't. 

Soon after, the Israelites seemingly forget what God has done. They get hungry- and thirsty- and grumble and doubt God. They blame Moses instead of asking God to provide for them. When Moses prays to God, God tells him that all that the Israelites have to do is ask. God communicates here that he wants the Israelites to pray to HIM, not simply grumble among themselves and be angry at Moses, but to bring their troubles to the Lord their God, so that He may bless them and provide for them.

REMEMBER THIS. God does not want you to worry! He wants to provide for you, but you must bring your needs to Him and have Faith! You see, after Moses comes to the Lord and presents the wishes of the Israelites, He blesses them with food, and later with water. 

 The Israelites become satisfied, and stop grumbling. 

And so do I. 

Moses shows what faith looks like - Lessons from Exodus

God separates the waters of Red Sea

Moses shows what Faith looks like

This is the part that everyone seems to know:

The Egyptians are right on the tail of the Israelites. The Israelites are  afraid and doubting that God will deliver them, thinking the Egyptians are going to capture them again. But God tells Moses to bring his staff into the sea, and to command the sea to part. And so Moses does. 

The Bible doesn't say this, but some Jewish oral traditions say that Moses didn't just walk up to the sea and tell it to separate. He walked all the way into the sea- until the water was up to his neck- before the waters separated. 

Wow, that's faith. Here you are, leading all of the Israelites out of slavery, with your enemy close behind, and you're cornered at the sea. Everyone is doubting you and God, and now you don't know what to do. But God gives you a commandment, a radical commandment; to part the waters of the sea. Yeah RIGHT! But, you believe God and you continue in faith. Okay, you say, 'God you said You would do this, so I will follow you'. 

How far do you think you would go in, had God put you in Moses' situation? Up to the edge of the water? Dip your toes in? Knees? With thousands, maybe millions of people looking at you like - 'you're going to get us out of this how?' 

Moses walks all the way up to his neck, and then, only THEN, only when he has gone as far as he possibly, humanly, can go on his own, only when his limits are maxd out, does God finally, FINALLY step in and separate the waters. 

To me, this is what faith is. Ever heard the "God helps those who help themselves"? This is what it means to me. That God has promises and hopes for you. He will work tremendous miracles in your life- but you can't just sit back and pray that He will do them, you must also act out of faith. You have to take the step, the ten steps- the leaps- and do as much as humanly possible, and then, only then, will God step in and do what you could not do. 

Remember this in times when you feel you are following God but He is not there- know that if you are at your limit, at your end, up to your neck and can't go any further without drowning- that God is close, He is near, stay strong in faith and He will step in just when you are about to go under - and he will part the waters - and your path will be clear.

God loves to show His power - Lessons from Exodus

God shows His power

This is the book where Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt. And God loves to show his power in this book, something I found difficult to accept and read. It didn't exactly fit into my understanding of God- in Exodus, God repeatedly says that He will perform a miracle/send a plague, so that Pharaoh will let the Israelites go to the land He promised to give them - but that He will harden Pharaoh's heart so that even though the miracle happens, Pharaoh will not let the people go. All so that God can show His power and glory. I kept thinking - how egotistical! And, well, He does exactly that-

He turns the waters of the Nile into blood, He sends plagues of frogs,  gnats, flies. He diseases livestock, sends a plague of boils, sends storms of thunder and hail, locusts, darkness, and lastly, curses the first born of every Egyptian to die. Each time He sends a plague, He lifts it as soon as Pharaoh says he will let the people go- but then God hardens Pharaohs heart, so that he takes back his word and keeps the Israelites in slavery. All the while putting the Egyptians and Israelites through horrible plagues. Just so He can show His power? Goodness, this really frustrated me. This is not the God of mercy and love that I feel I know so well. But later, I came to appreciate this slightly more. All the while being very grateful that I was not an Israelite or an Egyptian at this time. 

