Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Some bloggers make me so mad I want to spit nails. Some women make me so mad I usually let a few 4 letter words fly (only in my head, of course). So what happens when it's a woman blogger who makes me mad?

Don't ask.

I can't believe that there are people out there like Amanda Marcotte. Amanda is one of the contributors to the Pandagon, and the author of this little gem here.

She takes the position that having an abortion (and she does clarify that she means the actual procedure, not just the right to have one) is a moral good because women are thinking of their own well-being and the well-being of their families when they make the decision to have one.

What about the well being of the baby whose life she's choosing to end?

It seems to me that having an abortion is, in most (not all) cases, an extremely selfish act.

She says:

Women who get abortions should be recognized as people who can accurately weigh their choices and make the most moral one.

Then she goes on to laud the unsung "heroes" - the men and women who perform the abortions.

There are really no words for this kind of woman.

Blogs that link here: Pursuing Holiness, Dumb Ox News, Right Voices, and Third World County.

Posted by Amanda at 2/28/2007 01:13:00 PM 6 Comments

Monday, February 26, 2007

Amazing Grace opened on Friday, so of course I dragged my roommates along to see it that night.

I'm so glad I did. I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the audience - and their reaction at the end.

The story focuses on William Wilberforce's tireless effort to end the slave trade in England.

It's not an overtly Christian film, though it is clear that Wilberforce's faith drives what he does. At the beginning of the film, right after his conversion, he struggles with the direction his life should take. He's involved in politics already, but at this point he questions if he should remain there. He can't figure out if he should praise the Lord all the time or still work to make the world a better place. One of the greatest lines in the movie is when someone tells him, "I humbly suggest you do both."

I think that phrase was the catalyst behind all of the conviction I felt at watching this movie. Wilberforce had a dream; a dream to make the world a better place. I share that dream; I'm just too lazy to do anything about it.

Throughout the movie, I found myself wanting to do something worthwhile. I want to make a difference. Wilberforce labored for more than fifteen years before he saw the results of that work. But what a reward it was when he finally accomplished what he'd been working for!

I love the way Brent described his reaction to the movie and the convictions stirred in him:

The portrayal of William Wilberforce (and John Newton) convicted me personally of how little diligence I truly have in the Christian life. I claim allegiance to the kingdom of Christ yet fight so little for it. Instead, I try to smuggle my scraps of contraband sin in through the back door and pretend that they’re really not so bad. I hold my words when I know that I should speak because I don’t feel like a conflict that day or I pretend that sin isn’t really all that bad. At least my sin isn’t. After all, I’m still better than that guy over there.

Wilbeforce represents a life so gripped by the power of the Gospel that there is no choice but to act because even our dreams will convict us when we do not. Modern American Christians often worry about the perceived persecution we believe is coming our way, but we rarely stop to think that it could actually be more dangerous to the church if the persecution doesn’t come. We don’t live radical lives of faith because we feel as though we don’t have to.

Wilberforce stands as a larger-than-life reminder that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:14) and a rebuke that so few of us have the discipline or diligence to make a difference for the kingdom. Though we may argue that we don’t face such blatant societal evils as slavery, ceratinly abortion is no less hideous. How is it that so many of us are willing to do so little? Such was the case in Wilberforce’s day and we stand as testimony that there is indeed nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

I also loved John Newton's journey of faith throughout the movie. At this point, he's already written the well known hymn, but he's still unable to recount what he saw during his days as a slave trader. He laments that he lives with 20,000 ghosts. By the end of the movie, he can finally put together his "confession" and he utters one of the most profoundly simple lines:

Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly. I'm a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.

Posted by Amanda at 2/26/2007 09:44:00 AM 2 Comments

A Very Special Graduation

Rebecca Simpson's greatest dream was to graduate high school. After struggling with leukemia for nearly 4 years, doctors told the high school senior that she had weeks, or days, to live. So her high school, North Raleigh Christian Academy, held a special graduation ceremony for her on Friday, February 23rd.

Rebecca passed away that night.

Posted by Amanda at 2/26/2007 08:56:00 AM 0 Comments

Thursday, February 22, 2007

I think it's time for a new template. I've had this one for a good 8 months or so, and as much as I love it, I want something fresh and new. Something to go along with this new season of freshness I feel with God.

I really don't want to go with a standard Blogger template.

I really don't want to pay a designer (been there, done that...although the designer I used didn't exactly design this template, she merely wrote the code for me).

So, does anyone have any ideas? Does anyone have enough html experience that if I "design" something you could put it in html for a template?

