tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post1366939835912055859..comments2023-05-11T02:25:00.451-07:00Comments on Chronicles of a Christian Heretic: It's All in the (Renounced) Name... Or NotSandra Keehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16979912092987681396noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-6190024950864509772011-04-15T10:42:05.960-07:002011-04-15T10:42:05.960-07:00that's it, young lady! you march yourself righ...that's it, young lady! you march yourself right into your room and pray to God (heavy emphasis on that phrase) to forgive your wicked, wicked heart! :)<br /><br />Gah! Fundies make is so easy to yank their chains, ya know? They take themselves soooo seriously! I find myself still doing that--taking myself too seriously, I mean, and getting all defensive when my family pokes some fun at my fascination with all things religious. <br /><br />but good for you, Shadow, thanks for sharing the chuckle!Sandra Keehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16979912092987681396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-52495214009504099752011-04-15T06:01:09.855-07:002011-04-15T06:01:09.855-07:00Hahaha! Sandra I am a naughty naughty girl. I jus...Hahaha! Sandra I am a naughty naughty girl. I just bought the Holy Yoga book around Christmas, for a very unholy reason. To leave lying around my living room while my Dallas Theological Seminary patriarchal missionary in-laws were visiting, just to rattle their cage.<br /><br />Ah, I amuse myself. n_nshadowspringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15172112981244682382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-84042540972085569392011-04-14T15:53:26.284-07:002011-04-14T15:53:26.284-07:00DaveLou,
Thanks for the Cohen recommendation. I&...DaveLou,<br /><br />Thanks for the Cohen recommendation. I'd never heard of him before but I really like this song. I'll be looking into more of his stuff.Sandra Keehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16979912092987681396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-33213503721739662142011-04-14T15:26:35.414-07:002011-04-14T15:26:35.414-07:00Sandra, that was beautiful and very trasnparent..a...Sandra, that was beautiful and very trasnparent..and I'd say you definitely have an academic degree in religious studies!<br /><br />SisterlisaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-83715110116362992062011-04-14T15:25:33.991-07:002011-04-14T15:25:33.991-07:00Although I don’t identify completely with your sta...Although I don’t identify completely with your stance, having never swung the pendulum all the way to the heathen side, I surely identify with much of what you are saying, including the feeling of being punched in the gut when certain statements of well-meaning Christians trigger stuff from the past that will probably always be with me in some form or another. <br /> <br />Terry GrayAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-27925326101999510392011-04-13T18:46:18.496-07:002011-04-13T18:46:18.496-07:00Child,
Yoga--so hideously misunderstood by Fundy-...Child,<br /><br />Yoga--so hideously misunderstood by Fundy-thinking Christians! My VERY fundy grandma told me in the 70s that yoga will open your mind for Satan to come in (since I already worried that Satan possessed me for my psychic capacity, this was no small threat). She told me a story about a yoga class my aunt had attended that ended in "lying around on the floor, emptying their minds", during which time a scary thing (the exact description escapes me after all these years) appeared to my aunt and she knew it was the Evil One come for her soul. Recently, I recounted the story to my aunt who laughed and said no such thing had ever happened to her.<br /><br />I credit yoga largely with saving my life about ten years ago when I had what was then undiagnosed but looks to have been Addison's disease (severe adrenal gland dysfunction, fatal if untreated). While yoga can't substitute for appropriate hormonal intervention, it can do wonders for reducing the load the dysfunctional adrenals carry.<br /><br />Yoga was the venue in which I accepted the wooing of God that I had fought my whole life. I had a teacher who created a sacred space in each class so that, for those so inclined, the yoga was a physical prayer, a song of the body sung to the Divine. The savasana (meditation) at the end was allowing God the space to sing back.<br /><br />I moved out of state and couldn't find a yoga teacher I liked that I could afford. When I could afford it again, I was already unbeknownst experiencing the early symptoms of my hysterical illness and the movements themselves became excruciating. I still miss it. It has been four years since my last class, almost 7 since the last class I took regularly. Sigh.Sandra Keehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16979912092987681396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-19089483912136906412011-04-13T18:41:16.794-07:002011-04-13T18:41:16.794-07:00Sometimes I run across a particularly healing song...Sometimes I run across a particularly healing song and feel compelled to share it with people who have been spiritually injured. Visit YouTube and search for Leonard Cohen's song "You Have Loved Enough." Most people don't understand the deep spiritual perspective from which he writes, so you may wish to ignore the images. Select the entry that has about 9,000 views - the audio is better, and in stereo. For anyone taught to work hard and get it right, this song is an effective antidote.DaveLounoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-91816346017039637122011-04-13T18:20:12.423-07:002011-04-13T18:20:12.423-07:00I completely resonate with these thoughts. Fundam...I completely resonate with these thoughts. Fundamentalism has left deep and lasting emotional issues, and like you, the very mention of God often gives me a physiological anxiety response. On a side note, I get you with the yoga- I actually just inquired yesterday about a yoga class. It makes me feel anxious to even consider a yoga class...crazy huh?Like a Childhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15991265512226039592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-67629636400254501742011-04-13T18:12:15.672-07:002011-04-13T18:12:15.672-07:00DaveLou,
