The VT Tragedy

I look at it and think what are the issues here. The VT gunman was made fun of because of his accent and he hated rich people and I think what he said was insightful, but his actions where not good but what was tormenting him was insightful at least.

He was made fun of because of his accent growing up. That must have been very hurtful and he must have hid the pain for a long time, it must have really broke his heart.

Who would do such a thing? How about White Rich kids? They again where what he was oppressed by day after day. When he got hurt he bottled it up and it finally spilled over in a rampage.

I think humanity is sinful and this is the White cultures sin, we don't take diffrence and celebrate it. If someone talks diffrent, eats diffrent, or speaks a diffrent language or has a diffrent skin tone. We avoid such people or make fun of them. It is a problem that we have as a culture.

Diversity was held up probably by white people, because in the spirit of political correctness they wanted to appease "other" non-white people and say look we will support you and your culture. Let's have diversity and celebrate and everybody will go home happy.

Well white people do a good politically correct job to appease non whites. But seriously, we need affrimitive action for all non-white people, because the privilages that I have as a white person my friends don't totally have thats why their living in apartments and I have a house to live in. The privlages that I have as a white person is asstounding and the benifits that I have because i'm white, like the ability to borrow and take out loans for a house or the ability to invest, and i have quick access to resources, that my non white friends don't have and I don't experiance that much racism even though im disabled. Plus i'm not a women. That is a plus too.

So that is why every non white person should get extra benifits automatically in every situation. If society did this we could be equal. But society doesn't and even the Bush administration tried attacking affirmative action. For all my non white friends they need those benifits in every area of their lives. And I see the desparity bettween our lives and I hate it.

The VT shooter was right, our nice cars and our trust funds and all that bull of the white desporatic culture wasn't enough for us was it? We have to shame diffrence and be so induvidualistic that we don't even reach out to others who are different. It's something to think about that needs addressing in this society and until we take a look at ourselves and our own human condition we won't go anywhere.

What I learned today

A82: oh my gosh

Kb:  what?

A82: im hearing a sermon on song of songs

A82: and

Kb:  ?

A82: i can see why my friend didn't like it

Kb:  What is being said

A82: well hes reciting the song of songs

Kb:  okay why would your friend object to that?

A82: i am offended by it

A82: i know why she would be

Kb:  Why are you offended by it>

A82: um

A82: it is comparing

A82: the women to an animal

Kb:  oh, well that's pretty common in ancient lit

A82: oh

A82: its offenisive to hear

A82: but why was it common

Kb:  Basically no one thought women had reason...so they were irrational like animals

A82: oh shoot

A82: thats horrible

Kb:  Just the way it is

Kb:  You can't let stuff like that bother you so much

A82: well okay, so in ancient times i would take sexuality and my equivelent of love and my relationship to my supirior or my wife and reduce that to treating her like a wild animal

A82: like why didn't men know

Kb:  Not like a wild animal...women were probably treated a lot better in fact then in rhetoric

A82: okay

A82: then tell me the diffrence between the two

Kb:  Well, so the rhetoric basically says that women are completely irrational foregin creatures the ultimate other but in practice you know they probably knew a lot of women and women probably had a lot of say in the house

A82: well then why have such debasing retoric

Kb:  because, it helped contruct masculinity. I imagine

A82: how did it help construct masculinity?

Kb:  It created women as the imagine of everything a man was not

A82: so it created everything man was not

A82: and it allowed a distructive image

Kb:  Yeah, what is really interesting is that rhetoric about women really parrelles rhetoric about barbarians

A82: thats intriguing

A82: wow

A82: so women where like barbarians

Kb:  well they were portrayed very similiarly

A82: so this means, that women where degraded in the retoric, and they where treated like barbarians because a male dominated system had it's interest in keeping her down

A82: or keeping her in a submissive state

Kb:  Yeah, and Greek men had a lot invested in degrading barbarians as well

A82: why did the Greek men degrade barbarians'

A82: why did they invest so much time

A82: because they thought like the Romans they where uncultured

A82: or was it just culture

Kb:  yes and no...I am tempted to think it was mainly economic

A82: oh

A82: tell me about that

A82: why was it economic

A82: or mainly economic

A82: whats the backround

Kb:  Well, they were competing with the barbarians for territory ect. if barbarians were effeminized it would make it easier to subjugate them

A82: okay

A82: so same thing with women

Kb:  yeah

A82: it was mainly economic then

A82: they needed terriotory to cover

Kb:  well I am not convinced but that's my theory

A82: and it was mastering women's bodies and minds, so that they could have control of their economic recoursces, or what they produce

A82: label it women's work

A82: and then

A82: they have control of that recource

Kb:  yeah

Kb:  sweetie I have to sleep I am sorry

A82: okay

A82: but thank you

Kb:  we will take soon thought okay

Kb:  np

Okay so we just learned that the Song of Songs compared women to animals, and that comparison had an impact on the society in ancient times. And that impact had a limiting effect on women at the time. And we keep looking at this old text and we say that this is a love relationship between two lovers or metaphorically speaking between humans and God.

