Hotashi

There have been many attacks recently against Christians in India and it is hitting really close to home. There have been attacks in my father’s town, Mangalore, against various Christian groups. I have numerous family members living there, including my 80 year old grandmother whom I got to see this year after ten years. Attacks are conducted by a Hindu extremist group who target non-Hindus in India. Currently they are focusing on Christians because one group of Christians are attempting to help the poor, orphans, and widows who are struggling to live. Rather than targeting this one Christian group they are attacking many different Christian groups, including ones that have been in Mangalore for hundreds of years. There are many more attacks that have been carried out in surrounding areas, especially in the state of Orissa. These attacks are being taken out on everyone, including children, women, and even nuns. One priest was even attacked with a machete during a Sunday morning service. Churches have been set on fire, Christian homes have been vandelized, and Christians have been beaten simply because they are Christian. One Hindu journalist who wrote an article stating that people should be able to choose their religion was beaten by members of this Hindu extremist group. Basically, those who do not conform to the beliefs of this Hindu extremist group are targetted and beaten into conformity.

These incidents are scary and a stark reminder that religious violence is very much alive and should not be tolerated. Nobody, regardless of what their religious affiliation is, should be persecuted. I am asking you to please pray for peace and safety of all religious groups in India. Also please pray for the safety of my family members. I don’t want the next trip I take to India be because I have to bury my family member(s). Thank you.

You can read more about what’s going on in India on this blog.

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No matter where I am in my life or where I am with my walk with Jesus I find that there is nothing more comforting that lying in my bed and having a chat with Him. It really relieves a lot of stress and makes me admit things that I don’t want to. It gives me a real reality check and overall it makes me a better person. I’m pretty sure it’s good for my health too since the more I pray, the less I stress and worry about things.

I’ve heard people say prayer is powerful in relation to God’s work on someone else (the person, situation, etc. that you’re praying for), but it does wonders for the individual praying too. It is sad that people are deterred from praying because of the politics, prejudgements, ignorance, and poor representatives that are associated with Jesus and his followers - and of course, “Christians”.

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I recently have been making the effort to read my Bible before I go to sleep. It’s not much, but I want to become a better servant. From this, I have been thinking about two things that I came across recently. The first is Matthew 5:5 which states, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” What exactly is that supposed to mean? It can’t mean that those who are humble will come to power, because that is far from true. Those who are humble in this world get trampled on. Those who are weak are crushed and taken advantage of. Those who are seen as benefitting society are ignored and demonized. And if this verse refers to the earth as in land, then that doesn’t make sense either. Since everything is privatized now, it is hardly the meek who inherit land. You have to fight for it, and take advantage of an exploitative system in order to step on others to gain a place of privelege to be able to own land. So what exactly does this verse mean?

A second line that I’ve been thinking about is a lyric from the song Be my escape by Relient K. It states, “But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair.” This is a really interesting statement, and it’s true. Grace is not equal. Why are some people spared their lives while others die from terminal illnesses, unfortunate circumstances, or freak accidents? Why are some people born into poverty and others are born into wealth? None are worthy of a better life than others, really. It is by mere grace how lucky our circumstances are. And no, I do not believe in the myth of meritorcracy. Anyone who has ever acheived anything through their hard work has also cut others of opportunities and exploited others (usually through the use of an existing exploitative social and economic structure). I cannot stand here today and say that I am where I am because of the hard work I have done. Sure my hard work has contributed to it, but I am not so foolish to think that I was placed in a position of privelege where I could afford my education, my food, my shelter, etc. And this place of privelege is based on a system where profit is gained off of the exploitation of workers. Sorry, I digress.

Life is not fair. I am blessed by the grace of God who has given me the access to many places of privelege, but I am also disadvantaged in many ways because of my gender, my race, my ethnicity, my stature, etc. Should I sit back and accept these disadvantages claiming that God has not given me the grace to have such privelege? I know some people would interpret some scriptures this way, which I think is bullshit. I don’t think God applauds social injustice or passivity towards it. Yes, God’s grace does not make life fair, but that doesn’t mean we should accept the unfairness of life. We should try to make this world a better place for everyone because none of us are worthy. Nobody is perfect, so why should we accept that some have the right to privelege while others don’t?

