July Firsts

Another July has come and gone.  I wanted to post a few firsts that happened in July 2015.  One morning, I went over to my parents' house, and my mom met me at the door, "They are taking the Confederate flag down!"  (In Columbia, South Carolina, that is.)

10th -- I decided to document that my parents had turned on the TV for this occasion.

18th  -- A few days later, there was some talk in my county about the Confederate statue coming down. (no rebel flag flies here; just a soldier statue has stood near the courthouse for over one hundred years.)  This is an area I walk frequently. In fact I joke that I "walk my errands" because I often park at the library and return my books there, walk the few minutes to the post office to check my work place's mailbox, drop by the bank, and so forth.  We often go to free concerts around the square here, and the children's museum where I take Zach is right beside the library.  So when they talked about having a rally to support the Confederate statue staying (and since I was in town that weekend), I drove up there to check things out.  Who would come?  How would they act? Would I see a counter-protest?  Nothing much happens here so I want to see! (I live about 3 miles from these pictures.)  Man, was it ever h-o-t.  Of course this is July in North Carolina so that's not surprising. Still.  I felt I was crying sweat. 

The old Alamance County courthouse

The statue honoring the Confederate soldiers

Plenty of people brought these flags, but none flies here

I saw a few African-American men, and I made a point of lingering near a couple of them to ask their thoughts. I enjoyed hearing what they had to say.


21st -- Totally unrelated to those first two, and honestly I'm not sure my liberal Mormon friends would like being on the same blog post as Confederate flags, but this all happened in July so ...

I was invited to their newly-turned-8-year-old daughter's baptism, and I drove to Durham for the event.  I met Nancy through her blog, and I found her blog through Bridget's blog. I've never met Bridget despite reading her blog for many years (she lives far, far away), but Samer - my Syrian friend - found it for me years ago when he was looking for an article about Ramadan in Syria to show me what that holy month was like in his country.  So, anyway, I have now met the entire* Heiss family, and they are really sweet!

Me and the three oldest children

Andrew holding Zoë, Nancy holding Benjamin, Rachel & Miriam (posing)

Andrew's mom and dad (not pictured) were in town from Utah for the event

Benjamin, their only son, chose me as a playmate and, at one point, I was twirling him around at the reception. I later apologized to Nancy because I can honestly say I don't ever recall twirling children at church functions in the past, and this here was a place full of mostly strangers.  Nancy assured me it was fine...and, hey, it was pretty fun for me to play with the kids that evening. I loved meeting Reid and Karen, Andrew's parents, from Utah.  I have seen their comments on Nancy's blog or on Facebook so it was neat seeing them in real life!

* who am I kidding? Just the entire Andrew and Nancy Heiss family, shall we say?


25 & 26th  -- Andrew and I going to the mountains is certainly nothing new, but we had never been to Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia before.

After walking and climbing rocks, this water felt so good. And it was so clear!

There are a few pictures from other places we went near Grayson Highlands that we have been before. But I'll still include the photos since we are talking about our trip to the mountains on this post.

Creeper Trail

Whitetop Mountain

River in Damascus, Virginia, where I text and checked Facebook

29th -- Lastly, I took Zach to southern Guilford County to see the calves and get some ice cream at Homeland Creamery. He wasn't impressed with the farm smell at first, but he liked that the calves came out to greet him, and he enjoyed his strawberry ice cream.

Did you do any new things this July?  Or any old favorites? Do tell!

The Book of Mormon Girl

So, I just finished reading The Book of Mormon Girl by Joanna Brooks last night. I'd seen it mentioned by a few Mormon bloggers, most recently by Sarah, so I checked my library and saw it was on the New Books shelf. I had to return a book for Andrew so I picked it up that afternoon, and read it within a day of finishing Rachel Held Evans' A Year of Biblical Womanhood.  I enjoyed learning about the typical Mormon childhood - or, at least, the cultural one for many of those growing up in the western United States.  I laughed at some of her memories. The bits about church camps, and Marie Osmond's make-up and fashion tips were especially good.  Here are other things that took my attention.


"No, no, we Mormons were taught that our works must carry us there, that our works would make us perfect enough for God to finally recognize us as worthy of His love."  (pg. 63)   This contrasts to my own faith where we stress the grace and mercy of God, and His reaching down to us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8).



One chapter is "mormons vs. born-agains" because where Joanna Brooks lived, there were apparently enough of both groups to have some conflict between them.  Maybe both groups were competing for the same souls.  (The born agains were the bad guys in case you were wondering.)  I know my own personal experience with Mormons growing up was meeting exactly one when we were pages for the NC House in Raleigh for four days when we were sixteen. Stephanie and I ate lunch together and I remember she had a houseful of siblings all with S names. We got along well.  Likely we gravitated to each other because we were not exactly like the other teens serving as pages that week. I can't recall. I just remember her name and what she looked like, and that we talked over lunch.  I'm not in a place where many Mormons live - we do have an LDS church or two around so I guess they exist. I've only ever seen the missionaries riding bikes or shopping the dairy section at Walmart.

Anyway, she writes about those California born agains -- "Had they disciplined their minds for the possibility that God would ask them to take a second wife into the family in order to get to heaven?" (pg. 80)

Uh, that would be a big fat NO. Again, we don't believe God requires us to do a whole lot to get into heaven. We believe Jesus did it for us. That's why HE is the Savior. Not us.  And we don't believe in heavenly marriages most especially not polygamous ones. I have enough trouble with Islamic heaven which doesn't sound like heaven to me AT ALL what with men having access to 70-some perpetual virgins according to some interpretations.  (I personally love the feminist interpretations that those houris are really raisins!  Haha...)

I didn't realize how important marriage is to Mormon beliefs. While I'm married, I can't help but feel sad for the many who are not. Are they doomed to lesser heavens simply because - like the apostle Paul or Jesus - they never married? 

Brooks didn't mention the need for children, but I'm guessing my choice of not having children isn't a popular one in Mormon circles.  (Truthfully, it's not exactly popular in evangelical circles either, but we aren't doomed for a lesser heaven for it that I'm aware of.)  Sorry, but the thought of "eternal pregnancy in the company of plural pregnant wives" in order to populate "the highest realms of heaven" with "spirit children" is not my idea of heaven. (pg. 97)  I really did understand more why gay marriage is such a threat to many Mormons.  You can't procreate naturally with two men or two women.

Something I wondered: can Mormon women remarry if they are widowed?  I see where Mormon men who lost a first wife can be sealed to a second wife for eternity as well. (pg. 87) She didn't mention women. Is heavenly polyandry OK in this case? This reminds me of the conversation Jesus had with the Sadducees about marriage at the resurrection. 

