Funny funny funny... or at least that's what I think...
You might all know my views of TLC's show about the Duggar family and their twisted views on children, God and everything in between.
Now TLC is doing it again, but this time with a family of multiple wives married to one man, somewhere in Utah (where else?).
I don't know what this new show really is going to be about, and I don't know how much the 13 kids (this one man has 3 wives and together they have 13 kids, still way behind the Duggar's 19 kids with just one wife) are going to be exploited and if they themselves are allowed to watch any TV. But it's going to be interesting to see. How will TLC portrait this wacko family? Will there be a fan page on FB for people that find passages in the bible that fits in with this lifestyle? I know for sure that many people in the old testament had more than one wife, Abraham, maybe being the most famous one. Will there be games you can play to name all the kids? Will people ask how one of the wives fix her hair or keep track on when it's her turn to be with the husband?
So I went to Face Book to see if there was anything about this show and behold there was one, only one page.... called: "Against the show Sister wives".
In the description the founder of the page says: " I have nothing against these people in any other way than how they are conducting their married life..." "God did not intend for marriage to be like this and I'm here to say it's not okey" "It should not be on a station like TLC. I am a Christian and I am taking a stand against this show because I'm tired of seeing shows like this."
Now what I'm really dying to know is if the 171 people that are fans on the page "against the show sister wives" also have opinions about the Duggars? And if so, are they positive or negative? Hmmm, why is it that I think they are all on the Duggar's fan page?
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
9/11
9/11, a date forever associated with horror.
For more than 3000 people, that day meant the end, and for thousands more that day changed their lives forever.
Life has slowly returned to a state of normal for most Americans, and just on anniversaries like today are the horror memories brought back to life. But for a lot of military families, more than families directly affected by the planes crashing in to the twin towers, life keeps being a horror story, a disaster waiting to happen, a constant worry of a phone call saying that their loved one have paid the ultimate price in a remote location across the world.
Let’s all remember our men and women in uniform today, let’s all give a thought to to thousands and thousands of military family members waiting anxiously for their loved one to come home, and for the enormously large number of people that lost a loved one in the war or the people caring for a loved one forever traumatized by the horrors of war.
But I want to take this one step further today, and encourage us all to include other victims in our day of memorial.
Due to what happened on 9/11 millions of people, innocent people, people that had never heard of the twin towers, Pentagon or a field in Pennsylvania have lost their lives, or been forever wounded. Mothers have lost their babies, husbands their wives, children have lost their parents. People have had to pay the ultimate price for something they had nothing to do with more than that the people accused of the 9/11 attacks looked like them, came from the same country or shared the same faith.
I read an article in Time magazine about a family in Afghanistan losing their little daughter in a mortar attack from the American forces. The shock of the troops realizing that they accidently killed a girl, the absolute horror the little girl’s parents felt. The father’s response to the Americans telling they were sorry was : “Now what am I going to do with ‘sorry’?”
Let’s think of what feelings we had on the days and months following 9/11 and imagine what feelings all the millions of people of Iraq and Afghanistan have and realize that we are all the same.
Let’s rise from the introvert thinking of where a community center can be built, who’s religions promote more violence and realize that war and violence never ever solves anything, and let’s be the first ones reaching out a hand to bridge our differences.
God bless, not only America, but EVERYONE!
For more than 3000 people, that day meant the end, and for thousands more that day changed their lives forever.
Life has slowly returned to a state of normal for most Americans, and just on anniversaries like today are the horror memories brought back to life. But for a lot of military families, more than families directly affected by the planes crashing in to the twin towers, life keeps being a horror story, a disaster waiting to happen, a constant worry of a phone call saying that their loved one have paid the ultimate price in a remote location across the world.
Let’s all remember our men and women in uniform today, let’s all give a thought to to thousands and thousands of military family members waiting anxiously for their loved one to come home, and for the enormously large number of people that lost a loved one in the war or the people caring for a loved one forever traumatized by the horrors of war.
But I want to take this one step further today, and encourage us all to include other victims in our day of memorial.
Due to what happened on 9/11 millions of people, innocent people, people that had never heard of the twin towers, Pentagon or a field in Pennsylvania have lost their lives, or been forever wounded. Mothers have lost their babies, husbands their wives, children have lost their parents. People have had to pay the ultimate price for something they had nothing to do with more than that the people accused of the 9/11 attacks looked like them, came from the same country or shared the same faith.
