Acedia

Acedia. Sometimes referred to as the eighth deadly sin. It is apparently a state of torpor (I had to look this word up too, it's like a depressed state or something that animals experience that is slightly different from hibernation) that is characterized by not caring about your life, position, or condition in the world. It sounds a lot like depression, but it's slightly different. It was common among monks and other ascetics and can be identified by a number of symptoms.

People with acedia may report having chronic sleepiness and sickness, and they may also experience pain and weakness in the knees and limbs as well as a fever. Psychologically, people have a loss of interest in daily tasks and a dissatisfaction with life, as well as boredom and laziness. This illness, to me, sounds a lot like a combination of depression and sloth...

Another definition I found of acedia described it as a disease that is characterized by people either stuck in the future or the past. They obsess about things to come and then are faced with terror when they realize their reality is much different from what they hope it to be. Or they brood over the past and miss out on valuable life chances.

Here's how you can cure acedia, according to this website:

1. Mind your own business. Know what is in your control and accept the things that are not.
2. Make decisions, don't spend all your life debating what to do. Just take a risk!
3. Reprioritize things. Do the things that matter the most first.
4. Forgive. Recall the past and make peace with it.
5. Set small goals.
6. Practice being present.
7. When you relax, use the time to develop parts of your personality that aren't employed in your daily work.
8. Be still, silent, and appreciative.
9. Perservere.

Mainly, though, I think the way to cure acedia is to really live in every moment. Don't let the past consume you, or hopes for the future overcome you. Be fully appreciative of every moment and recognize that your struggles are teaching you something in some way. I think after that, all your worries will dissolve.

The Sex Manual for Puritans

We mentioned the book "The Sex Manual for Puritans" by Vernard Eller the other day in class. The book is outlined by the following eight chapters:

1. Everything You Always Assumed About Sex
2. Sex for Fun and Profit
3. What to Look for in a Partner
4. Foreplay
5. Positions
6. The Climax
7. Afterword
8. Long Afterward

I couldn't really find any reviews about his book, but according to Dr. Richard Armour, Eller doesn't write "about sex in a slimy, prurient way" instead, his book "keeps within the bounds of good taste, though being frank and forthright." The book is apparently "practical, positive and decent" and Eller strives to make sex "both fun and funny". He basically tells us how to view sex in a "Christian" way.

According to Eller himself,
"God’s commitment, the character of his original creation, the thrust of this work in history, and the magnetism of his purpose and goal—all are in the direction of man’s becoming more human rather than less so…Sex can be human and humanizing because it can be a vehicle for expressing love.” He sees human beings as channels through which God's love can be expressed. 

The main purpose of his book, as I understand it to be, is so that, in the midst of a civilized Puritan society made up of people who are "deprived of this literature solely on the basis of a religious-philosophical prejudice," they can finally learn about sex without having to address the feelings of guilt that go along with owning a "sex manual." Eller makes this manual exclusively for Puritans so that they may go along with answering their pressing questions in a way that God would not frown upon. You can take a look at the book here.

Faith Healing

Faith healing is essentially how Christians believe someone can be cured from an ailment. They believe the "curing process" involves prayer and rituals that bring a divine presence and power to the ill person.

However, the sick person is often times not cured by "faith healing" and some deaths even occur. In May of last year, a 17 year-old boys appendix burst, but instead of taking him to the hospital, his parents had him anointed with olive oil and prayed over. The boy stayed in bed in agony for several days before he died. And this isn't the only case. The trend of "faith healing" as been going on for several decades, and it is usually by people of the Followers of Christ Church. Parents who chose to "faith heal" instead of taking their kids to the doctor are often convicted of manslaughter, as was the case when a sick infant was denied medical care by his parents in 2011.

It is extremely sad to me that these people think their religion is ordering them to neglect medical care. It's even more unfortunate that, on top of dealing with a dead child, these people also have to deal with being convicted criminals of murder. Hopefully more people will start to realize that medical care can actually make a difference with sick children, and maybe God would have wanted it that way.

Dirk Willems

In class the other day, we addressed Dirk Willems briefly. I thought his story was fascinating so I wanted to do a little more follow up research on him!

