Abandoning Blogger?

I am seriously thinking about switching blog platforms. And it's for one simple reason...

Blogger doesn't support Markdown (My last blog post was written using Markdown, but I had to jump through the proverbial hoops to get it to post on Blogger). I have recently fallen in love with Markdown, and it would be so awesome to be able to use it when blogging. However, Blogger doesn't support it.

I am looking into ways to make Blogger support Markdown. So far, no easy ways to do it. If I can figure it out, then I will not switch.

So what would I switch to? WordPress has some plugins that support Markdown. However, it seems buggy. So far, Tumblr seems like the best bet.

UPDATE: I am moving to WordPress! They have native Markdown support. Hasta la vista, Blogger.
For those who may wish to continue following me, the link to it is here: https://nerdychristiandemocrat.wordpress.com/.

Recommitted to Christ

For you were going astray like sheep; but now have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
(1 Peter 2:25 WEB)

I never stopped going to Church (I’m a proud Episcopalian who takes my kids to Church every week), but i have not been living my life the way I should. I have allowed a couple addictions to take a foothold in my life, such as smoking. I have justified it, but could not make it feel right as long as I kept up with daily prayer and Bible reading. So I abandoned these essential Christian practices.

The night before last, I was watching a Christian movie on Netflix when it hit me like a ton of bricks just how far from God I was. So I finished that last smoke (I smoked a lot while watching tv), went to my bedroom and found my prayer book. I recommitted my life to Jesus Christ. I’m giving up my addictions, I’m recommiting to daily Bible reading and prayer. And I’m hoping to once again post regularily to this blog.

Putting Yourself into the Bible

I went to an interesting seminar at a Quaker church this evening. It was a joint program put on by that Quaker church and the Episcopal Church that I attend. It was very intriguing.

The leader (a very nice woman named Pat Thomas) introduced us to a new Bible-reading technique she developed. She calls it Lectio-Midrashic Reading & Journaling, as the two main influences for it was the Christian practice of Lectio Divina and the Judaic tradition of Aggadah Midrash. Surprisingly, it was really quite fun!

The basic idea is that you read a short Bible story, and then you put yourself into the place of one of the minor characters. You write a journal entry of the events of that story from the perspective of that character.

Today, we used the story of Malchus.His story is found in Luke 22:47-51, but more info can be found in John 18:1-10, 25-27. Below, I will include what I wrote for the seminar:

Having been a loyal servant of the High Priest for many years, he had no doubts about my loyalty.  So the High Priest sent me with Judas and a crowd to arrest that trouble maker Rabbi, Jesus the Son of Joseph of Nazareth. For three years, this Rabbi has been stirring his followers against the religious leaders, and had even attacked the money changers in the Holy Temple! He had to be stopped!

Of course, my master would never meet with a trouble maker, so we had no clue who he was or what he looked like. So we hired one of his students, a man named Judas, to identify him.

"The one whom I kiss will be Jesus of Nazareth," Judas said, a look of sorrow in his eyes.

I felt nothing for this man but contempt. How could someone betray their master? I  knew I couldn't! For this man's sake, I hoped his master wasn't who the crowds thought he was. If this Rabbi was indeed the Messiah, then Judas had no hope for mercy.

We came to the garden where the Rabbi was praying. His other disciples were just waking up. Judas went to the one who had been praying, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?" Jesus asked, voice filled with sorrow.

His disciples, seeing the guards closing around the Rabbi, jumped to his defense. One of them drew a sword, and swung it. He was not a swordsman, as he clearly missed the guards. But his sword nonetheless found my ear. Blood started pouring from the side of my head as my ear fell to the ground.

"No more of this!" Jesus said angrily, picking my ear up off the ground. As he touched it to the side of my head, it filled with a very warm sensation. When he removed his hand, I no longer felt the blood gushing out of the side of my head. Touching the side of my head, I realized the ear was reattached.

As the guards arrested Jesus without further incident, I stared at the Rabbi. Who was this man?

