I don't know how many of you have heard about what's happened at APU (Azusa Pacific University) this week, but it's a challenging thing. Briefly, a female professor of Theology has recently decided that she is transgender, and sees herself as a man. To my knowledge, the university will keep her (him?) on staff for the rest of the year and then, potentially, let her go. To my knowledge, she will no longer be teaching. For obvious reasons, this has sort of shook the APU community. In fact, a number of students in the LGBTQ community at APU have "come out" as it were. They publicly posted - as in printed out and put on the opinion wall, thing on campus - their names, photos, how they sexually/gender identify themselves, and had a small note about the fear they have experienced at APU. Some have posted opposing views (some in love, some less lovingly) and others have posted their support.
I stood at looked at it today with some other students, listened to their comments of support and surprise, commented a bit, and, honestly, it was a very weird experience. I am a Bible-believing, fairly conservative Christian who's been raised in the church and so to see so many Christians condoning this is...a weird experience.
This whole...scandal, for lack of a better word, is an interesting and challenging one for me personally. The older I get, the more I realize that life is messy and that more and more frequently we find ourselves in the middle of this mess.
For the past few days I've been wrestling with this issue. On one hand, the Bible is clearly for a one man, one woman relationship and He created us man and woman. Period. It's pretty black and white. But on the other hand, God is a God of so much love and mercy and that gets messy as we try and live that out because God calls us to be like Him. He is a God who is simultaneously holy, righteous, perfect, just and still loving, merciful, gracious and inclusive, and He calls us to be like Him. Timothy Keller, in one of his sermons, he talked about "radical Christianity" and how the people who are like that - people like the Westboro Baptist Church (on the crazy, dare I say overly psychotic (and horrible) side of what they call "justice) and (I think) Rob Bell (on the opposite (and false) side of universalism) - are not radical enough. By that, he means that "radical Christianity" shouldn't be one or the other but equal amounts of both. Or we should try to be. It's...a wee bit confusing. But I like it. And I agree. And I think it's beautiful, actually.
But how do we LIVE that? How do I live that in this situation?? I mean, the Bible says clear things about sexuality and gender, but Jesus hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors (who, if that doesn't sound like a huge deal, were basically Jews who collected taxes and robbed other Jews--no one really like them)! Granted, we don't know what He said to them, but...He preached love. He loved them. Yeah, He also preached about judgement and sins and how we are to be separate from this world, but...I dunno. He did both...can't we try to emulate that? In the world, but not of it?
All those brave (and I do say brave because they have felt persecuted and hated, and so to publicly say what they did is brave even if I don't agree with them) students who came out are...not living the way God has called them to live, despite what they and others think. This whole LGBTQ thing is a temptation that people have to deal with. Man, I get it. I sympathize! I have my own set of deep dark temptations that I've had to deal with and move past and, ultimately, give to God to deal with because I cannot. And believe me I had bloody tried. But I get it! I do, God, I do. But is it my place to tell these people, some of them brothers and sisters in Christ, that they are wrong? And to judge and condemn them?
You know, I don't think so. I really don't.
As I've been thinking and writing and talking about it, there are a couple of things I've sort of come to. And I think they're Biblical. And if they are not, PLEASE TELL ME. Honestly. I want to believe the truth, not a lie. Here's what I've come to though (and I think this goes WAY past the LGBTQ community and into ALL sins):
1. Who I am to judge another man's servant?
One of my friends, her "name" is "Molly," and I were talking one day and she told me about this book she was reading. In one of the chapters, the author talked about how in a God-honoring friendship, both parties trust that God is working with the other party to help them live the way God would have them. In a friendship, you trust that the other person and God are working on the crap in their life and you are there to support, love, and walk with them. I thought that was genius. Paul says in Romans 14:4, "Who are you to judge another man's servant?" In this passage, Paul is talking about how God's relationship with others is between them. That's not to say that we do this Christian walk alone (by no means!!), but that we are in no position to judge people. Especially since we ourselves have sins.
2. Did they ask me?
Sort of an obvious one. Did someone ASK for my opinion about their life? No. Then I don't have the right to say anything unless...
