Justice

Back on April 12, I mentioned an episode of ABC's 20/20 that made me really angry. Not because I was angry at the report, but because of what happened to the women in the report.

Well, yesterday one of those women got justice.

Her name is Tina Anderson, and at age 15, she was raped twice by an usher in her Fundamental Baptist church. The second rape resulted in a pregnancy. Her mother - married to a convicted child- abuser and molester - took her to the pastor. The pastor made both of them stand before the church and ask for forgiveness - her for 'allowing a compromising situation to happen" and him for being "unfaithful to his marriage vows." Witnesses say there was no connection made between the two. Then she was whisked away from her home in NH to CO, where she lived with friends of the pastor until she gave birth, and gave the baby girl up for adoption. She returned home, and went back to the church... where her rapist still served in a position of authority.

Fast forward fifteen years, and Tina was happily married, with three children. A former church member from NH mentions her story on a Facebook board for survivors of Independent Fundamental Baptist church abuse. This sets things in motion, and Tina suddenly gets a phone call from the police in Concord, NH, asking about her past.

Long story short, Tina went on national TV, on 20/20 (turning down Oprah and other news venues) and told her story. Her rapist, Ernie Willis, was arrested and charged with several charges, of which he only pleaded guilty to one: sex with a minor. He went to trial this week on four related charges, most of them dealing with whether or not it was forcilble rape. I followed the trial through live updates from the Concord news station. The case went to the jury Thursday afternoon, and Friday he was found guilty on all charges. (You can read some of the live updates and the wrap-up of the case here.

The pastor involved was a prosecution witness, and his notes - still available at the church he used to work with - were handed over without his knowledge. The defense wanted those notes covered by "clergy/congregant privilege". Problem is, the pastor was busy "setting the record straight" on his website, and a lot of what he said was contradicted by his own notes from the time. The notes also contradicted what Ernie said.

Tina's mother, though a prosecution witness, was also on Ernie (and the pastor's) side. Much of her testimony made the mothers following the case incensed. Words like "adolescent" and "narcissistic" were used to describe her. Her decision to spirit her daughter away was soundly denounced. There is speculation that they could be brought up on obstruction of justice charges.

There are still those who take the pastor's side, who see Tina as guilty of her rape as Ernie Willis is. But a jury of his peers didn't see her that way, and justice was done.

My FB friends' list is still dissecting all this, while the pastor's supporters are still trying to deflect criticism of him (and still, in some cases, trying to give at least a portion of the blame to Tina - as a way of justifying the pastor's actions). I just want to see the pastor finally admit that he handled Tina's "church discipline" wrongly, apologize to her for that, apologize for not following up more with the police... but I know he won't.

He doesn't see that he's done anything wrong; he followed the letter of the law and made the call to the police. He kept a man he knew was guilty and unrepentant in his church, contrary to Bible teaching. And he still deceived his congregation about the nature of this man's crime. For that, I believe he has forfeited the right to be a pastor at all. But nothing will happen to him. Not unless God humbles him.

I hope things will simmer down a little in my circles now that justice has been served.

Yup, still here

As I knew I would be. Not because I’m not a Christian or I’m not looking for Christ’s return. But because I know that Harold Camping is a charlatan. He’s done this before, this “setting a date for the end of the world” shtick. And he’s been wrong before, just as he is now. It’s just that he hasn’t been so widely publicized as he was this time. The internet picked this up and went with it, giving him a voice and a following he didn’t have before – even though he’s a broadcaster, that’s nothing to the saturation power of the internet! I feel bad for those who followed him to the extent of paying thousands of dollars for billboards, etc. and basically have nothing now, while Camping himself is probably a very rich man at the expense of those same gullible people.

What makes me the angriest about Camping’s idiocy is that he’s making Christ out to be a liar. Jesus was very specific when he told his disciples about his coming, and what premillenialist Christians call “the Rapture”.

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.

“Then there shall be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

“But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at the hour when you do not think He will.”

Matthew 24:36-44 NASB

If Camping truly knew the day and hour of the rapture and the end of the world, he would have made Jesus Christ a liar. Yes, a flat out liar. And if Jesus lied, then he couldn’t be the perfect Son of God (for lying is sin), and there would be no salvation through his death, burial, and resurrection.

What narcissistic hubris on the part of Camping! To put his own convoluted numbers game ahead of Jesus’ words, and to promote heresy by obliquely denying Christ’s sinless deity!

Blending my reading into my writing.