Never realized Mormons had to confess to a bishop when they did certain sins.

The Mormon preoccupation with the dead is interesting if not a bit creepy with all those files. I do think it's cool that they are interested in where they came from, and trying to save their ancestors by doing things for them now. Dedicated people.  For me, it's more interesting on the level that I sometimes wonder about those people who make up me. Really have you ever stopped to think how many thousands of people contributed to who you are today?


I am glad I married within my faith. I'm glad it works for Joanna Brooks and her husband, but it would be difficult for me, I think, to have a husband who is allergic to Jesus since Jesus is so central to my faith.  She said she doesn't even celebrate Christmas much any more.


I could never align myself with a church or any organization that keeps files on dissenters with the threat of excommunication and so forth. I like my freedom too much, and suppose I'm not real big on accountability.  God keeping a book about my life is one thing. A group of church leaders is quite another. I find God often is much more merciful than we humans are to one another.


Brooks talked about Mormon defensiveness. Probably because of posts like this. I really don't mean it in an evil born-again way.  I was just pointing out things that took my attention as one outside the faith.  Overall it was nice reading about growing up Mormon and how her path has differed from her more orthodox family and friends. 

One last thing...I had to smile at the couple of recipes shared in the book as they are two I'm very familiar with.  I like seeing what we have in common. Most Mormons I've met - which is online usually - seem like really, really wonderful people if not a bit cliquish. But I understand better why they are this way, and I'm thankful for the ones who let me butt in with my comments on their blogs and take the time to answer my questions. To you: thanks much!

September Books

So this month I ended up reading two books dealing with China, and two memoirs about people leaving their faiths.  I didn't know the two latter books would delve so much into childhood sexual abuse when I started them.  I was thoroughly disgusted at how two powerful churches (one for sure; the other maybe was falsely accused) have used their money and clout to cover abuse for the sake of their churches' reputations!  Children be damned as long as the faith is protected?  Horrible!  And even though these two churches are not my own, I condemn any who cover abuse for the sake of their reputations. How about some character, people...not hypocrisy!   And I would dare to speak for God and say He is thoroughly disgusted by this as well.  Yes, your church might go through bad publicity - as it should!  And it IS shameful.  And it IS a horrible testimony. And it DOES cause unbelievers to blaspheme God in many cases (see II Samuel 12).  But these things must be dealt with. You can't expect sin to stay hidden, that you will always be able to protect the guilty. God knows what is going on. He's not giving you a free pass.  Sorry, I had to get this out. I see my precious nephews. One is ten and a half, the other almost 17 months old, and I cannot stand the thought of anyone abusing them and getting by with it because some church doesn't want bad publicity.  And don't get me started on churches that know of sexual predators and reassign them to other posts where they can prey on a new batch of children. Grrrrr.

Boy, I rarely get this testy when doing my monthly book reports, huh?




Among the Righteous: Lost Stories From the Holocaust's Long Reach Into Arab Lands by Robert Satloff -- This Jewish man researches the stories of Arab treatment of Jews in North Africa.  I enjoyed the story of Khaled Abdul-Wahab and the author's attempt to get him accepted as the first Arab remembered by Yad Vashem for his role in saving Jews during the Holocaust. He comes across many roadblocks as more recent politics play into whether Arabs want to be known for helping Jews. Also Jews sometimes deny the Holocaust's reach into the Arab countries.





Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang  -- I didn't realize this book was so long when I picked it up, but over 500 pages later, I must say that I enjoyed learning the story of these three women. The author shared about her grandmother who was a concubine to a general and later married to a much older doctor.  The family dynamics of her coming into this family made me appreciate the simplicity of marriage in my own culture.  (Her new husband's oldest son ended up shooting himself in a fit of rage because of this proposed marriage. He died.)  This story involved the author's mother and father, and their commitment to the Communist Party. I enjoyed the examples of life in China at this time and during the reign of Mao and the Cultural Revolution.  I had to smile when she told of how "eat all your food because there are poor capitalists in the West who are starving and would love to have the food you are eating" was used on them as children.  (I've heard a similar version growing up.)  I was struck by the patriarchy of this traditional society and how Communism declared women and men more equal. I got to wondering just how far back patriarchy goes and where did repressing women and elevating men begin? 

I just thought this was interesting.

"Following the custom, my great-grandfather was married young, at fourteen, to a woman six years his senior.  It was considered one of the duties of a wife to help bring up her husband."  (pg. 22)


With some exceptions like books on Mao's writings and "revolutionary operas," among the many things banned or seen as too "bourgeois" during the Cultural Revolution in China -- books, paintings, musical instruments, sports, cards, chess, teahouses, bars, flowers, grass (yes, grass was pulled up as if it were an enemy!), films, plays, concerts, long hair for women...  (pg. 332)


"To me, the ultimate proof of freedom in the West was that there seemed to be so many people there attacking the West and praising China.  Almost every other day the front page of Reference, the newspaper which carried foreign press items, would feature some eulogy of Mao and the Cultural Revolution. At first I was angered by these, but they soon made me see how tolerant another society could be.  I realized that this was the kind of society I wanted to live in: where people were allowed to hold different, even outrageous views. I began to see that it was the very tolerance of opposition, of protestors, that kept the West progressing."  (pg. 472)



The Lost Daughters of China by Karin Evans - a friend sent me this book thinking I'd like it and I did!  The author and her husband adopted a little girl from China (two actually),and she tells some of their story and also bits of stories from others. She explores the reasons women would give up their daughters, the hardship of life in China, orphanage life and adjusting to life in the US among other things. I shed a few tears for the innocent ones who are abandoned and left behind in orphanages as well as the ones who never have a chance at life because they are either aborted or killed upon delivery. Also I cried for those women who would have chosen to keep their children, but could not for the sake of society.  I can't imagine how difficult that must be.

Here is one excerpt I wanted to share.

Re: the only-children of China being spoiled:  "'Many parents of the nineties,'...'were part of the lost generation of the Cultural Revolution. After suffering so much themselves, they were determined not to deprive their only child. Beijing's biggest toy store was always jammed with parents buying toddler-sized fake fur coats, imported baby shampoo and red Porsche pedal cars.'

