Thursday, May 26, 2016

I'm Done

I've said I'd Never say those words again. But Never say Never. And I'm Done. I'm Done with standing by and letting people get hurt and not saying anything. I'm Done with it being ok to hurt someone and not have it pointed out. I'm Done with encouraging and promoting this idea that Women are NOT Valuable.


And let me be clear - I am not thinking about one individual or one group of individuals. I have had this conversation with a countless number of people for the last several weeks about the turn society has taken and had so many encouraging responses that I'm Finally DONE with standing by and not taking a stand.

I realize many don't see this as a problem, so let me explain First - why it is a Significant Issue in our society, if not the world. Since the beginning of time woman has been seen as inferior, as lesser than, as property or a prize. I believe this started because man was given the role as the head of the household by God, Himself. I Love that men have this role what I Absolutely Loathe is that for some Ridiculous reason, that entitled man to become Better than woman. That, having a position of authority somehow got twisted to make a man Worth more than woman. This is WRONG. And Feminism - only made it worse. Why?

Because while I Wholeheartedly Applaud women wanting to be seen as Equal - the way we're going about it is Just as Wrong. For the last couple of generations, women have been attempting to be seen as Equal - by Becoming a man. Look around you, women are not only attempting to acquire the same strengths as men, but the same vices as well. You will find a female CEO with a drinking problem who brags about her latest one night stand. Feminism may have had good intentions, but instead of promoting a woman's worth as she is - it got twisted until the only way we can be seen to have value - is to think and act as man does.

And this comes to my anger. WE DO NOT THINK LIKE MEN. Oh yes. I hear the "We knoooow." I also hear the "Y'all Crazy!" And that's where my anger comes from. The way we think is NOT Crazy. It can be, the same as yours. You might not understand the way our minds work - but that doesn't make our reasoning less valid. If you can't follow a woman's argument - there's a good chance You are simply not sanctified enough in that area to have reached a point in your maturity to be able to follow her thought process. And yes - I did mean to use that fancy term "sanctified" - I know Exactly what it means. You want to ask me about why I think it's Totally Correct Usage - I would Love to have that debate with you.

And If a girl seems crazy paranoid that you're going to hurt her in some way, there's a good chance she's had experience with needing to analyze situations in order to survive. She simply doesn't trust that you're different than the last person she gave her heart to, watched them tear it to pieces in front of her and then laughed as she cried in response. Logically, she probably can't even explain this. And I've got something to say that may be news for some of you - LOGIC is NOT the only valid argument! It is often NOT even a Valid argument!! I know, blasphemy to many men. Go take Philosophy 101. I'm tired of all your logical fallacies.

Logical Fallacies
Logic is the study of reasoning -- the nature of good (correct) reasoning and of bad (incorrect) reasoning. Its focus is the method by which an argument unfolds, not whether any arbitrary statement is true or accurate. Thus, an argument can be both deductively valid and perfectly absurd, as in 1. All telephone poles are elephants. 2. Sally is a telephone pole. 3. Therefore, Sally is an elephant. The conclusion is valid because it conforms to a correct syllogistic pattern -- in this case, affirmation of the antecedent -- but is ludicrous at the same time. 
As a "branch" of philosophy, logic is often broken down into many subsets: for instance, modal logic, many-valued logic, modern logic, symbolic logic, formal and informal logic, deductive and inductive logic...

Emotional reasoning is vastly different than what many men are used to, but it has Great Value and works hand-n-hand with logic. If you don't get that...You. Are. A. Fool. And I'm done with letting you think that's alright.

It is a well known fact in the psychological world that in order to use a "wise mind", an individual must incorporate reason as well as emotion. But as a society - that was shot down around the World War II and Depression Era. People were struggling to cope with pain beyond my wildest imagining and in the end - they just shut down all emotions. How many of my friends in their 70s or 80s tell me, quite matter-of-factly, that "I love you" just wasn't ever said. Not only were negative emotions shut down, but positive ones as well. And I wholeheartedly agree that sins are passed down from generation to generation. And that's often because they aren't Even acknowledged.

So - we don't often acknowledge that we need men to be a macho, tough guy if he wants us to take him seriously. We don't admit that we do that and that it's wrong. And it's even Less Acknowledged that this has always occurred with girls as well. And now that we're trying to be seen as equals - it's gotten Far Worse. We no longer cry. We no longer bubble with joy. A professional setting requires no emotion of any kind. Why? Because to ever be taken seriously, no emotion must be allowed. This is Bullshit. For BOTH of our genders. I can't even post a picture of a tear without censure.

