Hey all. It's been a while since I've done a post. Given it's Lent I wish I would've caught at least a few visits last week, sadly it did not pan out.
First off, how would I describe Meadow Creek Chapel? From the outside it's a quaint Chapel in the middle of Old Issaquah. The congregation is pretty small, and the style of music is christian rock. There is an element of closeness in the community, but at the time separation. Most people left as I did when the final song was playing. Meadow Creek also does Coffee Hour after worship music at the beginning so that people have a greater opportunity to socialize. After the sermon, the guest preacher asked how people had integrated the Word into their life. It reminded of the Quakers, the congregation was learning from the preacher, and vise versa. I really appreciated this dialogue. The visit was wonderful, the one con was though, the community seems to involved helping itself...all the ways to get involved were socializing...can't socializing be done while serving the community?
The sermon was about, "Change your Thinking. Change your life." There was a women who was the guest preacher and she talked about how God and the Word of God was there to help find peace when she found out her son had cancer. They were able to treat it and she tied it to the verse of "The children who are good to their parents shall live long." I could think of a few exceptions to this rule (natural disasters, ect.) But it was what she needed from God at that point to know peace.
She talked about the distractions like facebook, television and all the things that keep us from living life by the Gospel. She brought up how money, and outside attachments can't really bring peace (medication as a form of trying to find peace). That only God can bring true peace. Her sermon had a lot of Buddhist undertones which I don't believe were purposeful. For example, finding peace by focusing on the Good (the 8 fold path vs God's Word, outside world attachments not way to inner peace.) The congregation was pretty evangelical Christian, so I don't think this was purposeful.
Regardless, this sermon touched me deeply. I've succeeded at giving up coffee this Lent, and mostly suceeded in other fasts...but still mostly. I think the reason why, is the reason that this sermon hit upon. I'm not giving myself the right information. I haven't read or thought enough upon what living virtue means, and what the great teachers have said on it. The teacher doesn't matter, the message does. Whenever I feel distracted, lonely, anxious or isolated (lonely has been the big one). I need to turn to that goodness, and from it do more good acts. I haven't researched ways to get involved in the community to serve, when I said I would this Lent. I did not meet the mark, and think with giving more time to truly meditating on what virtue means and what others have said it is, will help me better live it. It will become a more integrated part of my being, because of the work put into the study and action of it.
May Easter bring transformation to greater good within and in my actions towards others always. Easter, the celebration of The Resurrection, the ultimate rebirth.
This is my first time taking part in the 40 days of Lent. Lent it the Holiday celebrated by Catholics, Lutherans, Orthodox and Anglicans in honor of Jesus's fasting for 40 days. The 40 days of Lent are the lead-up to Easter Day and the resurrection. This is a time, when each moment should be done with awareness (if it wasn't before) and with the awareness of Christ in one's life. Ash symbolizes mortality. Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust...in the end it's what our bodies become.
Ash Wednesday was the largest Catholic Service I've ever attended. Saint Michael is a big parish, and every pew was filled. One of the readings was about not parading virtue in the streets (like the Pharisees did of old apparently) (which having an ash cross on ones forward kind of contradicts). But I think what the cross serves as, is a reminder of the community supporting you in your Lentin fasts. When the Priest was blessing the ashes he accidentally called them "Holy Asses," before he corrected himself. So that was moment of humor in one of the most beautiful services I've attended. (The music was old Latin sometimes and their was so much passion in the singing that day). I received the ash cross on my forehead that mass and the old woman told me what she told all of us, to "Return to the Gospel," which to me meant returning to the virtue within the Gospel (not the vice and evil within the Gospel).
As you know, I'm not a Christian. So why am I taking part in Lent? Because I am aware of the ways I fall short. There is something to be said for days that are deemed significant, like Christmas, Easter, Ramadan, The New Year, Ash Wednesday, Rosh Hashanah, and others. When there is community support in act, like with AA (alcoholics anonymous) or NA (Narcotics anonymous) a person's will grows, because it is part of the communities will. I don't really want to publicize everything I'm giving up on a blog (though if you ask I will tell) except for some obvious ones like coffee (and giving up meat on Fridays, I failed on that on Wednesday), as I plan to better live with compassion, courage, temperance and humility in my speech and actions. These are things I CAN get better at.