I read an article in Time magazine about a family in Afghanistan losing their little daughter in a mortar attack from the American forces. The shock of the troops realizing that they accidently killed a girl, the absolute horror the little girl’s parents felt. The father’s response to the Americans telling they were sorry was : “Now what am I going to do with ‘sorry’?”
Let’s think of what feelings we had on the days and months following 9/11 and imagine what feelings all the millions of people of Iraq and Afghanistan have and realize that we are all the same.
Let’s rise from the introvert thinking of where a community center can be built, who’s religions promote more violence and realize that war and violence never ever solves anything, and let’s be the first ones reaching out a hand to bridge our differences.
God bless, not only America, but EVERYONE!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Right for You = Right for Me?
There has been a big attention in media the last couple of days over a nut wing pastor in a small church in Florida wanting to burn Korans on 9/11. I'm not going to get in to what I think about that gentleman but more what people read in to their faith.
Faith, even if it's in the same God, the same holy book and the same Jesus, takes such different paths, depending on what you focus on
For example, Growing up, almost all of my friends that were Christians choose not to to their military service (all male Swedes had to do military service at the age of 18), but instead picking civil service claiming their faith prohibiting them from bearing arms.
Here it's the opposite, there are few more gun loving, war supporting people than the Christians.
I've read both the Swedish bible and the NKJ (New King James), and I think it's about the same. The same stories in the old testament, the same virgin born Christ, the same miracles, the same death on the cross and the same resurrection, but yet so different .
Well, you don't really have to compare between two different continents. Let's stay here in the US.
Some think it's a bad thing to dance and sing contemporary Christian music while others live out their faith by singing and dancing. Same bible, different interpretation.
I guess it really doesn't matter if your view of the scripture directs you how you're going to prepare your steak the right way or if you have problems knitting on a Saturday.
Where I do think it is important to back off and take a deep breath is when people in their interpretations try to set standards for people in their surroundings and communities.
Just because something seems right for you doesn't automatically make it right for others. All the "value" voters out there, that think their way of reading the bible is the only way of reading it is making people with other "values" uncomfortable.
People who know me know how much problems I have with good old apostle Paul. Maybe it's because he's the one who brings back all these stupid laws again just a few years after Jesus swept the table clean of laws and gave just two great, but hard ones to live by; Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.
I wish all the people wanting everybody to live as their faith directs them, would pick those two wonderful guidelines to fight for and leave everything else to the lawmakers.
Faith, even if it's in the same God, the same holy book and the same Jesus, takes such different paths, depending on what you focus on
For example, Growing up, almost all of my friends that were Christians choose not to to their military service (all male Swedes had to do military service at the age of 18), but instead picking civil service claiming their faith prohibiting them from bearing arms.
Here it's the opposite, there are few more gun loving, war supporting people than the Christians.
I've read both the Swedish bible and the NKJ (New King James), and I think it's about the same. The same stories in the old testament, the same virgin born Christ, the same miracles, the same death on the cross and the same resurrection, but yet so different .
Well, you don't really have to compare between two different continents. Let's stay here in the US.
Some think it's a bad thing to dance and sing contemporary Christian music while others live out their faith by singing and dancing. Same bible, different interpretation.
I guess it really doesn't matter if your view of the scripture directs you how you're going to prepare your steak the right way or if you have problems knitting on a Saturday.
Where I do think it is important to back off and take a deep breath is when people in their interpretations try to set standards for people in their surroundings and communities.
Just because something seems right for you doesn't automatically make it right for others. All the "value" voters out there, that think their way of reading the bible is the only way of reading it is making people with other "values" uncomfortable.
People who know me know how much problems I have with good old apostle Paul. Maybe it's because he's the one who brings back all these stupid laws again just a few years after Jesus swept the table clean of laws and gave just two great, but hard ones to live by; Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.
I wish all the people wanting everybody to live as their faith directs them, would pick those two wonderful guidelines to fight for and leave everything else to the lawmakers.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Guns vs Shovels
I watch as much as I can about the unimaginable catastrophe happening as we speak in Haiti. As all other people watching I can't grasp the suffering and the despair among the survivors, nor can I understand the lack of organisation to get the water, food, and medicine that arrive daily, out to the needy.