Finally, after the last plague- the death of all of the first born sons of all of the Egyptian families- Pharaoh finally lets the Israelites go- he SHOO's them out actually. But, shortly after they are on their way, God hardens his heart AGAIN, and has Pharaoh send out his army to chase the Israelites to bring them back. Honestly, haven't you shown enough power already God? Doesn't this seem unfair? Unjust?

It makes a little more sense to me later. 

Until then,

Sophia

Reading the Bible - Genesis (Joseph and his message to me)

Before I start, I want to thank so many of you for one, taking the time to read what I have to write, and second, for sharing your encouragement and own faith stories with me. I have only been writing 3 days and have been so uplifted by encouraging feedback and testimonies from people ranging from family members, to close friends, to nearly strangers.  I cannot tell you how grateful and blessed I feel to hear all of these stories- it is exactly these conversations and exchanges that uplifts me. I want to thank you so much, and encourage you to please, keep sharing. If you don't want to post in the comments you can email me at sgbouwens@gmail.com, facebook me, or get a hold of me any way you feel necessary! I love it an am so blessed by it. Thank you.

Ok, on to the rest of Genesis-

SO Genesis is a packed book,yes it is. I will only briefly go over a few of the things that stood out to me, but wow. It's full of magnificence, wonder, beauty, betrayal, miracles, dreams, revelations, sex and infertility. You just about name it, it's in there.

There's Noah and the flood, God's promise never to flood the earth again. Abraham and Sarah giving birth to Isaac, and subsequently to a nation after lifelong infertility. There's so much genealogy recorded that it's hard not to get lost in all of the names (disappointingly, none of which I like as prospective names for our second child). A sketch of this family tree can be found at http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/History-Abraham.htm

In summary, Isaac gives birth to Jacob, who gives birth to Joseph (Joseph and the technicolored dream-coat anyone?), and 11 other sons (his 12 sons' and their offspring become the 12 tribes of Israel (thus the father of the Israelites)). The book ends with Josephs's death, while his brothers are servants/slaves to the Egyptians. Knowing God's plan, he makes his family promise to carry his bones with them out of Egypt.

"Then Joseph said to his brothers "I am about to die; but God will surely come to you, and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." So Joseph made the Isralites swear, saying "When Go comes to you, you shall carry up my bones from here." And Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; he as embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt." (Genesis 50:24-27)

That's a very large understated summary of the book. As I read it a few weeks ago, I can only remember a few details.

 First, lets talk about the ages people lived to be. Everyone in Genesis seems to live an extremely long life (some up to over 600 or 700 years old). I don't know of an explanation for this, but surely time was different back then somehow. One explanation I have heard is that years were measured by wisdom, rather than by actual years. Others are that the calendar they abided by was also different. But, somehow, as the book of Genesis goes on, people start living more realistic lengths of time, going from well over 500 years old in the beginning of Genesis, to Joseph dying at 110 years old. Today, that's a conceivable age to die at (although rare!), but it's not at all what we would expect to be conceivable in in the B.C. years of Joseph's life. If anyone has any light on this issue I would be interested to hear more.

The second thing I remember thinking about most vividly, that I probably took away the most from the second half of Genesis, was Joseph's dedication to God's will, and his un-dying faith.

Joseph's story is full of extreme ups and downs. Maybe you know it, but for those of you who don't I'll summarize it.

First, he is his Father Jacob's favorite son, his brothers don't like this very much. Then he has two dreams in which his brothers and his father bow down to him, and his brothers don't like this either. So they sell him as a slave and tell Jacob he died. After being sold as a slave, his master takes a liking to him and assigns him a prestigious post in his household.  Joseph praises God for this. But, his masters wife takes an interest in him, and throws herself at him. Being a Godly man, Joseph turns her down every time, and after a while she gets angry, almost caught by her husband, and tells her husband, the house master, that Joseph made a pass at her.  Joseph's master is enraged and has Joseph imprisoned.