Yet she saw good things coming out of the situation. 'Many people thought that a country populated with Little Emperors was headed for disaster. I disagreed.  Granted it might be unpleasant to live in a nation of me-first onlies, yet I saw a social revolution in the making. For generations, Chinese society had emphasized the family, the clan, the collective over the individual. Now, for the first time in four thousand years of history, the relationship was reversed. Where the Mao generation failed, the Me generation just might succeed.' She quoted a British friend, Michael Crook, 'If you have a population of Little Emperors, you can't have little slaves. Everyone will want to tell everyone else what to do. You'll have democracy.'"  (pg. 234)




Losing My Religion by William Lobdell - I found this at the local Friends of the Library book sale; a reporter talks about his faith in Christ, how he got a job reporting religious news for a newspaper and eventually lost his faith.  The book was very respectful, really, but made me sad because he admits he saw very little difference in the majority of Christians' lives compared to the general population.  I don't think it's supposed to work like that!

"So what has taken the place of God in my life? A tremendous sense of gratitude. I sense how fortunate I am to be alive in this thin sliver of time in the history of the universe. This gives me a renewed sense of urgency to live this short life well. I don't have eternity to fall back on, so my focus on the present has sharpened.   I find myself being more grateful for each day and more quickly making corrections in my life to avoid wasted time.  I've tightened my circle of friends, wanting to maximize time with people I love and enjoy the most. I've become more true to myself because I'm not as worried about what others think of me. ... That's what losing God has done for me. Permanent death - I don't think I have the escape hatch to heaven anymore - now sits squarely in front of me, unmoving as I rapidly approach.  And you know what? My breakfast does taste better. I feel the love of my family and friends more deeply. And my dreams for my life have an urgency to them that won't allow me to put them off any longer. I can no longer slog through each day, knowing that if my time on Earth isn't used to its fullest potential, it's no big thing, that I have eternity with God ahead of me."  (pg. 278-279)



Leaving the Saints by Martha Beck -- I've often been driven to tears and disgust and anger and laughter and joy, but I don't think a nonfiction book has creeped me out until I read this book. Really it wasn't that creepy, but I just so happened to read a part (about Danites if you must know) right before bed and it must have upped the "creep factor" in my mind.  Like I told someone else, I take most leaving the faith stories with a huge dose of salt (as opposed to a mere grain) because I realize sometimes people won't present their former faiths in the best lights due to their own personal experiences. For others, the faith is a hugely wonderful thing partly because they haven't experienced those awful things. So, that said, I enjoyed this book and some of the talk of sealing in the temple (she didn't go into great detail because she knows it's sacred), wards (I often wondered what those were pg. 54), heavenly mothers (yes, plural, since God is a polygamist, too pg. 75), BYU (pg. 77), the Mormon view of heaven and its levels (pg. 87), the Egyptian papyri that early Mormons bought from a traveling guy who showed the papyri for a living (pg. 155), more talk on polygamy and how women and men viewed it (pg. 177), the victimization of the Saints in history (pg. 181) and much more. I stopped noting it after awhile.

By the way, this lady came out as sexually abused by her father, apparently a well-known Mormon apologist. I decided to look him up.

This is her father, Hugh Nibley

A Q&A with her after the Mormon Church responded and a sampling of some of the responses she's received by email.  It's sad how many others have been sexually abused.

A collection of sites about this book - not sure how fair these are, but there are a number of links.

And when I mentioned this book to a Mormon blogger, she said she'd read the book, it did not ring true and she wasn't the only one who thought this way.

What's land got to do with it?

The importance of land is a recurring theme in God Is Red by Vine Deloria, Jr.  You would have thought the name of the book would have given me a clue and it did in a way, but I thought more in broader terms like Mother Earth rather than specific parcels of land. Yet, what is Mother Earth made of than pieces of land and lots of water? 

I recall times when I've been irritated how people have fought for land.  Palestinians and Israelis.  That conflict readily comes to mind as both sides seek to keep what they say is theirs. The Israelis wanting their old homeland despite the fact they'd been driven from it centuries ago. And Palestinians who had been living there until Zionists drove them out.

Frustrated at the conflict, I remember "why are people fighting over dirt?!" coming out of my mouth.

Yes, really.

I've honestly been conflicted, too, because it seems in the history of the world "to the victor goes the spoils" is how it works. So if you fight and win it, you keep it.  I wasn't sure if Zionists fighting for Israel and their ability thus far to keep it, meant it "should" be theirs. Just as Mecca now belongs to Muslims and the United States belongs to former Europeans for the most part***.

But after reading this book, I think I understand better.  Vine Deloria speaks of lands having sacredness and certain properties so that even our lack of religious unity can be blamed on the land in which we reside!

With the movement of Christianity to the North American continent, and the subsequent freedom to develop religious expressions offered by the land, the possibility of constituting a Christian culture or unity vanished. Christianity shattered on the shores of this continent, producing hundreds of sects in the same manner that the tribes continually subdivided in an effort to relate to the rhythms of the land.  It is probably in the nature of this continent that divisiveness is one of its greatest characteristics, a virtually uncontrollable freedom of the spirit. (pg. 143)

See? We cannot help ourselves from splitting!  I wonder if this helps explain our political divisiveness as well ...

Tribal religions place more importance on land and sacred mountains or rivers.  Judaism is a tribal religion and you read often in the Bible about setting up stones to remember places.  Also the importance of land is a strong theme throughout the Tanakh.  So I understand why Jews desire their land (or what they consider their God-given land.) It also better explains why Muslims want Mecca and Medina only for themselves. It's not for those outside the "tribe" (i.e., faith).   Deloria explained that there were Native religious ceremonies done privately and not open to outsiders. This may explain why certain mosques do not welcome nonMuslims as well as why certain Mormon religious experiences are not open for nonMormons. 

Membership has its privileges.

What are your thoughts on land and sacred spaces? Do you think certain lands have certain properties that transfer to the quality of life? Do we have freedoms in the United States because the land oozes freedom?


*** This book shows how Natives view the land that we Europeans took. I now wonder how the Canaanites felt about the land before the children of Israel came through. And how the pre-Islamic Arabs thought of Mecca and other parts of Arabia. Are lands made for all or for whoever can keep them?  Are lands something to be possessed and, er, hoarded?

Jews, Hispanics, Chosenness, DNA, Lost Tribes, Sheep & More

So I'm reading a new book that's been on my shelf for about a year when Amber had her last giveaway.  The title Abraham's Children sounded rather interesting when I selected it, but it's about 400 pages and I wasn't sure if I wanted to invest a lot of time in something that talks about, well, the subtitle is Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People so...?  But in my quest to read books on my own bookshelf before submerging myself in library book bliss, I picked it up the other night. And found for the most part that I liked it. Now there are bits in it that, eh, I really don't care about, but since I find the Jewish question (for me that is race or religion?) of interest, it's been a good read.

Some highlights for me thus far. (I'm on page 242.) 

