Families (Photo credit: normalityrelief)
We are living in a societal culture that has changed drastically within the last thirty years. When we look around us, it’s clear that the definition of family is something quite different than it used to be. The “traditional” family was something back in the fifties and sixties; it consisted of a mother & father, children, and the family pet.
These days there are all kinds of models of what “family” looks like. Now there are same sex partners at the helm guiding the homestead, instead of the traditional male and female “Mother & Father.”
Family (Photo credit: Kaptain Kobold)
Now there are single parent families that consist of men or women struggling to raise their children, many managing to do a wonderful job. There are blended families, and families being raised by older siblings. There are even couplings of two mothers and a father, (sister wives), and their children.
It seems easiest to refer to this redefinition of family as “alternative” families. There is no longer a set stereotype for what a family will look like. The alternative family is the new reality within society, like it or not.
Because of this fact, the church needs to be ready to discuss the needs of alternative families in all their unusual, untraditional glory. Churches who are not accepting, stuffy, prejudiced, and self-righteous in their antiquated expectations of days gone by, are going to fall by the wayside because they refuse to minister effectively to these new members of their congregations.
Nuclear Lesbian Family (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
No one says that we have to approve of the new alternative family, the same-sex adoptive couple and their brood of children, etc., — but should they receive less ministering to and compassion than the rest of the families that come through a church’s doors? We can accept in love those who are seeking God, who are looking for the way to salvation, to Jesus Christ our Lord. We don’t need to hastily judge and criticize, taking moral inventory of a family’s sins before they’ve even accepted the need for a savior.
There are those who are so caught up in their own hyper-vigilance over other people’s sins, that they’ve lost sight of what the Good News actually is and who it is for!
Traditional family unit (Photo credit: mjtmail (tiggy))
Jesus died for the sinful, the sick, and the lost! He came to bring a physician to those who need doctoring. Instead of condemning and judging those different from ourselves harshly, why not open up our hearts and pulpit to these alternative families who are seeking truth, counseling, compassion, and most of all biblical hope that there is someone out here who loves them, who cares enough to tell them about the way to Jesus Christ.
Allow the Holy Spirit to minister to their hearts as God would have Him in regard to their personal sins, as we do the rest of sinful society. When someone accepts Jesus Christ and becomes a new creature in Christ, they are altered forever in God’s time, not ours. We are their support system. We encourage and teach them how to read the bible and understand it. We allow God to reach them through our own loving Christ-like treatment of them.
Trust in the love of Jesus Christ and put the condemnation and righteous anger on the back burner. Open your hearts to all of those who come seeking God. The days of the traditional family are passed and our churches need to move forward and deal with the reality of what the new “family” consists of.
http://christianfamilylawassociation.org/alternative_families
http://www.compellingtruth.org/gay-marriage.html
Posted in Christianity, family, God, life, Love, people, Politics, religion, religion and spirituality, Thoughts | Tags: alternative families, Christianity, Family, Good News, home, Jesus Christ, Judgment, love, Sin, Single parent, society
I reblog this “message” because I feel that its point is very well made and clarifies for me how I should deal with the glbt “issue” as a Christian in 2013, which can be challenging, to say the least. I prefer to struggle with the beam within my own eye, instead of picking at the one within my sister’s. Thank you, Hunter Baker, for this “astonishing message from a gay sister in Christ.” Very well said indeed! I just had to share it.
Posted in Christianity, Current Events, homosexuality, human sexuality, inspiration, life, Love, people, relationships, religion, Thoughts | Tags: Bible, Christianity, Gay Lesbian and Bisexual, glbt, God, Jesus Christ, Sin
These verses promise me that if I am one of the Lord’s “sheep,” that I hear the Lord’s voice and He knows me; I follow Him. God promises me eternal life, assuring me that I will never die spiritually. I am also promised that no man can steal me out God’s hands; I am safe in the hands of the Lord.
No man can steal me away!
What this means is that no one can take us away from the love of God, of Jesus Christ. No man can trick us, force us to go, or remove us from our God. If we truly are one of God’s own, His sheep, we are safe within His grasp. If we have been removed, we must ask ourselves if we ever were really His to begin with. This is something to consider deeply. There are people who claim that they were Christians at one time, but they have left this Christian life and no longer believe for a host of reasons.