Posted by Amanda at 2/22/2007 11:27:00 AM 6 Comments

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

I finished the book. I won't try and dissect it all in one post - Bell covers way too many topics. This post is about one particular section that really spoke to me - enough so that it brought tears to my eyes when I read it. I swear, he wrote this particular passage specifically for me.

You see, I've realized that I define my worth through the man I'm with. If a guy wants me, then I must be worth wanting. I feel special when he makes me feel special, and only when he makes me feel special. From Sex God, chapter six (emphasis mine):

Do you realize that you are worth dying for?

You don't need to give yourself away to someone who won't give himself to you. You don't need to use your body to get what you need. It's a cop out for not being a certain kind of woman - a woman of dignity and honor.

Some women only know how to relate to men by making a series of transactions. They want to be wanted, and the man wants, well, the man wants what lots of men want. So they trade. Essentially they strike a deal with men, time and time again.

I have what you want, and you have what I want, so let's make a deal. I need this, you need that.

Some women learn at an early age how to negotiate. They need to be loved, to be validated, to be worth something, and they discover that by giving a little of themselves to a boy, they get what what the need in return. It's a cycle, a pattern that can stay with them their entire lives.

Sex becomes a search. A search for something they're missing. A quest for the unconditional embrace. And so they go from relationship to relationship, looking for what they already have.

This search is about that need.

But sex is not the search for something that's missing. It's the expression of something that's been found. It's designed to be the overflow, the culmination of something that a man and a woman have found in each other. It's a celebration of this living, breathing thing that's happening between the two of them.

You don't need a man by your side to validate you as a woman. You already are loved and valued. You're good enough exactly as you are. Do you believe this? Because it's true? You have limitless worth and value. If you embrace this truth, it will affect every area of life, especially your relationship with men.

You are worth dying for.

Your worth does not come from your body, your mind, your work, what you produce, what you put out, how much money you make. Your worth does not come from whether or not you have a man. Your worth does not come from whether or not men notice you. You have inestimable worth that comes from your creator.

You will continue to be tempted in a thousand different ways not to believe this. The temptation will be to go searching for your worth and validity from places other than your creator.

Especially from men.

But you don't have to give yourself away to earn a man's love. You're better than that. You're already loved.

When you give too much of yourself away too quickly, when you show too much skin, you're not being true to yourself. When you dress to show us everything, then in some sense we have all shared in it, or at least been exposed to it. There is a mystery to you, infinite depth and endless complexity.

As the woman says in Song of Songs, "My own vineyard is mine to give." In the ancient Near East, a vineyard was a euphemism for sexuality. She is saying that she doesn't give herself to just anyone. She is fully in control of herself, and she is not cheap and she is not easy.

Your strength is a beautiful thing. And when you live in it, when you carry yourself with the honor and dignity that are yours, it forces the men around you to relate to you on more than just a flesh level.

You are worth dying for.

Those are the words that made me cry. I see myself in them. I've made bad choices because I wanted to feel loved and feel validated. I put my worth in something other than God. I still struggle with this. I don't know when I'll be able to change. It's not as easy as reading these words and flipping a switch in my brain. But it's a start.

Posted by Amanda at 2/21/2007 09:57:00 PM 1 Comments

Biblical Role of Women in Ministry

Scot McKnight has written an interesting post on how biblical our churches are in determining what a woman can and can't do.

The comments are even more interesting.

Posted by Amanda at 2/21/2007 03:11:00 PM 1 Comments

What is Love?

I'm reading Rob Bell's new book Sex God and it's incredible. But I'll write a post about it when I'm finished with it. I came across a section that I couldn't wait to share though, so here's a sample:

Love is handing your heart to someone and taking the risk that they will hand it back because they don't want it. That's why it's such a crushing ache on the inside. We gave away a part of ourselves and it wasn't wanted.

Love is giving away of power. When we love, we give the other person the power in the relationship. They can do what they choose. They can do what they like with our love. They can reject it, they can accept it, they can step toward us in gratitude and appreciation.

Love is a giving away. When we love, we put ourselves out there, we expose ourselves, we allow ourselves to be vulnerable.

Love is giving up control. It's surrendering the desire to control the other person. The two-love and controlling power over the other person-are mutually exclusive. If we are serious about loving someone, we have to surrender all of the desires within us to manipulate the relationship.

Posted by Amanda at 2/21/2007 02:00:00 PM 0 Comments

A World Without America

From 18 Doughty Street, a British, political, web-tv station:

Posted by Amanda at 2/21/2007 01:10:00 PM 0 Comments

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

This is an amazing story. Little Amillia was barely bigger than a ballpoint pen when she was born at 9.5 inches long and only 10 ounces!