3. Am I their best friend? Is it my place? Did the Holy Spirit create an opportunity for me to talk to them?
If I am a close friend who loves them dearly, and if, ONLY IF, the Holy Spirit creates an opportunity for me to speak truth into their life IN LOVE because they are going down a path that is no good, THEN I firmly believe that I should say something. Especially if it's something serious. Granted, if a friend who I'm not BFFs with is a kleptomaniac, I might want to say something sooner rather than later. But there HAS to be that love relationship. We have to be friends, if not close friends, if not best friends depending on the issue, who trust and love each other, and who are looking out for each other. And the Holy Spirit has to make a way for that conversation. I can't force it. If this sounds like and excuse to never talk, it's not. We just have to know how our relationships work and LOOK, actively look, for times to LOVE, not be the cops and point out all our friends' flaws, but honestly love them and do our duty as a brother or sister in Christ. Does that make sense? It's about the nature of the relationship, the opportunity, and love.
4. Speak the truth IN LOVE.
Here's the thing--we still, as Christians, can't sit here and not preach the truth. We can't never talk about homosexuality, gender issues, divorce, lying, sex, cheating, stealing, gossip, being rude, hating, laziness, drugs, drunkenness, addictions, whatever because someone will be offended and disagree with us and potentially think us bigots for believing in the Word of God. Pastors NEED to speak about these things. Teachers NEED to address them. Small group leaders, youth group leaders, parents, mentors, leaders in the church NEED to talk about this honestly and teach the Bible. We just need to do it in LOVE and say it with love. Don't shy away from the truth, but don't Bible thump. Sometimes, I think, that means you might not want to say anything at that moment.
5. Love others. Love those who are "difficult" for you to love.
Okay, I put difficult in parenthesis because until JUST NOW (so bear with me) I thought that was about people who annoy you. Brothers, sisters, parents, friends, that guy in class who answers all the questions like a know-it-all, that kid who is seriously strange, that girl who can't seem to find enough clothing to cover up any part of her body, etc. But I realize that it's also people who are just different from you who you don't know HOW to love. I'll be REALLY honest here: I didn't quite know how to love the LGBTQ community until a few years ago. Then I went off to college, grew up, met people who were gay, and found that I loved them because of who they were: really wonderful. I always thought that if I loved them, I condoned what they did and believed and I realize now that you can love without condoning. Jesus LOVED the prostitutes he hung out with. Did he condone their conduct? Nope. But He loved them. And that's what we're called to do: love.
I suppose that what I'm really walking away with is that we have to love everyone, be nice and kind to everyone, show respect and dignity to everyone, be Christ to everyone. We don't have to condone what people do or even agree with them, but it is God's place to judge and to change, not ours. It's our job to love, to speak the truth in love, and to allow Him to look for how He wants to work through us.
I guess that I'm really thankful for the APU community (all of it, not just the parts I agree with) for this honest sort of discussion that's arisen in and out of class. It's forced me to think about how we are to be Christ to others and how I'm going to live that.
God bless and shalom.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Friday, September 6, 2013
Welcome to College, take 2
This blog, formerly something no one read and I didn't update, is here for me to sort of chronicle my life, musings, and adventures. Welcome to the rabbit hole, Alice.
Let me tell you a bit about myself:
I am, first and foremost, a follower of Jesus Christ. No, I'm not perfect. Yes, I have bad days where I doubt. No, I'm not one of those crazy people who picket funerals. But it does mean that I try to follow Him, surrender to Him, honor Him, live in His grace while still having an active faith, love Him first and then love others out of His love, and spread His love. Basically: love God, then love others out of the outpouring of His love.
I am, under the umbrella of who God made me, a number of other things, like a geek. Now, I'm not one of the people who lives in their mum's basement playing D&D or Halo all day, or cosplays all the time, or doesn't socialize outside of cons, or doesn't understand normal social interactions (not that there's anything wrong with any of that, but you, vitamin D is good for you, heh). I like to think of myself as a geek in the same way that someone like Simon Pegg or Nathan Fillion's Rick Castle is: someone who knows their geek, who gets most of the references, who enjoys a good movie marathon, but who also realizes that a.) not everyone is like that, b.) there are other things aside from geekery, and c.) you have to be a functioning person who can relate to other human beings on a level other than geekiness. And I think I'm getting better at it.
