Karen
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Posts posted by Karen
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I will definitely pray!
It might be a little selfish but, please pray that I get a different job for the summer!
Also, please pray for my gram who fell today and who isn't doing so well (not related to the fall). She's just very old and I think it's almost her time :/
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Wow everyone!! I am so happy with all of your blessings and gratitude
Hello to people I haven't met yet or haven't talked to in a while!I am blessed because I am getting an education at college and have the opportunity to do almost anything I want after graduation, God willing.
I am blessed because God loves me just the way I am!!
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My school just put on a genocide panel a couple weeks ago and one woman was a Holocaust survivor; it was amazing!!
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definitely Arie, sorry I'm late getting back to this. This is something we should be praying for every day!!
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WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW.
Jaw drop! That was deeeeeeep.
That is also an inspiration
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That's so interesting, that's how I learned what passover was haha. When the Angel of death literally passed over the houses with the lamb's blood. So it's interesting how the christian inteppretation and the jewish interpretation differ, hmmm!
I hope you had a great time with your family
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I am so happy you're seeing God in everything you do, Kim!
I am so blessed and grateful to have a lovely boyfriend who accepts me for who I am!! I am grateful that even though I still get anxious sometimes over the thought of the future, he supports me and cares for me.
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of course, we will pray!!
also, please pray for me letting go of fear as well! I also pray to realize that my past does not control my future and I can't base my experiences now off of what happened in the past!
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I was going to create a separate topic, but this is easier (I'm super tired!): Tonight started Passover, one of the main Jewish holy days! It celebrates the story of the Angel of Death passing over houses marked with lamb's blood as one of the final warnings from God to let the Israelites go from Egypt. In the Bible, this story is found in the Old Testament (Exodus, I believe).
So from me to all the Jewish members (only Arie?) of the forum, HAPPY PASSOVER!!!!
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARDIIIIII! I'm sorry I haven't been around much! I've been so busy but I miss you </3 have a great B day my big bro <33333333
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I do think as a Christian, that it should be our role to do good in the world...through acts of non-violence/peace, activism, and befriending people of other faiths to show our deliberate acts against judgment and exclusivity of others.
The sex-trade and trafficking industry is absolutely horendous.
Now, for what I differ in: maybe it's because I found faith at a crossroads later in life, but I grew up with the inborn capacity for nurturing others no matter what creed, culture, race, sexual orientation they hail from. It may be my duty as a Christian to embrace these neighbors and work toward social justice to pick up the marginalized and give them what they need, but I had already adopted that much further before I identified completely as a christian. I think it should be a natural right and responsibility of humanity.
Issues close to my heart: sexual abuse (this includes everything from sexual assault to abuse to victims of the sex trade/trafficking), women's crisis, the current state of our food supply, and immigration. My church is VERY heavily involved in immigration reform. They rock my socks off and give me such a positive, determined example of not stopping for what one believes in despite setbacks. Our work has spanned national, regional, and international newspapers, reports, and periodicals.
This spring, I plan on getting my certification in crisis counseling and advocacy. It's a very intensive training course, but I have a feeling it would bring me farther than I can ever imagine in terms of healing (I was once assaulted at 18). Becoming a Sexual Assault Support Services Advocate doesn't mean you need to have the answers for everything, but enables you to be a guiding light for women and/or men who are going through atrocious and terrifying times.
I'm also contemplating getting involved in a community with direct roots to education and activism that would make bisexuality a more visible orientation in the larger community than it is now. Many things to come for the future.
Everything you say is very true!
I do agree that as a PERSON it should be a natural right to learn about these issues and do something about it, however, many people don't feel that way or just don't know how to get involved. Even though I've technically been a Christian all my life, I didn't really start to get involved with social justice until this year because I fould people who encouraged me and taught me that my small voice can make a really big difference!
I'm also really proud of you getting your acceptance at simmons
yayyyy go you!! and you getting your crisis certificate -
Mhm, you did just express it. Self-chastisement and humility aren't the same thing. We can be thankful of what we have which is why many christians take time to count their blessings, but it's not the same as self-chastisement and saying that we suck, we deserve nothing, we have no self-worth. Being humble in my eyes is just realizing that God gave us the means to do things, but sometimes we just have to take the opportunity. The movement was our own but the idea and the way to do it wasn't. It can get pretty complicated, but in the most basic form it comes down to realizing that there is something above us and we aren't the biggest things in our own universe, and that is a concept that many people have trouble with. It SUCKS to know that we aren't the greatest thing since sliced bread (excuse the lame metaphor) but realizing that we aren't number 1 in this world is a huge concept in christianity.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-5
This isn't exactly what I was trying to say, there is another verse that explains it much better - it basically says everything must go back to God. However, this is another great verse because it tells us that we must serve others before ourselves which is a great way to live life.
