Confrontation is Not Deadly

Confrontation. Not my favorite word, and definitely not, by any means, my favorite pass-time. So when it comes to dealing with people, I tend to completely avoid and get minor panic attacks at the mere thought of a "confrontation" with anyone!
Well, since it's too late to call my mom to have her praise me for my bold move tonight, I decided I'd write about it... lame, I know :-) But I had to tell someone! Most of you wont think it's a big deal and may even think I'm a big chicken (which I am) for not saying anything before. So here's the story... I have some roommates-- 4 to be exact-- and all girls. Makes for interesting times, that's for sure. Needless to say, I'm slightly afraid of 2 of them. They are completely intimidating. They're super nice to your face and I actually really enjoy hanging out with them... it's when you're not around them that's the problem and it becomes a passive-aggressive and super-tense-and-awkward time. Well, I have bit my tongue enough times when they do things that my tongue is bruised :-P Tonight, I finally got enough courage to talk to one of my roommates about one of the biggest issues I have with her! It was not a fun experience, but definitely needed and was actually productive. We both said what we needed to say, and we reconciled and it was over. No blood was drawn, no voices were raised... it was not the bloody battle I was envisioning. Confrontation is scary but definitely not deadly! That's just what I gotta keep telling myself. "It'll be okay, no one's going to freak out and hate me because I say something. They might even appreciate me talking to them!" I'm still working on confronting people and speaking my mind when I have something negative or hard to say. People want honesty and openness. I want it of other people so why can't I do it for them? It's going to be a long and painful process (panic-attacks... no fun!) but it will make me a better person in the end. Whew! I feel so relieved! Now all I have to do is get my heart rate down enough to go to bed.

What is the Trinity?

So I had my religions class today and we started our discussion on Christianity. More specifically, we started talking about the never-complicated subject of the Trinity--WHOA! When I was reading our book, "Christian Theology" I was confused at some points and I've grown up in the church and have somewhat of a grasp of what the trinity is and how it functions.
It did help me see, however, how other religions do not believe Jesus is not God. Until now, I never understood how people couldn't believe this-- "of course Jesus is God!" When looking at it that Jesus was a man so how can he be God really got me thinking. It's a pretty heavy subject and I am not about to try to explain it here.
The biggest and most interesting discussion we had in class today was the fact that the Bible only mentions the trinity (but not called the trinity in the Bible) as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in two verses in the whole Bible! The discussion arose, inevitably, that what if the idea of the trinity was just a man-made idea and we got it totally wrong? That we misunderstood what it meant by the Father/Son/Holy Spirit relationship? No one had a very good answer. They either answered "just because" or "I don't know."
So I started thinking to myself, what would that do to our theology? Our beliefs? I had a discussion with one of my pastors recently about this very subject (about theology changing, not the trinity). We both read the book Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell which I've talked about before, and in it he talks about how people put too much emphasis on the theology of Christianity and miss the big picture. He proposed the idea of (this is definitely a paraphrase) what would it do your faith if you knew that the word used for virgin regarding Mary not only meant someone who hadn't had sex, but also a woman who had had sex only once? And what if it could be proven (by some super-duper sci-fi gizmo) that she was the later definition of virgin? What would that do to your faith? Would it discredit the Bible? Is our faith solely based on theology instead of the message of the Bible? This is just what was going through my mind today during class and I thought I'd share it with everyone. What are everyone's thoughts? Ideas? Insights?

Prayer Warriors

Recently, the discussion of homosexuality has been very prevalent in the conversation I've been having, articles I've been reading, blogs I've read, podcasts I listened to, etc. All of a sudden I have realized I don't know what I believe and why I believe it. The two major issues that the churches of my past have shoved down my throat is that of homosexuality being a sin and abortion being wrong. (Relax, this post is not about abortion... I don't even want to go there!) Anyway, I decided I should make my own mind up about what I believe and be knowledgeable enough to tell others about what I believe and why. I'm usually not very strongly opinionated, but I feel that I should have a strong, solid, educated opinion on the issue of homosexuality.
Coming from a Christian, yet open-minded, family, I have heard both sides of the issue. I have heard what my churches had to say and what my parents had to say. We had long discussions over dinner and in the car about homosexuality. I know what my stance is, but I want to be more educated when I state what it is! I want to be able to engage people in a discussion about it and be able to give them answers and possibly a different perspective on the issue.
Anyway, on the start of my knowledge-journey, I went to the library to look at what books they had in stock to read about Christianity and homosexuality. You'd actually be surprised how many books there are! So I checked out a bunch and here's a little blurb on what I just finished reading:

