God and Gender

Just a thought influenced on a convosation (see argument) I was partially involved with over the weekend.

I'm not too clued up on the theology of gender and what not so please correct me if I'm becoming heretical or anything.

Was thinking to myself about it and how many Christians see it as God creating male and female and that's it
there's nothing in between, no grey area as such. we are made in his image and whatnot.

But that got me thinking the idea of being made in Gods image does not answer the gender question as God has no gender. (God doesn't have a from either according to Aquinas but that's a whole other issue) and so the made in his image argument does not work for gender.

Another thing is God is described as having both male and female characteristics like the love of a mother and the protecting gaze of a father. the language used b the Hebrews to describe God also used feminine words showing that they must have thought of God as having female qualities.

SO if God contains elements of both genders and we are made in his image why shouldn't we as a species also contain elements of both genders? This surely would make gender more fluid then the concrete set definitions of male and female with no grey area inbetween.

Anyway this was just a thought I'm sure there's a lot more to it then this, feel free to enlighten me on the subject.

A biased article for a biased article?

I fear I have rather neglected this blog of late. I had so many topics I wanted to write about, such as the recent elections and who Jesus would have voted for (as if that hasn’t been written about enough), Osama Bin Laden’s execution and the crippling debt I’ve gotten myself, and thus my future family, into and how that has effected my studies and faith, but due to time constraints what with course and job hunting I have been unable to. Hopefully in the future I will get a chance to catch up with these topics and many more I will find to write about. Rather then try and catch up on previous topics I decided to write about an article I read today (17/5/11) in the Independent’s sister Newspaper I. In this article, written by Dominic Lawson, the question is raised over what the correct form of justice is. Lawson uses the recent events in Iran where a woman blinded by an acid attack persuaded the courts to sentence her attacker to be blinded by an operation in hospital rather then a jail sentence, to argue the case for “eye for an eye” justice. In the end Amnesty international and the British Foreign Office intervened to get the sentence over ruled and allowed the guilty man to keep his sight in return for a prison sentence however Lawson believes this punishment is not enough and that the victim has been denied justice. He also argues that the British public, as a whole, believes in the concept of like for like justice, which I find incredibly hard to believe partly due to the fact that I don’t believe the British public are that interested but also because I like to think in the west we have evolved a better (though not perfect) justice system and left barbarism behind us. In the article he talks about the concept of an eye for an eye as found in the Bible, which is where the concept originated, however he under plays Jesus’ teaching against it, in favour of the Old Testament teaching where it is promoted and put into force. He seems to suggest that as this country was raised on a Christian tradition then the old Jewish tradition is also our tradition which completely undermines Jesus’ teaching. Jesus made the argument that repaying violence for violence only promotes more violence, after all some one will seek revenge for the punishment that will then in turn have vengeance sought against them and so on and so on. I thought we in this country would have learnt this lesson after two thousand years but evidently not if Lawson is to be believed. Having said that current foreign policy of the US shows us that we in the “civilised” West have not learnt the lesson with the execution, rather then trial, of Bin Laden as a perfect example.

Lawson ends the article by quoting Ghandi (who is in turn quoting Jesus, which is more often then not actually forgotten) as saying “an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.” This quote is used, partially due to being hauntingly poignant to the particular case he is talking about but also because Lawson believes Ghandi is wrong and that an eye for an eye would actually cause crime to decrease and is a better deterrent then jail time. I wish he would pay attention to current affairs, particularly those in the Middle East, so he could see how truly wrong he really is and I hope that the world will one day wake up and realise, like men such as Ghandi and Martin Luther King amongst hundreds of other pacifist men and women have, that an eye for an eye true will make the world blind and that the only way to break the cycle is to forgive for an eye. 

The slippery slope?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13031397


France bans the Islamic veil how long until it bans other forms of religious dress? Surely it's a slippery slope until it is illegal to wear even small tokens of faith such as a necklace or bracelet?

And what's to stop them eventually banning public worship? or buildings? Will religion go back to what it used to be, underground and counter-cultural? would that actually be a bad thing? The problems with the "main" religions  come from their institutionalisation by the state and their enforced universal codes.

However this is not the time to discuss the benefits of underground religion, it is more the time to discuss freedom of expression of faith. how long before they don't just ban religious icons but political or sport or music and TV icons in case of offending anyone? if it time to bring in state uniforms?

Didn't the Nazis ban Jewish forms of dress? and we all know how that ended.

When all is said and done.....

I feel compelled to write some, so I thought I'd discuss something I've been thinking about for a while.


One of my favourite bands, Napalm Death, have a song called "When all is Said and Done" in which the chorus speaks to me and I believe offers up some Christian wisdom for people living their busy lives that don't necessarily have time to worship actively, either by themselves in quite contemplation or in a group at church. 
The band themselves don;t have faith (as far as I know) the lead singer in fact preaches against religion on stage, and this particular song is actually an anti-religious one, so the idea that I'm using it for Christian contemplation would probably make his skin crawl.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIRUzqHTNh8


The particular chorus I am talking about goes 


"When all is said and done
Heaven lies in my heart
No slave to beliefs that propagate pain
When all is said and done
Heaven lies in our hearts
This life is a gift to be lived and loved"

The gist of the chorus is at the end of the day it doesn't matter what you do, believe or say The Kingdom of Heaven is in our hearts, Jesus himself says this in Luke 17.21.