Lost Sheep (Photo credit: Fif’)
For those who have left God behind, who believe that they were once His, He promises that no man can take us away from God, but a question remains:
Can we walk away on our own, by our own mindset and determination? Perhaps so.
In fact, it seems that we very well can. We can become lost, runaway, and go so far away from God and out on our own that it is very difficult to find our way back. I believe God will send out angels themselves to bring us back to Him, though. I think God will do everything He possibly can short of forcing us to return to His flock.
If we’ve chosen to harden our hearts and stay away, no matter what God is trying to do to win us back…what then? And if we can actually walk away and not look back, and decide not to return despite His repeated attempts to woo us, were we ever really His to begin with?
Posted in Christianity, God, Jesus, life, Love, people, religion, Thoughts | Tags: Bible, Christian, Christianity, God, Jesus, leaving God, Lord, Promise, renouncing Christ, Sheep
Mobile Viewers click HERE to view the video
Need You Now
By Plumb
Well, everybody’s got a story to tell
And everybody’s got a wound to be healed
I want to believe there’s beauty here
‘Cause, oh, I get so tired of holding on
I can’t let go, I can’t move on
I want to believe there’s meaning here
How many times have You heard me cry out
“God please take this”?
How many times have You given me strength to
Just keep breathing?
Oh I need You
God, I need You now.
Standing on a road I didn’t plan
Wondering how I got to where I am
I’m trying to hear that still small voice
I’m trying to hear above the noise
How many times have You heard me cry out
“God please take this”?
How many times have You given me strength to
Just keep breathing?
Oh I need You
God, I need You now.
Though I walk,
Though I walk through the shadows
And I, I am so afraid
Please stay, please stay right beside me
With every single step I take
How many times have You heard me cry out?
And how many times have You given me strength?
How many times have You heard me cry out
“God please take this”?
How many times have You given me strength to
Just keep breathing?
Oh I need You
God, I need You now.
I need You now
Oh I need You
God, I need You now.
I need You now
I need You now
Posted in Christianity, inspiration, life, Love, Music, people, video | Tags: Anxiety, desperation, God, Hurt, music, Need You Now, Pain, Plumb, video
I was thinking about the many ways that I have changed within the last couple of years, since I began this blog. My views have altered and grown; in fact, I can hardly recognize myself in some areas. Spiritually, God has changed my mind and heart in ways I never could have foreseen.
If you find inconsistencies in my points of view over time, you’ll hopefully understand why. I began this blog firmly holding very rigid, particular points of view and many of these have been shaken up as I’ve traveled this road less traveled, this narrow road.
I find that God is doing amazing things within me. I find myself becoming much less the proverbial warrior and more pacifistic like Him…
If I am a warrior at all anymore, I find that I am a warrior in spirit, in that I am not afraid to speak the truth, especially to those who seem to find it hardest to hear. I will speak up and proclaim what I’ve learned and sometimes my own Christian brethren cannot conceive of what I’m talking about. I tend to put some of them off with some of the ways I now look at things. Some have been known to scream at me “false doctrine!” Shaking their virtual fists in self-righteousness and smug certainty, they insist that I am wrong.
As a rich man cannot perceive of giving up his riches, so do many who think they know God’s will and are following that, but who are not truly living as Jesus Christ would have them live according to His word. These Christians believe they are following the Holy Bible but are not embracing His ways as described within the Holy Bible in regard to sinners, the poor, homeless, and really difficult to love people like the mentally ill, for example.
I find that I am rarely fighting those who do not believe anymore — the atheists, and those who would condemn followers of Christ seem to have very little to fight with me about. And there is little to nothing to fight with them about. Whether or not they want to know Jesus Christ isn’t something to fight over with them — it’s a simple choice and their decision, not mine for them.
