WHO CARES if we're Christian!

Are Mormons Christians? Holy CRAP I'm tired of this one.

Does it really matter what the world calls us? Does the title matter? I don't mean to make this a blog entry consisting entirely of questions - none of which are hypothetical - but seriously now. General Conference talks have been based on this. We're all very concerned about the rest of the world accepting us into the realm of Christendom.

Let me ask you something: Is the title of Christian requisite for admission into God's Kingdom? I get that, without this understanding, conversion for those who belong to other Christian denominations might prove rather difficult. But it's hardly central to salvation to have the title.

The fundamental belief of all Christian people is that Christ is our savior. To us, it's rather obvious.

To others, not so much.

But does it matter what others think? If the Gospel is true and we know what we teach and believe in, what does it matter?

I worry this is too much a PR move. We've a long, glorious history of ostracism, persecution, and other such lovely things. People like to spit that we believe in a "different" Christ - and we laugh. A different Christ? How many could there possibly be?

Other churches see us as cultish. Our doctrines are not only strange to many but border on blasphemous (if not entirely blasphemous). This hurts our image. We want common ground to help our image so we can be of better good in the world. I understand that.

What I don't understand is how much energy we've spent on the subject. Please like us. We believe in Christ, too. Look! It's in the name of our church (and while we're on the subject, just where is Christ's name in your church?). We're taking the defensive role where there's really no reason for it. Our penecostal or evangelical (or even Catholic) friends will not be the ones to let us through the gates of heaven. Why we act like they will be is beyond me.

Why expend so much energy in trying to convince others otherwise? Yes there's plenty misinformation out there - people will believe anything negative about us, but this whole idea of jumping up and down with the proclamation that we are Christian too (RU Christian 2?) seems a little needless and silly.

Face it. We are not part of the mainstream Christian group. We don't believe in the Trinity, we believe God has a body, we believe Christ came to America, that baptism is essential and we put more emphasis on works than do other Christian churches (this is especially offensive to them, though it is largely misunderstood). Hell, there is unofficial speculation that Christ likely married. These ideas are seen as heretical and are thus rejected by mainstream Christians, and that is why they don't believe us to be Christian.

I just can't get rid of the image of a bunch of kids out in the playground, some calling one child "stupid" or a "baby." Does the name calling make it so? No. If we are secure in our own standing with God and his Son, than all we have to do is smile and say "Well, go ahead and think that. I know who I am and who I worship" and walk away.

So let's get over it. Let's preach about more important things. Let's worry less about acceptance and more about our personal relationship with Christ, shall we?


(bytheby, I may not post much if at all this weekend as I won't be home very much. I hope everyone has a good one!)

What's that golden rule thing again?

I can't believe this was deleted. Sorry to my commenters - I have no idea what happened.
* * *


Anyone heard? Barack Hussein Obama won’t drop his middle name - GOOD. Nobody else has over the past two years, why the hell should he?

But that’s not his reasoning. His rationalizations are that we need to get over our prejudices and realize that “Muslim” does not equal “terrorist.” We need to send a message to the rest of the world that we’re not all idiots, that there is change in this country, that George Bush and his administration is no longer in town. Not really.

What’s disheartening is that there are so many out there who will grumble and grouse about this, the same people who made such a point to use his middle name during the campaign season will flinch at this move….well, maybe not this move but the point in which it’s being made.

The fact that it’s even an issue says something. While the prejudices against the Muslim community are probably somewhat more mild than before - at least in my experience - it is here. It always brought to mind what happened with Pearl Harbor and the Japanese internment camps.

Equating a man with an untimely middle name with “terrorist” is horrifying commentary on American culture. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Let’s get over ourselves, focus less on the Muslim (and even Arab) communities at large and deal with the extremists. Arabs and Muslims are not all extremists. Let’s first understand that. It would then do us some good to try to understand the extremist mindset.

My husband took a few classes on genocide and terrorism over the last few years. He spoke with me about it at length (I also typed up his papers), and the real point to be made is this: Extremists are not so much insane as they have a really, really, different view on the world. We see them as insane, and by our standards they absolutely are. Too many people do not want to see these extremists as human, though. You start humanizing people and - gasp - you start feeling a smidgen of compassion. Psssh, stupid liberals.

But we cannot change nor defend ourselves against that which we do not understand. It feels better to call them terrorists and dehumanize them because that is exactly what they’ve done to us. A little research into our own little domestic terrorists, be they the Una bomber or even kidnappers, murders and rapists will tell us that the best defense against those who would hurt us is to make them see us as human.

It’s actually one of the more important aspects of rape defense. You start talking about your family, whose waiting for you at home, what your favorite color is, etc. You fight like hell to get that person to see you as human because at that moment they do not and it is much easier to hurt that which you do not empathize with. It’s also a way they train our military - they dehumanize the enemy. They did it in WWII and in Vietnam. You’d be surprised to hear how many of our soldiers do not have the courage to pull the trigger. The military gets their soldiers over that by dehumanizing those they target.