God also made me a storyteller, a student, a film and tv bluff, a cook, a lover of travel, an extrovert, a lover of people, a talker, a silly person, a musician, a thinker, a seeker, a sister, a daughter, and a friend. I've held a few jobs, mostly retail, but I've worked with middle and high schoolers for the past three years at my church, I've put together some little films, I've worked in a law office, and I've reffed flag football way back in the day. I'm also a student at Azusa Pacific University in awesome SoCal, having transfered from my local community college, as a Business Management major.
I have a sister, a mum, a dad, a dog back home, a few really brilliant close-as-family friends, and three crazy great roommates that I share an on-campus apartment with.
Stuff I dig: Jesus (Lord and Savior and Best Friend), Psych on USA Network (Come on, son!), Supernatural on CW (don't judge me), Star Trek (TOS, TNG, VOY, movies, tribbles, KHAAAAAN!), Star Wars (what sort of geek would I be if I didn't love me some Star Wars?), J.J. Abrams (god of the geeks (no, but seriously)), Sherlock (season 3--nuff said), Pixar (I may have written a 5-page film studies paper on formalism and realism in Monsters Inc.), the Marvel Cinematic Universe (loki'd!), film in general (Chris Nolan, Tom Hooper, Peter Morgan, etc. ftw), bananas (cos their friggin delicious), movies (seriously love them), music (film scores, rock 'n' roll, mellow stuff, stuffy stuff), food (cheese. Expensive cheese)...
There's a lot of stuff I'm into. We'd be here all day...
Anyway. Enough intro--into the blog post.
--
I am officially DONE with my first week of college at APU.
Let me give you the skinny:
(I like lists, by the way. They're efficient and simple. Not always pretty, but, hey, it's a blog.)
I live in an on-campus apartment with three other girls (Ray, Jas, and Jack (sort of real names, but in case they don't want them on here, that's what I'll use)) who are phenomenally chill and wonderful and sweet and giving and hilarious and and and--I could go on. They're great is what I'm getting at. We're all transfers. Our apartment is SUPER cute and really very hipster (which is funny, cos I'm not really a hipster). We may have mason jars everywhere and art that we've made ourselves that's going up soon. We also might have homemade coasters and a muted color pallet. (Trust me. It's hipster meets 70s cos of when the apartment was built.)
Our RA "Phil" (eh, close enough) is wonderful and insanely nice. He and the other RAs actually threw a pool party last night for the complex. It was called "Gnome Sweet Gnome" because our complex "mascot" is a gnome.
Yeah. I know. It's...weird. But in a good way. It's funny, you'll just have to trust me.
Suffice to say, I am meeting oodles of noodles of new people and trying very, VERY hard to remember names. I'm doing a not so terrible job at it either. I've met some very cool people. There's "Bobby," "Fields," and "Topher" that stand out plus some brilliant business students.
As far as schedule goes I have:
Accounting I
Business Law
Luke/Acts
Spanish I
Everyday Anthro
and I'm looking to add this Enactus class (look it up--it's pretty cool)
It's really not that bad. Honestly. All my profs are chill and seem to be competent at what they do. I have yet to meet my Anthro prof, but I can't imagine he/she will be bad. I guess my only complaint is that my Luke/Acts prof is from Yale School of Divinity. That sounds silly, but I'm fairly conservative about my theology (and by that I mean I believe the Bible is inerrant and that ALL of it is still relevant and true--even the bits our society isn't so keen on) and from what I hear, Yale's Divinity School isn't all that conservative. But that's okay. APU isn't really liberal so I think it should be fine.
What else about my first week...
I have gone to a pool party, a game of capture the flag with the business school, a worship night (ermahgawsh--very cool), a mugging (you get a free mug--it's less sketch than it sounds), a talent/comedy show/thing, and a number of orientation things thus far. No, I have not gotten more than 7 hours of sleep per night. Yes, I'm becoming a coffee addict.
