Having a cold sucks man. But not too badly. I noticed it coming on late Saturday night, but didn't think much of the gicky-throat feeling. Sunday morning was a bit different however. I managed to sleep through my alarm and when 10am came by (when church starts) I woke up, thought hard about whether I could actually get out of bed, decided against it and napped a bit longer. I took some cold and flu tablets, and headed out of the house.

Cold and flu tablets are like, the best thing ever! I still felt a bit off - the kind of dizzy feeling you get when you stand up too quickly, but most of the time. But at least there was no head ache or throaty-nasal congestion. I went into the city and bought some opera tickets (!!!) then headed to Boyfriend's and then to a party. It was a good party, I saw some friends I rarely catch up with and that was really really nice to sit and chat with them :D

Boyfriend and I headed home for yummy crepes for dinner made by his Mum, we hung out for a couple of hours, I headed home and wrote up the weekly MCU update. I'm the new secretary on the committee and it's my job. I copied and pasted from the previous weekly update, changed some wording, reformatted it structure and I'm quite happy with it. I hope that it's effective in that people will read various relevant and interesting bits to them. I wasn't able to send it out until this morning though because I didn't know the protocol.

Going to see Watchmen on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also a bit nervous as I read the Plugged In Online review of it. It's a Focus on the Family website and doesn't give you their opinions, but will tell you about the spiritual/sexual/violence content on the movie so moviegoers can make an informed decision. They've compared scenes from the movie with bits from the graphic novel and it comes up as being more sexual/violent, so I'm wondering about whether it's something I really ought to be seeing. I'm feeling a bit concern about it. I'm really looking forward to it!! But maybe ... I feel less excited about it. I'll give it some thought and prayer.

I've been debating abut whether to post anything at all about this issue and I'm probably going to be the recipient of hate/flames, but I've stayed in my corner on this issue so far - only spoken out once on someone else's thread, I'll probably regret this, but here goes:

If there were a referendum in Australia for the legalisation of homosexual marriage, I would vote against it.

This is a loaded statement and I want to follow up by what I don't mean.
- I do not want to take any other political action regarding this. I'm not going to stand up and fight against it.
- I have nothing personal against gay men and women getting married and if it passes, then good for them :)
- I do not expect the law in Australia to conform to God's law. Nor to I expect everyone in Australia to follow it either. God has given us freedom to obey or disobey as we choose. I do not want to take away that freedom.
- I do not hate homosexuals as I have friends that I love dearly who are.
- I do not want to impinge on their rights, though I know my conscience vote would have that unfortunate consequence. I would rather let my voice be heard than throw in a donkey vote as everyone else who supports it has that right.
- I do not feel that my marriage (not that I'm married, but if I were) or the marriages of my friends are threatened by the inclusion of homosexual marriage, in the same way that I do not feel it threatened by the divorce rate. Each marriage involves two unique, individual people who have a responsibility to work at it. People are more than marriage/divorce stats.

I also want to provide the reasons why I would do this and I know that many people disagree with me on this for many different reasons:
- I am a Christian and before I follow any laws of anything here on Earth, I follow God's laws. I am a citizen of Heaven before I consider myself a citizen of Australia.
- I do not believe the Bible condones homosexual behaviour as seen in 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10 and Romans 1:26-17 and because I follow God's law, I cannot vote against it.

I have heard so many opinions from both sides of the argument and I understand most of the points people make, which is why I've swung my hypothetical vote so many times. In the end, it comes down to my conscience and my free will to submit myself to God's law. I vote this way because I submit myself to God's law. Not because it's threatening the definition of family (or not), not because it's harming children (or not), not because it's all about the love (or not) - or for whatever other reasons I have heard. I know gay couples who are filled with love for one another and that's excellent that they have the freedom to share in that together in this country.

I know that I will be called a bigot, intolerant, hateful for this. I have before and I will in the future. But with everyone else voicing their opinions on this controversial topic, I feel that it's only right that another opinion is heard. Not because I want to convince you to vote my way - not in the least! I want people to vote according to their own consciences! That is most important. And with that in mind, this is my conscience, my reasons and what I don't mean.

I cannot in remain a part of the forum boards anymore. But I want to provide some explanation and I don't want to do it behind closed doors, sent to just the moderators because there are other people from the boards whom I care about and I want them to know what's going on.