I’ve been reading a lot lately about some pretty serious religious stuff. Patriocentrism (a.k.a. Biblical patriarchy), the Quiverfull movement, and the teachings of hyper-fundamentalist Bill Gothard. A lot of my reading has stemmed from two blogs: Razing Ruth, and The Commandments of Men. Some of this has also been discussed at the Stuff Fundies Like forum, and I’ve read several other blogs that have their jumping off points at either of the previous two.

It’s fascinating and horrifying at the same time, reading about how “Ruth” escaped her oppressive family with their ties to Bill Gothard, their patriocentrism and their adherence to the Quiverfull lifestyle. Why did she escape? To keep from marrying the jerk her father allowed to court her. (Good news is that she’s now engaged to the man of her choice!)

Then there’s Lewis, a pretty cool guy who was once engaged to a young lady from such a family. Go read his story; it will break your heart. His bride-to-be was isolated and pressured by her family to drop him. He speaks out on his blog against Biblical Patriarchy and courtship.

Now, how does this fit into my writing?

Well, I’m still working in fits and starts on Moonstrike, my Thunderbirds, “Tracy sister” fanfic, and I wanted to find a reason for two different things. One, why Jeff Tracy and his wife, Lucille, had six children in the first place (six is even considered a large family today; think of how it would be looked on thirty years from now). And, two, why Jeff didn’t ask Lucille’s parents for help in raising the kids after her death.

My answer? Lucille came from a family like the one “Ruth” came from. Like the one Lewis’s ex-fiancée came from. And, like “Ruth”, she fled her home to fulfill her dream of going to college… and marrying Jeff. And as in Lewis’s case, Lucille’s father would have kept his daughter from Jeff if he could.

So, that’s where my reading has blended into my writing. I know it will be unique. I just hope it rings true.

Thank you, “Ruth” and Lewis, for sharing your stories with me. I hope my using them as inspiration doesn’t offend you. If it does, please be honest and let me know.

Rumble, Rumble, Rumble. Mutiny, Mutiny, Mutiny.

I am in a foul mood today, and it’s far too complex and time consuming to explain why. It all has to do with last Friday’s edition of ABC’s 20/20, and the fallout from that. Just to make it perfectly clear, what happened to those women makes my blood boil, as does the response from the so-called “men of God” who have been writing about it (and screaming about it from the pulpit) ever since. My FB friends list has been full of it, mostly from those who support the women (and, in some cases, are the women) involved. If you want to get the full skinny on it, I suggest checking out Stuff Fundies Like; they have a lot of discussion on the matter both on the blog and on the forum.
However, what finally took me from annoyed to foul moodiness has nothing to do with this. It was a friend of mine complaining that her mail carrier won’t stop, get out of his/her truck, and personally deliver their mail to the door because her son’s truck is parked out front and blocking their street-side mailbox. Instead, s/he honks for them to come out and get their mail, and if they don’t come out right away, moves on.
Clue bat time: the mailman isn’t even obligated to stop and honk if your street-side mailbox is blocked. Not because they are “lazy” but because they are far too busy, and on a schedule.  They take too long on their route, they get in trouble. As a carrier’s wife with a husband who actually WALKS his route, and does deliver door-to-door, this infuriated me. Hence the foul mood.
I’m going to try and stay away from FB (and my other blogs) for the rest of the day. I’ve had enough.

Eavesdropping

My oldest son has a girlfriend. She's an interesting person from many different angles. One, she's a senior (and he's a junior). She's African-American (and we're not). She's albino--and loves to color her hair flaming (and I do mean flaming) red. She's spunky, gregarious, outspoken--all things my oldest son is not. She chased him, not the other way around.

She's also a Jehovah's Witness.

My parents and some of my other family members don't like that very much. They keep warning me not to let things go too far. Her own parents are strict with her, and believe dating is meant for marriage. They're concerned about the future possibilities, and conflicts in faith should the two marry. My husband and I have a different take on dating: it's a time to meet and get to know someone and see if they are compatible as a marriage partner. But it doesn't necessarily lead to marriage in every case. We also know that, if their marriage is going to happen, nothing we can do will stop it. (Never mind the fact that, at their ages, it's far, far, far too early to be talking about them marrying anyway!)

Her folks are personable, and I like them. We've had dinner together, and they want us to do other things with them, too. I like her and speak with her on the phone while trying to pry him out of a book or drag him in from gardening.

Today, she asked if my son could go with her to "the Memorial". It's on the evening of Palm Sunday, and - as she put it - it's a memorial or celebration of Jesus Christ's death. I deferred to my husband on this one; his thought is that our son is old enough to decide matters of faith for himself. So, he's going.