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So first off, I would like to say I am SOOOOO SORRY I haven't been around much. I know this section has been kind of dead lately, and I really do apologize for that. I want to start spicing it up a little but more! I've been very busy with school and over my spring break I was doing observation hours so I didn't really have time to post. But yeah! Here it is, a new topic for y'all.
Also, a warning: This is a really long post, but please take the time to read!
So firstly I would like to say that even though I put the title as "social justice in Christianity" this is a topic for everyone, but I've been thinking about it as a Christian so that's why I decided to specify in the topic.
Now I'd like to explain what social justice is. Social justice is the act of fixing social problems in the world through activism and education. What is a social justice issue? There are many! Some of the more common ones include modern day slavery/sex trafficking, poverty/homelessness, and fair trade clothing and food. Please look them up if you don't know what they are! They are all VERY important (I'll put some pictures later).
So I've been thinking about these issues in relation to Christianity. As a Christian and lover of all, what is my role in these issues? Do I have an obligation to help fix them if they don't affect me? And even though I've been thinking about these questions for myself, I think everyone should think about them!
The answers I've come to are: Yes, I do have an obligation to fix them, or to at least educate myself about them, and get involved where I can! As a Christian, the Bible says to love everyone and even though it can be difficult to love some people, I certainly am trying! But love isn't exclusive to the people who have it all. It's inclusive to everyone, the poorest of the poor, and people who have been looked over by society. Who will do it, if people don't step up with a passion for it?
So what do you all think? What is your role in this world? Do you say, "yeah, bad stuff happens, but it doesn't happen to me so it's all good.", or "Yeah, the world is a messed up place. I donate money sometimes...." or do you say "Yes the world is a bad place but there are also good people, and I want to help!"
Why do we have an obligation to help? We've become so desesitized today by everything we see on tv, and poverty or murders just seem commonplace. But there are people truly suffering in this world! How can we help them? And why do so many people just look them over?
I find it helpful to give examples. There really are some huge issues in the world, and I start to feel helpless when I think about all of them. Instead, I have learned about a couple that I have found to be really important to me. The first one is modern day slavery and sex trafficking, and the second is Native American rights in the United States. Modern day slavery happens way more often than we'd like to admit. Women and children are sold into slavery and this could be anything from the sex trade to indentured servitude in a house.
Here are a couple resources:
-The first one is a great organization called Not For Sale, and one of the key elements of their site is a slavery map and you can type in your location and see where there have been slavery cases and what happened.
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/ - their website
Slavery Map - http://www.slaverymap.org/
The second one is a great foundation in the Boston Area, where I'm from, and it's called Amirah, Inc. Amirah is a foundation that helps women in the Boston area who have been affected by trafficking: http://www.amirahboston.org/
And here is a song called "Constance" that talks about sex trafficking:
Now finally, some pictures:
Poverty on the Pine Rige Reservation
Human Trafficking:
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Why shouldn't people be more positive?
Counting blessings and fortunes in life is a wonderful thing because it gives people the opportunity to appreciate what they have, rather than what they don't. Everyone needs to take a step back sometimes and realize how good they have it because (I know it's cliche) there are people in the world that don't have nearly as much or almost anything at all.
As for being positive, it is a choice. We can choose to be negative, or we can choose to be positive. But when I think about it, honestly, why would anyone choose to be negative? It benefits them in no way whatsoever. And I'm not talking about being a realist, I'm talking about being flat out negative and mean and miserly (or whatever other definition there is, I'm sure it varies by person). It's also been proven that being happier is more beneficial to a person's health, while negativity has a bad impact on life span and can increase stress and sadness.
Being a Christian and counting my blessings, it helps me realize that I have everything I need when I really take a moment and think about it. A blessing doesn't have to be anything big, and being thankful could be being thankful for anything! For example, today I'm thankful that I have the ability to perform with my acapella group tonight at an event that my school is putting on talking about advocacy and it addresses many of the problems in this world like poverty, slavery, etc.