18-24 months ago I was distanced from my church. I was a part of a big church and I found that I felt a bit like a separate entity from my church family because I was an established Christian and I was slipping through the cracks. I started rebelling against my church because of the hurt I was feeling. Some part of me would be "don't do this, you know better" and the other part of me would be "what do you care what they think? They don't care about you, just stick it to them!" I made a lot of bad decisions based on how I felt about the church and that led me into big time sin. Many of you know what I'm talking about because I've shared it. I also blogged a bit about the struggles I have facing at that time as I knew that what I was doing was wrong, but I didn't know how to get out of that sin and there was no support from the church for me.

This is relevant because I'm now starting to feel the same way about Godlygals. There have been a few decisions that I would not have made. The moderators do their best to provide a friendly, loving environment, but on the other hand they either avoid controversy at the wrong time, or are unconsciously being controversial because of the cultural differences; they are stepping on my toes. There is no cross cultural support available for women outside of America and there is no attempt to start a ministry or make allowances to support those women.

To address three of the issues that I feel have been badly handled:
- Modesty: I am on board with being modest. But saying things like "There is NEVER an instance where wearing a bikini is okay (unless you are a married woman and you are in front of your husband and him alone). It is the SAME as running around in your underwear" and "Maybe since most of us live in America, that's what we need to consider" is very unhelpful to the number of women on the boards who aren't from America. I've had enough of this kind of insensitivity and continuing this argument with women who are unwilling to see outside of their social circles.
- Suicide: This topic has serious theological ramifications and it's a topic that needs to be dealt with as people come to terms with the suicides of men and women they know and love. I understand the reasons why the moderators don't want to address it, but it's an issue that I think needs to be dealt with regardless.
- Legalism: Just... no. We need to address this and I believe that we need to come down hard on the side of grace and freedom. If we're going to be talking about which bits of the law to follow, it is very unwise to discuss it in a legalism topic.

This frustration that I'm experiencing in my participation on these boards has led me into sin because I'm confusing the boards with the practice of Christianity. I made a stupid decision this evening and as I made it, my thoughts that justified it were scarily similar to "what do you care what they think? Just stick it to them!"

Although I enjoy debating, I feel that my opinions are being shut down, despite them being from a Biblical perspective, in favour of the safe and easy answers. I do not want to be a part of that ministry any more. I do not want to be a part of a ministry that wants to censor what I write on my Livejournal. I do not want to write inflammatory things, but every now and then I will bring an issue that I'm dealing with - from the boards, real life or elsewhere - and blog about it. I feel this is particularly pertinent from my entries on the 28th of August which were (suspiciously) followed by a new topic posted by one of the moderators on the 1st of September with the following written:

Airing dirty laundry is not very nice and is really hurtful to the people who put in their time here serving you all. They do it because God has placed a burden on their hearts for this place. As it is stated in the rules, posting slanderous comments about the boards in places outside of the boards is still grounds for immediate banning.

If you have a personal issue with this ministry we would be happy to talk it out with you. If you cannot reconcile yourself to our Statement of Faith or our rules, you then need to leave because you are driving a wedge, being a thorn, and not helping this ministry in any way.

If she has such an issue with people posting slanderous comments about the boards in outside places, maybe the best solution would be to bring it up with those women, instead of making generalised threats, treating people as if their problems with the boards aren't worthy of a personalised private message initiated by the moderators. I have had several issues with this ministry and still I am not happy with the conclusions that discussion had brought. So before I am blocked from this ministry, I resign from participating in it.

I have been surprised at how many other women aren't happy with this ministry either and I don't want people to think that these boards are the pinnacle of feminine, Christian spirituality. They have many good qualities, but ought to be taken with a grain of salt as myriad Americanism are integrated with Christianity. But then, all things Christian from America ought to be taken with a grain of salt.

There's a reason that Pentecost and the Great Commission are emphatically cross-cultural. If everyone you know who shares your faith also shares your culture then you end up with no way of knowing which is which, no way of knowing where the one stops and the other begins, no way of knowing the ways in which they have or haven't been allowed to influence one another. - slacktivist.typepad.com

And finally to conclude and reiterate. I am leaving this ministry because the frustrations that I am experiencing are not doing me any favours in my continuing maturing in faith and Christ-likeness. I pray that the ministry is fruitful and these issues may be resolved some time in future. But this is not a place for me. The fellowship that I will experience with other women will be from within my church and my extended Christian family in Australia and elsewhere other than these fundamentalist, American Christian boards until I eventually go to Heaven, which at that time, sin and culture will no longer be an issue.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me in my time at Godly Gals, even the moderators at times who have sent me the occasional nice message. Thank you for the support that I have received and having a place to go to that provides a safe haven of sorts from all the evils that lurk on the internet. But now my time on the boards has passed.