The Next Great Revival

In 1968, the first Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) was founded in Los Angeles. It was the first LGBT-friendly church. It started a movement of gay-affirming Christians reaching out to the LGBT community to carry the Great Commission to our community. Since then, LGBT churches (whether MCC or unaffiliated) have grown to such a number. In recent years, they have been joined by predominantly straight churches in reaching out to and welcoming the LGBT community to Christianity. I attend a predominantly straight but LGBT-welcoming Episcopal church. My boyfriend attends a predominantly-LGBT but straight-welcoming Pentecostal church. We are on opposite ends of the spectrum of LGBT-welcoming Christianity, but our churches are on the same team. We both fight for inclusiveness in the church.

Most people still assume that Christianity is inherently ant-LGBT. When I was an atheist, I thought this, and used this supposed "fact" to decry Christianity as homophobic. Since coming back to Christianity, I have realized that it isn't Christianity itself that is anti-LGBT, its only the interpretation of certain Christian Scriptures that is.

The church has had many great revivals throughout her history. Each one has brought the church closer to where it needs to be in order for Christ to return and claim her as his bride. The next revival is coming, and will be focused on LGBT inclusiveness. It will start in the predominantly LGBT churches founded as part of the before mentioned movement, but will spill over into the predominantly straight but LGBT welcoming churches, and will even claim many of the previously homophobic churches as gay-friendly.

As the LGBT churches grow, both in size and in number, people will begin to see that Christianity welcomes people of all sexual orientations. People will flock to the LGBT churches to see this "miracle", and many will find a home in these churches. Those who don't find a home in these churches but feel drawn to Christianity will seek out other churches that are LGBT-friendly, finding the predominantly straight but LGBT-welcoming churches. These churches too will grow. Seeing the growth of LGBT-friendly churches, many previously homophobic churches will investigate this new phenomena and become LGBT-friendly churches themselves. The churches that hold onto their outdated homophobic churches will begin to be seen in the light of their bigotry, and these churches will begin to shrink.

It is my desire, and my sincere belief, that Christ will return to a predominantly LGBT-friendly church. I have no doubt in this.

I pray God will give me a part in the upcoming revival. Here I am Lord, use me.

My New Project: The Affirming Version

I started a new project, which will be a revision of the World English Bible. The World English Bible is an excellent modern English translation that is a revision of the American Standard Version. It is in the public domain.

My goal is to create a literal translation of the Bible that is gay-friendly and gender neutral, while distinguishing between plural and singular you.

• Gay-Friendly The first edition will be taking the clobber passages and translating them with a gay-friendly interpretation. I will also provide translator's notes to justify the new translation. An example is Leviticus 18:22, which will be translated as "‘You shall not forcibly lie with a man, as with a woman. That is detestable." The verb translated as "lie with" in Hebrew carries connotations of coercion and/or deception when referring to sexual acts.
• Gender Neutral I will be replacing masculine nouns with gender-neutral nouns when the original languages could have been referring to either gender (for example, changing man to person). I will also be replacing masculine pronouns to gender-neutral pronouns in the same case. I will generally use the singular they to do so in the case of pronouns, but will note that it is meant to be singular with an asterick. An example is Exodus 16:18, which is translated as, "When they measured it with an omer, they* who gathered much had nothing over, and they* who gathered little had no lack. They gathered every person according to their* eating."
• Distinguishing Between Singular and Plural You All the original languages of the Bible (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) had different words for you for when it was singular and when it was plural. The KJV used thee, thou, and thine for singular, and ye, you, and your for plural. In modern English translations, the distinction is lost. In the Affirming Version, singular you will be left as is, but plural you will be be designated with a plus sign (+) when it is plural. An example is Exodus 16:8, which says, "Moses said, 'Now Yahweh shall give you+ meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to satisfy you+; because Yahweh hears your+ murmurings which you+ murmur against him. And who are we? Your+ murmurings are not against us, but against Yahweh.'"

My timeline for this translation is a year. I am following the One Year Bible reading plan to revise the text of the World English Bible following the above principles.

Any comments, suggestions, or encouragement for this project is welcome! Please feel free to have your say in the comments below!

