“Curse GOD and DIE”

I listened as someone voiced their frustration and disappointment regarding God and their relationship with God.  Questioning both the existence of God and especially God’s care for them.  They mentioned they do not see eye to eye with God and expressed their anger at God.  They indicated how hard they have tried to seek God through prayer and reading the Bible and doing “everything right” and yet God is silent.  They are not happy with their situation and God does not seem available to help or give them a new or better situation.

Another person agreed and said how they cuss God out.  “People say it’s wrong”, he said, “but I do it anyway.”  Most everyone else was there to quickly lend support.  “It’s okay, God can take it”, I heard one man say.  “Think about David, and the Psalms, he complained to God.”  The question I’m asking, is not whether or not “God can take it” the question is, how should we respond? 

This is part of the topic and the question I raised in my previous post, “How To Comfort?”  The struggle is real, the questions or doubts are real, and the pain is real.  However, I am uncomfortable with the notion that we can and should talk to God how ever we want.  Sure, God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy.  (Exodus 33:19)  Yet I still question if that kind of advise should be given?

It reminds me of the advise Job’s wife gave, “Curse God and Die” and the story of Job in general. In the context of the story she was literally telling him to give up.  The original challenge Satan gave was, “Does Job fear God for nothing?”.  Satan’s challenge was that if he was allowed to afflict Job, first by taking away his children and his possessions and then by taking his health, Job would curse God to his face.  (Job 1:11; 2:5)  Some make the assertion that Job’s wife was encouraging suicide, which may be true, but in the context of the story the important part was what Job did and did not say.

But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

When Job’s three friends came along, the best thing they did in the bulk of the story was mourn and sit with him for seven days and seven nights without saying anything to him.  (Job 2:13)  I have heard that was a cultural sign of respect to not speak to Job until after Job had spoken to them to in effect ask for comfort.  Such a custom would not guarantee a correct response, as is evident in the story, but it would prevent a hasty response.  The rest of the book of Job, and the Bible for that matter, gives a great deal of importance to the words spoken.  Particularly when we put ourselves in the position of having the answer, or purporting to speak for God. 

I therefore contend that the Bible would clearly admonish us to take heed, be careful of the words we use in trying to comfort others and in how we speak to, and about God.

For More on Job and the Phrase "Curse God and Die"

Curse God and Die [Archive] — Rev. Ed Hird, Rector, St. Simon’s Anglican Church
Homily: Curse God and Die — Mark Rainey
Job's Wife - Bitter, Angry, and Wrong [Archive]

HOW TO COMFORT?

This topic has been somewhat on the back burner. When I started, Offend Me With Your Love, I was thinking about what it means to show love. Undoubtedly, I had in mind the ridiculous politically correct nonsense about everyone having a right not to be offended. Clearly, the goal is not to be offensive for the sake of being offensive. The goal is in some sense to take back what it really means to love from the narrow explanations. Of course, the inverse is true as well. What really constitutes hate? Both these terms either are applied too loosely or are too narrowly defined. The false, logically inconsistent, message says, “If it agrees with me or sounds nice it is love, if it disagrees with me or sounds harsh it is hate.”
Of course, Offend Me With Your Love came out of a much more personal place as well. I was going through the darkest time of my life and realized nobody loved me, at least not in a way I could really understand. I had an overwhelming desire to cut everyone out of my life and literally disappear myself permanently. The very few people in my life that cared about me would not say anything because they were afraid of offending me. This only reinforced the belief and the message, “go quietly; nobody cares.”
Who am I to say if they did the right thing or not? I am still here. I doubt ignoring a problem in the hopes that it goes away is a good general rule to live by. It may absolutely be the right answer to say nothing at times. I know I am a sinner and especially need tough love sometimes, although that is obviously not the answer in every situation either.  Paul writes,

“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4, KJV).

The word Trouble is θλῖψις (Transliteration: thlipsis) from <G2346> (thlibo); pressure (literal or figurative) :- afflicted (-tion), anguish, burdened, persecution, tribulation, trouble.¹
There is So Much Trouble in the World. It would be great to know how to give comfort. Yet we have to be honest with ourselves as believers in Y’shua *(JESUS). When non-believers look at the church and its message, they are confused. We meddle in the affairs of others outside the church without really setting our own household in order. Obviously, we should start at the household of God. How are we to comfort each other?
In upcoming posts, I will talk about some specific situations and questions I have come to in my everyday life and through reading other’s blogs. In the meantime, check out the very interesting site Net-burst.Net [current] [Archive] for many articles of encouragement on a wide range of topics.

1 James Strong, Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary, (Austin, TX: WORDsearch Corp., 2007), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "2347".