And that photo wasn't because I wanted attention! No - I am the Last person who wants to be emotional OR attention when I am emotional. And if you haven't figured that out yet. YOU ARE A FOOL. I am at a point where I have simply grown past my Own Foolishness where I realize the Importance of Emotions. I Had to learn to be alright with them. In order to grow - in order to even stay sane - I had to start letting myself - be ME.

And I'm a woman people! I'm emotional and that's alright! I laugh so hard I can't breathe, I cry over "ridiculous" things and I yell FUCK when I'm frustrated. And that's not only Alright - it's HEALTHY. I agree that it can be taken too far. Life is made up of tight-ropes we have to tread carefully, because we lean too far to the left or right and we fall. And our society fell a long time ago in regards to women.

We ARE Equal. And that is Not because we can do anything a man can do or should have to be able to. Guess what? I want to be a stay home mom. I want to spend time cleaning my house, talking to the neighbors, raising children and taking in strays of every species(human or not). And while that is my passion - it will NOT be easy. And if you think that life sounds fun and carefree. Again...You. Are. A. Fool. Conversations that bring Glory to God are rarely easy and they Drain me Every Single Day. Totally worth it. Totally Fun. Totally Tiring and Most Definitely and Completely - WORK.

Don't you DARE think you're better than your wife because you provide for her. While that is an Amazing Strength - it is NOT the only one that matters. Your wife is at home changing more lives in a half hour than you will all day. And not just your kids. Not just your neighbors. Women have always been known for the love they can so easily exude. Or - once upon a time we were. We no longer are at the same level as generations past, because we've been trying to take on a man's strength instead of encouraging that, that was already within us.

It's time to reclaim what being a woman really means! It's time to spread that a woman's worth is more than the ability to do what men do, but those skills that we are naturally gifted with. And that what we do should Not be taken for granted and Certainly Not demeaned. Maybe a woman's place is in the kitchen, but men ruined that for themselves. What woman would ever want to be the perpetual butt of that joke? Not I. And the women that don't mind it - they've learned to "not care" like a man.

When one of a woman's natural strengths is that we Do Care! We care So Much and this is a Good thing! And when we start to care Too Much - we have men to even us out. Opposites attract because men and women need each other - we rely on each other to temper our opposing strengths and weaknesses. But it's gone too far, "...like a girl" has become and insult and that's Wrong and I'm Done with encouraging this. I'm Done with not speaking out.

I AM a Girl. I run like a girl. I throw like a girl. I cry like a girl. I laugh like a girl. I argue like a girl. I reason like a girl. I get mad like a girl. I get crazy like a girl. I LOVE like a girl. And I'm Proud to be a GIRL.

Like a Girl

Monday, May 2, 2016

Another of My Signature Rambles


Who else has those moments where an accident is about to happen but then disaster is totally averted because of your mad ninja skills? Yeah - I love videos where that gets caught on camera. But what about the times it doesn't? What about the times you're alone and a glass falls and you totally pluck it out of the air like you trained with Mr Miyagi? Who else finds they moonlight as a superhero who can leap a fence in a single bound, but when they try to tell people the truth of their Kent Clark facade - they look at you and laugh. Your clumsiness and incompetency is no secret and for some reason your Beastly Accuracy and Masterful Reflexes never come out unless you are completely and totally alone.


Anybody else have that happen? And every time - you look around and go Really? Did NObody see that - Again?! And then you hear Him. Faintly you hear the voice that's always been there, but you're adept at ignoring. He goes - I did. I saw it. And you go - oh but You don't count. I need actual people to hear and applaud this moment. I need fallible humans to cheer for this victory - not some Omnipotent Being who's Always there getting excited about Every. Single. Success. I mean, come on Dude - the Cooooonstant attention and Love is a little pathetic and beneath You, don't You think?


Maybe that's not always our reasoning for dismissing God as a legitimate source for affirmation, but who else realizes how much they reject God as "not enough". How much we turn to others for a stamp of approval, instead to the only One Who really matters. "God is All I need" may be cliche - but it's totally 100% accurate. And we need to live our lives this way. We need to realize that Nothing else Matters. A car or a house, a job or career, friends or even a family Pale next to the Son of God.

If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.

I get this. And no - it's not a verse about hatred. It's a verse about Love. It's a hyperbole designed to emphasize how Much we are to Love GOD above all else. Love for your possessions, your relationships - your own LIFE - should be NOTHING compared to the Love you should have for our Lord and Savior. And there's a good trick to figuring out whether you are struggling with this. I use it constantly. I think about something, or more likely - someone - that I love, and then I think of a realistic situation where I could lose them. If I can honestly say to God - I'm alright if that happens. If you can HONESTLY say this is key though. I'm tired of hearing people lie to themselves and God, much less to the world.


