The Modern Women’s Liberation/Feminist Movement Part I

            I’ve seen signs on Facebook that people aren’t happy about the continuing Women’s Rights movement. They say things like “well, we’re not under Sharia law,” or “why are they protesting? They have it good here.”

            Not only that, the signs that women are waving have gotten pretty graphic in their depiction and words about parts of the body that are normally considered private. Then there’s the pink “pussy hats.” Frankly, I think they look more like cat’s ears sticking up.

            So here’s how I see things. Yes, we have a lot of rights that women in other countries don’t have. Thankfully, we don’t live under Sharia law. However, we aren’t always respected as people.

            This shows in a myriad of ways, but most prominently in the sexual arena. Think about it. How many women have started speaking up about sexual harassment and/or abuse in the work place? A lot of the women are talking about things that happened to them years ago because if they’d spoken up then, one of three things would have happened:

1.      They wouldn’t have been believed.

2.      Even if they’d been believed, they would have been treated as if they’d brought this on themselves – i.e., what were you wearing, how did you behave, etc.

3.      They would have been gas lighted – treated as if they were crazy.

As much as I hate to say this, these attitudes haven’t changed much in recent years. Women who are sexually harassed, assaulted, or abused are still likely to run up against these attitudes.

Even if the women manage to persist, file charges, go to court, and the man is actually convicted of his crime, what kind of sentence will he receive? As we all know, in the infamous case of Brock Turner, the Stanford student, he received a six month sentence of which he served only three months. That’s adding insult to the injuries he caused his victim. Hopefully, the judge who gave him such a lenient sentence will be removed from his position.

The only case that’s happened recently in which I really believe the man got what he deserved was the gymnastics doctor who was abusing the athletes in his care. Unfortunately though, I’ve seen something about some men saying the judge was mean for sentencing him to 175 years. Cases where these types of sentences are handed down are rare because too often the men who commit these crimes wield a lot of power.

By power, I mean men like Weinsten who had the power to make or break young actress’ careers if they didn’t do what he wanted. I realize that a lot of people say those women shouldn’t have done what they did to get their careers. Unfortunately, if they hadn’t, some other young woman would have.

I think men who abuse a woman that way, ought to be castrated. That might give them some idea of the damage their actions did to their victims.

It’s not just the sexual harassment and abuse, though. There are other ways in which we’re disrespected as women. I’ve read of women doing the same jobs as men and asking for what the men get. The men generally only need to ask once. A woman has to ask more than once and is considered a “bitch” or “difficult to work with” for doing so.

Even worse, though are the people in our daily lives who we should be able to trust. Our families, friends, and when we’re in school the personnel who work in those schools. Often times, though, experience teaches us that we won’t be listened to.

I was teased and bullied a lot during elementary school. Talking to the people in charge did absolutely no good. They all told me to ignore the ones teasing me or avoid them if at all possible. There was no effort made to deal with the kids who teased or bullied me.

In junior high, I went to summer camp with the church youth. Someone in the group owned a motor boat that we could ski behind. That summer, someone brought a round disk that had a place for a water ski handle so someone could lay flat on the disk and be towed around the water. I thought that looked like fun, so I got in line. It was fun. At first. Pretty soon he was driving the boat so fast that I was being bounced hard on the water. It was like doing numerous belly flops in a swimming pool, one after the other with no real break until I let go of the disk.

When I let go of the disk, he circled back and asked me what was wrong. I told him he was going too fast and that I felt like I was being bounced to the point I was afraid my insides were going to be bounced out. He told me that wasn’t possible. He wasn’t going any faster than he’d been told was safe. I don’t remember how many times I let go of that disk, then when he circled back and questioned me, I told him the same thing. If I’d had the confidence in my swimming abilities, I’d have swum back to the dock instead of riding that disk again.

A few minutes after we got back, he came over to me and apologized. He’d learned that he really had been going too fast.

More on this subject next week.

Being Sick

            I was supposed to go see a friend the past weekend, but I ended up messaging him to say I didn’t feel quite right, so I thought I should stay home. I’ve had this happen a couple of times in recent months where I make plans, but don’t feel right, so I stay home. Those times it turned out to be a false alarm. This time it was not.