I am so lucky for all the support I have. I have never worried about going hungry, lack of transportation, being homeless, being unable to afford an education, been mortally sick or an unhealthy body. This month and beyond this month I want to be better at helping those who aren't as fortunate as me. I'm graduating in a week and I need to responsible for more then just myself. Who ME is, is a part of everyone else, and who I am is a part of others too...
So to those practicing Lent, know you have my support, and if you want to do anything to serve the community with me, let me know. I'll be looking for opportunities to volunteer and get involved and to help others wherever I am.
Many of you may be wondering why it has taken me this long to write a post on Islam. The reason for this was the difficulty of me reaching an Islamic Center in the times I've been in Olympia and around University of Washington. In both instances I got lost trying to find the Islamic Centers of both areas. Well, I'm happy to say that I've finally been able to do the visit after years of not visiting an Islamic community.
After two times of attempting to meet up with the Interfaith Coordinator of the Islamic Center of Olympia for a ride, I finally was able to meet up and get a ride there.
What are my thoughts on Islam? I think some of the evil that attributed to Islam is in some cases valid (homosexuality is viewed as a sin and in the Quran, like the Old Testament...punishment is death), women cannot lead prayers where both sexes are present, separation of the sexes (this is a huge issue with me in regards to Orthodox Judaism, and other conservative religions as well). But on issues of groups like Al Qaeda and people who do honor killings. The honor killings are a tribal custom that needs to be changed, and groups like Al Qaeda are like the NRA, using religion as an excuse to commit nonreligious acts (Though my issues with Kings and the Bible still apply to the Quran, God ordering the killing of sacred life (or punishing it to Hell). I don't see how that can be good in any instance.
In my visit though I overwhelmingly experienced the good, and got to talk about some of the bad afterword...which I will get to farther into the blog. We arrived when the afternoon call to prayer was taking place and hurried. Shoes were left outside and we entered into the room where all the other men were. The Iman was up front leading the call to prayer and then began preaching about Time. He preached about how God created time and how it is a gift and precious to us and that we must make the most of it by living with righteousness and virtue. This made sense to me and is one of the parts of the Quran (like Jesus's Golden Rule, actions to the poor, and many psalms) that transcend the era it was written and can apply to any time.
I joined in the end of the prayer and felt the connection that I'd forgotten that always came with the full body bowing. This act of submission and vulnerability is such a powerful act. It would be the ultimate act of one person honoring another if they both bowed this way, or an act of veneration simply in the way the body speaks. This is one thing I have always found beautiful and good about Islam. The goal of Islam is to live that prayer in everything (with Quran as guide), just as the goal for a Christian is to live like Jesus with the New Testament as a guide.
After prayer I talked to the people. There was a man whose family lives in a small town in Libya. It was wonderful to know they were safe, and one of the leaders of the Mosque is living in Tripoli now and has snipers on his roof as Gadaffi is preparing for war...I talked to one of the Board Members, the Interfaith Coordinator and another man named after Solomon. The Interfaith coordinator is hoping it can be resolved peacefully, but Solomon had given up hope due to Gaddafi's paranoia and evil actions.
After I got a tour of the building that is under construction that will be the new place of worship. The shell is complete but due to funding it still has ways to go till it's finishing internally. I found out the Lacey and Olympia community has been very accepting of the Islamic Center and this made me glad after the Oarnge County crap, the protesting of the Islamic Community Center in New York City, the areas in the central United States that have come out against the building of Islamic Center's of worship in their state...(which is sad considering their Christianity is very similar in values to what they seem to be so afraid of). I am grateful Olympia and Lacey have generally not acted this way.
