WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2021 THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGING

I’m looking at what happened to me as I moved from being an active full professor with outstanding teaching, good enough research, and overwhelming service - to being an instructor. 

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At the bottom of this blog post, I have copied the synopsis of a book - called “The Shack”.  My one paragraph review:

Mack and his family took a vacation at an Oregon lake.  The youngest daughter is kidnapped and abused.  Mack goes into a depression but gets a note from “Papa” (aka “God”) to meet him at the lake.  God is a large Black woman, Jesus is an Asian man, and the Holy Spirit is a hard-to-see man.  Mack wants JUSTICE - he wants the kidnapper killed, but by the end of the story he has learned to forgive the kidnapper (and also his mean, abusive, alcoholic father).  

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Many years ago a friend gave me a conservative Christian pamphlet on how to tell the cults (like Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other groups that “seem” Christian on the surface but fail the tests (at least according to the author of this pamphlet.) I (ouch), took that to heart - the various sects in the pamphlet were going to hell.  In fact, the only ones on the “straight and narrow” path were conservative, obedient Christians - who I was!!!  

I HATED those ‘false religions’.  I didn’t grab anybody by their collar and say “You are going to hell” (although I’ve had that done to me in the past six months!!!).  God was a God of holiness and the people who didn’t believe “properly” were wrong.

With “The Shack” book, the Black woman who is God the Father, gets Mac to forgive.  Humans can forgive and God is really the only one who can judge anybody.  The concept of “walk a mile in their shoes” comes through.  How can I judge anybody who is trying to lead a good and valuable life (such as Mormons or Muslims or agnostics? I can’t see into their brain - God alone will judge.  

Matthew 7:1-5 “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’, and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First, remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

And Romans 2:1 “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”

(I take these verses to be on judging somebody to go to hell.  I have to do a lot of judging on a normal basis - which check-out line in the grocery store is the fastest?  Which lane will be the best on the Interstate Highway?  Even who should I vote for in the election?  Or what should I have for dinner tonight? Those are everyday decisions.)

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BUT, I no longer judge whether somebody is going to hell or not.  That is God’s work (however we perceive God).  I quote Isaiah 55:8 on this:

“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.

(Comment on my quotations:  Using a specific text to authenticate itself is circular logic.  The University of Texas materials say that the University of Texas is the best university in the world.  The Church of Karen White says that the Church of Karen White is the only true church.  Oscar Meyer meats say they are the best meats in the world.  Audi says their cars are the best cars in the world. 

But, in this case, I view God as Omnipotence; Omnipresence; Omniscience; Omnibenevolent - all-powerful, all-present, all-knowing, and all-loving!!!  To me there “has” to be something beyond limited human wisdom.  I take that as God - and so I use Biblical quotations as more of a foundation for MY intrinsic beliefs - not as proof - but as something that strikes a chord within me!!)

So, for me as a human being - a limited human - to judge others just doesn’t fit.  Who am I to say a particular person is okay or not okay?  Therefore I will NOT judge.  If I accept the concept that ALL people are made in the image and likeness of God (still a Judeo/Christian Bible reference), then Muslims, Gays, Lesbians, Mormons, Hindus, and ALL people deserve to be considered as “Children of God”.  

When my brain grasped this, my whole worldview changed.  Yes, I am still a believing Christian as I view the LOVE ONE ANOTHER / LOVE COVERS A MULTITUDE of Sins concepts of what I think Jesus really taught as a basis of my living.  

So, in adopting a very open and very inclusive view, and in adopting a feminine viewpoint, I have transitioned to being a female.  At times I can not believe this, and at most times, I have said “Thy will be done”.  

What is my purpose as a female?  To love my neighbor as me. To show love, to forgive 70 times 7.  To be humble, and merciful.  

In this regard, if somebody can’t accept that Bruce White is now legally and physically Karen White, that’s okay.  I am to love them.  If my friend LW tells me that I’m out of the will of God and unless I change my gender back to being male, I am going to hell, is okay - he has his views and I can’t judge him.  If a former friend says “Bruce has gone off the deep end” or “Bruce is mentally ill”, he is welcome to his opinion.  (And, maybe I have gone off the deep end and maybe I am mentally ill!!!) 

But, I must live my life as I perceive God wants me to be.  I must be authentic to what I think my calling is  - and again using a Biblical reference “What does God expect of me - but to love justice, show mercy, and to walk humbly with God”; and I am to feed the hungry, give a drink to the thirsty, visit the sick and those in jail, and love all people.  

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More tomorrow!!!

LOVE WINS!!

Karen

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The Shack Summary

In The Shack, Willie tells the story of his friend Mack's experience meeting God face to face.

Mack has had a troubled childhood; due to his father's alcoholism and aggression, Mack left home at 13. This experience leaves him with little faith in God. However, in his twenties, he settles down in Oregon with a woman named Nan, who has such devout and personal faith in God that she calls him Papa. Mack and Nan have five children: Jon, Tyler, Josh, Kate, and Missy. One summer, Mack decides to take Josh, Kate, and Missy on a camping trip. They stay at a campground for a few days and meet another family and a couple who are camping in the same area. On the last morning of their trip, Josh and Kate go out canoeing and flip their canoe. While Mack swims out to save Josh, Missy is abducted. When Mack cannot find Missy after rescuing Josh, the police are called and an investigation is launched. The recovery of a ladybug-shaped pin with five dots at the campsite ties Missy's abduction to a serial killer called the Little Ladykiller, and the dress she was wearing on the day of her abduction is found at a shack hidden in the woods nearby. After weeks of searching, no body is recovered.

Mack's family goes on with their lives, though Mack experiences what he calls The Great Sadness, and his daughter Kate becomes more closed off and sullen. One snowy day while Nan, Josh, and Kate are at Nan's sister's house, Mack receives a letter inviting him back to the shack. The letter is signed with the name Papa and has no stamp or return address. Mack decides that it must be either a prank or from Missy's killer, so he decides not to tell Nan. However, he becomes more curious over the next week and decides to go to the shack to confront whatever is there, be it God or a prankster of some kind.

When Mack gets to the shack, there is nobody else there. When Mack sees the faded bloodstain where Missy's dress was found, he starts to cry and smash furniture. He falls asleep on the floor. When he wakes up, he decides to go back home, but after walking a few steps away from the shack, his surroundings suddenly change from snowy winter to a warm, sweet-smelling spring. The shack is replaced by a beautiful cabin on the edge of a lake. Inside the shack, he meets a black woman named Papa, an Asian woman named Sarayu, and a Middle Eastern man, Jesus. Together, they are God. Mack spends the weekend at the shack having conversations with the three of them, and in the process, he learns to love and trust God. He also works through his guilt and anger at his father and Missy's killer.

At the end of the weekend, he decides to return to his family. While he is driving home, he gets in a car crash. He is unconscious for a few days, and he acknowledges that people may not believe his story about what happened at the shack because of the accident. However, Willie and Nan tell him that they believe him, and the knowledge that Mack gained during his time at the shack allows the police to recover Missy's body and catch the Little Ladykiller.