            When I woke up Monday, my throat was sore and I was so congested I couldn't believe it. If you’ve ever been unable to breathe through your nose, you know what I’m talking about. I managed to do the dishes at home, but that was about it. I did do one of the exercises in Latin and try to write, but I barely got through the Latin and writing was like, “cannot comprehend what I’m looking at.” So, I gave up.

            When I woke up Tuesday, I was so tired, I dragged myself out of bed. I’d even gone to bed early and woke up late. So, instead of hopping on my computer, I sat/laid in front of the TV all day binge watching season four of “When Calls the Heart” till I had to make dinner.  Thankfully, dinner was simple. Eggs and pancakes.

            Wednesday started out okay, so I figured working at the gym as usual wouldn’t be a problem. I took it pretty easy there. I checked my e-mail and Facebook for the first time in over 24 hours. I seriously didn’t turn on my computer all day Tuesday. Before I finished my shift at the gym I rode the stationary bike for a bit. I didn’t get all the way through the usual 30 minutes, but I figured I was getting over my cold, so no biggie.

            When I got home I was so exhausted I did something I almost never do. I read in bed for a while then took a nap. I hate taking naps, so if I’m taking one, you know I’m not feeling good. When I got up, I felt better and cooking dinner was no big deal, but I did tell my roommate that if I felt that way the next day, I may tell him he’s on his own for dinner. He asked me if he could do anything to help me make dinner the next day. There wasn’t, but I remembered a simpler recipe I could do using the chicken I’d thawed.

            The next day I went to the gym as usual. When I got home, there was a flyer in our mailbox from our favorite pizza place. They were running a special and after discussing it, we ordered in pizza for dinner.

            Friday I put dinner in the crock pot, did dishes and that was the end of me doing anything more for the rest of the day. I literally sat in front of my computer menu planning and playing Runescape till dinner. Just too tired to do anything else.

            So, now it’s Saturday and I’m finally writing this blog. There are other things I’d rather be writing about, but this is the best I could do for this week.  The hardest part of being sick, to me anyway is that I not only missed visiting with my friend, but I couldn’t do some things this week that I wanted/needed to do. Things like shortening pajama pants for my roommate and baking bread. Such is life when you're sick.

            There have been a couple of bright spots.

            One, my roommate offering to help me cook dinner, then ordering pizza.

            Two, my little kitty, Rusty. She’s been my faithful companion this week. Laying on the couch with me and in bed with me when I took my nap. Normally she runs around the house like a miniature horse or sits in the window watching birds for hours on end.

            I did think about writing this blog during the week, but was simply too sick to do more than that. I’m just thankful I got my monthly menu planning done. It helped that I’d been thinking about since before I got sick.

            I hope you’ve had a better week than I did. I’d love to know if you want to leave me a comment. Take care and hope you read my blog next week.

What Moana Taught Me

            When “Moana” came out, I had no desire to see it. Another Disney movie. Big, fat hairy deal.

           

            Then a friend posted a blog titled, “What I Learned from Moana About Trauma.” (https://www.parent.com/moana-taught-trauma/) – Warning, if you read this blog it may make you cry. It did me.

            After reading the blog, I had to watch the movie. Thanks to my wonderful son, we have Netflix, which had “Moana” (I don’t know if it still does). I loved it! I also learned something myself, but not about trauma, although that certainly applies, too.

            The lesson I got was from Moana’s growing up years. She’s the chief’s daughter who’s always drawn to the ocean. The ocean seems to like her, too. Unfortunately, her parents keep pulling her away because beyond the coral reef the ocean is stormy and dangerous. Not long that, as her parents and the villagers kept telling her, they had everything they needed. There was no need to go beyond the coral reef.

            This brings me to what this movie taught me:

            As long as we have everything we need, we’re content. Therefore we stay in our comfort zone. There’s no need to explore or possible improve ourselves or our situation in general. It took an impending disaster to make her people more open to the possibility of going past the reef and even then they were hesitant.

We, the church, are a lot like Moana’s people. As long as our needs are met and our theology is comfortable, we see no reason to change the way we do things. We tend to assume that being covered by  Jesus’ willingness to sacrifice himself for the forgiveness of our sins, we’re fine. No need to do anything more than go to church on Sunday.