Apparently, Dirk was born in the Netherlands and was baptized in his older years, therefore going against the norm of infant baptism. To enrage the Catholics and Protestants even more, he practiced adult baptism in his home. He was condemned in 1569 by the Roman Catholics and arrested. He was sent to a prison that used to be a residential palace, but he soon escaped by fashioning a rope made of knotted rags.

From the rope, he was able to descend onto a frozen moat below and was able to walk without breaking the ice because of his emaciated state. However, a guard saw him escaping and he tried to pursue him. The guard, being much heavier, fell through the ice and cried for help. Dirk turned around and actually saved the guard's life. The guard apparently wanted to let Dirk go free, but the burgomaster reminded the guard of his oath and convinced the guard otherwise. After many trials and imprisonments, Dirk was burned at the stake on May 16th, 1569.

Dirk Willems remains one of the most celebrated martyrs of the Anabaptists, as well as a great folk hero for the Amish and Mennonites. A book titled Dirk's Exodus was later written about him in 1990.

Amish Paradise

This is a funny spoof on the Amish by "Weird" Al Yankovic that I found on YouTube. It parody's the life of an Amish person and it's pretty funny! It's not meant to be offensive towards the Amish, but I hope you enjoy his sense of humor and you can get some good laughs out of it!:)

Rumspringa

Today in class we talked about the Amish and their tradition of Rumspringa. I found an awesome video that details it all, and even though it says it's 8 minutes, you really only need to watch the first 4 (the rest of the video is a song spoof).

Here's the basic rundown of the tradition:

Rumspringa is a rite of passage and coming of age that is equivalent to that of the college experience for American teens. It has no set age or time period (that is determined by the parents) but it is characterized as a period in which an extended amount of time is spent away from the parents. Amish teens enter the "English" community and are free to experiment with drugs and alcohol and party like American teens. After this period is over, the Amish teens have the option of being baptized back into the Amish community, or leaving their friends and family forever and choosing to live in the English world.

The decision may seem easy enough, but here's the catch: the entire Amish community will shun you forever if you choose to leave. There is tremendous pressure to reenter the community from family and friends, as well as the thought that they need to be good role models for their siblings. The teens also fear losing such a tight-knit community, going to hell if they don't return to the Amish way of living, and facing guilt for the things they did during rumspringa. If they do decide to leave the community, their parents are still allowed to talk to them. They don't approve of their decision but they try to accept them nevertheless.

Only 10% of Amish teens decide to join the English world. I suppose it is important for them to get a taste of the world outside of their own and they must be given the freedom to decide on their own. I honestly think all religions should mirror this way of being. For example, we are born into a certain family with certain beliefs, but we shouldn't feel trapped or obligated to be "Christian" or "Muslim" all our lives. If all teens were given the opportunity to experience new religions and ways of being outside of their own community, then I think the world would be a much more tolerant place.

Unfortunately, blogger won't let me upload the video that I found from Youtube. You can access it by following this link.

Westboro Baptist Church and Bombings in Boston

Last Monday, a horrible tragedy struck Boston. Two crudely fashioned bombs were detonated at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing 3 and injuring 175 runners. This seemed to hit home for me: both my sister and Dad were in Boston on Monday, and although neither of them were hurt, the terror evoked on that day seemed very real to me. In a time when everyone is shaken by this act and in the process of mourning, there are people who see it differently.

The Westboro Baptist church are these people who see it differently. According to an article by Steven Nelson titled "Westboro Baptist Church Plans to Picket Boston Funerals", the members of the church "celebrated this carnage" and claimed that it was God's way of punishing the same-sex marriage that was first made legal in Massachusetts. They plan to picket the 3 funerals of those who were killed. A disturbing tweet was sent from one of the members of the church saying "Westboro Baptist Church to picket funerals of those dead by Boston Bombs! GOD SENT THE BOMBS IN FURY OVER FAG MARRIAGE! #PraiseGod".

I find it incredibly disturbing that these people are preaching such hate in the name of God. When families are in the midst of painful grieving, the last thing they want to hear is that God meant to kill their loved one out of spite and revenge for granting same sex marriage. I don't understand how anyone could see God as a wrathful being who should be feared, and how anyone could find inner peace and contentment with worshiping such a being. I really hope someone stops them from picketing the funerals, this is such a disgrace to Christianity and humanity.

If God had bombed and killed their children and relatives in the Boston Marathon race, would they react differently? We must give compassion and love to those who are grieving, because it could have happened to any of us.