-Kathryn

Remember Jesus. Not just that he was born, but that he died. If not for the Resurrection, then there would be no meaning to Christmas. No point in making such a celebration of things. Christmas is also about family. Rejoicing in the adoption Christians have into the family of God. We have new life, because Jesus had life on this earth, and still lives today! That is why we celebrate.

Not just the birth of a good man or prophet. But the birth of our Saviour from sin and this world. Our promise and hope of new life after this one. Counting down the days till Christmas on my advent calender had reminded me to count down the days till Jesus comes again, to bring Heaven to this miserable world. That is a hope of Christmas. A celebration of God come to us once, and a reminder that he will come again to us. He has kept previous promises, He will keep this one too. He is a faithful and just God. Praise be to Jesus! The King and Lord who rules even now, though you don't know it. Praise be to Him, because one day you will kow it, and every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord!

Sometimes I think that society doesn't know what to do with gender distinctions. There's a lot of people who campaign for complete equality between the sexes; I think that there should be completely equal rights, but that men and women are created differently and perhaps more segregation between gender distinctions needs to be clarified. What does it mean to be male or female?

Anyway, these are some quotes from some of the very first women's right activists on what they thought of abortion:

"Guilty? Yes. No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; But oh, thrice guilty is he who drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime!"
-Susan B. Anthony

"When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit."
-Elizabeth Cady Stanton

"The custom of procuring abortions has reached such appalling proportions in America as to be beyond belief...So great is the misery of the working classes that seventeen abortions are committed in every one hundred pregnancies."
-Emma Goldman

"When a man steals to satisfy hunger, we may safely conclude that there is something wrong in society - so when a woman destroys the life of her unborn child, it is an evidence that either by education or circumstances she has been greatly wronged."
-Mattie Brinkerhoff

"Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women."
-Alice Paul

I don't like the word "rights", I much prefer the word "responsibility." A women may claim that she has the right to do to her body what she wants, while ignoring the responsibility she has towards her unborn child. We become upset when kittens are run over by cars, and yet breathe a sigh of relief at the death of a burden; a child that God knits in the mother's womb (Psalm 139:13)

I know that many people are going to add their 2c to this topic (and I already know that so many people disagree with me). But before you do, please consider that I see abortion as murder. The only reason why an fetus should be aborted is when it is risking the life of the mother. People say that having this belief isn't fair on women. But when I consider all the children that have died as the result of selfishness and thoughtlessness, that isn't fair.

We think that child molesting is so horrible, but turn a blind eye to the atrocities that are being committed every day on children that haven't been born yet, just because they aren't yet born. Therefore, somehow, not making them human yet. Where is the line between human and not? I say there isn't a line. Right before the sperm and egg meet, to the actual conception; that is the line. Right then is contained everything that needed for that little zygote to transform into a human adult.

I love Heroes; I think it's a great tv series. It's about people being given gifts and talents, and them raising up to find out how to deal with those gifts and what they can do to help other people in need.

It can kind of be applied to the church. God gives Christians various gifts, and he wants us to be able to use those gifts in order to help the church and give glory to him. I think I have a gift with children, so I want to be able to use that by serving children at the church I'm a part of. I'm also going into teaching, which will help me build on my gift and I can use it to make money.

Anyway, that was a digression from what I originally wanted to write about. The people with powers, are able to manipulate certain things around them. Hiro can manipulate space and time at an incredible level. But as I thought about it, so someone who is blind, we are able to manipulate our sight. To someone who is deaf, we can manipulate our hearing. etc. It made me think of all the things I have and should be thankful for. Instead of pining away for fictional powers I wish I could have, I ought to go run a race, because I'm so thankful I have legs and feet that work and that I can manipulate!

Anyway, I wasn't pining around for fictional powers, but it had me thinking how we ought to be so thankful for what we have. This show encourages me to be thankful that I can do what I can do. What a great gift I've already been given!

"When I say Christianity is true I mean it is true to total reality — the total of what is, beginning with the central reality, the objective existence of the personal-infinite God. Christianity is not just a series of truths but Truth — Truth about all of reality. And the holding to that Truth intellectually — and then in some poor way living upon that Truth, the Truth of what is — brings forth not only certain personal results, but also governmental and legal results." - Francis A. Schaeffer

I agree with this.

"For the new atheists, believing in God is a form of stupidity, which sets off their own intelligence. They write as if great minds had never before wrestled with the big questions of creation, moral law and the contending versions of revealed truth. They argue as if these questions are easily answered by their own blunt materialism. Most of all, they assume that no intelligent, reflective person could ever defend religion rather than dismiss it."
-Sam Schulman