Then we went out to Coffee (the Board member, Interfaith Coordinator and I). I brought up the things I see as evil based on how I have seen them practiced abroad (the execution of gays in Muslim nations, not having ever seen a women lead worship or preach (I found out their are women scholars of Islam though...so who knows, maybe their will be female Imam's leading worship someday, right now the issue is a scale the least and horny of people not having a distraction so they can submit to God, and the belief in men and women together would be a distraction to both sexes), in the conversation I had with the Interfaith Coordinator in the car he mentioned Muslims have not done as much as they could to abolish the negative stereotypes, and also people needing to come without preconceived notions and wishing to learn as well (both of which I agree with based off experience).
We then talked about Satan...as in all cases that a figure such as this is brought up. I think the possibility of malevolent and benevolent spirits exist...I just don't see it as likely. I see human's doing so much more good and evil without any outside forces being attributed to actions. The reason I was given for why he exists is to test us. The pattern with Christianity over free will in regards to Satan in God seems to be, as I understand it now.
God is the ultimate good, making people who are just good is not good, therefore choice must exist in order to choose the good, so it is truly the good. Evil is chosen just as good is chosen. This still doesn't quite make sense to me if all God wants is submission or worship (and all creation in submission and worship), so I still don't buy this explanation completely. I've seen fear of Satan lead to more evil acts (persecution of gays, fear of sexuality, avoidance of responsibility) to have trouble seeing it as being Satan or some spirit being responsible. Though the same applies to the good as well...I consider myself a Thiest but when it comes to peoples actions, it depends on the people. I've seen virtious believers and non-believers of all faiths, and evil committed by believers and non-believers in the name of (Enter Idea Here). So the exploration continues.
The conversations and the act of prayer were the most rewarding part of the visit and I believe in the awareness that comes from these two acts that real change can be brought about in the world. A prayer can be anything from reflecting to good action or prayer to good action, the key is the good action. This is one thing I myself shall continue to grow and seek to better myself in, for I can always do better in living the good, as can we all.
Today I visited the Calvary Chapel of Olympia for the first time. It was something I've been meaning to do for a while. The Campus Minister Greg who you've read about in some of the early entries one of which was on Greeners 4 Christ and the Problem of Evil. If you read the post you saw that I felt the question wasn't completely answered, and it may be one that never is. I better learned today why I am not a Christian though and why I never took that step of conversion.
The premise of Christianity is that man was once perfect and fell from the grace of God. Since then God's been punishing the world for not worshiping him and living righteously, leading up Jesus, God becoming a man to reconcile humanity's imperfection and receiving grace again (though same rules of righteousness still apply and old laws of reconciliation carry over to confession of sins to Jesus rather then sacrifice of animals on the altar).
Why am I bringing this up? Because the service I heard was about what the Bible says...not the spirit of the Law, but the actual events, the letter...God's reaction and living of "love" for man. Pastor Chuck talked about Kings, giving a history of the 2 Kingdoms of Israel that had came about after Solomon's United Kingdom of Israel, one King still followed God's laws in Leviticus, the other King was back to worshiping fertility Gods and the Earth. A prophet visited the King of the Kingdom that was not worshiping God and said it would be destroyed, he then left because God told him not to stay. On his way back to his home another prophet told him to come and eat with him, lying and saying that "Angels had told him it was okay." The prophet went back and the other prophet's son condemned the prophet coming back and as the Prophet tried returning home to make amends he was mauled on the road by a lion.
Because he didn't make God's statement fully by leaving and not going back the way he had come, God punished him with death.
Is that love? Does a King who claims to love his messenger execute him if he messes up in sending his message a little bit? and if the messenger does mess up, is it Good and Righteous to kill said messenger? God should be held to a higher standard then Kings who we know that it would be evil if they killed their messenger if he slightly messed up their message, or messed up their message. The King can speak for himself, and should speak for himself.
The Pastor brought up how God is specific about what he wants from us. That we must be righteous and that Good does not come from society. I agree with this statement, but also think that it does not come from the Bible either. The Bible like many books of quality stories not all the time speak of Good and Righteousness, but God does not always act with either...especially in the Old Testament.
