discussion and misc. stuff

Today, I had a chat after my ranting blog. I talked with my husband. I have never really mentioned him much on my blogs. Not for any particular reason but honestly we don't talk a whole lot about my blog and thoughts to it. I asked him if he has read it and he said no. He has some reservations about reading it and discussing it with me because he doesn't want to alter my writing. He wants me to be free to write what I feel and not to be impaired or hesitant to write anything based on what he might think. This is very nice of him. I'm not sure if it's totally accurate or not...maybe...he does know me pretty good so...hmm..
Before I get started on our discussion I should tell you that my husband is quite opposite of me. He's wonderfully optomistic. He thinks the best of people and always gives them the benefit of the doubt. He also knows much more about the bible than I do. He was raised in a christian household and attend sunday school stuff. It honestly is a topic we never really discussed much. Odd I know. Since we have been together for 13 years and married almost 9.
OK...back to our discussion.
I told him about my ranting blog. My frusteration with radical religious wacko's trying to get notches in their belt with the most recruits and flashing letters and promises of being healed or saved in some creek.
He told me to think about their intentions. Some of these people are excited and this is the way they show their enthusiasm for their faith. Some might have ill intentions but not all of them do. Some people are looking for that hope of healing and the flashing letters might just get their attention. It's different for everyone. But most importantly, they don't all have bad intentions. Just because it isn't what you are looking for doesn't mean it isn't what someone else is looking for.

Yep, that's my husband. He is better half for sure. He reminds me that there are good people and to not assume that the intentions are all bad.

So for my prior post I now realize that there is a lot that isn't for me and I'm still searching for what is me. What I am looking for and what I consider "normal" which everyone's definition of "normal" is different.


Back to something I stumbled across on a friend's facebook page and since we are wrapping up Leviticus I thought I'd get it on my blog before it's too late.




Yes, you are reading that correctly Leviticus 18:22 “You shall not lie with a male as one does with a woman. It is an abomination."

This person has so wisely (sarcasm) tattooed a verse from Leviticus that he must feel strongly that man should follow yet he chooses to ignore the following versus from Leviticus. You can't just pick and choose what to follow. It is not up to you to decide how God will judge us all in the end.


Leviticus 19:28
“‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19:15 “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
Leviticus 19:16 “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people.
“‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19:17 “‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.
Leviticus 19:18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

I guess it is so much easier to look at other people and judge them rather than to change ourselves and judge ourselves. I know I commit sins and I know that God is probably not happy with my or my thoughts but at the end of the day I know that even though I might occasionally get mad about something I would never be extreme. I would never hurt someone for being different. I would never treat others poorly because of their lifestyle, race, gender, etc. I try to love your neightbor as yourself....ok well I may fail at the love part but I mostly succeed at tolerate. :) Occasionally I'm even nice! :) Keep in mind I work in an Emergency Department and run into some less than polite individuals at some of the worst times in their lives. My "love" for others I will be the first to admit doesn't always exist in these circumstances.
I will go on and try to be a better person.

As Gandhi once said "Be the change you wish to see in the world."

I will be starting another book in the next week or so. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I still am working on A Year of Living Biblically occasionally at night and Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics.

Day 2

Day 2 of reading the bible chronologically. Today's reading was Genesis 4-5:32; 1 Chronicles 1:1-4; Genesis 6:1-22
This tells the story of Cain and Abel, some weird history of genealogy of the decedents of Adam living to be 900 years old and then the story of Noah being told to build the Ark.
Ok...on day 2 of my mission of reading the bible I'm lost already. Maybe more confused rather than lost per say. I know and get the story of Cain and Abel and of Noah but the part in between of the ancestry I don't get. I guess I'm confused because Cain didn't want to be left wandering, was banned from Eden and had to go to the land of Nod. Where he met his wife and they had kids...where did this lady come from?? So God created other people all over? I'm confused here. So was Adam and Eve just the first people he made then he made others in other places?
Then we get to all the ancestry stuff with Adam and Cain's decedents. They all lived for 800-900 years. Really? But Genesis 6 tells us god says “My Spirit will not contend with[a] humans forever, for they are mortal[b]; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

So this had me wondering who was the oldest recorded person to live. Thank You Google....it's Jeanne Calmet of France who lived to be 122 years and 164 days...apparently when you get that old you count the days too! More interesting is the fact that of the top 10 oldest recorded people 9 of them are women and the one man on the list's actual records of proof cannot be found..He could be an imposter! So God has kept his word that no man will live beyond 120 years...only women! Haha!

OK back to the bible.
Genesis 6:5 The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

So God was mad and didn't like the way they were and decided to wipe out the human race. This is also interesting and I'm sure I will understand this more later but I was under the impression that he liked us and was loving and kind? Well I guess he liked Noah so spared he and his family and all the animals (well two of each). This also makes me wonder how much those original animals have changed since biblical times. I do believe animals evolve over time...long periods of time but there is scientific proof that is happens and you can even see it in dogs for example. I just wonder what the animals on the Ark looked like. I wish there were more descriptions of them...maybe there will be.
This is where it leaves me God telling Noah to build the Ark.
I have read my "assignment" for today several times in multiple different versions. Last night I purchased a new book from Borders. The One Year Chronological Bible. This is so I can read my readings again in bed if I want. It goes along with the www.oneyearbibleonline.com chronological plan which is convenient. It has a nice little timeline and map too which is neat. I find that I have read the readings 3 or 4 times in different versions and thought about them often. I find that I have lots of questions that will hopefully be answered some as I continue my quest. It is entertaining that as more people at work find out the more they think it's bizarre that I'm even doing this. One of my co-workers yesterday said "I just didn't see that coming from you" It kind of cracks me up because I'm sure there are lots of aspects to my co-workers that I don't know. Well I hope you are keeping your co-workers, family and friends guessing about you as well. It's never too late to change and to learn! Happy Learning, Happy Changing, Happy Trails and Happy New Year!