According to the author, Jon Entine, a "bar mitzvahed and confirmed" Reform Jew who lost his faith when his mother died of ovarian cancer in his teen years ...

1.  For most Europeans of Jewish ancestry, "lineage trumped faith" or as Hannah Arendt put it, "'Believing in his own chosenness without believing in Him who chooses.'" (pg. 17)

2.  The Bible is probably an account written by the religious Judeans (of the southern kingdom which includes Jerusalem) looking down on the "infidel" north, Israel where those ten tribes were "lost"  (pg. 103ff); "In writing their history, the surviving pastoral nomads of Judea combined fragments of the truth with liberal doses of political propaganda."  (pg. 105)

3. The Hasmonean campaign "resulted in the absorption of more gentiles into Judaism than any Jewish government or social movement in history" (pg. 116); Gentiles were killed or forced to convert.

4.  Re: Jesus -- "While the imprint of Judaism could still be found in the genes, Christianity came to be centered in the soul.  It is a momentous fracturing of the tradition of tribal ancestry as the defining component of Jewishness. For the followers of Jesus, henceforth faith would take precedence over scripture and ancestry." (pg. 119)

5.  Re: The Lost Tribes -- The fact that "some Christians believe that almost all Asians are of Semitic ancestry" traces back to a 19th century Scottish missionary who said Shem's ancestors "escaped to the east during the Assyrian debacle" wandering all the way to Korea, China and Japan.  This part made me laugh:  "What was his proof?  The sheep he came across in Asia looked eerily like the breed of sheep from Palestine and sold in Smithfield market in London!" (pg. 162)

Hahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa!


I enjoyed some of the stories of groups such as the Lemba in Great Zimbabwe and even Hispanics in North America and their connections to the Jews.  Sometimes DNA was used to prove or disprove a supposed connection.  Some Mexican-American Catholics found their historical ties to Judaism compelling enough that they formally converted to Judaism. (Many of these had ancestors who most likely fled Spain during the Inquisition.)  On the other hand some with newly-found ancestral Jewish ties chose to keep Jesus as the Messiah, but also observe some Jewish religious practices such as a Sabbath day service because of "'all the Sephardim went through.'" (pg. 193)

I also liked the story of the LDS church trying to prove the Native Americans as Lamanites, those cursed by God with dark skin due to their rebellion. Apparently DNA didn't work in their favor on that project and one Mormon anthropologist had the integrity to say their insistence on trying to prove this is "tantamount 'to claiming the earth is flat'" and that "'Many people would like to see the LDS Church publicly acknowledge that it is no longer appropriate to label Native Americans as Lamanites or heathen Israelites.'" (pg. 147)



There is more, but this post is too long!  Perhaps I'll share a few more notes later.


Did you learn anything new from this? Anything highly suspect as not true? Please share your thoughts!  

June Books & I fought temptation and won!

Another month has gone, and we are half a year away from 2012, people!  Half a year away from making new year's resolutions and posting lists of books we read in 2011 and putting away the Christmas decorations after yet another busy holiday season. Time sure does move quickly.

So in my May post I told y'all I read a book about a road (from Damascus) and this month I read about another road (Eastern Orthodoxy).    Last month I read a book by an Indian (from Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh) who said very positive things about Christianity and the Bible. This month I read a book by an Indian (Native American) who didn't much care for most of the Christians he'd encountered. (I think he was OK with Jesus.)   I finished my journey through America with Akbar Ahmed and his team.  That book was rather long (500ish pages) and detailed, but kept my attention throughout.  I read a book about two "promised lands" - Israel and the United States. The latter dealt with Moses' impact in inspiring the settlers here.

Have you read any good books lately? 


Journey Into America by Akbar Ahmed -- fantastic book about American identity and culture and the ways minority groups have been treated here; see posts from late May and early June for many more details

"Through discussion and dialogue with my Jewish friends, I have learned about Jewish history and culture and how these shape Jewish identity -- the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the trauma of the Diaspora, and the tragedy of the Holocaust, which remains a dark and troubling cloud over the history of all humankind. I also learned of the deep attachment that Jews feel toward the city of Jerusalem and the land of Israel, which is more than just a country to the Jewish people. It is an expression of their religious and cultural identity.  Becoming friends with Jews allowed me to view the Israeli narrative from their perspective. In this way, while they saw and hopefully understood my Muslim narrative, I tried to understand theirs." (pg. 395)


The chapter on Mormons and Muslims showed me how similar the two faiths are. In fact the Mormon university has a geography class where one professor gives handouts showing 21 similarities between the two faiths. Granted, they also have huge differences, but the team said Mormons they met seemed to be the most accepting of Muslims in America.  When breaking down stats, Mormons over any other group put religion as number one in their lives (96%; Muslims were at 85%),  When asked about the biggest threats to America, Mormons were more likely to say the "breakdown of the family," "ourselves," "immorality," and "the economy." One student "named pornography as the greatest threat to America, calling it 'the root of a lot of evil.'"  "More Mormons saw America as a Christian country than did either Protestants or Catholics." (pg. 420-1)

When discussing the rise of Mormonism during what he calls "the Great White American Century" the author noted "Mormonism provided an optimistic theology in an era of hope and promise. Unlike the austere and puritanical preachings of Calvinism, Mormonism offered what scholar Fawn Brodie called an 'ingenious blend of supernaturalism and materialism, which promised in heaven a continuation of all earthly pleasures - work, wealth, sex and power.'"  (pg. 405)



The Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy by Alexander Schmemann  --  I shared much more about this book here.


"In the record of Orthodoxy, as in the story of Christianity in general, there is no lack of defects and human sins. ... The true Orthodox way of thought has always been historical, has always included the past, but has never been enslaved by it. Christ is 'yesterday and today and forever the same,' and the strength of the Church is not in the past, present, or future, but in Christ."  (pg. 341)



Speaking of Jesus by Carl Medearis -- after having read a book filled with Christian Church stuff, this book was almost simplistic by contrast.  The author basically tells us to just talk about Jesus.  He reminded us that the complicated doctrines, explanations, egg illustration of God and often horrid Christian history are not what people need. They just need Jesus. And he shares what a joy it is for him to talk about one he loves so dearly. I like too that he stressed discipleship - a commitment of relationship - rather than evangelism which is often a one-moment deal (e.g., one altar call, one revival meeting, one door-to-door soul winning evening).  ; also see previous post

"We can't simply pull in our church boundaries, tell the rest of the world to drop dead, and then bomb the sand out of the Middle East. At least not if we are trying to follow Jesus.  The conservative movement here in the West often tries to embrace the moral code of Christianity without the self-sacrificial teachings of Jesus."  (pg. 148)

Here is an article of Carl's published at Huffington Post just yesterday.



Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto by Vine Deloria, Jr. -- Andrew asked why I got this book and I think it was in the footnotes of a book I read earlier this year. I decided I wanted to read a book about Indians from an American Indian rather than a white author so I found this one on Amazon and received it for my birthday.   Read more about my thoughts on this book here. 

And see my pictures from the Cherokee Indian Reservation here if you'd like.  We were there last Saturday.




The Much Too Promised Land: America’s Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace by Aaron David Miller -- My brother found this book somewhere and gave it to me for my birthday. He said he saw the word "Arab" and knew how much I like them so he got this.   About halfway through this nearly 400 page book I was ready to toss it aside because I was exasperated with how much time and money and energy has been used in trying to bring peace to this region! (Not to mention all the trees killed to write all those drafts and official treaties!)  To read more go here.




America's Prophet: How the Story of Moses Shaped America by Bruce Feiler --  I saw this on Amazon.com and decided to buy it. It was inexpensive and I like Bruce Feiler. I've read at least three of his other books.  See the previous post for some of the American Moseses (or Mosii per Amber's suggestion) discussed in this book.  Also I'll probably add a bit more from this book in an upcoming post.  I finished it just in time to add to June books! 



If you want to see most of these books because you are a visual person and maybe like to see that people actually are nerdy enough to take photos of their stacks of books, go here. From my stack of 18 books pictured there, I have only one left to read!  I actually went to the library once, had 3 books in my arms to check out and ...


(try not to faint when you read this)

PUT THEM BACK ON THE SHELVES!!!

I yielded not to temptation because I remembered I still had books at home that needed to be read.  Just a few more to go now and then Helloooooo, Library!  :)

The Orthodox Church - Byzantium, Fighting for God, Theosis, Trinity

I eagerly began reading the chapter on Byzantium thinking I would make faster progress, but soon found myself amazed enough by what I was reading that I felt compelled to make note of it. After all I wanted not merely to see how fast I could get through this first book of 2011, but actually learn from it. Orthodoxy is quite a new world for me so why not record notes?  (I find I remember information better if I take time to write about it.)

Just as I read the Quran and books about Islam through my own Western, Baptist, Christian lenses, I find I am doing the same with this book. Yes, it's Christianity, however, it is hard for me to come at it completely without thinking of and comparing it to what I've believed all these years. I wish I could approach new topics as a blank slate and read them without biases already in place, but I'm not really good at forgetting all I've known. I hope that makes sense and you keep this in mind as I critique this new (to me) faith. Please don't take it personally.  That said, let's proceed through chapter 2 ... or at least the first part.  I couldn't even finish the chapter I had so many notes to write!

So I read about Constantine's vision of the cross: in this sign conquer, the inscription supposedly read. Being able to look back at history and knowing how often Christians did use the cross as a reason for and rallying point in their battles, I had to take seriously and mull over this supposed sign from God.  I like to compare things to Jesus in the Bible and have a hard time seeing him rallying his followers around the same cross and telling them to conquer in his name.  Yes, Jesus spoke of the division between family members because some would reject him while others accepted his message of salvation, but never did I get an impression that Jesus wanted us to pick up swords to kill opponents of his way.

Christianity in Rome went from being a persecuted religion to a tolerated faith (thanks to the Edict of Milan) to a favored religion and then, compliments of Theodosius, fifty years after Constantine's death Christianity was the only officially recognized religion of the Empire!  The tables were turned: now it was paganism that was suppressed.

Additionally the capital of the Roman Empire was moved from Italy to the Greek city of Byzantium. Constantine named the city after himself and after its "solemn inauguration" he declared that "no pagan rites should ever be performed" in Constantinople.  I couldn't help but think of Mecca when I read this.  In no way should this holiest city of Islam be stained by a nonMuslim entering it.

The author notes the first council of Nicea clearly demonstrated the new Church and State alliance with one observer reporting that the Emperor presided as if he were "some heavenly messenger of God."  (pg. 19)  (Muhammad anyone?)


The next section discussed the first six councils. As I read about the Church's attempts to explain the nature of Christ, our relationship with God through Christ, theosis, homoousios, hypostasis, Theotokos,  Arianism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism and such things I was starting to have such heretical thoughts of does all this really matter? and does God truly care that we fully grasp these things about Jesus?  Again I thought back to Scripture and Jesus' words to follow him and he would make us fishers of men.  His way seemed much simpler ("my yoke is easy and my burden is light") compared to all these theologians' debates and these various schools of thought. 

Is it absolutely essential that we understand the nature of Christ, his relationship to God?  I suppose the answer is yes and someone can tell me why, but, goodness, I think of Jesus' words about coming to God with childlike faith and, yes, children question, but do they always fully grasp and understand our answers?  Even the book admits the Church didn't intend to explain God for how can God be explained by mere man?  So the Church dealt with fencing in the Mystery, that is excluding false facts that would lead people into error and heresy.  Part of this is dealing with those Greek words mentioned above.

Theosis is the one that gave me the most pause.  I thought I took the Bible literally until I read where the Greek Fathers thought Paul and John were speaking of our (humanity's) 'deification'!  "If humans are to share in God's glory, they argued, if they are to be 'perfectly one' with God, this means in effect that humans must be 'deified': they are called to become by grace what God is by nature."  That part about "by grace" was extremely helpful in curbing my rising alarm, but then I read St. Athanasius' summary of the purpose of Incarnation: "'God became human that we might be made god'" and couldn't help that Mormon belief of our becoming gods of our own planets came to mind!  Also thoughts of the beginning - Garden of Eden, Genesis 3 and Satan tempting Eve and throwing in:

“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (vs. 5, emphasis mine)


I think theosis by far was the most troubling part although I couldn't quite grasp why balancing the nature of Christ was of such supreme importance. Then again, I'm not a theologian so ...

Re: the Trinity, I stopped to mull over the classic summary: three persons in one essence recalling how the Old Testament stressed God is one and Jesus said God is spirit and how did those things fit into this Trinitarian summary.  Here is something of how my brain reasoned it:

God is One -- but the OT didn't say one what.  Jesus said God is spirit so we can't think of God as one person such as we are.  So God can be one spirit (essence) but three persons (Father, Son, Spirit) if He chooses.  (He could be more than three persons in reality.)  Throwing in a healthy dose of "this is a mystery" and "God can't be fully explained by my little mind," I could appreciate the summary.


(This book has over 300 pages and these notes cover the first 23. At this rate, still reading this book in October is entirely possible!) 

Thoughts?