Thanks, I look forward to having that ab...DaveLou,<br /><br />Thanks, I look forward to having that ability. Too often I have no sense of humor at all--a symptom of my constant fatigue--and to think that I might someday even find the joke in what is now only pain is a good thing. I breathe a deep sigh of relief reading your encouragement.<br /><br />I have been reading some Nouwen and have more books on order. His writing seems to bypass my intellect and emotions almost entirely to drive directly to my soul.Sandra Keehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16979912092987681396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-62029940255325210362011-04-13T18:04:10.854-07:002011-04-13T18:04:10.854-07:00Ahh .. love that last line. It reminds me of Nouw...Ahh .. love that last line. It reminds me of Nouwen's "wounded healer" concept. <br /><br />>>"Holy Yoga is good because there's all in English and with Christian music and prayers. I heard her every word like a fist to the chest."<br /><br />You will get to a point where you burst out laughing when you hear this kind of crap, rather than feel the fist to the chest. Honest. Hang on.DaveLounoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-79788973108898769242011-04-13T17:41:13.462-07:002011-04-13T17:41:13.462-07:00Lynelle,
I wouldn't have thought re-connectin...Lynelle,<br /><br />I wouldn't have thought re-connecting positively with the hurting hand was a necessary step until just recently. I used to think, "just get out of Hell and move on". It is only now, twenty-some years later that I realize that I could't really move on. I only recreated variations on the same Hell in my life--different characters, same story. Until I can experience that story and all its triggers and hot buttons with compassion and forgiveness, I have not completely healed. Of course, complete healing can be the work of a lifetime, (or several lifetimes, maybe) with lots of opportunity to do good and be gracious while still wounded and scarred.Sandra Keehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16979912092987681396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-65665708654956940062011-04-13T17:28:45.002-07:002011-04-13T17:28:45.002-07:00Pippi,
Exactly. If I got all bent out of shape ...Pippi, <br /><br />Exactly. If I got all bent out of shape because of the discrimination, prejudice, and hypocrisy (among other things) of conventional religion, then makes me the hypocrite if I discriminate and prejudge based on cultural tics of the religion.Sandra Keehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16979912092987681396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-70507726449727475962011-04-13T17:24:37.876-07:002011-04-13T17:24:37.876-07:00Steve,
You know that I'm not rapping your knu...Steve,<br /><br />You know that I'm not rapping your knuckles too hard, right? You made some really good points--they just weren't relevant to me right now. But I like that you made them. <br /><br />There are so many people who've dropped in here who are doubting, questioning, not your regular in-the-box Christian, and I like the reminder that dropping out might not always be the best option. Certainly not the best option for the community at large. If all the doubters and free-thinkers leave the institutional community, those who are left will only grow ever more rabid and rigid.Sandra Keehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16979912092987681396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-45355951202970778082011-04-13T17:09:12.432-07:002011-04-13T17:09:12.432-07:00I get that it's important to understand that &...I get that it's important to understand that " that God could also be Christian."<br />And I do miss being part of a community. <br />I'm not convinced that my healing won't be complete, unless I re-enter the religious world; at least in the sense of being part of any religious organization. <br /><br />I am finding community on the internet. I have friends who are believers . . . and I understand that no one has it all figured out . . . <br />yeah, I guess if I was truly free, I wouldn't be troubled by the religiosity of others. Just not sure I need to spend much time around it.Lynellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08410125760752454381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-34251043634064663052011-04-13T11:40:06.233-07:002011-04-13T11:40:06.233-07:00Duly noted and understood. It really bothers me wh...Duly noted and understood. It really bothers me when a newcomer to my blog drops in and starts doling out advice without being sufficiently familiar with my earlier writings and experiences. Mea culpa!<br /><br />:)Steve Douglashttp://undeception.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872862682800741415.post-75100844548982779792011-04-13T10:22:33.230-07:002011-04-13T10:22:33.230-07:00I didn't have time to read the whole thing yet...I didn't have time to read the whole thing yet; but I couldn't help but say that I know exactly what you mean about the hearing "Praise Jesus" and other cultural Christian phrases. I have to constantly remind myself not to get judgmental as soon as someone makes those pre-packaged remarks and write the person off as shallow and ignorant. It's hard for me to remember sometimes that just because I've started looking further doesn't make me any less human than the people whose culture I've left behind.Pippihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05598890631695015818noreply@blogger.com