Smoke and Mirrors —Religious Pretending Has No Place Amongst Saints

I have been following this blog —The Sexy Celibate: Making Sense of the Unexpected Single Life.  In this post -Why it Sucks to be Unintentionally Overlooked Part III (In Which Cinderella Wears a Power Suit),* the question was raised, why “Happily ever after” has to always be found in marriage?  This is from the perspective of someone that still longs to be married but the story has yet to turn out that way.  Adding to the pain is the prevalent notion that happiness can not be found in other ways.  Or the pain of being overlooked or undervalued (especially in church) because ones story does not represent the acceptable narrative.

My personal favorite Disney cartoon was Beauty and the Beast. Originally it was because I thought the songs were funny and the scenes in the Beast’s castle really tripped me out when I used and abused psychoactive chemicals.   Unfortunately, I can relate with the Beast; he was hopeless.  He was ugly because he treated people badly.  Belle was praised for her beauty yet ostracized in her community for being "strange".  Yet she was kind.  Of course, she wanted more out of life then she was experiencing and was intrigued by tales of adventure and the notion of "meeting prince Charming".  Instead of ending in marriage could it have ended with the Beast going to rehab and Belle pursuing inventing things with a generous grant from the guy formally known as the Beast?  I don't want to take Disney analogies too far because typically there are false messages included as well.  (I haven't seen it in awhile but an example that comes immediately to mind is that it is inadvisable for nice women to try to "save" total jerks through "dating".¹   I did a Startpage search for, "what is the main message of Beauty and the Beast" and the first answer I read was, "Treat others the way you would want to be treated". That is a good place to start. Of course, easier said then done!  Especially, when one is so depressed they wished they never woke up today.  This calls our usefulness into question which can further our despair.  Otherwise our wounded-ness can lead to bitterness and any number of beastly behaviors. 

Often our experience of church sadly is as a place of smoke and mirrors.  Even in small "Bible studies" people seemingly have to protect themselves and therefore speak so vaguely about things that what they are saying ends up meaning very little.   As Sam Cox so eloquently put it in the comments for the above video, "that great contradiction in all of us - we want to be seen, heard and understood for who we are on the inside and yet that very person is the same person who would misjudge others in the first place.”  The church should be as Ted Roberts puts it, “a  place of practical grace… a place where hope is the dominant theme, and denial, especially religious pretending, is nowhere in sight.”  In the church, amongst Christians, we should feel safe to bring all of our emotions to the light.  Jesus himself was the one whom Isaiah prophesied as, “a man of sorrows acquainted with grief”.  (Isaiah 53:3)   I think of the saying “the church is not a museum for saints but a hospital for sinners”.   I get the gist, although it hits me the wrong way because it perpetuates a false notion of what a saint truly is, Biblically speaking. 

 

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*(this post has since been removed so it is a little unclear why i am still talking about it)

^{1. [7 Classic Disney Movies That Taught Us Terrible Lessons}

4 Beauty and the Beast: Just Because He's Abusive, Doesn't Mean He's Not a Really Good Guy

] ↩
A funny example of over thinking Disney films— Beauty and the Beast’s Dark Delusion

Both Sides of the Coin –The Problem of Believing in Miracles

I stumbled across this video today - Jesus Culture: Mickey Mouse Miracles are no Miracles at all- (beginning at 15:43).  The first part of the video I did not find particularly special, however I did have a deep emotional response to the Will Gray Video.  I mourn along with Angie, Will’s widow, and feel a tremendous amount of empathy for the pain she has experienced.   In case it is not apparent from the title of the video, Bezel333 is contrasting the sickness and subsequent death of Will Gray with the inconsequential miracles of healing allegedly coming out of Jesus Culture.

As far as miracles and the supernatural are concerned I always wonder about Jesus’ apparent lack of patience in the story of the demon-possessed child when he was told his disciples failed to cast out the demon. (Matthew 17:16-17; Mark 9:18; Luke 9:40)  Is Jesus really frustrated because his disciples could not cast out a demon?  I hope to understand exactly what is going on here.  One point Jesus makes and is particularly highlighted in Luke’s account is about how he would soon be betrayed.  (Luke 9:43,44)  Yet in the other two accounts the disciples ask him privately why they could not cast it out.  They are told it is because of their unbelief in Matthew’s account in addition to the need for prayer and or fasting also mentioned in Marks account. (Matthew 17:20,21; Mark 9:28,29)

Elsewhere Bezel333 mentions how the miracles are inconsequential compared to the ones we read about in the New Testament Scriptures.  However, to be fair most of the healings Jesus and his disciples performed were inconsequential to the writers of the New Testament Gospels.  By this I mean very few were actually detailed, the rest were mentioned only in passing. 

