KarensNewBlog: FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 2021

FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 2021 - LOVE WINS FRIDAY

Today I am featuring a blog written by Suzanne DeWitt Hall

Suzanne is a writer on Spiritual subjects. This is taken from her blog: https://www.wheretrueloveis.com -

Note the name of her blog - Where True Love Is. - TRUE LOVE - Godly Love - Agape!!!

From that blog, she had this information about her:

“Suzanne DeWitt Hall is the author of the Where True Love Is devotional series and the Rumplepimple adventures for kids. (To get an idea of that book, check out this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMc9BmoGfjU)

“Her work is designed to shine the light of love into hearts darkened by discrimination and fear.

“Suzanne lives with her beloved wife, two terriers, and a cat named Chicken. Her life is so full of joy it's surprising her house can hold it all.

(More information about Suzanne DeWitt Hall at the bottom)

***********

Now, my introduction!! I have written about an infinite God in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55

**********

We ALL are made in the image of God - as Suzanne’s blog points out we all have different looks, likes, and abilities. And, gasp, some maybe not follow traditional gender roles. Did a person give up his or her or their humanness to adapt to a different gender orientation?

If you will, at one point, we viewed slaves as “non-humans”. Do we now view LGBTQ people as “non-humans”?

OKAY - off my soapbox again!! Here is Suzanne’s writing!!

******************************************

My beloved and I are mentoring a woman as she deconstructs her understanding of God and sex built over decades of seminary and ministry. One of her recent questions helped me realize the absurdity of the notion that there is a "right" way to experience sexual attraction or gender identity. She asked me to put the thoughts I verbalized into writing, so I'm doing that here.

Within heterosexual circles, it's pretty common to hear offhand comments about physical characteristics people find attractive. Some guys like big boobs. Some are leg men. Others are all about that ass. The same holds true for women; some get excited by a hairy chest, others find them kind of gross. Some girls groove on guys built like linebackers, others prefer their lovers compact and lithe.

So if we are to believe God has an ideal for sexual desire's orientation, what is the holiest type of attraction? Is it more godly to get excited by big boobs or small ones? Should good Christian women seek conversion therapy if they find furry shoulders sexier than sleek ones, or is it the reverse, because of Essau's blessedly hairy knuckles? How does God feel about a Bible-believing man's excitement over his wife's ankles? Is ankle attraction sinful?

The same ridiculousness applies to gender. Long before gender came to the forefront of national discourse, everyone—even devout Christians—recognized variations in gender performance. It's nothing new. Females who liked sports and avoided dresses were called tomboys. A wide range of masculinity was understood, with uber-masculine guys considered macho studs, and "atypical" guys labeled as nerds or sissies.

So if the Christian right is correct and God has an ordained concept of gender with which people must conform to be godly, how does it fit into these widely-recognized levels of variation? Is a woman in a dress, lipstick, and stilettos who likes crafting more worthy of God's approval than one in jeans who likes fixing cars? Is a dude clad in lumberjack garb who likes to hunt and watch football more worthy than one who wears button-downs and tailored trousers while working in a library?

A century ago, pink was a color for boys rather than girls because of its closeness to red. Long hair has gone in and out of favor for men and women, along with wigs and high heels. In many indigenous cultures, face and body makeup are applied by men before going into battle and is an intensely masculine gender performance.

So does God want pink onesies for girl babies or boy babies? Do they get mad when women wear pants or are they angry that men wear them now, given that Jesus wore a dress? Are mullets an abomination gender blending of God's hair expectations?

Can you see the ridiculousness of these ideas?

Our creator and judge is the force that keeps the universe expanding and the blood in our veins pumping. The force which created the astonishing diversity of sea life and endlessly evolving rainforest insects. The force which perpetually calls us to love and unity.

The idea that the God who created the magical lushness and reproductive oddity of anemones sits around obsessing about boundaries for human desire and gender manifestation is an abuse of biblical texts and flies in the face of God's revealed reality.

God doesn't frown on diversity in any form. They invented it.

**********

THANK YOU SUZANNE!!!!

**********

I do want to add a few comments. I have written about an Infinite God before - Isaiah 55:8-9 say

I am finite - and God is infinite - I can’t possibly understand the concept of “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [...]The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (From John chapter 1).

Humans have tried to make God in their image, although the general concept is that God made us in HIs image.

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.” (Psalm 139:13-14)

*****

MORE ABOUT OUR GUEST AUTHOR *****

Suzanne DeWitt Hall has a series of devotionals

. Sleeper, Awake: 40 days of companionship for the deconstruction process

. Sex With God: Meditations on the sacred nature of sex in a post-purity-culture world

. A Theology of Desire: Meditations on intimacy, consummation, and the longing of God

. Where True Love Is: an affirming devotional for LGBTQI+ individuals and their allies

. Transfigured: a 40-day journey through scripture for gender-queer and transgender people

. I Don't Want Them to Go to Hell: 50 days of encouragement for friends and families of LGBTQ people

*****’

LOVE WINS!!!

HUGS!!!