Now, the two of them talk on the phone every night, sometimes longer and later than I like. But tonight, I've been eavesdropping as my son tries to explain to his girlfriend the meaning of things like the resurrection, and communion, and a lot of our own beliefs and practices. He has his KJV out, and is reading passages of scripture to her, sharing with her what we believe and why we believe it.

We haven't been to church in several years, and our absence has been during a very impressionable time for all my kids. All of them have professed Christ. All of them have been baptized. They've gone to Sunday school, children's church, AWANA, and Christian school. And now, my son is... defending isn't quite the right word... but explaining in a non-threatening way (I hope) the beauties of the Gospel.

I don't know where any of this will go; not his relationship, not his faith, not his future. I can only pray that God will lead him, and keep him pointed towards Christ.

What are the "Fundamentals"?

Some of you reading this (if anyone is) might wonder exactly what a Fundamentalist is, or what they - and by extention, I - believe. This list is from Wikipedia's article on the subject:

• The inerrancy of the Bible
• The literal nature of the Biblical accounts, especially regarding Christ's miracles, and the Creation account in Genesis
• The Virgin Birth of Christ
• The bodily resurrection of Christ
• The substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross

Now, these are the basics of what I believe, though I'm waffling a little on point #1, and definitely have different opinions on the Creation account. I believe that God Created the universe, our solar system, the earth and all that's in it. I just don't know the method. I wasn't there. No one was, not even Adam. So nobody can say for absolute, positive sure that God spoke everything into existance. Not that He couldn't have done it, but I'm not sure He did.

As far as Christ's miracles and points 3 through 5, yeah, I believe them quite solidly.

The trouble is that American Fundamentalism has added a lot more to these five items over the years, and some of these have been raised to the level of the five listed above. And the one thing they've added to which makes them so insidious is the "doctrine" of separation. If you don't believe exactly the way they do, with all the right emphases on all the right beliefs, then they will separate from you, basically condemning you to hell as an apostate. They'll always have their reasons, which they'll frame as "biblical" using a few cherry-picked Bible verses to back them up.

What are some of these things that Fundamentalists divide over? Let's see:

• The version of the Bible you read from
• Your clothing - especially pants on women
• Your hair length - as in short hair on women and long hair on men
• Alcohol consumption
• Movies, music styles, and other types of entertainment
• Childrearing practices
• Education - many favor Christian schools or homeschooling
• Patriotism
• Patriocentrism - the father is the center of the home and is to be submitted to and obeyed

These are just a few of the preferences that end up being raised to doctrinal levels. There are many more; this is just the tip of the iceberg. I've been surrounded by this separation business to varying degrees for years, and it's been hard to walk away from that mindset. Very, very hard. What has helped me is reading the struggles of others who have walked where I'm walking now. My most favorite site is Stuff Fundies Like, which takes a satirical approach to all this rigarmarole.

So, there you have it. I believe in:

• The inerrancy of the Bible in its original texts
• The literal nature of most Biblical accounts, especially those regarding Christ's miracles
• The Virgin Birth of Christ
• The bodily resurrection of Christ
• The substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross

The things that I believe beyond that are secondary. Here are some of them:

• God created the heavens and the earth. How, I don't know.
• Bible stories and accounts should not only take into consideration the genre of the text (poetry, history, allegory) but also the historical era and circumstances under which they were written.
• The ability of each believer to come before God without a mediator beyond Christ Himself, by virtue of the indwelling Holy Spirit. (Also known as "Priesthood of the believer")

There's a lot more, most of it pertaining to my day-to-day life. Some of it might be controversial. Some of it, I'm still forming opinions about. If you have any questions about what else I believe in, go ahead and ask. I might be able to answer; I might not. I am, however, not interested in getting into debates on any subject, especially the controversial ones.

Turns out this might have another use altogether.

I'm a recovering Christian Fundamentalist from the "Bob Jones University" (BJU) school of thought. But as I've drifted away from my BJU-orbital church, I've started examining my beliefs to figure out just what it is that I believe about Jesus Christ, his Church, his Word, and how these things affect me, my family, and my personal walk with Him.

I know I'm saved. That has never been in doubt. For many years, however, I feel like I've been told what I should believe, and I've absorbed a lot of teaching (doctrine), that I'm not sure I understand or believe in any more. I've been doing a lot of reading and participating in discussions, all to learn what other people think the Bible says. It's also clear that I should be reading my Bible more to discover its truths for myself, and I'm going to try and do that.

This blog will at least be a jumping off point for some of the other Christian blogs I visit that are on Blogger. As I try and figure out what I believe, I might discuss some of those findings here. Who knows? Someone else might be blessed.