#HeToo

In a TODAY show interview broadcast on Monday, June 04, 2018, former president Bill Clinton seemed to indicate that HeToo had been a victim of sexual harassment; leaving the Whitehouse $16,000,000 in debt for legal fees acquired from having to defend himself against such accusations. That his conduct was simply comparable to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Clinton further stated that he had apologized to everybody in the World and two-thirds of the American people sided with him.

I was among the other third; my memories are somewhat different.

 

A REPENTANT SINNER

A woman of mystery, the canonical Gospels proclaim that Mary Magdalene was among several women from Galilee that followed Jesus and helped support his teaching. She was the first to give testament to His resurrection. Apocryphal and Gnostic writings of the 2nd and 3rd centuries say that Jesus loved her and gave her special knowledge. The Cathars considered her to be a spiritual leader equal to Peter. There have even been code readers of recent times who claim she was Jesus’ wife.

Over generations, legends and interpretations have been added, embellished upon, and subtracted by various factions within and outside Christendom.

Pope Gregory I, five hundred and some years after those who actually would have known, proclaimed that Mary Magdalene was the prostitute of Luke 7:36-50, the woman often regarded as being one and the same with Mary of Bethany in John 11:1-2.

A repentant sinner, Mary became the patron saint of wayward women. Headstrong, stubborn, undisciplined, and perverse women.

Perhaps the Pope was correct, perhaps he wasn’t. The Eastern Orthodox and many in the West never bought into the composite Mary story.

Never-the-less, Mary Magdalene is the poster girl for penitence.

A requirement of an Apostle, a Pope, every male or female who no longer wishes to remain perverted, every true disciple of Christ, from the first century to the current, must all follow Mary’s example.

 

CROSSING THE LINE

Almost every day I hear of some well known person wandering into the Territory of Inappropriate Behavior.

With sexual innuendo for a guide, they don’t seem to care where the road takes them.

Having failed to follow Good directions they now find it difficult to remember when it was that they reached the border; when they crossed the line.

 

SHE WAS PART OF ADAM

The claim is sometimes made that Christianity and the Bible are sexist. I know there are some Christians who are.

Genesis says that Adam was made from the earth. Eve was then created from Adam. She was part of Adam, she was not his servant. They were one; with different roles to play, together they formed mankind. Is that sexist?

The Quran gives name to only one woman; Mary, the mother of Jesus. It actually says more about her than my Christian Bible does. My Bible however refers by name to 187 additional women. They all seem to be as human as the men. Is that sexist?

I’m told that Jesus had no human father. Yet, He had a human mother. Women gave financial support to His teaching; men may have too, but I think the Bible only mentions the women.  It says they witnessed His crucifixion and were the first to report His resurrection. Is that sexist?

I don’t feel that my spirit has gender. I think the purpose of gender is limited to the physical world. Jesus said that in heaven we will be like the Angels; there will be no marriage. All who accept His Love will be connected to God through Christ; by His Holy Spirit. Is that sexist?

I don’t truly understand, I don’t know the reason why, but paternal ancestry is stored in the male Y chromosome. God chose to record heritage through the male. Could that be the reason or is it simply sexist that when the Bible deals in genealogy it does so through the male?

Science says our DNA record is transferred from generation to generation by the Y chromosome.

Are science and the Bible both sexist?

All males have the Y chromosome, but without a female half there would have been nothing to record.

 

  

HE MADE HIS MOTHER’S DAY

The issue is not settled in my mind. Right or wrong? Should circumstances make a difference? It’s a decision I’ll never have to make nor can I make it for another. 

I have confidence that God is just; that spirits meant to experience this dimension don’t perish due to choices made by others. For that reason I think it has more to do with how one makes the decision than the decision that they make.

Consider your life and the one who decided she’d take the rougher road.

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. – Exodus 20:12

  

PROBABILITY

The author Jackie Collins recently died of Stage 4 breast cancer. I’d never read any of her books, it was simply fame that made me aware of who she was; it was fame that made me aware of her death. Although her passing had no impact on me I can relate to those for whom it has and offer my condolences.

Life is full of probabilities. The probability of a woman developing breast cancer at some point in her lifetime is about eight to one against. Not bad odds. A gambler could do well with those odds.

I don’t know if Jackie Collins was a gambler but she was one the odds didn’t favor. I don’t know if she knew that when diagnosis and treatment are made early ninety percent are just as likely as women in the general population to continue living.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month starts tomorrow.

REAL WOMEN

From out of my mind is an image of a woman. She’s attractive to look at; of course there are a lot of images of women that are attractive to look at. You need to use discernment because many aren’t real, they’re just images.

A real woman will have an inner beauty; ideally she’ll be loving, gracious, compassionate, intelligent, kind, and modest. And most desirable of all she should be filled with faith.

I’m not being delusional; I see her faults. That’s to be expected with real women. One might ask: you don’t know her, how can you be sure that one is a real woman, not just an image? I know because of the faults, if she were only a creation of my mind she would be perfect.

Except for one, faults can be forgotten; they are forgivable.

MODESTY

Chrissie Hynde, the lead singer for the Pretenders, recently stated in a newspaper interview that she had been sexually assaulted by a motorcycle gang when she was 21 years of age. It happened here in Ohio. She said it was “all my doing” because she was walking around in her underwear and drunk. She went on to express her view that “Women who sell what their product is by using sex – that’s prostitution.”

It most certainly wasn’t all her doing; she didn’t commit the assault, there is no excuse to rape, not in Ohio or anywhere else. However, her point about modesty is well taken.

What’s considered modest varies with your culture and the times in which you live. The photo seen above of Annette Kellerman was thought to be indecent back in 1907. Today, it would be viewed as modest to the point of laughable; however, a hundred and some years ago it was overly suggestive.

What people consider modest or alluring may change, what doesn’t change is that modesty is about respect. It’s about being respectful of women, men, and children but mostly it’s about respect for yourself.  

THINKING LIKE A WOMAN

Bruce Jenner’s transformation to Caitlyn Jenner puzzles me, mostly because of Jenner’s statement that “My brain is much more female than it is male. It’s hard for people to understand but that’s what my soul is.” — “I think like a woman.”

It is hard for me to understand because I’d never thought about my soul having a gender. My spirit isn’t physical, what purpose would it serve for my soul to have a gender? And for the most part, I can’t tell if I think like a male or a female. It has never worried me; the way I think is the way I think, I’ve known no other.

For 65 years Jenner appeared in public looking like and dressing like a male. Looking and dressing like a male apparently hindered his female thinking all those years. Am I to believe that female thinking is all about clothing, jewelry, cosmetics and physical appearance? I have to admit those things can get my attention too but I had assumed that was thinking like a male.