Existential Punk

TypePad Technical Difficulties

TypePad is currently having TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES where i cannot respond to comments via email. i noticed about 8 comments did not post so i opened a ticket with them. They told me others were experiencing this problem and they were investigating. i had to send them the date and time i responded along with the email reply address. HOPEFULLY this will be resolved soon! So, to all my faithful readers, i apologize but wanted to let you know i was not ignoring you! i value your thoughts and would never intentionally ignore you! Thanks for your patience and understanding while TypePad figures this out.

Think Different!

'Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.'
    - Think Different at Wikipedia

Lately i have been getting a bit more visibility because of starting Queermergent back in January. A lot has been a great and joyous experience with much love and support. Yet, not all has been as positive because many very conservative Christian right wingers have been brutal in their attacks and criticisms of me and some very dear friends. i just want to clear the air a bit. First, this is my blog and my musings, rants, thoughts are all my own, and where i often process what is going on inside my soul. i do not claim to have life all figured out nor do i try to change minds. What i like to do is process my inner conversations here on my blog. i may say something today and change my mind tomorrow, next week, next year, five years from now, and so on. Or i may not change my mind on something. That's my prerogative. What i do attempt to do is challenge all of us, including myself, to think differently and to be open minded. Second, i do not represent or speak for the emerging church and/or Emergent Village. The views, opinions, thoughts, rants, musings, etc. represented here at Existential Punk are my own except where referenced by a link.

Caryn Solly, an atheist who attends Jay Bakker's Revolution Church in NYC, has this to say about being open-minded that really challenged me:

'As a left-leaning Democrat, I have often found that people misuse the words “open-minded.”  It’s a term often used to describe a liberal point of view.  Political liberals have strong opinions and often aren’t willing to budge on them.  That’s OK, and good even.  We all feel that way about many things in our lives, like the value of family or how human beings came to be on this Earth.

However, this is not what open-minded means.  To be open-minded is to free yourself from yourself.  Are you open to changing your mind?  Are you willing to let in new ideas and weigh them against what you currently think?  Are you willing to walk a new path if you find that a new idea has merit?  I find a lot of inspiration in science, and the scientific method is a process of open-mindedness.  Scientists draw conclusions from data, not the other way around.  This is what open-minded means, and to me, it is an essential part of a true spiritual journey, no matter where you started walking.'

i find that i struggle at certain times to be truly open-minded but i aspire to be, and Caryn's comments reminded and challenged me to be even more open to all this. i allow comments on my blog that disagree with me and i think a lot about what people say to me, hard or easy. What i really struggle with are those people who focus on what they believe to be wrong, un-Biblical beliefs of others, criticize those beliefs, and never focus on their own lives, what they believe in or what they might be experiencing in their own faith journeys. They rather judge others and deflect from themselves. In other words, they care only about looking at the speck in the eyes of others rather than focusing on the planks in their own eyes. We all have issues but what i find maddening is when people have an answer at every turn and don't really listen to others. This happens on both the left and the right, liberal and conservative and all the places in between. We are human and no one is immune. Yet, those who have an answer for everything and can't admit they could be wrong drive me crazy!

i am not out to convert people to my way of thinking. i do have opinions and certain beliefs. i could be wrong about many things, but i live my life as authentically as i can. i am really a lot like the definition of Apple's 'Think Different' campaign! My detractors can vilify me, disagree with me, quote me, but you will never silence me. i want to be about pushing boundaries, challenging the status quo, and help to push the human race forward with the help of the Divine rupturing my soul. So, i challenge ALL of us to THINK DIFFERENT!

Shalom!

Status Quo Christianity

Many people say Christianity has been the same for over 2,000 years and that we must follow tradition. 'G-D says it, so that settles it' is often quoted as well. BOLLOCKS in my opinion. Just because many things in Christian tradition have been around for many years, centuries even, does not mean that they are correct or what G-D intended. For me much of what passes as Christian tradition is just status quo Christianity. Watching 3 seasons of the HBO series, 'The Tudors', shows me one aspect of power plays, political and religious ambitions, and pride played out in the development of Christianity in England. If that was all true then, why would it not be true during the times the books off the Bible were written, when Christianity developed, and the Canon was created? We see it today in the USA in the political maneuverings of BOTH the democrats and the republicans. I once asked my history teacher in high school why we have to study history. She told me because history repeats itself and we must learn all the good and bad from our predecessors. That made so much sense to me and I was then able to engage my history classes with a deeper understanding and a new found appreciation. I am in no way saying there are not truths to me gleaned from the Bible. I also believe in taking the scriptures very seriously, wrestling with them and searching out what the authors' original intents within their historical and cultural contexts meant. That, to me, is taking the Bible seriously. Reading the Bible as a literal book without taking into account of seeking out what the authors might have really intended is disingenuous to them and the scriptures. U do not believe in a specific dispensation where there was only a specific time in history where G-D spoke to certain people. I believe G-D is alive and speaking to people at all times, including today. What that looks like exactly I am not sure. When I listen to music by Moby, or read a book by Kirk Vonnegut, I experience raw human emotions in a creative way that tell stories about the human condition. Isn't that what so much of the Bible is about anyways? It's not to me Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth (BIBLE) or a treatise on doctrine and theology, but rather G-D's interaction with an imperfect yet often beautiful creation. G-D is not about status quo Christianity, but authentic, gut-wrenching, radical way of life where G-D interacts with us and transforms us by rupturing our entire being. Status quo Christianity is a cacophony of ineffectual and neutering voices that perpetuates an existence rather than bringing transformation and a place of truly living. It is consumeristic and narcissistic. It is afraid of change, and is frightened and threatened by anyone who attempts to deafen this rotting cacophony. Those who try and break through the cacophony are branded heretics, apostates, and lovers of evil who are bound for hell. Please be reminded we are ALL humans, no matter what time period we lived in, and we all get gripped with pride and thirst for power. It is simply part of our commonality of being imperfect humans, no matter where and when we walked this earth.