Is Your Holy Book Alive or Set in Stone?

Do y'all remember earlier this month when I wrote a few posts about From Stone to Living Word by Debbie Blue?  It started with Rethinking Idols, continued to "Love is almost like reverse idolatry,"  "God is a God of life,"  a bit in my post on Midrash and finally The Bible -- Stoning, Slashing, Loving.  I enjoyed the feedback on those posts. 


Well, here are the last notes I have from her book. Rereading this first section just now, I wondered if this could be true of Scriptures revered in other faiths.  Just yesterday I took a few minutes to watch a video on Wafa's blog.  In it Naif Al-Mutawa alludes to his creation of the comic series "The 99" as a way of making the Quran come alive.  He said too many scholars have set the Quran in stone and Al-Mutawa either said or gave me reason to believe this is why so many Muslim-majority nations are thought to be ... what's the word?  I guess stuck in another century? I don't know....I realize some people like being stuck in the past as they see modernity as too wicked and maybe too fast-paced for their liking.

So read this from Debbie Blue and see if you can also apply it to your sacred book or tell me if you reject her thoughts outright when it comes to the scripture you hold dear.


On inspiration of Scripture... "..we often seem to think it means something more along the lines of it being fixed. Not made alive, but set in stone.  As if inspired by God means God told people a long time ago to write down certain things and they did.  And those things are inerrant, absolute, fixed, and settled.  As if God's inspiration stiffens the Word rather than loosing it, objectifies it rather than breathing life into it. Because the words are inspired, we should put them under glass in a museum, worship them more than interact with them, guard them somehow, or appreciate their finality more than take them out to play. ... The church has often recognized the need to guard against bibliolatry, and way it has often done this is to appeal to the Spirit of God."  (pg. 41) 

I know it won't be exactly the same since the Quran is supposedly revealed from God word for word and thus perhaps it's supposed to be "fixed," but if you think more of the application of the Quran, interpreting it for 21st century living instead of years ago before automobiles, cell phones and computers were usual.   Or before slavery and polygyny and child marriages and raiding caravans became more frowned upon than society's norm.  And I don't think Muslims would appeal to the Holy Spirit, but maybe they'd hope for some more moderate imams and sheikhs and scholars who wouldn't have mindsets from the Dark Ages when setting down rules for the ummah. 

The author continues,

"Luther says that unless the Spirit opens scripture, it is not really understood.  Barth says that the texts, the words on the page, aren't the Word of God, the revelation, but the witness to the revelation....The words aren't the Word unless the living God animates these words, makes them alive somehow, breathes into them . . .  This is admittedly a weird thing to believe, but it is clearly a part of the outrageousness of faith."  (pg. 42)

What do you think about the words not being the "Word of God" until God makes them alive?  As I thought of this I remembered John 1 where it is claimed that the Word was with God, the Word was God, the Word created all things and the Word became flesh and lived among us.  Now that is truly a living, breathing, alive, animated Word!

One last thing from the author...

"Reading the Bible doesn't sort everything out and set everything straight. It's more like being drawn into another world where lines break down and separations cease and you lose your sense of righteousness, of being a victim to everyone else's wrong, and your heart is broken open, your joints separated from your marrow. The Word of God isn't a series of flat narratives with clear points; it's a wild, unmanageable 'moving, living organ.' ... Reading it closely, honestly, quizzically, doesn't actually set us straight as much as it rattles us, undoes us, sets us loose so that we might fall into the lap of God."  (pg.43,44)

What do you think? Could you say the same thing about the Quran, Book of Mormon or other religious texts? Do you like the author's thoughts on the Word of God? Why or why not?

The "Darker Side" of this Tradition of God

Unfortunately for Amber and Achelois' furniture, I have one more post from The Woman Who Named God. I only said yesterday that I'd finally finished the book, not that I'd posted everything from it that I wanted. Sorry, Ladies. Just this one and we can say "goodbye" to Charlotte Gordon. (For those wondering what I'm talking about see the comments from yesterday's post.)

The good news is that I believe today's post won't cause any more damage to either teeth or furniture because these things are perhaps a bit more agreeable or, at least, not blasphemous like yesterday's post came across. We shall see.


Concerning the event of Abraham being commanded to sacrifice his son -- "God had bugled a chilling note, a warning call to Abraham. It was an illusion for parents to believe they owned their children, God declared. All human life came from Him and was ultimately His to reclaim. He was in charge of who lived or died, and nothing could stand in His way." (pg. 243)

Speaking of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) which (speaking of gnawing on furniture) I wrote about back in October -- "To these ten thousand or so believers, Sarah's offer of Hagar to her husband is evidence of her heroic devotion to God. Every first wife should be a Sarah, willing to share her husband with many partners. Every man should be an Abraham, willing to shoulder the responsibility of many wives." (pg. 107)

About the ram God provided as a substitute for Isaac -- "There is a tradition that this creature was not an ordinary ram but was one that God had created during the first week of the world and had saved for exactly this purpose, the rescue of Isaac. Certainly, it was miraculous that it appeared when it did. This is why Jews blow the shofar, or ram's horn, in celebration of the New Year. The sound is meant to remind Jewish congregations that even when things appear at their bleakest, God will provide. Furthermore, the blowing of the horn is meant to provoke compassion in God for human suffering, suggesting that there is a darker side to this tradition as well. God's empathy for human beings must be summoned. It is not intrinsically there for us to depend on." (pg. 260)

About this ram analogy, now I know most Jews rejected Jesus as the Christ (the Messiah), but contrast this "darker side" of tradition to Jesus' willingness to heal the sick and meet needs and even wash feet to demonstrate serving others and his saying "if you have seen me, you have seen the Father." (See John 14).

John 12:

⁴⁵ "He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me."

John 1:

¹⁴And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Colossians 1:

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Hebrews 1:

³And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.


Even among the Jewish Scripture, you have this passage from Ezekiel 34 which I read this spring and found touching. God compares Himself to the good shepherd. Take a peek:

¹⁵ I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. ¹⁶ I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

And how can anyone forget one of the most famous Bible passages of all? Psalm 23 from King David where, again, God is known as the tender Shepherd.

Lest we forget, in the Bible God is good and God is love. And we all know the wonderful characteristics of true, God-like love. (If you need a refresher course, check out Paul's wonderful summary of love in I Corinthians 13.)


From this post, did anything trouble you that she said? From what I wrote? Do you tend to have a view of God more in line with the "darker side" of the tradition (in the author's interpretation) or do you believe God to be more compassionate or loving and without the need of our having to somehow summon those traits from Him? What are your favorite Scriptures about God's characteristics and why? How do you generally describe God to others? Do you tend to describe Him as the Scriptures declare Him to be, by what He has done for you and/or by how He has manifested Himself to you personally?