Mom lied about how far along she was in order to get the docs to work to save the baby.

The medical standard is not even to resuscitate a 22-week baby, so when Sonja Taylor knew she was going into labor in October after just 19 weeks, she lied about the baby's term.

Doctors worked to delay the birth, but nine days later, they had no choice but to perform an emergency C-section, thinking they were delivering a 23-week baby.

Way to go mom!

Posted by Amanda at 2/20/2007 01:55:00 PM 10 Comments

Hooray for Legalism!

Read some open letters to Legalism:

Dear Legalism,

Thank you for making my life easier. Boy, do I owe you one. Had I never met you, I would have been forced to thoughtfully engage people and their opinions and beliefs at every turn. But after reading your book, How to Think and What to Say You Believe, I always seem to have an answer for them. What a great book!

I have been seeking ways to try and simplify my life, and what your book showed me was that I needed to instead simplify my mind.

And it was so affordable too! All it cost was a regular monthly installment of any independently formulated thought I might have for as long as I live. It’s practically free!

Just the other day this guy at my work invited me to go and share a beer with him. Before reading your book I would have been bogged down with worries like, “I’d better be careful and drink responsibly.” But thanks to your book I got to tell my friend that I would not share a beer with him because I am a Christian, and I didn’t want to suffer an eternity of damnation and torment in hell-fires with him. Then I smiled and said I loved him and would be praying for him.

Everyone knows that alcoholism is an ugly destructive force in our world. Your book goes so far as to say that everyone who drinks beer or whatever also likes alcoholism and thinks it is good, and wants their kids to become alcoholics and drive drunk too.

Thanks legalism.

Thanks to you, I know that all pleasures are off limits. Since raging, irresponsible indulgence in pleasure can be just as destructive as wildfire, you showed me that enjoying pleasure responsibly is still playing with fire, and would be just as destructive to society as using fire responsibly.

So does that mean that fire is evil too? The book only references fire as a destination for people who disagree with us. Oh well. I suppose I should condemn it just to be safe.

And last winter I stopped sleeping with my wife, because I know that people who enjoy sex support rapists and AIDS and pregnant teens and abortion and sex slaves and child pornography and all of that.

She divorced me, but that’s OK, because I still have you, and you keep me safe.

I don’t listen to music anymore, either. Now I only listen to Turning Point.

Also, I’ve had all my taste buds scraped off my tongue.

Ok, well, I just thought you’d be interested in how I was doing, and I hope you are proud of me. Thanks for everything, I really owe you one.

Love,
Ben

—————-

Dear Legalism,

Sorry, I know it’s been a while since my last letter but I have some more questions for you.

You see, I’m a member of this church, right? And it’s a great church, and everybody there loves your book (or at least says so for fear of what might happen), and we scowl and hiss at people who do things you say are evil, and at people who don’t think like you tell us, or don’t vote like you tell us, or are just otherwise too different from the way you tell us to be.

But, the thing is, I recently won an argument (with your help, of course) against this guy who lives in my building, and all of his points were insane and didn’t make sense, and directly contradicted everything you told me to say I believe.

After the argument I asked him where he heard all those ridiculous ideas, and he said that he heard them in these four books called The Gospels of Jesus Christ, which is funny because that’s what you keep claiming to be based on.

So I started laughing and he left. But a few minutes later he came back with a copy of the Bible and opened up to those four books and started reading out of them and I saw pretty soon that they did, in fact, contradict most all of what you tell me.

I felt panic creeping over me, but then I got a good look at his Bible. Whereupon seeing that it was the wrong version, I knew at once he was a heretic, and scowled and hissed until he left again.

But the doubt had been planted and would not go away. Oh, dear sweet Legalism! This feeling of doubt was so new and frightening that, for the first time since reading your book, I wasn’t able to fall asleep that night. I wish I would have never allowed him to read out of that wretched book! I can see now why you warn us so emphatically about the fatal dangers of doubt.

In my torment I turned to my own Bible, one of an agreeable version, and began reading those four books. When I saw that the same passages existed in my own superior version as well, though they were phrased with far more exegetical sophistication. Once again, I started to panic.

So, with some serious misgivings, I went to church with my neighbor. Boy, was I surprised at what I found. The pastor preached straight out of those Gospel books, and everything he said made sense and was beautiful and profound, and he didn’t even once refer to your book, or accuse anyone of boiling in sulfur. It was the first worship service I had seen in a long time that didn’t end in at least one person gnashing their teeth.

Needless to say I was pretty confused when I left.