Find the article I got my information from here.

Baba Yetu

This post is inspired by my good friend Alyssa. In between our Junior  and Senior year of high school, Alyssa spent a summer in South Africa working at a Health Care Clinic. As a devoted Christian, she continued to attend service, where they played the Lords Prayer in Swahili before and after every service. She found the music very inspiring and the overall experience was life changing. The song is called Baba Yetu and here is a clip of it I found on YouTube:

The Weeping Madonna

The weeping Madonna statue of Fatima is on tour in the United States! This concept is fascinating to me: apparently people report statues of the Virgin Mary that appear to be crying tears of blood, oil, or scented liquids. When people see the crying statue, they often have apparitions that accompany them. However, these are mostly proved as hoaxes. In the above video, the Virgin Mary was last seen crying on Easter weekend of 2002 (I don't know when the video was made, though, so she may have cried since). It apparently is relatively easy to create a crying statue hoax, though. Skeptics point out that they even make "do it yourself crying statue" kits. The "crying" phenomenon can also be explained by tiny cracks in the statue that create condensation and give the appearance of a more "shiny" face. It may also be due to group suggestion or people's state of mind.

Either way, it is an interesting topic to ponder! Check out the video:)

People Who See Jesus In Stuff...Continued

In keeping with my last blog, I decided to do some research on this 'Jesus-sighting' phenomenon. And turns out, there's a name for it.

 

Finding religious imagery in inanimate objects is called simulacra. It occurs when people see iconic or aniconic images or symbols in nature that can be related to certain organized belief systems.

 

Christians typically experience simulacra by sighting Jesus or the Virgin Mary in their food, whereas Muslims may report seeing religious script or verses from the Qur'an in food or other natural objects.

 

Believers see them as actual manifestations of the spiritual being that was created and brought to them by miraculous forces. They think this is the work of miracles. It gives them hope and faith. Perhaps they are just seeking proof that God is out there, and trying to get their attention.

 

I found a study that said religious people tend to see faces in inanimate objects much more than nonbelievers, but this is most likely people experiencing pareidolia. Pareidolia is "a false perception of imagery due to what is theorized as the human mind's over-sensitivity to perceiving patterns, particularly the pattern of a human face, in otherwise random phenomena." The fact that religious people tend to see these patterns much more may represent the fact that they believe that we live in a world of supernatural phenomenon, and thus are more susceptible to interpreting everyday encounters as miraculous.

 

Next time you see Jesus in burnt toast, don't be afraid to speak up. You just may be able to sell that baby to some desperate religious fanatics seeking proof in miracles. 

Stuff that Looks Like Jesus

Today I thought "why don't I surf the internet a little and find things that people thought looked like Jesus?" So here it goes. If you're reading this and you've already blogged about this before, I apologize. If no one in our class has yet, then I hope you enjoy! (And perhaps you can do a little internet surfing of your own and find other pictures!)

 Jesus in a guitar! Clear as day...

 It's Jesus in a weird rotting apple!

 Mmm...Jesus shadows

 A nice dead sting ray that washed up on shore and sure as hell looks like Jesus.

 Jesus light rays!

Aww, Jesus on a kitty belly.

I got most of these pictures from the website stuffthatlookslikejesus.com. Good stuff.

K-Love radio

Do you listen to K-Love radio? I found this short video documenting the radio station's history and how it is a station dedicated to Jesus Christ. Its goal is to open people's hearts to Jesus and give hope to those who need it most. Check it out!

Jealousy

My mom and I have been talking a lot about jealousy and how it can basically be tied to most of our problems. She reminded me of the 10th commandment:

"You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s."

What is interesting about this quote is the fact that a man's wife is treated just as much of a piece of property as is his "maidservant" or "ox." After reading "When Women Were Priests," is it pretty much apparent to me that men viewed their wives as one of their possessions, and the wife was to be kept within the "private" realm and hidden from all other men.