So finally we conclude the posts from this book! Hear that? Now, Ladies, you may polish that furniture and take care of those teeth. If for no other reason, I'm glad I read this book because her topics generated these great discussions the last several days. Thanks to everyone who contributed. Enjoyed it!

October Books

The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen -- a fiction book I got from the library. Cute story of a young lady living in a small village in London in the 1800s. I enjoyed reading about life in this village, the job as an apothecary, how people viewed epilepsy and the interactions of everyone. Really enjoyed this book; light reading.

The Arabic Alphabet: How to Read & Write It by Nicholas Awde and Putros Samano -- I have been taking my time reading this book which explains the pronunciation of each letter (as best you can do while writing a pronunciation) and how to write them. I made flashcards for each letter (most have four forms) and have memorized them now! The tough thing is sometimes trying to read the letters in words. Just as we do in our own handwriting, people don't always write their letters in "proper" form so it's harder for me. I will definitely be reviewing many things in this small book. It's packed with good tips and it's stated in easy-to-understand ways.


A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam by I.A. Ibrahim is a full-color, easy-to-read guide touching on a few basics of Islam. Chapter one covers evidence for the truth of Islam which includes the Qur'an on human embryonic development, mountains, the origin of the universe, clouds and such things. It also mentions the "great challenge to produce one chapter like the chapters of the Holy Qur'an," biblical prophecies that supposedly speak of Muhammad, the simple life of Muhammad and the growth of Islam. Chapter 2 tells of benefits of Islam such as "the door to eternal paradise," "real happiness and inner peace," forgiveness of sins and "salvation from hellfire." The final chapter touches briefly on Islam's position on women, terrorism, justice, the family, the elderly, the day of judgment and how to become a Muslim. This book was a nice general overview of Islam, but didn't go into great detail especially in the third chapter. No mention of any controversial issues surrounding Islam today.


The 10 Dumbest Things Christians Do by Mark Atteberry -- the author delves into topics such as church hopping, slinging mud on the Bride of Christ, living below the level of our beliefs, fighting among ourselves, missing golden opportunities, settling for mediocrity, allowing wolves to live among the sheep and so forth. Quite challenging!


The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff is a novel I found in the new section of the library. I hesitated to get it because it was over 500 pages and I didn't want to commit myself to a book that size if it were boring. However, I found it quite interesting. There is a fiction part to it, but interspersed is much about Ann Eliza Young, the 19th wife of Brigham Young. Through the book I learned some about the beginning and early years of the Mormon religion as they made their way from New York to Ohio, Illinois and on to Utah. I was appalled by the hand cart method some of the immigrants were forced to use as they made their way to "Zion" (see pages 196 and following). I already expressed my dismay at the horrible practice of polygamy that was excused by the early Mormons as given by God. Attributed to Chauncey Webb as he approached his first wife about taking another wife (his third), after telling her "'we both know this is our duty to God'" -- his having plural wives, the book records, "I had probed Mrs. Webb's most tender spot. She could not deny that the Prophet had made this clear. Her faith was always pure, while I layered mine with expediency. I am ashamed of many things, but none so much as when I excused my passions in the name of God." (pg. 205; also see pg. 213). Granted this is likely a made-up saying by the author, but I thought it greatly summed up how men have justified their own lusts with saying it was God's will. This is what angers me about plural marriages. If you want to marry a woman because she is a war widow that's one thing. But when it's simply because you see another pretty face and lust after someone's body, PLEASE don't give me that junk about it being God's will! That's what angers me so much! The frequency that the Saints and Firsts would take new wives just because they wanted a variety of sexual experiences -- honestly, it makes me think of men as no more than animals. After expressing some of this to my husband, he joked the following evening, "Are you still reading that man-hating book?"


A Mile in My Flip-Flops is a lighthearted book by Melody Carlson which I borrowed from the local library. It describes Gretchen's house flipping adventures.

Finding God in the Questions by Dr. Timothy Johnson (physician and journalist for GMA on ABC News) -- I found this at the local library and thought I'd read Dr. Johnson's personal spiritual journey. Although I didn't agree with everything he wrote, I found I agreed with most of it. I enjoyed reading why he preferred being a "follower of Jesus" rather than a "Christian." Part of this was because of how the Council of Nicea relegated the wonderful relationship of God and Jesus into a "basic biology lesson." He claims this set in motion a practice of a church which "increasingly defined its beliefs and practice through highly intellectual creedal statements" and where "it would become a political and even military-like force that would often elevate itself to the heights of secular power and prestige but all too often at the spiritual expense of distorting the original message of Jesus." (pg. 134)

I liked reading his thoughts of the term "being saved" or "being born again" and how in his view "'being saved' is a lifelong process" (pg. 143.) Also his views of John 14:6 were interesting. (see pg. 144). I previously wrote about an interesting part re: serving others.


Escape by Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer -- I've written a couple posts about this book earlier in October. It's a story about a woman's life in the FLDS cult and her eventual escape with her children. Besides the things I mentioned in my previous posts, I will add only these few things. Warren Jeffs, the so-called "prophet," outlawed the color red which meant many followers threw out anything that had red (e.g., children's clothes). Something I found interesting is that this cult is unlike the mainstream Mormons in that drinking tea, coffee and alcohol are not forbidden. In fact, Carolyn tells of an event she attended where nursing mothers were drinking alcohol. I don't believe getting drunk was the norm only that alcohol is not forbidden. This greatly surprised me since they are so strict about many other things. One thing I found horrendous is how Warren Jeffs would make a man leave his family and assign another man to that family or how he would reassign women to marry new husbands. Also hugging, kissing and cuddling your children was frowned upon in this cult. Such a truly rotten place altogether!


The Moon Looked Down by Dorothy Garlock -- a fiction book I found in the new section of the library; told the story of a German family unwelcome in their Midwest community during WW II. Main characters were Sophie, Cole, Ellis, Graham and Riley. Light reading, but not my favorite.


Going Home by Wanda E. Brunstetter -- a fiction book about an Amish lady, Faith, who comes home with her young daughter after living in the English world for ten years as an entertainer; light reading

Crazy Cult

After enduring a polygamous household where the wives constantly bickered, tattled and made life a living nightmare and where the husband and father of over fifty children ruled with cruelty in a community that saw women and children as property and, therefore, game to be beaten, Carolyn Jessop had had enough. Finally! But what did she do? Well, she went to Warren Jeffs, the acting prophet of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints. The despicable man who made their restrictive life even worse. Carolyn took a 17-page letter detailing the abuse she'd endured at the hands of her husband, Merril. And what did Warren do, but try to make her out to be the immoral, failing one!