It's good just to take a moment every day and realize how lucky we are! I hope that helped
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Hi Matthew! Thanks for posting, I'm very glad you felt like you could post here. Welcome
I'm Karen, the mod of this forum. I'm sorry I didn't reply to you sooner, I have been swamped with school and work and observation hours and everything else under the sun. It is very interesting to look at religion from a historical point (and the Bible as well), I agree! I personally believe that Genesis, and a lot of the numbers in Genesis, are exaggerations of what they should be because people 2000 years ago didn't have a concept of time like we do. For example, in Genesis, Rebecca (Abraham's wife) gave birth when she was 90 years old. I don't think she was literally 90, I think it was their way of saying she was older than the average women giving birth during that time period.
You pose a tough question! Why do we need a deity to be safisfied in life? One of the things you said earlier is that we don't need to see the answers in everything immediately. In Christianity, we definitely don't see the answers in things immediately! When I pray to God, I expect Him to take His sweet time getting back to me
nothing happens quickly, and this is to help establish faith and patience that everything will turn out okay. The Bible isn't supposed to give us all the answers. It is a point of reference, yes, but we also have to realize that even though it was divinely inspired, it was written by men and all humans are flawed. The only perfect Being is God.I don't think it's fair to point at the Church and say that it just blames other people for their lack of understanding. As I said before, the Church, like everything except nature, is manmade. There are obviously going to be mistakes and errors and lacks of judgement. The Church today still has many issues surrounding it and as a Christian I don't agree with everything the Church (and by Church I don't mean the Catholic church specifically, I mean some of the leaders surrounding Christianity) says or does, but if I back away, what does that make me? I wouldn't stop loving my mom just because she's made some mistakes in her life. The Church, also, isn't just religious leaders. It's the people that make up the church! WE are the Church, and I think that is so, so important. So when someone looks at the Church we can't just look at the power organizations. We also have to look at what the Church consists of. Do Christians know better today? Some of them, yes. Are there still some that believe the Earth is 9000 years old? Yes. Sometimes it's out of ignorance (I'm sure you know that in some places they just don't teach evolution) but from what I've seen most Christians are fully aware of the science surrounding the Earth's creation (and this is just one example, there are many others like this, I'm sure) but they choose to believe in what the Bible says because it's their faith, it's what they believe in, and if it makes them happy, okay!
Also, many Christians take the basis for a lot of their beliefs from the New Testament, mostly because it focuses on Jesus and His life, the main part of Christianity.
I hope that answered some of your questions or opened up discussion! Feel free to message me at any time, and of course everyone else is free to answer as well.
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she must be very blessed joe! And you have been blessed with the gift to see that in her, which is very amazing
Being able to see potential is a great thing I am grateful that I'm on spring break
That I'm doing my observation hours for my child study class this week to gain experience
also I got to meet a speaker from the Red Cloud Indian School in south dakota yesterday, which is a place that I'm considering going to to volunteer after I graduate. It's amazing because out of all the universities she came to my school and I got to meet her and the other people that came with her and it was such an incredible experience! I feel like God is pushing me in the right direction saying "LISTEN! I JUST GOT ALL OF THESE SIGNS FOR YOU! THIS IS WHERE YOU'RE MEANT TO GO!" so maybe I will go after graduation lol.
Hmm what else? Oh I'm doing a community service project with my friend (also for my child study class) and we're going into the daycare at my uni to do world music with the kids. I am sooo excited
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good luck sarah! we'll miss you <3
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Sorry if I am barging in here since I am not Christian I didn't know if I was allowed to answer these or not. But, I figured what the heck? lol. Since I have been in religious school all my life these are all questions I have learned how to answer.
1. Are you familiar at all with Job? Well the idea in this book essentially is that Job was this really great guy. He was following all the rules, and super devoted to G-D. So what went wrong? Why did all these bad things happen? The best answer I think comes from the commentator Maimonides. Essentially he wrote that Job character flaw was the he followed G-D in blind faith. He did everything he was supposed to do, but he didn't understand it. I think basically what we can take from this is a few things. No person is perfect, and therefore no person is truly good. Bad things happen in the world. Beyond that, what bad things come from G-D and what bad things come from humans?? So many people forget that G-D created a world with natural order. Therefore, humans have free will. If a nice girl gets bullied its not because G-D is punishing her, its because someone is a bully. You have separate the two. There are times when it is harder to tell and we all find ourselves asking,"Why me?" I think what we can learn from Maimonides is that we can't just simply ask,"why is this happening to me G-D?" We have to figure it out. We have to study and then maybe you might realize there are things that you might be doing wrong. G-D gives us little clues all the time. We just have to open our eyes larger to see them.