Had this happened to me I would have been so angry! Here I was trying to do the right thing, and God let it turn on me, and now I am back to worse than a slave, in prison. But Joseph is not disheartened (at least not as far as I can tell). He still stays steadfastly faithful to God. And God, it seems, used this scenario to see if Joseph was prepared to serve in an even more prestigious household.

In prison, Joseph interprets the dreams of two of Pharaoh's servants who have been imprisoned. One he tells will be restored to serving Pharaoh, the other he tells will be executed in three days. Both of these interpretations come to pass as true. He asks the man who will be restored, to tell Pharaoh about him, so that he can be released, but once the man is restored to his post he forgets about Joseph. Again, I would have been discouraged but Joseph isn't. Joseph spends several more years in prison, seemingly forgotten about, but all the while being faithful and steadfast to God. Years pass and pharaoh has dreams that no one can seem to interpret for him. The servant whose dream Joseph interpreted, finally remembers Joseph, and tells pharaoh about him. Joseph interprets pharaohs dream, and pharaoh is so thrilled that he puts Joseph in charge, second only to him. Joseph has been re-stored to glory, only after staying steadfast to the Lord, and because he stayed steadfast, God made his position even more glorious than the one that was taken from him. The story goes on, his brothers do bow down to him several times later in the story, you can read about it yourself if you wish. But what astonishes me is how God worked with Joseph.

Joseph was so patient, and so dedicated to the Lord. Never did he doubt the Lord or what had been revealed to him in his dreams (I especially like the use of dreams). Joseph was betrayed by his family for sharing what God had revealed to him, then once given an honorable position he was tested by the temptress- did what was right and was still condemned! He was stripped of his worldly glory and honor, and had to wait so long for God to come through, but he abided by his moral compass trusting in the Lord that if he did what was right, God would redeem him. And He did.

This story reminds me that, although it is hard to do what is right sometimes, and although others may not see that you have done good and instead judge and condemn you according to wrong-doing, God's judgement is most important. And if you stay steadfast and loyal to what is right, God will redeem you. Sometimes He will take things from you so that you can be put in a more glorious situation. He might take things from you just to see if your heart is good, or to remind you that He is God, and of what is really important in life. But He will not close a door without at least opening a window. I know each one of these 'take away' possibilities have happened to me before. And it is so disheartening, but God does always come through. You must remain steadfast even if it seems in vein, and you must be patient. SO patient. I remember learning about patience in my secular studies, and patience is one of the biggest virtues. And yes! Here in Christianity it is too. You must be patient, because God will come though, in His time. It might take years, and years, and lots of patience and lots of let downs, but He will come through.

The question is, will you stay strong and true?

Reading the Bible - Genesis (Creation and the Fall)

Wow, there is so much to be said about this book, it's definitely loaded.

First, there is the creation. I was always confused as to why there are two separate accounts of creation. Both are beautiful. And, surprisingly, they both seem to roughly follow how evolution hypothesizes the world was created. I know a lot of people struggle with the idea of creationism vs. evolution but I don't get why. I wouldn't deny either. I do disagree that evolution happened by chance, I think it's just too amazing and intricate not to have been led by the hand of God. Same goes for science (molecular, anatomical, physical etc.) - in my humble opinion.  Just because we understand a mechanism that God works by, doesn't disprove that He is the one who created it, designed it and drives it. At least not in my opinion.

Then there is the fall- the temptation by the snake and the attainment of the knowledge of good and evil by Adam and Eve. For a long time I struggled with this too. I didn't understand the significance of this sin - why is knowledge evil? As I grew older and studied more, especially in college, I started to understand more. Especially having been a science major. There are so many amazing, baffling and powerful discoveries going on in so many scientific fields right now. Take stem cells, nuclear physics, and biochemical engineering of human organs as just a few examples. There are many more, I am confident. But we discover all of these things, amazing things - but we act on them before we really think them out. Just because we have discovered how to do these things, does it mean we should? We don't know the repercussions of our actions- take the industrial revolution and global warming as another example. Sometimes I wonder if the world would actually be a better place if we didn't have all of these discoveries. If we just lived in harmony with nature (here's my tree-hugger side coming out!), and ultimately in harmony with God.