I guess what I’m getting at is that when I started reading the Gospels with an open mind, and actually listening to what Jesus said, things started to change. Now my parents scowl and hiss at me when I come over for dinner, my old friends won’t talk to me, everything I had devoted my life to began to crumble; namely, my devotion to you.

With that in mind, I am forwarding all the bills from my therapy and psychoanalysis sessions to you, and I would really appreciate it if you would cover them, since you are the one who makes Christians like me go voluntarily insane.

Also, I would really like my soul back.

Thanks for all the laughs!
Ben

I really don't think I need to add anything to this. It speaks pretty well for itself.

Posted by Amanda at 2/20/2007 11:30:00 AM 2 Comments

Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)

I have a new favorite song.

I doubt there's a single person in the United States who has never heard the song "Amazing Grace." Everyone at least knows the first verse.

Chris Tomlin has taken that song and added a new refrain/chorus to it.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, Amazing grace

The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures

He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God, Who called me here below
Will be forever mine
Will be forever mine

You are forever mine

Chris Tomlin said, "I was doing some research on John Newton and the writing of the hymn, "Amazing Grace." John Newton wrote these lyrics as a poem for a sermon describing what God had done for him; that God had not only saved his soul, but also saved him from slave trading. That inspired me to write the simple refrain, "my chains are gone..." I also found it interesting that the familiar last verse, "when we've been there ten thousand years..." was not in the original, but added years later by another author. I have included in this version Newton's original last verse."

Today is the world premiere of the video. Watch it here.

Watch the trailer for the movie Amazing Grace.

Posted by Amanda at 2/20/2007 09:38:00 AM 2 Comments

Friday, February 16, 2007

This is a great essay written by Ace (a nonbeliever, by the way) about how people who aren't Christian shouldn't get upset when a Christian says that unbelievers go to hell.

It's a fairly common claim in religions. It's as if atheists want to be credited as being "just as good Christians as anyone else." Well, see, they're not, because, like, they don't believe in Christ. That's sort of, um, central.

I know there are Christian churches that are, let us say, de-emphasizing this whole controversial "Christ" business. "No man enters Heaven but through me" is being rewritten into the more inclusive, "Hey, man, you want to believe in me? That's cool. But I'm just one of many ways, dude. Take your pick. I'm easy, brother."

I don't want to denigrate their religion just as I don't want to denigrate more, um, textually-faithful versions of Christianity. I will say though that I think there's an inherent amount of exclusionary rhetoric in all religions, and if you stop trying to be exclusionary, you're really not providing much of an incentive for folks to come to your churches. If the Episcopaleans now believe (I don't know this) that Christ is just one of a large number of possible ways to get into Heaven, well, then I guess I can just blow off religion entirely and hope I make it through in one of those less-demanding alternative-admissions programs.

[...]

But, getting back to that whole excusionary Jesus Saves thing: We seem to have an awful lot of people who don't believe in Hell, and think Christianity is bunkum for the retarded, but who are neverthelss going apeshit crazy that people they think are deluded believe they're going to a place they don't believe exists.

Makes sense to you? Not to me.

According to Christians (and Muslims, and kinda-sorta Jews, though they're super sketchy about the afterflife, like they're hiding something), I'm going to Hell myself.

I am not bothered by this, because I accept their right to define their religion, and I accept that most religions promise rewards for the believers and punishment for the nonbelievers. I'm a nonbeliever, so, as Puddy might say, "I know where I'm goin'."

For those of you lost at the "Puddy" reference.... Here's the Seinfield clip of Puddy and Elaine. It's really funny.

Posted by Amanda at 2/16/2007 03:27:00 PM 4 Comments

Global Warming? Global bunk.

The newest buzz "issue" seems to be Al Gore's campaign against Global Warming. Everybody keeps talking about how the polar icecaps are going to melt and life as we know it will change forever.

Puh-leeze.

Did you know that the media has been talking about major climate shifts since at least 1895? HT: Laura

In all, the print news media have warned of four separate climate changes in slightly more than 100 years – global cooling, warming, cooling again, and, perhaps not so finally, warming. Some current warming stories combine the concepts and claim the next ice age will be triggered by rising temperatures – the theme of the 2004 movie “The Day After Tomorrow.”

Check out these timelines:

Read the full article here. It contrasts the media coverage of the different climate change trends the world has seen.

Posted by Amanda at 2/16/2007 03:04:00 PM 3 Comments

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.
Anatole France

Thought is the sculptor who can create the person you want to be.
Henry David Thoreau

The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
Michelangelo

With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.
Kashavan Nair

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
Elie Wiesel

Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence.
Henri Frederic Amiel

The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.
Charles Dubois

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
Helen Keller

The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.
M. Scott Peck

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.
Pearl S. Buck

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
Edward de Bono

Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.
Benjamin Disraeli

Posted by Amanda at 2/15/2007 09:04:00 AM 3 Comments

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Here's the final episode of God, Inc.