That’s what I’ve been thinking about lately…

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I’ve been really busy with school lately. I had a mini breakdown and an anxiety attack last week. The stress has been really getting to me. Easter couldn’t have come at a better time, really. I went home this weekend to spend time with my family and relax. Church didn’t have the same effect like it had in the past, but it was good to be back. The message of Easter is always something that I need to cherish and remind myself of. And I’ve realized that I have been forgetting that my value does not lie anywhere but in God. I guess I’ve been trying to gain validation through completing my Masters, conducting my own research, and in other places. These accomplishments are a nice pat on the back, but day by day I am feeling less satisfied and more burdened. Things that once excited me now make me cringe. So I am now going to try to make a conscious effort to just do my best for Jesus and not care about impressing anyone else. Life is more enjoyable that way.

Just to add in something random, I am really hungry but whenever I walk out of my room into the kitchen I can smell the bag of garbage still waiting to be thrown out. I lose my appetite immediately, but I’m so hungry. Why can’t people do their chores on time? >_>

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Note: This post is in reflection to North American expectations of legitimizing a marriage. Therefore this post is targetting self-proclaimed Christian readers. Other issues regarding marriage and legitimate marriage are not intended to be underlying messages in this post. They deserve their own space to be discussed.

I mentioned before that I had gone through an angry period where I would get enraged for reasons that I didn’t fully understand. I’m happy to say that for the most part I don’t have any rage issues. They still strike me from time to time, but it definately isn’t as overwhelming as it used to be. And really, what is wrong with being angry? I’m very grateful for going through that period because it made me let go of a lot of crap that I held onto. A good portion of this was many of my ignorant, conservative views. These views weren’t so much specific situations (although sometimes it was), but it was more a perspective and a worldview that needed to be changed. It has been an ongoing process for many years, and it is only recently that I’ve started to articulate my frustrations with values I have been socialized with.

Of these values include a perspective of what it is to be a Christian. It really bothers me that many Christians in North America (I would rather not generalize about all Christians since the majority of my experience has to do with North American Christians) do not understand that despite their siblings in Christ sharing the same or a similar theology with them, that this theology is expressed culturally. The way you interpret the Bible is relative to your position in the world. The way people interpret the Bible is in response to their need to understand their world. A woman understands the world differently than a non-woman (notice I did not say man - I did that on purpose). A non-White person understands the world differently than a White person. A working-class person understands the world differently than a middle-class, upper-middle-class, and upper-class person. To think that there is a universal understanding of God’s word is just nieve. God is absolute but we are not. We understand things through the blinders in our life. And those blinders are constricted by our “race” our ethnicity, our gender, our age, our sexual orientation, etc. Our standpoint determines how we interpret God’s word.

So with this, what makes us think that we can determine what constitutes as a marriage ceremony? If Jack and I choose to move in together and live the rest of our lives that way, how is that any different than getting “married”? If Jack and I were to go through a socially acceptable ceremony (according to “Christian” standards and legal standards), but we decide not to live under the same roof and continue with a happy relationship, does that make us any less married? Would I be less married if I didn’t wear my wedding ring (another culturally expressive tradition), or if I didn’t change my surname (yet another culturally expressive tradition)? Would Jack and I be any less Christian if we did not get married in a church or by a Christian pastor? Would I be a bad Christian if I chose to walk down the isle by myself, or with Jack by my side, or not at all? What if I wanted to wear a green dress? Would my chastity be questioned? Who decides these standards and why should I conform to them? Who is anyone else to tell me what is acceptable for my marriage to be legitimized? Why should I care what anyone but God thinks? If He recognizes my union with Jack, then who is anyone else to tell us that we are not married?

Wake up! These are all cultural. They way you interpret Genesis 2:24* is based on your culture. You cannot look at this verse and say that constitutes a specific type of living arrangement or a ceremony that defines a marriage. Does the way you declare a marriage validate one type of ceremony over another? Does the amount of money one spends on such a ceremony determine how legitimate their marriage is? Does the number of people who are witnesses legitimate it? If one uses a term other than marriage, such as a union or a partnership, does it make it any less of, or different than, a “marriage”? If you go through the wedding ceremony but do not sign the legal documentation required are you any less married before God’s eyes? If the government or society refuse to acknowledge your marriage are you any less married in God’s sight?

The way you constitue marriage is relative to YOUR understanding of marriage. So think long and hard about how your own ignorance and ethnocentricism is preventing you from seeing people the way God sees them. Wearing a white wedding dress, walking down the isle, moving in together after an “official” or “socially recognized” ceremony, exchanging wedding rings, etc. are NOT Christian. They are culturally constucted traditions used to legitimate a marriage. And what I have to say to those traditions is that they are not part of who I am. For the most part they are oppressive, sexist, and Eurocentric. So fuck them. I will not conform to such bullshit. As far as I’m concerned, Jack and I are already married.

*Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

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