Now I am not going to deny that I most likely could not survive today without the comforts of the discoveries and inventions of human kind. To be honest, by now there are most likely several occasions where I probably would have died had I not had antibiotic medication. Not to mention heat to survive the horrible MN winters (why do we live here again?). But I am just entertaining the possibility that, perhaps we were never meant to discover these things. Perhaps we were all meant to live in ignorant bliss of things and let God alone lead us. Perhaps humankind was never supposed to know all of these things the way that we do. Us thinking we can figure things out means that we don't rely on God for everything, instead we rely on our intellect - and really we were never supposed to have such capacity because we lack divine wisdom.

Once I started thinking this way, I started understanding 'The Fall' in a whole new way. So many of our problems today come from thinking we know, we understand - when maybe we do understand the mechanism but we have no idea the repercussions of such knowledge. On macro and micro scales I see this as true. I know in my own life I feel most distant from God when I try to control things. It's so scary, SO scary to let go and let Him lead me with His will through things. Sometimes I don't even know how to do that!

That is the fall of man, that we are no longer by default abiding by His will, instead, now that we have this knowledge, we have choice. And now, we have to fight, work, and strive our entire mortal lives, to re-align our will, with His.

Isn't that at the core of what we really struggle with? If our will was His will, would we have to have all of these debates and discussions of right and wrong? Of good and evil? Of sin? Or would we be living in perfect harmony, the way that God wanted it to be, had Eve and Adam obeyed him?

Reading the Bible - Reflections upon getting started

The story of Christ always made sense to me. Despite my disagreements with many Christians, and Christian views over the years, I have always stuck with Christianity because I believe that the best way to live life is to try to live the way Christ did. No other religion offers it, so I have called myself a Christian. 

Living life in servitude to others, acknowledging that nothing that you do really is done by you if you allow yourself to be truly filled with divine energy,that each of us has a divine spirit connected to God.. These things always struck home with me. I have always wanted to strive to live my life like that, free of the ties of this world -money, fame, greed- and giving back to others, equally receiving. I think that the real beauty of humanity is able to really shine through in those exchanges, and truly believe that if everyone could truly live like that, free of ego and self-absorption, living in the moment free of attachment, the way Christ lived, that the world as we know it would be so profoundly different it would be unrecognizably wonderful. And Christianity teaches all of these things in such an amazing way, and every time I pray to God or Christ with a pure heart and good intentions, my prayers are always answered. I have had too many horrible things turn out just right, with nothing else to explain it but divine intervention, to deny the existence. I am so excited now to be learning about it from a more dogmatic perspective, even though I have feared it for so long. 

But for a long time I resisted Christianity because I didn't agree with or like the way that I saw Christians. As I mentioned earlier, I resisted the Bible. So instead I turned to Buddhism, and other philosophies to learn how to live the way Christ lived. I learned so much, but always felt pulled back to Christ. There was something about Christ I couldn't let go of. It was all of those times He had revealed himself to me as my brother, and God as my Father. I knew He was real, so I yearned to come back to know Him deeper- and so I am learning more about Him through reading the Bible. 

I am encouraged to find that so much of what I have learned from my new-age studies and Buddhist studies, and most recently Taoist studies, is embedded so strongly in what I read in the Bible. After reading the 4 gospels, I felt compelled to start at the beginning to really understand. So naturally I started with Genesis, read through Exodus and am now on Leviticus. 