Once one embraces love and begins to incorporate an attitude that is as Christ’s attitude in the bible is, there is simply no more reason to fight, be threatened, or even allow one’s self to be bothered much by what the world thinks or can do. Instead I find myself trying to appeal to the compassion-less among us these days. I seem to be attempting to reach out to those who don’t love easily, but who judge and criticize as if they wrote the bible instead of our God. Not all hear me, but that’s all right; I’m walking this journey according to God’s will, not my own.
Change can occur in this world of ours and I know it will, but not for everyone. Change happens to those whose hearts are open to God and His way of being after His son’s sacrifice on the cross. We live in almost a new world after the death of Jesus Christ and God meant it to be a loving, merciful, compassionate place; this is why He sent His son to die in our place, for our sin. All we have to do is accept God’s new world and it is ours.
Not everyone will embrace this new world, this world of love and peace that God wants to offer them. Some of God’s very own children cannot understand this kind of world and are still living in the past in a world governed by the law, religion, and an “eye for an eye.”
God wants us to love as He loves, with as much compassion, empathy, and care as He has. He wants us to love everyone, even when it’s difficult. He wants us to love the unlovable, and to forgive the unforgivable. When we do this, we do truly live in a new world where anything is possible.
Posted in bible, Christianity, God, Jesus, life, Love, people, personal, religion, Thoughts | Tags: Bible, Christian theology, Christianity, Compassion, God, Holy Bible, Jesus, love
No More Do-Overs
(Jodi Arias/Travis Alexander Trial)
It’s absolutely stupid to demand and insist upon another penalty phase for Jodi Arias. It’s obvious that over 1/3 of the jury believed that Jodi should have life in prison instead of the death penalty; I believe the same. There aren’t many of us, but there are enough who believe it to make it an obvious waste of Arizona taxpayer money and time if this goes forward. The fervor with which some believe Ms. Arias deserves death is akin only to vengeance desired at any price.
Revenge will not be that sweet. It will taste hollow and flat. Killing another human being puts the killer(s) onto the same level that Jodi went to – a level that we’ve already admonished her is wrong and then we do the same thing she did, only allegedly in a more humane fashion. We all learned that two wrongs don’t make a right at a very early age, did we not? Let’s put what we learned into action!
Jodi will spend the rest of her natural life in prison and that should be punishment enough for a mentally ill woman who will be mentally ill for the rest of her days unless she gets actual mental health therapy that is ongoing. There is no win for anyone in dragging this matter on and on. If she is given the death penalty in a retry, it will certainly be overturned on appeal. If she is not, then what was the point? How bad will it stick in the Alexander family’s craw when a second jury comes back with the same thing the first did?
There are people who believe that Jodi Arias was treated badly by Travis Alexander, and while it’s highly unpopular to say so, it’s the truth! A lot of people are afraid to say what they think for fear of the backlash on social media or otherwise. Travis’ emotional abuse of Jodi doesn’t even come close to excusing her slaughter of him, but it does explain it.
For those who claim Jodi is nothing more than a liar, it would seem we could say the same about Travis, as he certainly was not the zealously pure and chaste young man he wanted everyone to believe he was; yet even so, he believed he deserved a chaste, pure young Morman wife! Jodi Arias wasn’t good enough for him apparently, after he sampled her charms for half a year and then negligently tossed her to the curb. As I’ve said before, he threw her away like so much garbage emotionally and so she returned the favor physically when she left him in the shower in a similar fashion.
Travis Alexander made the unfortunate decision to use Jodi Arias until he was finished with her. He was hypocritical and living a double life, putting a religious false face on for friends, employers, etc.
Using another human being for sexual gratification purely is abusive behavior and it is sick. It is selfish, ugly, self centered, and exemplified by a life without Jesus Christ within it to guide one’s morality. It’s everywhere in our world today. Our youth are inundated with this concept by advertisement, video games, music, etc.
I can only hope that we, the people out here watching, learn from this situation and grow spiritually from it. Let’s learn from it as a society and teach our young men how to properly treat a young woman, and visa versa. If we begin to teach our youth some actual morality about how they treat one another romantically, instead of allowing them and encouraging them to abuse and use one another callously, perhaps we will see less of these kinds of horrific crimes occurring.