But anyways, it is especially intriguing to think that jealousy basically gives rise to commandments #6-#9: You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

If you really think about it, murder is a product of jealousy because we have an extreme hatred for those that we think are better than us/have more of what we want.  Adultery is basically coveting someone else's wife, stealing from someone can be because you are jealous of their possessions, and accusing someone of a false wrongdoing can also be an underhanded scheme to bring their downfall that stems from some sort jealousy. Essentially, by living your life out of fear, you begin to believe and fear that your life is lacking in friendship or love or whatever it may be. By having a mindset that there is only so much of these things in the world, then you begin to feel jealous towards those who you think have too much of it. This breeds stealing, murder, adultery, and false accusations to bring their downfall.

Another interesting point is the fact that in commandment #2, God says "For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God." Does God really demonstrate such human traits such as jealousy? Even in his supposed perfection? I find it fascinating that humans chose to personify God as a being that lives out of fear, just someone else also competing for love and survival.

If we could only recognize that most of our actions and thoughts stem from fear, we could work to transcend them and live much happier and fulfilling lives. We wouldn't have to worry so much about not getting enough love.

Sin

Over spring break, my mom and I looked up the definition of the word "sin." Apparently it actually stems from the Greek word "hamartia" which literally translates "to miss the target" or "to miss the mark." The word "sin" was used in archery when someone missed the target with their arrow.

So my mom and I pondered over this newly found definition of sin. To say that someone has "sinned" really only means that they have missed the mark, or they have trailed off course in their discovery of God or themselves. A "sinner" could be someone who has an affair or who is jealous or greedy. But don't we partake in all these activities when we don't have a true sense of ourselves? Instead of living our lives out of love and compassion, we live out of fear. We fear that there is a limited amount of love in the world, and this fear translates into actions that hurt others (so that we may deny them love, and hopefully gain more love because of it). But fortunately, when you discover God/yourself, you will come to realize that the love you give is equal to the love you receive. And you will find no need to "sin" out of lust, greed, anger, gluttony, etc. So therefore we only "sin" when we stray from the "target," in which case the target is God's intended path for you to come to know yourself.

These are just some of my thoughts, feel free to interpret this definition of sin however you see fit. :)

Indulgences

Since we watched the Martin Luther movie in class, I have been especially intrigued by the concept of indulgences. Apparently, indulgences are ways you can decrease the time you spend in purgatory for your sins.

I found a website that had some pretty interesting examples of indulgences. There was one that said if you recite a prayer everyday for a month, five years will be removed from a person's time in purgatory.

Another example was given, saying that if a faithful Christian devotes 20-30 minutes each day studying or teaching Christian doctrine, they will get three years off their sentence in purgatory.

This just sounds ridiculous to me! Who is responsible for deciding what counts as an indulgence or not? It seems like the Catholic Church is using fear tactics to exert their power over the people. Indulgences are nothing more than a way to keep people dependent on the Church.

The passage I read today in "Readings in Christianity" was very fascinating to me. It was a marketing technique and sermon given by John Tetzel and it goes as follows:

"Do you not hear the voice of your parents and other deceased loved ones crying loudly and saying 'Have mercy, have mercy on me, especially you my friends, because the hand of the Lord as touched me! We are in strong punishment and torment, from which you are able to rescue us with only a little money, but yet you do not want to!' Open your ears, as the father says to his son and the mother says to her daughter, 'Why do you punish me, and are not satisfied with my flesh?' It is as if they were saying, 'We gave you birth, we fed you, we raised you, we left you our earthly goods, and yet you are cruel and hard to us. You are able to free us easily [by purchase of indulgences], but you let us lie in flames, and delay the glory promised to us."

Wow! Tetzel is appealing to people's emotions here in the biggest of ways! Apparently the church was in need of money to help rebuild the St. Peter's Church in Rome and this was the main way they went about it! It's super fascinating how gullible people can be, and good for Martin Luther for opening the people's eyes to this injustice.

Pagan Roots of Easter

Did you know the Christian Holiday Easter actually has Pagan roots? The word Easter comes from the Pagan word Eostre or Ostara who was the Goddess of fertility, sunrise, and the dawn. Apparently her sacred objects were the rabbit and the egg and her feast was celebrated on the Vernal Equinox to acknowledge rebirth. Stories were told how this Goddess would bring candy and treats to children. Ultimately the word "Easter" also correlates with the word "East" which is the direction the sun rises. Christians adopted this Pagan tradition to most likely help make the transition from Paganism to Christianity more smooth. Most Christian holidays actually have Pagan roots and revolve around the celebration of the seasons (think how close Christmas is to the winter solstice...).