That being said, I sympathize with the overall point Bezel333 is making.  I have had contact with people associated with Bethel's School of Supernatural Ministry and International House of Prayer.  I have personally been troubled in the presence of “glory-tunnels”, guided visions, uncontrolled laughter for no apparent reason, and inconsequential so-called miracles of healing.   In fact this reminded me of a book review I wrote in 2011 related to this topic. 

Free-Falling by Chuck Parry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An Interesting read. Some incredible stories to ponder! Free-Falling is painfully optimistic. Surely in keeping with an intended purpose for the book, to highlight the miraculous wonderful aspects of a life lived following Jesus, Chuck seems to have it so easy. It is as if Chuck is always in the right place at the right time. Painful for someone such as myself that rarely experiences this. Feeling as if I'm usually at the wrong place at the wrong time and things don't seem to work out well. I believe in the miraculous and I want to have a real faith that God is in charge and believe for Him to come through and be magnified. However, there is also a lot to be said for the struggles, the hurts or pains, disappointments, tribulation, and persecution of a life lived following Jesus. Being able to bear it without giving up or completely losing heart is ever bit as miraculous as the "good" experiences we encounter. I think me not having a firm grasp on both sides of the coin has caused me to lose heart many times which in turn caused me to backslide or try to satisfy myself outside of God's will. Therefore, I am jealous that my story doesn't read as a continual tale from glory to glory to glory.

That being said, I was present for many of the events detailed in Free-Falling, regarding the Rainbow Gathering. I can attest to witnessing several of the events described. My take on a couple of these events was very different, however. Particularly, the 2009 New Mexico gathering (pg 185-189). I was there for the worship circle and saw John after he was healed. I was even there when someone else videotaped him testifying about the healing. (I asked them to send me a copy but they never did). All that seemed really awesome however I was deeply troubled in my spirit with the events involving Jason. I was impressed by his personality, I believe he is one of those "prophetic ministry type" coming out of Kansas City perhaps. Nevertheless, I felt a deep troubling unrest when he led a "guided vision" tour of heaven (pg 189) Of course it was one of those times that I wondered what was wrong with me since all these other Christians there were on board with this. However, I have since found out that I am not alone in this. It is seen by other Christians as not a legitimate Christian practice and is instead regarded as straight from esoteric (occult) or "New Age" practices. The other thing that really bothered me was Jason's "leg lengthening" practice. This had all the appearance and reality of a cheap parlor trick. The way Jason held the legs, it was an optical illusion. I don't know why the Living God would resort to such ridiculous manifestations.

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"Personality Disorder"

When I presented my step one on 4-2-2013, the one criticism (if I could call it that) I received, was in my using the term “Personality Disorder”.  A guy took exception, and told me that he was tracking with me until I referred to my “personality disorder”.  It actually was in the form of a compliment because he was basically saying someone with a personality disorder would not have the kind of clarity or perspective into oneself that I was evidencing by my summary.  When he first raised the question about my use of the term I asked if “personality disorder” was a technical term I was not allowed to use.  I told him I did not mean it in a technical sense.  I had never looked into “personality disorders” in the technical sense.  I have been fond of taking all sorts of assessments for personality “type indicators” which generally put personality differences in a positive light so to speak.  If there is any criticism or negative aspects of a personality it is sandwiched between all the compliments and usually takes the form of “if you want to be different” type advise on how to improve some of ones weaknesses.  While I was working step five I wrote a counseling center and was trying to ask a generic question about how they conduct the psychological intake in dealing with a condition they call “Intimacy Anorexia” because they are dealing in a field of “treatment” for a “disorder” that is not widely accepted and therefore isn't included in the DSM-5.  To formulate my question I gave a brief summary of myself.  What was interesting and somewhat confusing was the response she gave did not answer the question I was asking,  Instead of telling me how they go about diagnosing Intimacy Anorexia, she suggested based off very limited information about me, that perhaps I had Schizoid Personality Disorder.  This got me wondering why the disparity.  How could one person with basically the same limited information about me, so readily say I could not have a personality disorder and another so easily give me a diagnosis of sorts of a personality disorder.  So I found this self test online.  Of course it is a free self test found online, so like every other assessment I have ever taken, I do not know that it proves anything.*  Nevertheless it is kind of fun.  Take it yourself, if you dare.  And as always feel free to leave me a comment.

My results:

Disorder Rating Paranoid Personality Disorder: Moderate Schizoid Personality Disorder: Moderate Schizotypal Personality Disorder: High Antisocial Personality Disorder: Moderate Borderline Personality Disorder: Moderate Histrionic Personality Disorder: Low Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Moderate Avoidant Personality Disorder: High Dependent Personality Disorder: High Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: High -- Take the Personality Disorder Test -- -- Personality Disorder Info -- (*and of course comes with the disclaimer that only a trained professional can actually diagnose a personality disorder.)