2. Such a simple question to answer. If a tree falls in a forest, but I don't see it, does that mean it didn't fall?
3. G-D is not a he. Well Okay this is Jewish belief now so actually this might not help. As I wrote that I remembered Jesus. Okay well in Judaism we don't believe in a physical G-D. Therefore G-D is neither a she or a he. We believe over time it just became natural to use male form in grammar in reference to G-D. I am interested in how you Christians answer this though! I never even thought of it, because I was used to the answer we have. When girls would be upset by it we had a good answer. So I guess I am just asking another question lol. But, when a little girl asks her mom or teacher this, what is she told?
4. The Holocaust was not caused by G-D it was caused by human beings with free will. To suggest that it was caused by G-D sort of takes away free will. I have heard so many different answers to this question, but this is the only one that makes sense to me. We have free will. We live in a natural world. I think the more important question to ask is why did G-D turn his face away from us in our time of nee? He didn't cause it. Many people did survive, but too many didn't. What did we do to cause G-D to turn away? I wont get into this now, but I think it worth mentioning. I don't remember the exact verse or commentary on it. There is a pretty well known part in hmmmm I think Deuteronomy and a commentary on it that sort of foreshadows that something bad will happen on a certain date. That date refers to two things. The destruction of our temple which was a bit of a Holocaust itself. If you want to know why, read Lamentations. The date also can lead to a certain date of something in the Holocaust itself. Unfortunately, I don't remember it exactly even though I must have learned it at least 20 times lol. Sorry!
I love your answers to these questions Arie! I agree 100% with everything you say, especially about separating free will from God. A lot of people think that these are the same things, and they use that as the excuse that God is wrathful, vengant, distant when in fact it is the PEOPLE that are doing these things, NOT God.
Here's a really cool video: http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ug6rXBmMMw&feature=related
It shows what God is vs. our perception.
As for referring to God as male, I also agree that He (She...it...) doesn't have a gender. We can't define God like that, He is a force way bigger than we can ever imagine, He's not a guy in a white robe looking down on us, pointing His finger. As for why the description became a He, I hadn't thought of it really, but I like that you said it was just a natural progression of grammar. It probably was. Also, I think a lot of people like the idea of a father looking down on them, as a guiding figure. In my case, I never had a dad so it's nice for me to think of God as the ultimate father.
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Not a question but what ever.
So I was watching that show called "How the universe works" on Discovery Channel the other day.
They were talking about Galaxies and Galaxy Filaments.
This is a Galaxy Filament
Its made up of millions and millions of Galaxies.
Which kinda seems sorta irrelevant. But when you think that there are millions and millions of planets in this
I start to feel pretty small.
To think that Earth is just 1 out of 1,000,000+ in our Galaxy, and our Galaxy is just 1 out of 1,000,000+ in a Galaxy Filament, its just astounding!
You may be asking "But Jooooooe" what does that have to do with anything?"
WELL! As I was watching it I was overwhelmed by the power of God, That we are living in the midst of the most largest thing we can comprehend and more!
And to be honest, there was an element of fear inside me too! The fear of what God can do.
People try to use the universe to disprove God but I say that it is the most beautiful testament to God ever designed!
I completely agree!! I totally see how this relates to God. might not be a question or anything, but it's still a great observation. Actually, it's funny that you posted this because in a couple weeks I'd like to bring the peeps in my Bible study up to the observatory at my school. I think it's really important to get an idea for what infinity really is, and how small we really are. It is SO important, in my opinion, to realize that we are NOT the center of our universe and that we are tiny compared to the wonders of God.
I think that space is amazing, absolutely incredible, and when I really get to thinking about it, my mind is blown. Thanks for posting Joe! I completely agree with everything you said! Funny how we're working on the same wavelength lol
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I know I texted you already but...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! <3
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+1 i totally agree.
I mean like i said if a woman-or a man for that matter- wants to cover themselves because they feel better that way and all, i'm all for it. But i don't like it when they say God makes us cover ourselves, or the Bible says it because it's a sign of modesty etc. We should not be ashamed or afraid to show our body. Of course not in a provocative way.
Well, everyone has their own opinion on it. For myself personally, I choose what I want to be shown and I'm not comfortable with showing a lot of skin; that's just how it is for me. In the Bible it says that the man looks on outward appearance, and the Lord looks on the heart, and this is true. I just don't want my clothing to get in the way of my actions...you know? If I dress very provocatively my actions will probably go unnoticed because of my clothing. People will look at my body instead of what I do, and I don't want it to be that way at all.