He came back, used me for sex, then discarded me(http://www.lisaescott.com)
People Users, Abusers, Manipulators & Sociopaths(http://ptosis.hubpages.com)
Red Flags(http://www.lovefraud.com)
When You Mess With the Bull… (lifeofafemalebiblewarrior.wordpress.com)
Would a death sentence given by a second sentencing jury to Jodi Arias survive constitutional challenges? (sentencing.typepad.com)
Jodi Arias Jury Foreman Speaks Out – ‘This Girl Was Crucified In The Court Of Public Opinion’ (radaronline.com)
Posted in Jodi Arias, life, News, people, relationships, Travis Alexander | Tags: crime and punishment, Emotional abuse, Jodi Arias, Jury, Life imprisonment, penalty phase, Travis Alexander
Cover via Amazon
You get the horns.
Alcoholics Anonymous has another way of saying this. Within the AA Big Book it says:
“We step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate.”
“We put ourselves in a position to be hurt.”
Lately, I’ve become interested in the Jodi Arias – Travis Alexander trial and so I followed it closely for the last several weeks. I think the relationship between them and the subsequent murder has a lot to teach all of us about life and living successfully with one another.
Unfortunately, the majority of people see Travis and Jodi and their “fatal encounter” in black and white; they are not privy to the shades of gray that actually exist within the whole matter. Few things in life are only black and white. And normally, people don’t just murder other people for absolutely no reason whatsoever, and this is the case this time as well.
It’s easy to see Jodi Arias as the villain here and Travis Alexander as the innocent victim and on the surface, this is the case. Jodi physically butchered Travis and left him thrown away to rot in a bloody shower. Evidently though, the jury recognized that there was more to this, and I agree. And as hard as it is for the family of Travis Alexander and his supporters to realize, we are right.
Jodi Arias has a personality disorder, (Borderline Personality Disorder), and this causes her to react to emotional hurt in extreme ways. Boundaries do not exist for these kind of individuals. People with BPD have been severely abused as children, emotionally and often physically. They can become like chameleon’s. They will be whatever you want them to be in order to please. They learn to manipulate others expertly in order to survive in their various familial environments. They may appear soft spoken and loving on the outside, (a mask they wear), but the truth is that they feel and fear things quite deeply. They also overreact in rage when they are injured, due to the fear of or actual abuse and abandonment.
Travis Alexander emotionally and verbally abused Jodi Arias. Under the premise of a very religious, upstanding, pure young man, he was living a double life. He used Jodi for hard core sex and attempted to casually throw her away when he was finished. The text messages and phone conversations that were taped between them prove this. By the time Travis realized what and who he was dealing with, it was most definitely too late. Jodi would not be casually thrown away and go quietly.
Like the movie “Fatal Attraction” exemplifies, Jodi was dealing with rage, fear of abandonment, and deep hurt due to Travis’ rejection of her. She felt that she had given everything she could give to Travis, including her body. She loved him deeply, and wanted to marry him and live happily ever after. Instead, she found herself used, abused, abandoned, and discarded to the side like so much garbage. She lashed out and the ensuing backlash was brutal and fatal.
Travis didn’t deserve to pay for his error and mistreatment of Jodi with his life, but life is like that sometimes. Unfortunately, Travis hurt and tampered with the volatile emotions of a seriously disturbed kind of person. He erred by putting himself into a position to be hurt. He messed with the bull and got the horns.
Jodi Arias reacted as an injured animal who can take no more mistreatment. There was no conscience, no fear, and no thought of consequences and retribution when she killed Travis; there was only primitive emotion and rage.
There is a moral to this story. I think the moral is quite clear.
When we go after what we want in life in a selfish, lustful manner, without regard for the feelings and mental state of another, we are quite literally playing with fire. Sometimes our play partner may be unstable. We can lose our very lives over it.
Jodi’s death penalty jury was hung and thus there will now be another jury selected for the penalty phase of this trial. They will retry her as this first jury voted to give her death 8 to 4. Four jurors realized that there was much more to this story than the surface tells us; they planned to give Jodi life. It looks as though Prosecutor Juan Martinez wants Jodi’s death and will be satisfied with nothing less.