“The Invitation” AKA “The Altar Call”

This cracks me up every time I watch it.  That sigh at the end says it all. 

The reason I was looking up the altar call today is because I went to a conference this weekend that employed a form of the altar call.  It wasn’t for salvation per se rather repentance for sexual sin of various kinds.  It seemed to be assumed that the people responding were already Christians.  The first invitation went out specifically to “a leader in Christian ministry that is involved in inappropriate sexual perversion.”  Of course I want people to come clean and not walk in darkness and I do not want to discount the genuineness of those that responded to such an invitation.  However, it reminded me how unmoved I am by these things personally now.  As I mentioned in the post He was Speaking to ME about My Ways, I am bothered by the method such as using the mood music to accompany the work God is allegedly doing.  I was wondering where this started.  I did a search "mood music for altar calls" and I read several articles against these practices for theological reasons.  Such as "Why We Don't Use the Altar Call", "Where's the altar call" [Archive], or "The Anatomy of the altar call, anonymity is key".

There was a time I was excited about the altar call.  I wanted to celebrate every decision for Christ no matter what human method was used. I believed God could use it for his purpose.  I then began to be bothered by the unbiblical or misused scriptures such as “accept Jesus into your heart”.  I wanted to celebrate that these people were moved by the message but I worried about what they were actually getting when they raised their hands and went forward.  Now it all seems so cheap and hokey to me.  It seems to do a disservice.
I don’t want to be cold and unemotional and entirely discount both the speaker for employing such human methods and the hearer for responding.  I don’t want to sit there all smug as if I know it takes more then a emotional appeal and soft music playing in the background to live out the Christian life.  I do want to be able to rightly evaluate what is taking place whether or not it is a problem with me or a problem with the method that causes this turmoil within me.
What is your experience with the “altar call” type approach?

Is Islam Really Such a Threat?

Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington by Paul Sperry
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I appreciate the investigative journaling on the topic of the real threat by Islamic ideologies. However, it was extremely tedious for me to read. I started the book in January and did not finish this one until basically July. I think I read seven other books and parts of two others in-between starting and finishing this one. I was never very excited to read it, it was more like a duty to finish because I started it.
I do not believe the rhetoric regarding Islam being merely a religion of peace exploited by a small minority of extremists. I do not believe, we as secular Americans, have an adequate grasp on what Islam actually is. I believe it is important to look deeper. Of course we do not want to believe the threat is widespread, in fact many entirely dismiss the threat coming out of the Islamic world. I personally would love to be a peace-loving hippie saying with all the ardor I could muster, "why can't we all just get along?" The best part of the book was the afterword, regarding the "death-loving jihadists and their supporters and facilitators" being the "perfect enemy, for the following ten reasons":

NO.1 Patience
No.2 Language Barrier
No.3 It is a family enterprise in addition to a Muslim enterprise
No.4 Different Calendar
No.5 Aliases (including differences because of the language barrier)
No.6 Freedom of Religion (our own being exploited)
No.7 Typically Muslims are not easy to bribe
No.8 Tax-Exempt Terrorism (Our own Tax laws exploited)
No.9 Saudi Protection
No.10 The "Racism" and "Bigotry" Defense*


*(try using this as a Christian in Saudi Arabia see how well that goes over)

On the other hand, as a person leaning toward civil libertarian views, it is very difficult for me to accept some of the proposed solutions offered, also in the afterword:

No.1 Not in my backyard
No.2 Enforce the Oath of Allegiance
No.3 Profile Muslim Travelers
No.4 Audit Muslim Charities and Mosques
No.5 Break off official ties with CAIR
No.6 Expose the Saudi Embassy
No.7 Deny security clearance to Muslim activists
No.8 Offer scholarships in Arabic
No.9 Fight Muslim Activism in Public Schools
No.10 Step up Counterterrorism Training at Quantico

At issue for me is our freedom to verbally express our ideas and express our religion without fear of the government. If we start limiting this for one group in the name of "safety and security" it is not difficult to change the definitions and apply it to another group. Soon enough I could be the target. This is demonstrable in history which is why we have this "freedom" in the first place. Also peace loving hippies have wound up on the terrorist watch-lists in America as well. Obviously there is no easy solution!
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I was thinking free speech and free exercise of religion could be an expression of "loving our enemies". Or just in general about not allowing our ignorance to be our downfall but rather our loving choices. What do you think? On a personal level, what should we do when we feel we are being exploited because of our goodwill?