The outpouring generosity among the worlds wealthy countries has been nothing but outstanding so far, and on a individual level people are doing what ever they can to help out by texting, by giving the red cross money and selling hot chocolate in the street corners as I saw two little girls doing.
But the airport in Port-a-Prince is plugged up, as the American forces has taken it under control and up till yesterday prioritised military aircraft over humanitarian aid. US military are coming in with 1000's of troops every day, troops armed with guns, and that puzzles me some..
I'm not usually someone that smack the bible in the head on people but I think I remember something in the Old Testament about turning swords into plowshares... wait... well here we have it: Mikah 4:3 and Isaiah 2:4 (isn't Google the best?).
"They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore."
"And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war."
Let's play with the thought of sending our troops equipped with shovels instead of guns??
They get off the C-130's and C-5's with a backpack and a shovel attached to the side. They would line up by the supply air crafts, stuffing their backpacks full of water and MREs and then they take off, as soon as their backpacks were empty they'd start using their shovel and help find bodies in the rubble. What a wonderful way of using the military!
But on the other hand I'm not a officer in any of the military branches, I never went to war college to learn how to preform a successful war...
The outpouring generosity among the worlds wealthy countries has been nothing but outstanding so far, and on a individual level people are doing what ever they can to help out by texting, by giving the red cross money and selling hot chocolate in the street corners as I saw two little girls doing.
But the airport in Port-a-Prince is plugged up, as the American forces has taken it under control and up till yesterday prioritised military aircraft over humanitarian aid. US military are coming in with 1000's of troops every day, troops armed with guns, and that puzzles me some..
I'm not usually someone that smack the bible in the head on people but I think I remember something in the Old Testament about turning swords into plowshares... wait... well here we have it: Mikah 4:3 and Isaiah 2:4 (isn't Google the best?).
"They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore."
"And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war."
Let's play with the thought of sending our troops equipped with shovels instead of guns??
They get off the C-130's and C-5's with a backpack and a shovel attached to the side. They would line up by the supply air crafts, stuffing their backpacks full of water and MREs and then they take off, as soon as their backpacks were empty they'd start using their shovel and help find bodies in the rubble. What a wonderful way of using the military!
But on the other hand I'm not a officer in any of the military branches, I never went to war college to learn how to preform a successful war...
Thursday, January 14, 2010
My Own Religion
I'm tired of being angry.
I'm tired of knowing all the loop holes, all excuses for why God do this and that and why He thinks this is a sin but not that. Tired of living in an Old Testament with a vague promise of a New Testament, but just if you first do this this and this...
Hereby I will attempt to forget everything I "know" about religion, and about God, and make my own...
I know what you're thinking... you can't make your own religion, there's just one way to God and so forth, I know, I know, and I'm not really going to make a new religion ( there's plenty of people out there making new ones as we speak).
I was more thinking about the Sunday school, religion free faith that most of us had when we were kids. The faith in Jesus healing the sick, walking on water, finding the lost lamb, and the father waiting to put a ring on the long lost son's finger.
Faith that don't give a damn if you're gay, black or white, poor or better off. Faith that understands that the least among us are the most important in the Kingdom.
It's going to be a lot of cutting and pasting in my mind and heart. 42 years in sometime more, sometime less "GOD influenced" environments.
So for my own sanity, let everyone have their beliefs, try not to get upset when people tell me what I have to belive, and try to do good to all.
If this helps me pass the pearly gates, that's fine, if not, hopefully I'm at least at peace with myself and with my very own I AM!
I'm tired of knowing all the loop holes, all excuses for why God do this and that and why He thinks this is a sin but not that. Tired of living in an Old Testament with a vague promise of a New Testament, but just if you first do this this and this...
Hereby I will attempt to forget everything I "know" about religion, and about God, and make my own...
I know what you're thinking... you can't make your own religion, there's just one way to God and so forth, I know, I know, and I'm not really going to make a new religion ( there's plenty of people out there making new ones as we speak).
I was more thinking about the Sunday school, religion free faith that most of us had when we were kids. The faith in Jesus healing the sick, walking on water, finding the lost lamb, and the father waiting to put a ring on the long lost son's finger.