"'You have the opportunity to become a goddess in this good man's home if he chooses to take you with him in the celestial kingdom. If you persist in wasting this life by offending your husband, you will be cast out as good for nothing and no man will ever want you in his kingdom. You need to repent, keep yourself in perfect obedience, and pray that Merril will find it in his heart to forgive you. If you continue to waste the precious time you have here on earth fighting him, you will have no place in the afterlife." (pg. 296)

Argh! Argh! Argh! How can men have that much control over women? And say this is all from God? This cruelty? Argggggh!

Merril's fifty-third child (Carolyn's 7th) was diagnosed with spinal neuroblastoma at a young age. Can you guess what this horrible man and most of his other wives said about it? Harrison was stricken with cancer because Carolyn wasn't in perfect harmony with Merril. And guess what? Perfect harmony meant that Carolyn was berated for ordering shrimp off a menu because poor darling Merril hated shrimp! Carolyn had to change her order to steak!

When the favored wife beat one of the other wife's children, Barbara defended herself: "Cathleen, you are out of order and you know it. I was only doing the will of my priesthood head. For you to question is pure rebellion." (pg. 291)

Remember, y'all, "perfect obedience produces perfect faith." (pg. 205) There is no room for "rebellion" against what this potential god says.

I know there were times while reading this book that I felt I could sling it across the room. I felt my blood start boiling at the way people in families (weird as they are!) could treat one another -- even slapping and beating their children until they were bruised!

Andrew said, "Are you reading another man-hater book." Nice timing since today is our anniversary, huh? Heheheh. Thank God Andrew is NOTHING like these creeps!


Quotes/information from Escape by Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer

Plural Marriage Cinderella Story

"My grandmother believed plural marriage was the most sacred aspect of our faith and told me story after story about how the Mormon Church had been the church of God until it abandoned polygamy. . . . The principle of celestial marriage is what defines the FLDS faith. A man must have multiple wives if he expects to do well in heaven, where he can eventually become a god and wind up with his own planet. A man has spirit wives in heaven, where he fathers spirit children. (Becoming a spirit child is the first step on the journey of coming to earth.) We also held fast to the belief that our father was once a spirit and then came to earth to get a body and try to prove that he is worthy enough to become a god. . . . I felt like the luckiest little girl to be one of God's elite and a spirit who was the most chosen of all his spirits before I came to earth. Proof of that was that I had been born into a faithful bloodline. I was FLDS royalty. The culture really believes in the value of bloodlines. . . . Understand that we were taught to believe we were better than everyone else in the entire world because of our beliefs. Since I had been selected to come to such a royal bloodline, my grandmother told me that I had the chance to become a goddess if I lived polygamy and proved worthy. It was our own version of the Cinderella story Just having the opportunity to live in a plural marriage was sold to me as a special blessing that few would ever have. . . . My grandmother explained that we had pledged to God that we would never do anything to undermine his work and would produce many children. There were thousands of chosen spirits waiting to come to earth. We were the women who would give birth to them. Grandma told me that my sole purpose on earth was to have as many children as possible." (from pgs. 17-19)

~ as told in Escape, biography by Carolyn Jessop, formerly of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS)


Contrast the portion written above with these passages from the Bible.

⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. (Eph. 2)


And also this from the same chapter:

¹¹Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— ¹²remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

¹⁹Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²²And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

And Romans 10 tells us: ¹²For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

I choose to accept Christ's work as my way for salvation. I don't believe plural marriages and having lots of children are the ways for us to be acceptable to God.

Interesting book so far.

Polygamy: always a maddening subject for me

I've long loathed the idea of polygamy especially as I've read Muslim blogs the last couple of years. However I can respect the idea in which polygamy was passed along to the Islamic world in the beginning -- a way of taking care of war widows and the notion that you must treat all wives equally and limit yourself to only four (unless you happened to be Muhammad who conveniently got an exception from Allah on that requirement.) At least the Muslims have a respectable reason for taking more than one wife even though I highly doubt it is the reason most polygamists take more than one wife today. Somehow I get the impression they are looking for younger, newer models when they take plural wives these days. Especially when they hold the "I can get another wife if I want" thing over their current wives as a threat when said wives don't give into their whims or serve them enough. But I digress.

I am currently reading The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. Although the book is fiction it also has a lot of church history intertwined as it relates to Joseph Smith and the beginning of the Latter Day Saints or the Mormons. Ages ago, I'd read a few fiction books that discussed Mormon things, but now I am reading this book and it's quite eye-opening. Mormons today come across as such decent, truly wonderful people -- and likely most of them are! They project a great image to the world. However, their beginning makes me shudder. Like their prophets urging them to accept plural marriages so that they will obtain salvation and help others obtain salvation. And then their prophets lying about their polygamy because they know outsiders won't understand. They figure they'll first convert them and then explain that these celestial marriages are needed and part of church doctrine. The way they went around quizzing people on their thoughts and actions in order to urge confessions from their members. The way Brigham Young said, "Will you love your brothers and sisters likewise, when they have a sin that cannot be atoned for without the shedding of their blood? Will you love that man or that woman well enough to shed their blood? That is what Jesus meant. This is loving our neighbor as our self; if he needs help, help him; if he wants salvation, and it is necessary to spill his blood upon the earth in order that he may be saved, spill it." (pg. 180) Although the 19th wife, Ann Eliza Webb Young, admits that some have interpreted his words differently, STILL! Can you imagine "the Prophet" of your religion saying such things?! And, yes, this 19th wife just mentioned was wife of the famous Mormon prophet Brigham Young. She divorced her husband and crusaded for ending polygamy here!

This book also deals with an offshoot or sect of the LDS which claim the Mormons today have compromised by calling for the end of polygamy. This cult still practices polygamy though the US only recognizes one legal wife per man. Therefore, they learn how to apply for government benefits and get loads of welfare checks. It's not unheard of for men to have 15 or 20 wives with scores of children! Because of all the inbreeding, you can have a cousin, aunt and half-sister who are the same woman! :-O Ugh...it sounds horrendous to me!

This book has over 500 pages and I've not quite read 200 and have been disgusted by much thus far. To be fair Ms. Young said that some women like polygamy. They have accepted it as something from God so they are fine with their husbands taking new wives which help them all obtain salvation. Also these women like the companionship of other women around the house, their help with the chores and children and so forth. However, she said many women hate this practice even though they have been brainwashed to believe it's necessary and the will of God.


:-/