            We’ve either forgotten or never been taught that when Jesus came back from the dead, he told his disciples to wait. To pray till His father did something specific.  They did and it happened on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2

            The second thing I realized was that there’s this concept that the blood of Jesus not only covers our sins, but it purifies us, therefore we won’t be judged on judgment day. The Bible says otherwise.

            In Romans 14:10 we read:

But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

            Again in 2 Corinthians 5:10

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

            The point here is that a lot of Christians I’ve met in recent years seem to think that as long as they’ve accepted God’s priceless gift of salvation, they’re fine. They can go to church on Sundays, live by whatever laws/rules they’re taught and everything’s fine.

            I hate to burst your bubble, but that’s not the whole truth. The biggest truth we’re not taught as Christians in my opinion, is that our relationship with God can go as deep as we want. As deep as we’re willing to allow God into our lives. Salvation in a real sense is the easy part. You could call it getting acquainted with God. It’s a first step in a journey that can last a life time.

            Baptism in the Holy Spirit as described in Acts 2, is the next step. Now, I won’t claim there’s a “sound of rushing wind” every time someone gets baptized in the Holy Spirit, but there is evidence of praying in tongues. I know, you may be thinking that doesn’t apply today. But think about this, in Hebrews 13:8 we read:

Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever.

            I believe the same applies to God. God doesn’t change, we do. As we grow in Him, our concepts and understanding of who He is changes. That can’t happen however, if we’re stuck back at step one – Salvation.

            God wants more than Salvation for us. He wants to be a friend to us in good times and bad. He doesn’t just want to be a heavenly father we call on in times of trouble and stress. He wants to be someone we talk to everyday. Someone we tell not only our troubles and stress, but the highs and lows of our days. Someone we can say, “Hey Lord, I had a good day today. The sun was shining and nothing seemed to really go wrong today. In fact, I actually got ahead of things at work today. And did you see the cute thing that Rusty my cat, did today? I’m so glad I have You in my life.”

Or, “Lord, I’ve had such a bad day. My alarm didn’t go off. I must have forgotten to turn it on. Then I had a run in my last pair of hose, so I was late for work. I swear my boss was on a rampage today. It wasn’t just me he seemed to be mad at, but everyone. Then that car nearly hit me on the way home. Thankfully, he swerved in time, but that was scary. Ugh! Thanks for listening to me.”

            There’s also the fact that God wants to heal us. I know that when I say “heal us,” most people think of physical healing, such as healing from disease or infirmity. In this case, I’m also talking about healing the wounds of our heart.

            I know most, if not all of us have suffered emotional trauma of some sort in our lives. If you’ve been following my blog, then you know about a significant portion of mine. I haven’t written about all the emotional trauma I’ve suffered, but I plan to in another blog. In this one though, I want to let you know if you don’t already, that God wants to heal the wounds of our hearts, no matter how old they are or how deep they run.

            In Luke 4:18, we read:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

            In this verse Jesus is in the synagogue reading to whoever is there. I’ve done a thorough search for any reference to healing of the brokenhearted and this was all I found. I pondered on it for several days. “Why only this one mention of healing the brokenhearted?”

            I finally asked my roommate as I know he’s done extensive studying of the Bible in addition to having graduated from a now defunct Bible College. He told me it was there because it was important to God. How about that? It’s important to God. Most of us think of healing in only the physical sense, but God sees the need for the wounds of our hearts to be healed and He wants to heal our hearts.

            So, if you’re reading this and you’re Christian, I have a question for you. Are you content where you are or do you want more of God?

            If we look at Revelations 3:20 we read,

            Behold! I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

            It doesn’t say he stops knocking. He keeps knocking on different doors in our hearts. Are we willing to let him all the way into our lives or do we restrict him to the front room that we “keep clean” to show our guests?

            If you want more of God, start talking to him. Read His word for yourself to see what God would say to you. Too many of us take our pastor’s word for things rather than looking them up. I’ve done that in the past.

In 2 Timothy 2:15 we read:

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

            That’s a pretty strong hint that we should be reading the Bible for ourselves. It is my hope that this encourages you to seek more of God in your own life.

P.S. All scriptures are from the KJV and the emphasis is mine.