WHAT? And then we make out God to be the animal that is bent to our will or is submissive or below us. One could reach that conclusion if one thought that this text was a love relationships between humans and God. It then would degrade God just like it degrades women.

Why don't we think in society? Why do we sit back and except old male dominated motifs even if it’s in scripture to lead us to allow male domination to continue instead of equality?

Easter Thoughts

There is a sense that on Easter we celebrate Jesus’ death or we celebrate a bunny that came in the form of our parents to give us chocolate eggs. But Christ is the reason for this holiday. And he is as close to me as a brother or a relative. And why? Because Christ loved me more than I can describe in words.

Read these words from Luke 15(TNIV):

 The Parable of the Lost Son

 11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.

    13 "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

    17 "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.' 20 So he got up and went to his father.
       "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

    21 "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

    22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

    25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'

    28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'

    31 " 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

Well people can gloss over this story and say what a cute story, what does it have to do with me and Jesus, well it has to do a lot because it describes God’s relationship with us.

In peasant culture of the time, the family worked together as a unit. Christ gives us a description of the most immoral, unthankful, little wayward @#$%^& that he could describe of his time. You have a son that says, Father I hate your guts, please liquidate your assets in the farm and go sell it as a future so that I can get money and do what I want with it. That would be a bad thing, knowing after all what your parents have done for you, to say I don’t love you anymore, I wish you where dead. But the father amazingly does that. So the son goes off and squanders his wealth and then becomes poor. So he attaches himself, because he is poor to a farmer who doesn’t care for him, so he tells him to go feed pigs. Pigs are unclean animals, and to a Jewish person this would be shocking and the audience would hate him even more for being in the state he is in. So the son finally comes to his senses and says to himself, that he will go back to his father and say “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.'  So he starts walking back to his community.

In peasant culture, what would come next would be shocking by today’s standards the son would get back and immediately the children of that community would come up beside him and spit on him and jeer at him and curse him for what he did. This would be public humiliation. Then when he got back to his father, his father would whip him bloody 40 lashes and maybe if he was inclined to some type of compassion he would then, after he disciplined the son, then treated the son like a slave and had him work for him for the rest at a low wage because the son could never repay what he did when he got the father to liquidate his assets. This act that the father did would be sufficient to defend his honor and he would be justified in doing so.

But it doesn’t turn out that way at all. the verse says, "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

This is a violation of culture here or peasant culture. In peasant culture, you wouldn’t want to run or show any part of your skin or legs. This makes sense even in the 1850’s. The feminists of the time wanted to where looser clothing, so they decided to make shorts that where exposing their legs and skin. They stopped doing that and went back to traditional dress because they got jeers and taunts by the men who they passed by.  Similarly, in peasant culture it was a taboo to show any skin even your legs, the priests would makes sure that even when they sacrificed an animal and their long robe would be drenched in blood, that they wouldn’t show any part of their legs. It in other words was taboo.

But the father risks that because it says “while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” The father would have had to do a taboo thing and show his legs while he was running because he would have to lift up his robe. This was taboo. Secondly, this father kissed his son. He could of said, I know where you have been and you disgust me but the Father didn’t he kissed him repeatedly. The son is shocked and is able to get only a few words out of his mouth.

21 "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

The best robe that the father had would only be used on special occasions like weddings and funerals. And to kill one of you best animals for the wayward son that is unthinkable. To even put your ring on him, that also is unbelievable. It represents that your proud to have your son in your life and that your allowing him to have your authority and power.

But again the lost son’s brother doesn’t like this.

    25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'

    28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'

    31 " 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

The brother who was supposed to be there to protect his younger brother wasn’t. So he like the Pharisees of the time would argue that since they obeyed all the fathers’ rules they should be the one who would get rewarded. But the Father says, in effect yes I know you have been faithful and that is good, but we have to celebrate, because essentially your brother was lost but now he is found.

What is left out of the story is the older brother to avenge his father’s honor would then kill his father.

This story is a parable about what Christ did for us. We are all terrible sinners and he loved us, so much that he went against all cultural norms committing taboos so that, we could be in his presence. He loved us that much, that he was willing to die or willing to serve instead of be served, he was willing to come into this world as a helpless infant and then go against society, so that we could be with him and love him. He loves us that much and I feel that this Easter we should be reminded of such a wonderful savior and what a wonderful friend.

This is why the bible says tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of heaven before the teachers of the law, because grace is at a premium and Christ has mercy on our condition and us in life.

What I wish all men would know.

There are several things I want men to understand about women. There are many myths out there in society and I think as a review we should go over some of these like

Men think women are impossible to understand

My father said this to me, in fact he straight up told me in 2003. “You will never be able to understand women Aaron. I was offended by his comment and thought he was wrong. I remember praying to God at a retreat in Main in 1994. My prayer was “God please make me wise like Solomon.” I wanted to have wisdom and I wanted understanding, with that in mind I said in 2003. “God help me understand.” I knew that women could be understood. I knew I could know and I started taking women’s studies courses to find out. I was at an age where I doubted my father, and what he said, I thought that in essence women had something to say and by understanding women it would be like understanding another language or culture.