Also, I would be remiss if I didn't say HOW CRAZY NICE AND LOVING EVERYONE AT THIS SCHOOL IS. I'm really not over exaggerating. Those of you know me know that I love to use adjective like a monkey loves bananas. (One of my roommates is eating a banana.) But seriously--I kid you not that really everyone here is incredibly nice, caring, sweet, and generally wonderful. The love of Christ is SO prevalent on this campus--it's amazing. And the chapels--
Okay, so the hip, Wednesday night chapel is going through the Minor Prophets Hosea, Amos, and Jonah in that order.
fkdjfnaldoiUIsdakdjnqwIFDEAkijdkkjfsOIWERQWLDOfrkgjnal
That's my brain. EXPLODING. The MINOR PROPHETS?! I've been going to church my whole life and I've only ever heard a handful of sermons on Jonah and MAYBE one or two on Hosea.. I've never even heard a sermon on Amos. I'm jazzed. Plus there is a liturgical chapel on Thursday. I'm so excited. And the worship is AMAZING. Seriously. I'm very, VERY impressed.
In short, I am so blessed and grateful that God has sent me here and provided for me to attend school here. Actually, God promised me a year and a half ago or so that I would go to college using the verse Jeremiah 29:11 "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'" I thought He was sending me to Cal State Fullerton, but He made it incredibly clear that I was to come here through other signs and by getting the funds. I say this to say this: when I was waiting in a very long line to buy books, I saw this APU license plate protector that had Jer. 29:11 on it. Once more, God making clear to me that I need to be here. Praise God. :)
So, HOPEFULLY, this will be a weekly thing at least. I might just post when stuff hits me, or when I have something fun to say like discussing why old movies are best seen on the big screen (which I will do later). So, until then, in the words of APU President Jon Wallace:
Shalom. Go with God.
Let me tell you a bit about myself:
I am, first and foremost, a follower of Jesus Christ. No, I'm not perfect. Yes, I have bad days where I doubt. No, I'm not one of those crazy people who picket funerals. But it does mean that I try to follow Him, surrender to Him, honor Him, live in His grace while still having an active faith, love Him first and then love others out of His love, and spread His love. Basically: love God, then love others out of the outpouring of His love.
I am, under the umbrella of who God made me, a number of other things, like a geek. Now, I'm not one of the people who lives in their mum's basement playing D&D or Halo all day, or cosplays all the time, or doesn't socialize outside of cons, or doesn't understand normal social interactions (not that there's anything wrong with any of that, but you, vitamin D is good for you, heh). I like to think of myself as a geek in the same way that someone like Simon Pegg or Nathan Fillion's Rick Castle is: someone who knows their geek, who gets most of the references, who enjoys a good movie marathon, but who also realizes that a.) not everyone is like that, b.) there are other things aside from geekery, and c.) you have to be a functioning person who can relate to other human beings on a level other than geekiness. And I think I'm getting better at it.
God also made me a storyteller, a student, a film and tv bluff, a cook, a lover of travel, an extrovert, a lover of people, a talker, a silly person, a musician, a thinker, a seeker, a sister, a daughter, and a friend. I've held a few jobs, mostly retail, but I've worked with middle and high schoolers for the past three years at my church, I've put together some little films, I've worked in a law office, and I've reffed flag football way back in the day. I'm also a student at Azusa Pacific University in awesome SoCal, having transfered from my local community college, as a Business Management major.
I have a sister, a mum, a dad, a dog back home, a few really brilliant close-as-family friends, and three crazy great roommates that I share an on-campus apartment with.
Stuff I dig: Jesus (Lord and Savior and Best Friend), Psych on USA Network (Come on, son!), Supernatural on CW (don't judge me), Star Trek (TOS, TNG, VOY, movies, tribbles, KHAAAAAN!), Star Wars (what sort of geek would I be if I didn't love me some Star Wars?), J.J. Abrams (god of the geeks (no, but seriously)), Sherlock (season 3--nuff said), Pixar (I may have written a 5-page film studies paper on formalism and realism in Monsters Inc.), the Marvel Cinematic Universe (loki'd!), film in general (Chris Nolan, Tom Hooper, Peter Morgan, etc. ftw), bananas (cos their friggin delicious), movies (seriously love them), music (film scores, rock 'n' roll, mellow stuff, stuffy stuff), food (cheese. Expensive cheese)...
There's a lot of stuff I'm into. We'd be here all day...