I believe Jodi should get the rest of her natural life in prison since we as a society unfortunately choose not to rehabilitate our mentally ill prisoners. It won’t be safe for Jodi to be on the outside interacting with other people, and may not even be safe for her to be in general population. Even if Jodi were helped, this kind of personality disorder doesn’t respond very well to therapy, according to many psychiatrists and psychologists. Many therapists think that those with BPD cannot ever be “cured.”
This is a sad tale that I hope all of us can learn from because while it is a complex situation, the morality of the matter and the lessons here are simple to understand and take in. I’m so sorry to read the various comments and opinions of those on Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere that show that people aren’t thinking deeply about what has happened as they side primarily with Travis Alexander and attempt to make him into the innocent golden boy. He was anything but…
I hope we don’t put Jodi to death because she’s like a disabled, wounded animal that deserves only to be penned up and prayed for, at this point. Ideally, if we were a wiser, kinder, more civilized society, we would attempt to fix her and continue to until we could figure out exactly how. We would treat her kindly, not punitively as we prevent her from hurting herself or others again.
As advanced as we are technologically, we do not seem to want to completely apply our compassion, minds, and talents to the human beings that we share this planet with. I hope this will change one day in the future.
Posted in behavior, Current Events, Jodi Arias, law, life, mental illness, News, people, Thoughts, Travis Alexander | Tags: Behavior, Borderline Personality Disorder, Crime, Jodi Arias, life, Mental illness, murder, people, psychology, society, Travis Alexander
How does Jesus teach us to respond to violence, abuse, and cruelty as Christians? Did He pay back evil for evil? No.
How was He able to behave like this? Can you imagine?
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5: 38-48
How did Jesus deal with His enemies? How did He deal with physical violence, abuse, and His own eventual murder? Jesus was as merciful as it gets. Jesus truly loved. He even loved those who murdered Him. May we be blessed of God and taught well so that we will be as strong as Jesus was/is. May we love as Jesus loves. And God will bless us as He has blessed Jesus.
He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he’d never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn’t true.
Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.
Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many “righteous ones,”
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.
Isaiah 53: 7 -12 (the message)
Posted in bible, Christianity, God, Jesus, life, Love, people, religion | Tags: Christian, Christianity, Enemies, evil, forgiveness, God, Jesus, Jodi Arias, love, love your enemies, The Law, Violence
How will you know them? …..by their fruits you will know them.
The wolf does not show loving, kind, positive fruit. The wolf has no joy. The wolf spits out venom and hate. The wolf exhibits the opposite of the fruits of the spirit.
Try hard to remember this because we come across all kinds.
For the fruit of the spirit is:
1)Love
2) Joy
3) Peace
4) Patience
5) Faithfulness
6) Gentleness
7) Goodness
8) Kindness
9) Self Control
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:15
Behold the ravenous wolf, exhibiting the opposite of the fruits of the spirit within his or her ministry:
1) Hate/ugliness/no love
2) Misery/miserable/no joy
3) War/fighting/bickering
4) Angst/haste/demanding
5) Infidelity/unloyal
6) Harshness/bitterness
7) Bad/not good/evil
8) Unkind/mean/hateful
9) Raging/angry/lacking calm
——–
Holy Bible
The Message (MSG)
A Simple Guide for Behavior
+
“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.” Matthew 7: 1-5
“I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.” Matthew 7: 22-23
“When you knock on a door, be courteous in your greeting. If they welcome you, be gentle in your conversation. If they don’t welcome you, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way. You can be sure that on Judgment Day they’ll be mighty sorry—but it’s no concern of yours now. Matthew 8: 2-15
16 “Stay alert. This is hazardous work I’m assigning you. You’re going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don’t call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove. Matthew 8: 16
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See also this excellent blog:
About Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: (http://robinclaire.wordpress.com)
Posted in behavior, bible, Christianity, God, Jesus, life, Love, people, religion | Tags: False prophets, Fruit of the Holy Spirit, Gentleness, God, hypocrisy, Jesus, Kindness, Patience, Wolves
This is a predominantly spiritual blog of random thoughts as they occur to me and I have time to write them down.
One Lovely Blog
life of a female bible warrior 
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