I just finished reading a book today called, Prayer Warriors: The true story of a gay son, his fundamentalist Christian family, and their battle for his soul. I was really excited to read it because, for one, I enjoy stories and novel-like books as compared to textbook, history-like books (I have two sitting on my shelf waiting to be opened...), and two, I was really interested in what I would learn from this book, through one man's life and struggle with acceptance from his family.
Anyway, the hate and disappointment that came from the parents made me want to scream and yell and punch them in the face. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that that is how Christians and the church tend to treat homosexuals. When Stuart (the author) came out to his parents, they got angry and told him to never come back home because he was no longer welcome. What kind of parent does that to their kid? How could love and acceptance ride on only one issue? How can people say, "I love you...what? you're gay? Never mind!"? Isn't love supposed to be unconditional? When we treat people like that, not just homosexuals, it's no wonder that people don't like Christians. How can people treat others, like one of my pastors says, like issues, not people? How can people not see beyond the issue and embrace the person behind it? My mom informed me of a woman she knows who went through this exact same thing and it took the siblings of the woman had to go against what the parents thought and said to embrace her and love her despite what they believed or thought. That's what we're supposed to do-- put aside our own agendas and love people for who they are and not focus on the baggage they're bringing along. We all have baggage and issues and sin, so no one has the right to look down on others, no matter what they believe. No one is better than another. That's what Jesus did-- he loved everyone and didn't focus on their issues or problems-- he loved them for their hearts and who they were as people.
That's when I am so excited that I am in a church where one of the pastors and one of the worship guys went to the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender) office on campus to establish a relationship with them and apologise to them for how the church and Christians treat them. What a relief!
I am still researching (I'm going to crack open the history books... it'll be a long process) and becoming solidified in my viewpoints. It's only been a few weeks in this journey of knowledge, and I've learned so much! Who knows what else I'm going to learn!!! I'll end with a quote from my pastors: "Love God and love people. That's all you have to do."

An Excuse Not to be Studying

Thanks to Paul for tagging me! I feel oh so special! This will give everyone a little more insight! Enjoy!

A- Available or married? In between... taken, but not married!

B- Best Friend? I have more than one, and they're actually girls, which is exciting :-)But those girls know me and love me just the same and I do the same for them!

C- Cake or Pie? Cake, definitely! mmm... rich, chocolate cake... now I'm hungry!

D- Drink of Choice? cranberry juice with club soda, water, cherry coke, and I'm one month away from being able to legally tell you my favorite drinks with alcohol....

E- Essential Item? My cellphone

F- Favorite Colour? Blue and red, recently leaning more towards the red side

G- Gummi Bears or Worms? You're making me choose? Probably gummi worms just cuz there's more gummi to eat... but the bears are cute... such a hard decision! ;-)

H- Hometown? Colorado born and raised! Centennial, Colorado... not very exciting... I did move from Englewood when I was 9 which is maybe a 10 minute drive at the most so it doesn't really count as changing.

I- Indulgence? If you have spent even 5 minutes with me, you know the answer-- ICE CREAM! Any kind, any brand, any way of eating! But Dreyers Mint Chocolate Chip will forever be my one true love!

J-January or February? February! That's my birthday!! (21 days and counting...)

K- Kids & names? Seeing as I'm not married... none... but someday!

L- Life is incomplete without? Friends and good food! (I am called a "chowhound" except by Michael who calls me a "chow chow")

M-Marriage Date? No time soon!

N- Number of Siblings? 1 wonderful younger sister

O- Oranges or apples? Oranges, definitely! But apples are delicious in salads!

P- Phobias/Fears? Feet-- ICK! And snakes-- they make my skin crawl (no pun intended)!

Q-Favourite Quote? "Let God be as original with other people as He is with you." -Oswald Chambers

R- Reason to Smile? Life! If you smile and laugh a lot, you can't take life too seriously and makes it a lot more enjoyable!

S- Season? Fall/autumn-- perfect weather!

T- Tag three people! Michael, David, and Dan-- this should be fun and interesting!

U- Unknown fact about me: If you've never seen me, I'm only 4' 11.5" tall-- 1.5 inches over the limit for being a "little person"-- If you have seen me (and haven't), I changed my middle name when I was 16 because I hated it so much!

V- Very rare... is a time I don't want to watch a movie or tv show-- I'm addicted!

W- Worst habit? I don't have any bad habits... but eating too much chocolate could be considered a bad habit :-)-- Michael also says that being a "kitchen nazi" is a bad habit of mine!

X- boyfriends...I have many... but I have found a keeper! :-*

Y- Your favourite food? Hamburgers, pizza, chimichangas (my mom's), chocolate, and ice cream! the list goes on and on...

Z- Zodiac? Pisces (why'd I get stuck with stupid fish..."how's that for being born under a bad sign?" [name that movie!]) You will try to take on something that is probably beyond your capabilities. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be prepared to bring in the help you need to pull it off. Money can be made if you think matters through properly. 3 stars-- I don't think I understand... but it is a 3 out of 5 star day,so that's always good! Yeah for the college newspaper!

Shadows Predict the Future

Happy Groundhog Day! I had a discussion with one of my roommates this morning about who originally had the idea for watching a little rodent-like animal crawl out of the ground on a random day and ask it to predict the future by looking for it's shadow. I think alcohol was definitely involved! Anyway, I saw on my little news post on my homepage-- that's how I get my news... who reads newspapers anymore?-- that the groundhog didn't see it's shadow so spring is coming early this year! For once I hope that stupid rodent is right! I am really tired of this cold and snow. It was 0 degrees outside this morning when I got up! No good! But seriously, of all the animals... why a groundhog?