Anyway. Enough intro--into the blog post.
--
I am officially DONE with my first week of college at APU.
Let me give you the skinny:
(I like lists, by the way. They're efficient and simple. Not always pretty, but, hey, it's a blog.)
I live in an on-campus apartment with three other girls (Ray, Jas, and Jack (sort of real names, but in case they don't want them on here, that's what I'll use)) who are phenomenally chill and wonderful and sweet and giving and hilarious and and and--I could go on. They're great is what I'm getting at. We're all transfers. Our apartment is SUPER cute and really very hipster (which is funny, cos I'm not really a hipster). We may have mason jars everywhere and art that we've made ourselves that's going up soon. We also might have homemade coasters and a muted color pallet. (Trust me. It's hipster meets 70s cos of when the apartment was built.)
Our RA "Phil" (eh, close enough) is wonderful and insanely nice. He and the other RAs actually threw a pool party last night for the complex. It was called "Gnome Sweet Gnome" because our complex "mascot" is a gnome.
Yeah. I know. It's...weird. But in a good way. It's funny, you'll just have to trust me.
Suffice to say, I am meeting oodles of noodles of new people and trying very, VERY hard to remember names. I'm doing a not so terrible job at it either. I've met some very cool people. There's "Bobby," "Fields," and "Topher" that stand out plus some brilliant business students.
As far as schedule goes I have:
Accounting I
Business Law
Luke/Acts
Spanish I
Everyday Anthro
and I'm looking to add this Enactus class (look it up--it's pretty cool)
It's really not that bad. Honestly. All my profs are chill and seem to be competent at what they do. I have yet to meet my Anthro prof, but I can't imagine he/she will be bad. I guess my only complaint is that my Luke/Acts prof is from Yale School of Divinity. That sounds silly, but I'm fairly conservative about my theology (and by that I mean I believe the Bible is inerrant and that ALL of it is still relevant and true--even the bits our society isn't so keen on) and from what I hear, Yale's Divinity School isn't all that conservative. But that's okay. APU isn't really liberal so I think it should be fine.
What else about my first week...
I have gone to a pool party, a game of capture the flag with the business school, a worship night (ermahgawsh--very cool), a mugging (you get a free mug--it's less sketch than it sounds), a talent/comedy show/thing, and a number of orientation things thus far. No, I have not gotten more than 7 hours of sleep per night. Yes, I'm becoming a coffee addict.
Also, I would be remiss if I didn't say HOW CRAZY NICE AND LOVING EVERYONE AT THIS SCHOOL IS. I'm really not over exaggerating. Those of you know me know that I love to use adjective like a monkey loves bananas. (One of my roommates is eating a banana.) But seriously--I kid you not that really everyone here is incredibly nice, caring, sweet, and generally wonderful. The love of Christ is SO prevalent on this campus--it's amazing. And the chapels--
Okay, so the hip, Wednesday night chapel is going through the Minor Prophets Hosea, Amos, and Jonah in that order.
fkdjfnaldoiUIsdakdjnqwIFDEAkijdkkjfsOIWERQWLDOfrkgjnal
That's my brain. EXPLODING. The MINOR PROPHETS?! I've been going to church my whole life and I've only ever heard a handful of sermons on Jonah and MAYBE one or two on Hosea.. I've never even heard a sermon on Amos. I'm jazzed. Plus there is a liturgical chapel on Thursday. I'm so excited. And the worship is AMAZING. Seriously. I'm very, VERY impressed.
In short, I am so blessed and grateful that God has sent me here and provided for me to attend school here. Actually, God promised me a year and a half ago or so that I would go to college using the verse Jeremiah 29:11 "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'" I thought He was sending me to Cal State Fullerton, but He made it incredibly clear that I was to come here through other signs and by getting the funds. I say this to say this: when I was waiting in a very long line to buy books, I saw this APU license plate protector that had Jer. 29:11 on it. Once more, God making clear to me that I need to be here. Praise God. :)
So, HOPEFULLY, this will be a weekly thing at least. I might just post when stuff hits me, or when I have something fun to say like discussing why old movies are best seen on the big screen (which I will do later). So, until then, in the words of APU President Jon Wallace:
Shalom. Go with God.
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