Men if you have girlfriends or wives you must like with your significant other in an understanding way (1^st Peter 3:7)

When men are providing for women we feel that is all we need to do, it’s not. The stuff we might give to show our love, it’s really not about that. If men think that’s all they need to do is provide their way off track.

Men need to have “Love and affection” toward their significant other or friend. This goes beyond sex. In fact if you got rid of your sex drive and just did this, encouraging, uplifting and blessing your significant other without wanting anything from her except her best. Men if you desire to want your significant other to be the best she can be encourage her in her quest with Christ.

Above all, if you’re married, or live together this is a must. This means men doing tasks around when you come home that your significant other needs done in the house or if you’re just dating this includes encouragement at this stage. But if you live together it is your duty as a guy to do the dishes, clean up after dinner and if you have kids take the kids or baby out of your wife’s hands for the entire night for half of the week. During this period the husband should encourage their wives to read, study or hang out with her friends. I prefer women be given time to have a “room of their own”

Having a “room of one’s own” giving a wife time to do her artwork, or study or whatever she does to cultivate herself. This is essential because not only will this give her time to think and be cultured but it will her thinking time in how the family should be lead, which is essential if you have kids.

Understanding equal household duties is essential to understanding your significant other and is also good if you want to try and have equality.

Another myth is that women are inferior to men. This myth many men still hold even today unfortunately. When God said that women should be a helper he didn’t mean that she should cook clean and do the dishes. No God’s intention was that our wives, girlfriends and women friends be a mirror to us men. It is a women’s duty to a man by how she reacts to a man to show and reflect to a man at how much like Christ he is. Men take your cues from your significant other on how well your doing. Since women more often than not pursue righteousness, it is their duty to show men how to be like Jesus, and it is a man’s duty to take her suggestions and cues and follow her leading.

I hear a lot of stories today of women pursuing the social services whether volunteering or helping out in organizations that benefit humanity. I rarely hear guys doing this. So men take a women’s leading and become more like Christ.

Another thing in regards to our male dominated society and in secular society a man’s relationship to women. Two things:

In regards to teenage pregnancy, I did some research and found that Black Teenage mothers who have had children out of the union of marriage did so because they did not have parents or fathers in their lives to give them “love and affection” as children and so they searched for it and they thought “if I had a child it will give me love and affection and I can get my needs met.”

So men, do you call a women who has sex with a man a whore, loose, prostitute, skank or a slut. I beg to differ. She is not any of those labels but you choose as men to call her that while, you use her, abuse her, and while you violate her very being and spirit, all because she did not have the love of parents and especially a father who would lavish “love and affection” on her and lift her spirit up. You ought to be ashamed of having taken her body and spirit and depleting it. Instead you should have taken the role of building her spirit up. Then you would have a strong women of God, who you could admire, look up to and have someone to teach you. Be ashamed of yourself for what you do is not only despicable but also inhumane and is the worst crime that you can do against humanity because it leads to other crimes of negligence that you participate in like negligence of your women friends financially, which often can lead women to get an abortion, because you ignore them and thus offer no social support monetarily because you only care about yourself. How evil

Another boring day

Hey everybody, did you ever realize how far male domination actually goes in society. Well the way I see it is male domination goes down to the point of men actually wanting respect for certain issues. I talked with a friend and he gave me an example. Say I have a good looking sister and my friend wanted to date her. It is out of respect that he would come to me and ask permission, to me before he would actually go to her and ask her out. Thats one issue, the same would go for friends who had girlfriends that their no longer dating, the former guy who dated the former girl would need the other guy who is interested her to ask the former guy if he could date the former girl out of respect.

Now I was told by my guy friend that this goes similarly with girls too. But I have a suspicion it doesn't. See in all actuallity it sounds like to me that women end up being the site on to which men negotiate their bodies and to me that even if it is considered respect is a little bit more like control. If society should be free then why in the world would I have to ask permission. I know it's respect folks, but really it sounds more like the respect is the exange of currency being women between men.

I wonder then do women have a "choice" but to be pawns of men. You see this senerio just makes me actually gasp at the freedom women actually have in the society to be themselves. If men demand respect then what is left of the women's voice, if women are a man's pawn then what is left of freedom but freedom ends up becoming slavery and it becomes negotiation of women by men.

I don't think Christ actually came to this earth, lived a holy life teaching us to be righteous and teaching us to respect sinners like female prostetutes and tax collectors giving them grace and mercy and respecting their induviduality and personhood for society to just say then well we know Christ was a liberator but instead now I guess we will enslave and control others and damage society and people and for that matter of fact control half the population leading them in to bondage. Men wake up! Do something about your sinful behavior and repent. Or else it will be worse for you on the judgement day.