Everyone has their own level of comfort with clothing, and I would personally prefer to be more covered than less covered. For me, that's one of the ways I define myself as a christian. When I put my body on display, I'm taking attention away from what really matters - God - and I don't want to do that.
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I'm very anti-prejudice, so I try to value people based on their behaviour towards me, not based on their belief in a higher power. But I'm guessing you won't be satisfied with this answer (I know I wouldn't) so here you go.
I think that people who do follow a belief system should do that if they choose that, but they should be very careful not confuse belief with truth. You can't go and claim something is true just because the Bible says so.
Having said that, I strongly oppose teaching creationism in schools (any school), because evolution has been proven correct. I think strict religious schools should be banned. I have once seen an example in a documentary where literally everything had a reference to religion. It was practically brainwashing. Children's minds work so they believe anything a parent says, up to a certain age. This is to have the highest chance of survival and reproduction (knock, knock, evolution!), for an infant cannot have a critical mind and try to disprove the rule of not going over the edge of a cliff, for example. Therefore, in my opinion, we must be very careful when dealing with teaching children religion.
As for what religion I would choose, that is definitely an interesting question. Pantheism is very interesting, and it would probably be the one I would go for. I like the idea of Nature as God, because nature (and indeed us humans too) is wonderful. Pantheism is actually pretty close to my beliefs right now, except that I don't see nature as God.
Mmm, this is true. The Bible is actually a very interesting book, to study and also to learn from. I used to think it was really boring, until I actually started reading it. I think there are lots of things in it that are based around the culture of 2000 years ago, but the Gospels are what modern-day Christianity is (or at least should be) based on. HOWEVER. People's interpretations of the Gospels differ and that is why there are so many problems among different religious. I honestly haven't met one Christian who has exactly the same theology. I personally believe that Jesus is the epitome of Love, which is God, and that we must do our best to spread love by loving our neighbor (ALL of our neighbors), serving, and helping those that can't help themselves. I also think that is Jesus had to choose a political side, he'd probably be more on the socialistic side. I mean, I can't imagine Jesus turning someone away:
"Jesus, please heal me!"
JC - "Sorry, your health insurance plan only covers leprosy, not blindness. And you've already had two exorcisms in the past six months when your plan CLEARLY says that you can only have one"
Somehow, I don't think that would happen.
Creationism *sigh* What a topic, no? Hahaha. Well. I believe in evolution, considering that it has been scientifically proven, but I also think that it was God who started evolution, and who created the Big Bang. And no, I don't mean a guy in a white robe with a beard...I just mean a force higher than ourselves, bigger than we can possibly imagine. If you really want to hear all my theology, you can message me lol. I don't want to get into all of it here
As for Pantheism, I think it's very good to be thankful for nature but I personally wouldn't consider it God. I think God created nature, of course, and therefore it must be taken care of and appreciated. I also think that we have to give respect to the Earth because it does provide for us.
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Ireland!! Wow is it really 6 nations time again? how the year flies...
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your opinion is so incredibly wrong its quite humorous.
it seems so childish to believe that people will wake up one day and all of a sudden prefer the same sex. people ARE born homosexual. Fact. Conclusive. google it.
God created EVERYTHING, didnt he?
i do agree that if you're truly religious you will follow your religion in most things and wholeheartedly agree with it (not everything), but if you're truly HUMAN your compassion and love for your fellow species should decide, not what an ancient book tells you.
religious people who think being gay is wrong and against nature only makes religion look bad. I was part of the church for many years and from what i'e learned God wouldnt be God if he hated gays, or hated anyone for that matter. and he wouldnt hate gays because he made them! XD
First, please don't launch personal attacks on someone because you don't agree with their opinion, calling someone childish isn't going to get any closer to unity.
Secondly, I also agree with you that God created everything, gay, bi, transgender, pansexual, etc etc etc people alike. I fully accept gay people because I believe that every single person was made perfectly, straight or otherwise.
I also think that the Bible was written in a very different time, and there were different social rules driving some of the things being written. And this isn't to say that the Bible isn't accurate in a lot of what it says, because it is - I just think that 2000 years ago, it was a very different society.
Prayer Requests
in Religious Resource Forum
Posted
please keep praying for my gram! she's really not doing well at all :/
I'm super worried, and kind of sad