The Kingdom of God is not something to look forward to or to be waited for it is already in the hearts and minds of people who do God's work here on earth. 

Unfortunately, as the next line refers to, many people have used their beliefs to justify causing great pain and suffering to others on this world, thus destroying and delaying the Kingdom of God by performing evil deeds rather then God's works of love. So Napalm Death are right to attack slaves to beliefs that cause pain, just as Christians should do as well. We should stand up against those that use faith to justify hatred and evil acts like religious war, homophobia, sexism and other  "religiously justifiable" acts.

"This life is a gift to be lived and loved" once more Barney from Napalm Death exclaims great Christian Wisdom along the same lines as the great Christian theologians. Life on earth is a gift from God, who gives every one life, and through Jesus Christ he also gives us love. It is clear through the teachings of Christ that God intended us to live our life with love and through love do good deeds to one another and once we start living our lives with love the Kingdom of God, that is already present within us, will become more present upon earth.

Although not every ones cup of tea, and despite holding different beliefs to me I have found God's word and Jesus' teaching spread, although unknowingly, through the Music of Napalm Death, and the only way I would have found it was to embrace different (often challenging) ideas to my own and to listen to what they had to say, rather then bury my head in the sand and declare everyone else's views obsolete. When in dialogue with other faiths, it is surprising how many new ways of reading and understanding God's word there are, as well as the many similarities between the faiths that you can find.

Self Sacrifice and Protest

A recent news story caught my eye last night
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-12833585

A woman set alight to her census in protest against an arms firm supporting the government's Office for National Statistics, despite knowing full well that to not fill out your census is a criminal offence. This takes a lot of bravery willing burning a government document knowing that it may result in a prison sentence and although it was not specifically a Christian or Anarchist act (although it is a pacifist act which are included within Anarchism and Christianity), I take heart that there are ordinary people out there willing to face prison sentences, or worse, for what they believe in. It also reminds me of the Apostles and Christian martyrs who suffered death and persecution willingly at the face of oppositions for their belief in Christ.


There was a recent march by the EDL through my home town and, although I feel very strongly about the need to stand up against fascism and the politics of hate, I decided not to go, partly through not wanting to annoy my GF, partly through not knowing much about the march but also partly through cowardice. 
I really want to start living my faith properly but at the moment I keep managing to find convenient obstacles, some real some made up that stop me from fulfilling my faith.
To protest and stand up for your beliefs often means having to sacrifice something of yourself. More often or not it some thing small and insignificant liike time or money (or a nice peaceful ride home in the car with your GF rather then having her go on about how she thinks its silly that you want to shout at some racists). but other times it means a sacrifice of something more then that, imprisonment, death. Luckily we live in a country where it is very unlikely that we will be put to death for our beliefs but in others we see people willingly paying the ultimate sacrifice for freedom, peace and justice, much like the apostles did.


I just hope God can show me the way through these self created obstacles standing in the way of me and my active participation of my faith and help me gain the little courage that is needed to do what is right.  

Time to take a stand

Its time to make a stand against fascism and hate and make sure it never becomes politically "legitimate" to hate again.
UKIP are attempting to become the dominant opposition party whilst the EDL wish to make a move into politics
We must unite and stop them before it's too late.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/farright-group-to-become-a-political-party-2233613.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12658045

Jesus preached about loving one's neighbour and forgiveness, but our political system allows for people who actively preach hate and punish the innocent, the system is flawed, this must not be allowed to happen.

Jesus has been declared ILLEGAL

Jesus Christ, who based his ministry on the homeless, poor and needy, and who declared himself homeless (Luke 9:58), has been declared illegal by the Conservative council of Westminster. Westminster, which is one of the wealthiest councils, has declared a ban on sleeping in the streets and giving food to the homeless as providing aid just encourages people to be homeless. A prime example of the anti-Christian stance taken by Governments around the world. It is now a crime to help those most in need.

Sickening.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-david-cameronrsquos-assault-on-the-homeless-is-dickensian-2231372.html

This is why I'm an anarchist

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12502820

The states only reaction is violence, even when they are confronted by peaceful protests.

The Journey Begins

My name is Toby Gibbons and after spending several months listening to anarcho-punk and grindcore bands I decided to finally discover what all the fuss was about and look into this so called anarchism. After discovering the basic texts and theories I discovered that many anarchists claimed that my religion and anarchism was incompatible. I could not quite understand this idea and so decided to look into this matter a little further a discovered a little known political ideology called Christian anarchism. Several months down the line and I have started writing my Masters dissertation upon and have this very morning applied to write a PhD upon the subject.

However writing about the subject only goes so far and I have decided to act more upon my faith and so have decided to write this blog to inform those interested of my attempts to live according to my beliefs.
After all as the editor of newspaper a Pinch Of Salt kept reminding me "you are the salt" and if I am not flavouring anything what is the point of being salt?

I intend to use this blog, as I have already said, to chronicle my attempts at living an active anarchist and Christian life but also to post my thoughts and findings from my dissertation work and readings of Christian anarchist thinkers.

Hopefully I'll have something interesting to write here fairly frequently but I cant promise anything.

Here's to a brighter, peaceful and more just future.

Toby
Acts 5.29