I fear most in power get this bit of wisdom but don’t want to understand. They want to hurt, and so do we. We want revenge. We want to torture. I get that. I feel it. But it’s childish. It isn’t right - and what’s that Christ says about loving our enemies? I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t be okay with how we’ve acted. Treat others the way we’d want to be treated. Compassion might seem like more tree hugger philosophy, but it works. As a Christian people, shouldn’t compassion trump carnal desires? Seriously. I wonder about some of my more conservative counterparts when it comes to this stuff. Is it just mere convenience to forget about those the thousand stripling warriors were defending? those who loved their enemies so much they laid down their weapons and resigned to death instead (See Alma 24:17)? We’re always admiring them in Sunday School. I’m not suggesting this is what we should do - we should absolutely defend ourselves, but the fact that we speak of these people in reverent tones and then forget about it once church is over tickles me to death. Is it that we really think that compassion is only for the dude who cut us off in traffic the other day…? I don’t know.

For real homeland defense, we need to get over our prejudices and start understanding our enemies. We need an ounce of compassion or we cannot expect to get any in return. There are books abound written about this. The most recent being promoted is Michael Alexander’s “How To Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq “

If you want a transcript/story of a recent interview with the author, go here - even Fox News’ Sean Hannity can't seem to get around this guy. It's fabulous.

I’m thrilled Obama takes pride in his name and wants to make a point. Good for him. I’m so proud to have voted for this man. He’s already changing things for the better, and the timing couldn’t have been better. People are ready. I am.



This post has also been submitted to Mormon Democrats where I am a contributing blogger.

'Tis the Season for Political Correctness

I'm taking a break from Prop 8 stuff. For now, haha.

I received an email the other day from my dad. He never fails to send me the funniest damn emails on the planet, but sometimes he'll send some thought-provoking or one of those that attempt to tug at your heart strings. I'll freely admit when it comes to such emails I cut my heart strings.

Anyway.

Yesterday's was a statement from Ben Stein. You know Ben. "Bueller....Bueller...Bueller...Bueller..."

He's an incredibly intelligent man with the incredibly monotonous voice. I think he even hosted a TV show on Comedy Central.

Anyway.

If you didn't know already, the man is Jewish - and it's getting to be that time of year for Hanukkah.

And Christmas.

And Kwanzaa.

And Winter Solstice.

For years upon years, the day after Thanksgiving gave us license to walk along snow powdered streets and greet each passerby with a cheerful "Merry Christmas!" and nobody gave a crap. In fact, they probably said "Merry Christmas!" right back at ya.

Because it's that time of year.

Cities erect Christmas trees in their downtown squares, garlands, lights, etc. It really is a neat time of year.

Then, some years ago, a group of people started getting pissed off. "I don't celebrate Christmas, I'm Jewish! Say Happy Holidays!" (and no, I'm not blaming the Jewish people for this)

Before you know it, everyone is in a fuss. Walmart insists on saying "Happy Holidays" and so some of their customers boycott the business during this season - and if they don't, they puff up their chests and spit "Merry Christmas" right back as if to make some point.

Some businesses, for "tradition's" sake, insist on saying "Merry Christmas" and refuse the more generalized "Happy Holidays" because they won't be caught dead being politically correct.

And suddenly, the coolest, prettiest, friendliest time of the year has turned ugly.

GET OVER IT.

I know, I know. For so long people accepted that Christ was the "reason for the season." But as some - perhaps most - of you know, Christmas has its roots in paganism. Not Christ's birth, not at all. Most biblical scholars will tell you Christ was absolutely not born in the dead of winter. I might get more into this later.

Like most holidays (Easter included), Christmas has many paganistic symbols. I mean, you can explain away the star on top of the tree (the star that led the "three wise men" to Christ), you can explain away the gifts (the wise men offered gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the newborn Christ), but the tree? Stockings?

Santa Claus?

Come on now.

But I digress. Again.

'Tis the season also for our Jewish friends to celebrate the miracle of Hanukkah, for some of our African-American friends to celebrate their heritage/culture with Kwanzaa, for our heathen-pagan friends (sarcasm alert) to celebrate the shortest day of the year.

Should we really put up a fuss about how we choose to greet one another?

I don't think so.

If someone said "happy Hanukkah" to me, I'd smile and return the greeting. It's the intention behind the words, people.

I don't really care what someone says to me. To stomp my feet and throw a tantrum in the insistence that people say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" is rather childish. I'm just glad someone's in the spirit of the season. To say "and a happy holidays to you too" or "and a merry Christmas to you" is kinda like flipping someone the bird. Get over yourselves. Just return it. They were being nice.

Really. We should cut the crap. It's distracting. You people ruin this time of year for me with your whining. I know it's not "cool" to be politically correct, and I like to make fun of PCisms too, but this is just ridiculous.

Not everyone celebrates Christmas.

Not everyone who celebrates Christmas does so because of Christ.

Some people don't even believe in Christ as the Son of God, but they believe in God, so they celebrate Hanukkah.

Some people think all that religion crap is lame and they'd rather leave it alone entirely and celebrate the time of year.

Hell, some people don't even celebrate holidays period, like our Jehovah's Witness friends. They are hep to the pagan roots and want nothing to do with them.

(and yes, I actually do find it rather lame and silly to call city Christmas trees "holiday trees." They can have a city Menorah if they want. Really. Get over it.)

I don't believe in insisting we greet one another in one way or the other, but to do it one way or not do it one way as a matter of making a point is, again, lame. We can at least recognize that this is a special time of year for those who don't believe in Christ. Be kind. Just smile and nod if that's all you can do. Leave people be.

So Happy Holidays everyone. Whatever holiday it happens to be you're looking forward to, I hope it's an awesome one.