So many people are like me in that they think ignoring something will make it go away. If I can't see it - it can't see me. Yes - I'm rolling my eyes the same way so many have to me. But we all do this. We all have a sin that we know is there, but we also know is Wrong. And for Some reason, we often tend to think if we don't acknowledge it, if we don't admit it's there - if we tell ourselves over and over this sin is wrong then maybe it will go away on it's own(...). Yeah - I'm giving y'all the signature Look. I know you don't really think that works, but let's think about this more realistically. Lemme think for a sec.


Sorry - this is not as much as a struggle for me - admitting I'm a fuck-up. If you've been reading this blog regularly - you know I struggle with the opposite. So lemme think of a generic example I see in society regularly. Or - I can use that earlier example. Perfect. Ok - so most all my friends will agree that only God's approval matters. We talk about it constantly. People remind me often. Anybody in my church reading this will agree - on a theological level - that God's approval is the only one that matters, yeah? Ok - hopefully you already see where I'm going.


How often does God's approval Not matter to you? How often is it Just - Not Enough. I can already hear your minds whirling, trying to defend yourselves. Trying to justify why you needed the approval of others in whatever situation. Because we won't admit that God's approval is NOT Enough for us. You Know it should be. I know the same thing. I just also know that I don't believe that on a more of a subconscious level. You can KNOW many things and not BELIEVE them. Not truly. And the first step to changing that - is to actually Admit that.


If you cannot admit that you have a MASSIVE problem trusting God or needing Him; Loving or Fearing Him. And FYI - we ALL DO. This is not me throwing the first stone but pointing out a struggle We - ALL of Us - Share. But if you cannot even admit that your most Beastly Ninja skill - that your most exciting career move - that your most romantic gesture - that anything you are proud of(Even in a Godly way) is pathetic next to the Love of God. That our good works are akin to bloody tampons. If you don't get that you do NOT Deserve your job. You did NOT receive a degree because you're smart and studied your butt off. You don't own a home because you Earned it for all your hard work. That's Bullshit and I'm calling you out on it. God gives and He can take away.

0:52

Everything you have, including your possessions, your relationships, even your life - Especially your life - are given to you by the Grace of God. And if you don't get this basic fact, you will never be able to apply all the theology you understand so well. You can have the Bible memorized backwards and forwards. You can have a Phd at Harvard, Princeton and the best Seminaries in the world and still not Truly Believe. You can preach the gospel with a passion and accuracy that astound the world - and still not Truly Believe. And if you are unable to say that you do not Truly Believe something, if not everything - then you are lying to yourself. You are lying to God.

"Just remember, it's not a lie if you believe it."

Belief does not equal Truth. Neither does Understanding. A True Belief in God's teaching involves Understanding Plato's Apology of Socrates, in my opinion. I do not Truly Believe many things I should. And the first step is admitting that. Only then, can we begin to grow in that area. We're all fucked up in this fallen world. We're all sinners. We're all mad here. And yet - we're not all going to Hell for this. I don't know who is or who isn't. I honestly haven't even thought enough about Hell to know whether I believe anybody is or whether I may take a more messianic view on that idea. I'm simply following God every day. I don't believe things because I've read them in books and they makes sense. I believe what God tells me through the way He reveals Himself to me in my LIFE - Every DAY. I like theology - but that is Nothing to a Personal Relationship to my Lord.


And I know people are often wanting a relationship like I have with God, but don't know the formula. Cause there isn't one. I know that's hard, but you have to find God yourself - learn how to listen for Him your own way. The answer isn't going to be in my Blog. It's not going to be in a sermon or any of your books from LifeWay. You need to find how God speaks to you. I will give you a hint though - if it makes you Incredibly Uncomfortable - you're probs on the right track. A personal relationship with God is The Most Uncomfortable, Infuriating, Maddening relationship I have Ever Had. It's worth it. Totally worth it. But don't go into this thinking it's going to be all Lovey Dovey, Hunky Dorey. No no. As in "Oh Heeeeell, NO.". A Close Relationship with God is ANYTHING But. Obnoxious Sneaky Yaweh. Yeah - You are. And it makes me smile as much as it makes me glare these days and I no longer underestimate the Sneaky Sneak:


You know I love you BigMan - even if I do argue with You an Awful Lot
:D