Posted by Amanda at 2/14/2007 10:14:00 AM 0 Comments

Friday, February 09, 2007

Today is a milestone for Imago Dei! Today marks 1 year of blogging. Who would have thought that when I wrote that first post last year that I would still be going strong today and have an actual readership base? I certainly didn't.

Looking back over the past year, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this blog has been absolutely integral in my spiritual growth. I'd even say that my writing has grown (although some of my most recent posts may not reflect that).

Here's to hoping I have another great blogging year!

Posted by Amanda at 2/09/2007 03:32:00 PM 8 Comments

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Most of you probably don't remember when I wrote about the HPV Vaccine last summer. In short, no one (of the conservative side, at least) is against the vaccine. What we are against is the mandatory universal vaccination of children for an STD.

Unfortunately, it looks like mandating this vaccine has started. Texas Governor Rick Perry signed an executive order on February 2nd that requires girls to be vaccinated before entry to the sixth grade.

There is an allowance for parents to submit "a request for a conscientious objection affidavit form via the Internet." But that's not good enough for me. At least the effort (if you can call it that) to keep parents in charge of their children's health is there.

Posted by Amanda at 2/08/2007 10:58:00 AM 13 Comments

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

As Friday approaches, and the day Imago Dei turns 1, I thought I'd return from my blogging absence with a post that actually fits the theme and reason for this blog.

Someone left the January issue of Christianity Today on our break table yesterday, and I picked it up because it's usually an interesting, and insightful, read. Besides, it's not any more biased than where I usually get my news (blogs).

One article in particular stood out to me. As I read it, I found myself thinking What were they thinking? There's a section called "Where We Stand" and it details the magazine's views on key issues. The first issue was, of course, embryonic stem cell research. The headline reads: Go Gently into That Good Night. Under that it says: Fear of mortality lies at the root of our bioethics confusion.

The problem is not just the immoral destruction of the embryos from which stem cells are extracted. The larger cultural issue is an ethic of immortality that undergirds the push for embryonic stem-cell research. It's an ethic that has already warped our culture's perspective and now threatens to warp our Christian worldview, too.

Quoting Leon Kass, a professor at the University of Chicago, the article says "victory over mortality is the unstated but implicit goal of modern medical science." He continues, "In parallel with medical progress, a new moral sensibility has developed that serves precisely medicine's crusade against mortality: Anything is permitted if it saves life, cures disease, prevents death."

Sherwin Nuland, a surgeon and author of How We Die, agrees with Kass. "The fantasy of controlling nature lies at the very basis of modern science...The ultimate aim of the scientist is not only knowledge for the sake of knowledge, but knowledge with the aim of overcoming that in our environment which he views as hostile. None of the acts of nature (or Nature) is more hostile than death."

It says that we are "tempted daily by that perfect apple, by promises of youth and immortality."

The priceless paragraph comes next:

The apple that's currently tempting our society is the half-million frozen human embryos created in fertility clinics. Our culture so clings to life that it is prepared to legislate taking of life at its earliest stages in order to graft it on at the end.

The solution offered by the magazine?

Preach on death's inevitability, God's providence in its timing, and its defeat in Christ. Offer classes on the art of visiting the dying and learn to comfortably converse with those grieving their loss. Post pictures of deceased church members in the church hall.

When we show in our weekly life that we follow the Way that transcends death, the larger culture will begin to see that its obsession with youth is not a celebration of life, but a rejection of the inevitable. Science and medicine, for all the good gifts they provide, will never be sure paths to human happiness.

I'm honestly not sure where to begin here. There are so many things that are wrong with this article.

Seeking cures for disease is not quite so melodramatic as seeking the Fountain of Youth. It's perfectly normal not to want to die. I'm a Christian, and even knowing what I have to look forward to, I don't want to die. Does that make me a heathen? No. Not wanting to die is nothing new. Fortunately, we live in an age where most things are treatable. You're more likely to die in a car accident than from a disease.

From a Christian perspective, life is precious. God ordained each life that's on the planet. And to try and keep that life as healthy as possible is a good thing!

And I, for one, can tell you that bringing death into full view will not make me more comfortable with the thought of dying. Death is death whether I see it or not.

Stem cell research is not about becoming immortal; it's about trying to make life as we know it better.

Posted by Amanda at 2/07/2007 07:34:00 PM 6 Comments