Gays Can Be Christian Too

One of the most powerful verses in all the Bible is John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (World English Bible)

You see, God saw that we were lost and confused, hurting from so many ailments. He sent his Son that we may be reconciled to God. That we may be found and saved from the darkness that rules over our world. All we have to do is put our faith in Jesus Christ (the Greek word for believe means more than to believe with your mind, but rather to believe with our heart, soul, and entire being)!

The funny thing is, the churches that seem to love this verse the most are the ones that act like there is fine print attached to the whoever that states "unless you are a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender." However, this verse does not say that. Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ will be saved. That includes LGBT people as well. If we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we too are saved!

Gay-affirming theology is theology that accepts LGBT Christians and encourages them to be active in the life of the Church. Gay affirming theology doesn't tell LGBT Christians they must become straight, but rather celebrates the diversity they bring to the church.

Gay affirming theology can run the full spectrum from liberal Christianity to evangelical Christianity. When I lived in Dayton, Ohio, I attended an evangelical Pentecostal church that was predominantly gay. The only difference between this church and any other was that they accepted gays and embraced gay marriages (whether those marriages were legally recognized was irrelevant. They still had their marriage ceremonies which was recognized by their church and, in their belief, in the eyes of God). The church I attend now (an Episcopal church) is a little bit more liberal (but I wouldn't say overly so. Like much of the Episcopal Church, they are mostly moderate Christians), but is very welcoming to those within the LGBT community.

The biggest objection those Christians who are not gay-affirming have to the idea of LGBT Christians is that its against the Bible. They will cite half a dozen verses that seemingly condemn homosexuality. I have dealt with this in another forum post (see here). It is not these verses that are anti-gay, in my opinion, but these peoples' interpretation of these verses that are.

Yes, anyone can be a Christian. That includes LGBT Christians as well. If you are an LGBT person who has felt the Holy Spirit tugging you to become a Christian, then do so! Don't let the bigotry of others deprive you of the greatest blessing you will ever experience!

One Body? The Divide between the Gay and Straight Churches

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all. (Ephesians 4:4-6 WEB)

The Church is meant to be one body. I don't think denominations are necessarily a contradiction to this either. Because denominations are beginning to work together to get things done. For example, here in Richmond several churches work together in a ministry that helps the poor. These churches, though from a wide difference of denominations, are acting as one body to fulfill Christ's ministry in the world, which is in part to help the poor (Luke 4:18-19). Having different churches serves God's purpose, I believe, by meeting the spiritual needs of different types of people.

So what is a violation of the one body principle of the New Testament? When Christians act like other Christians are not brothers and refuse to work with them to accomplish God's will. For example, the fundamentalist who claims that Catholicism is not a part of Christianity. Or the Roman Catholic that believes that the Roman Catholic church is the one true God and other Christians are not a part of the Church.

The divide that the Holy Spirit really placed on my heart this morning as I read the above passage was the divide between the straight church and the gay church. The straight church is the part of the body that is predominantly straight, and conversely, the gay church is the part of the body that is predominantly gay. Most in the straight church do not believe that gays can even be Christians. This is what brought about the founding of gay churches to begin with. And with the exodus of the gays from the straight churches, the straight churches have been allowed to believe the gay churches do not exist. And most of the time, the wall between the two segments of the body is never breached. Very rarely will they work together, worship together, eat together. There is too much baggage between the two.

There is a segment of the straight church that is welcoming and affirming of gay Christians. It is here where the healing of the divide between the straight and gay churches begin. My church (the Epsicopal church) has many congregations which do so.

By healing the division, I do not mean that the gay churches dissolve their ministries and join straight churches. No, I mean that these churches stay functioning, keep their ministries that reach out to the LGBT community while finding ways to work with other churches to accomplish Christ's mission in the world. And this burden doesn't rest solely upon the gay church. I would even argue that the burden is heavier on the straight churches that ran the gays out to begin with.

So how can we, as Christians which all belong to the same body, work to heal this divide? Other than praying that God shows us opportunities on how to do this, I am not sure. Any suggestions are welcome, of course. Feel free to put your suggestions in the comments below!

Have a good day, and may the glory of God the Father, and Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be with you, now and forever. Amen.