False prophets were spoken about. Wolves in sheep's clothing. Similar to the Blue Sky Sermon I heard and it reminded of Mars Hill. He said the Devil could quote scripture and water it down to lead people to Hell so he could devour them. Why such evil is allowed to exist by something that is supposed to be all Good in the Bible...I do not know.
Love was also brought up too. He mentioned that "Men love men," and "Women love women," and that it is love, but it's not what God intended and that Jesus can transform them (Gays, Lesbians, Transgender, Queer, Bisexual people) by working in their hearts when they accept him. This I felt was evil because of what this philosophy has brought about for GLBTQ people. It's this "love" that brings about the camps that try and "fix" gay people through of use of Christ. That leads many Gay people to kill themselves because in the darkness that comes with personal faith in any religion, it's seen as rejection by God...and if God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, what are they supposed to think? The fruits that come out of this philosophy that doesn't recognize Gay relationships as valid love in God's eyes leads to such much repression and harm. Abstinence works for some, but not all people, and if God is love and the love from which all love flows out, then all consensual love that has possibility of raising children or not (adopting, straight couples who choose not to procreate), then it would embrace that relationship as the most loving people do.
He used the slippery slope argument saying that we have already seen the consequences of getting rid of the Sodomy Law in Texas with an Incestuous Father using the court case that overturned that law to support his relationship with his daughter who was of consenting age (24, it been going on for 3 years, so she was 21 when it started). Which also was ignoring the evils of neighbor reporting on neighbor and the fact that Gays, Lesbians, Transgender, Queer and Bisexual people were and could have continued to be imprisoned for the love they share for one another that the Sodomy Law criminalized.
He also quoted the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip who said that, "The American Empire will fall because of it's 'immorality,' 'open sexuality' and 'injustice," and agreed with him. He said the pagan worshiping, immorality and the worship of excess was the reason the Kingdom of Israel fell because it no longer followed God and the same would be for America as it was for other nations. He then told the congregation they were the salt of the Earth and could start by keeping evil from their own homes, even if they couldn't change the country.This would be done by choosing what video-games kids are allowed to play, and what they watch on television and in movies. Which I think parents should do...but should be smart about. Now on the subject of Empires falling because of "sexual immorality."
Greed is a big reason a country would fall, but what he described as sexual immorality was not the reason that Rome, the Han Dynasty, the Mongol Empire, the Inca, British, French, Safavid, Russian, Soviet, Ottoman Empires and others fell. There were factors such as not caring for those whom they were occupying, allowing of personal rights (the slave societies with slave revolts), not having a strong military or strong leaders, oppression, inability to please all classes, not enough taxes, over-taxation of the poor, famines, diseases and attacks from the outside from other Empires were what brought them down. Who is sleeping with whom only has to do with it in regards to court politics among the Nobles when the Nobles existed in regards to destabilization.
I wish I'd stayed after to talk and not worried about what time to catch the bus back up to Evergreen. I need to speak up for what is true and right. The only way I can see the Good that God is in the Old Testament being true, is if these stories are metaphors and not events that actually happened. Take any story, whether it's Noah's Ark, the Prophets, or Genesis. Look at God's acts and then put a human in God's place and see if a human did those acts, if it would still be love? Would the acts be good if they contradict his own Laws of the 10 Commandments? If the Judge is not following his own laws then what does that mean?
There is much more to say and I wish I hadn't been waiting to catch the bus so I could stick around longer. Have the discussions that I hope this blog can provide. The people were kind, but in the words about Gays, history of Nations and Empires, and God as described was poison. It was poison because it was not true. It contradicted itself and it's aim of love and justice it claimed to speak for. The truth is there and should be sought...but I could not find it in Kings or the Bible that day...and there is enough of these contradictions and acts of jealousy, and petty punishments of believers of said God by God, that I cannot believe that this is that God described who believed in the Golden Rule and whom is supposed to be the Good from which all Good and Virtue flows from.