I have been learning so much! God in the 'old testament' of the bible is so different from how I know God today, I am interested to see how he evolves throughout the BIble. I have also gained more insight into how Judaism, Islam and Christianity separated, and even a little bit about Hindu background, it's pretty amazing. These really profound thoughts come to me as I read, and I feel like every day I am understanding the human condition more and more, and how God relates to us all. How incredibly universal His energy is, and how amazing it is that He radiates through everything, from conversations to flesh to atoms to sunsets. It's been great to bring my own self-discovery of God from the past few years, into the light of something I so fervently resisted for so long. I hated religion for so long, especially 'Christianity', and to this day there are parts of it that I strongly disagree with, and there are things about it I think are extremely weird, but I have been learning to accept that nothing is perfect, and that the very reasons I wanted to run away from Christianity are the reasons I should stay- to be the change I want to be.

I'll share more on Genesis and Exodus in separate blogs. 

Please, share your thoughts and encouragement.

Sophia

Reading the Bible - Breaking down my own resistence

For a long time I resisted the Bible. I saw it used so often as a weapon to hate and to discriminate against others. It seemed to me that so many who based their faith only on the bible, lost the compassion that God fills in your heart when you experience Him through the holy spirit. These "Bible-Based Faither's"(as I had labeled them), were often too uptight for me.  As far as I could see, many of them were not able to see past the rules and regulations laid out in the Bible, and simply love their neighbor.  I felt strongly that knowing God through prayer and life experience was much more well suited for me,and much more powerful. I had no desire to read the Bible what-so-ever. To me, experience with God was what was most important to me. I could not stand it when people threw Bible verses at me to prove a point or show how close they were to God. 

My husbands faith was exactly the kind of faith I am talking about. He learned much of what he knows about God by reading the Bible, and like so many others, grew close to God through his time spent in the Word. But I knew my husband was a God-loving man, and respected his faith so much. His faith  wasn't what I expected a Bible-based faith to be like. He wasn't hateful, and didn't use it to discriminate. Yes, he could be up tight, but I started to slowly realize that he actually had an amazing and respectable sense of right and wrong, and usually once he explained things, I saw myself agreeing with him where I thought I disagreed. Are you following still? 

Needless to say this was a huge struggle for me in the early days of our relationship. I was always yearning to hear of his experience with God, the individual experiences he had by spending time with God, and he always had bible verses to tell me about. I got so frustrated by this! I wanted holy-spirit divine intervention stories, the kind that set my faith on fire.  I kept saying "NO, how does God speak to YOU?" And he kept saying through His word. I just didn't get it.

Finally, I decided to try to understand what he was saying. 

After much encouragement from my husband, and a lot of self-work, I have decided to start reading the Bible. I fought long and hard to avoid it, and have realized my resistance was out of fear. Fear that my faith would be de-valued, or turned on it's head if I actually knew what the Bible said. 

A big theme in the past 2 or so years of my life has been facing my biggest fears; Getting married (not that I got married out of fear, but had I given in to my fears I know I would not have gotten married), having a child was definitely one (also a fear I fought and conquered), cutting my hair was a huge fear, having a second child also a fear but not as big since I have one already and see how great a blessing she is! But I have chosen not to let my fears conquer my desire. All of these fears were out of fear of failure, or lack-of-faith in something completly natural and God-given. They were the kinds of fears that tell you you will be a failure in some way shape or form, if you try to even attempt them. And that is not the kind of fear that protects you (like a fear of venomous snakes, or strange men in dark alleys). It's the kind of fear that destroys you and limits you from reaching your full potential. SO what I am trying to say, is my next conquest with conquering my fears is reading the Bible for myself. Having seen it used as a weapon so often, and having been so angry and so afraid of it in the past is no longer going to stop me from discovering it's divine wisdom for myself. No more. I have begun to read for myself. 

 I began with the new testament to know exactly what Jesus actually said. But as I began with this, I realized I don't know the history, the context of what Jesus was talking about it so rooted in the Old Testament. So, I have decided I am going to read through the Old Testament. I'll keep you updated on how it goes. I will label the post with the book out of which the ideas, thoughts and questions spring. I hope you share with me too.

On that note, what do you think about the Bible? Have you feared it? Or has it been your refuge?