Faith that don't give a damn if you're gay, black or white, poor or better off. Faith that understands that the least among us are the most important in the Kingdom.
It's going to be a lot of cutting and pasting in my mind and heart. 42 years in sometime more, sometime less "GOD influenced" environments.
So for my own sanity, let everyone have their beliefs, try not to get upset when people tell me what I have to belive, and try to do good to all.
If this helps me pass the pearly gates, that's fine, if not, hopefully I'm at least at peace with myself and with my very own I AM!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
I miss the Swedish God...
Today we learned about the catastrophe earth quake hitting Haiti. Up to a quarter of a million people might be dead.
The media talks about it in it's normal very close minded way. They interview the Americans living and working in Haiti, a husband is happy to find his wife though caught for 10 hours in the rubble is OK. Matt Lauer says, I'm so happy to hear you and your family are fine, and the husband on the phone says, yes, but there are 1000's of people outside in the streets that are not...
Later in the afternoon I hear Pat Robertson have a answer to why Haiti was hit, the same answer he gave to why the Big Easy was hit by Katrina... They have sinned and brought it on themselves....
While all this is unfolding on the news I'm reading an old book by Adrian Plass called An Alien at St. Wilfred's.
An absolutely wonderful book that everyone who like me wrestles with the question if there's a God or not and if there is, what is he like? HAS to read.
In that book I get to know the God and the Jesus that I used to think I knew back in Sweden, a life time ago, again. The kind, soft spoken, loving God. A God so far from the evangelical right wing you can imagine, A God that men like Pat Robertson have never ever heard of.
I miss that God.
There's a place in my heart and mind wishing so bad that the God portraited in Adrian Plass' book, the God I met in worship in my little house group back in Sweden, is the I AM.
And that the God the evangelical right wing people believes in is just a horrible character in a bad scary movie.
The media talks about it in it's normal very close minded way. They interview the Americans living and working in Haiti, a husband is happy to find his wife though caught for 10 hours in the rubble is OK. Matt Lauer says, I'm so happy to hear you and your family are fine, and the husband on the phone says, yes, but there are 1000's of people outside in the streets that are not...
Later in the afternoon I hear Pat Robertson have a answer to why Haiti was hit, the same answer he gave to why the Big Easy was hit by Katrina... They have sinned and brought it on themselves....
While all this is unfolding on the news I'm reading an old book by Adrian Plass called An Alien at St. Wilfred's.
An absolutely wonderful book that everyone who like me wrestles with the question if there's a God or not and if there is, what is he like? HAS to read.
In that book I get to know the God and the Jesus that I used to think I knew back in Sweden, a life time ago, again. The kind, soft spoken, loving God. A God so far from the evangelical right wing you can imagine, A God that men like Pat Robertson have never ever heard of.
I miss that God.
There's a place in my heart and mind wishing so bad that the God portraited in Adrian Plass' book, the God I met in worship in my little house group back in Sweden, is the I AM.
And that the God the evangelical right wing people believes in is just a horrible character in a bad scary movie.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Christmas In A Box
Oh, today it came...
The box of stuff from my mom and dad in Sweden.
As usual it was packed, taped, stringed and wrapped by my dad with a determination that would have made Houdini doubt his talent.
when I finally broke in to the big banana box it was loaded with stuff. My mom has been busy knitting socks and mittens to everybody. Erik hates wearing gloves and complained so mormor heard it that he wanted new mittens, like those mormor makes... So she did... 4 pair for Erik, 4 for Syssa and 4 pairs of socks for each too and also a beautiful button up sweater for Syssa.
Then there was a white hat, scarf and mittens that Sissi grabbed and claimed hers right away, so as I said she has stayed busy for a while.
The next layer of stuff was candy.... loads of candy, on bag of sweet, one of sour and one of liquorice. Add to that 2 huge bags of "skumtomtar" and 6 boxes of "viol", two bags of gum and two package of Singoalla cookies with liquorice.
Next layer; Cheese , five tubes of shrimp cheese and ham cheese.
Six dish brushes ( they are so expensive here so every year since I moved here my mom has supplied me with them)
Then came some wrapped presents not to be opened until Christmas, but I think I know what's in them all. My wonderful Aunt and Uncle always send me a crossword puzzle magazine and I think I saw it rolled up and wrapped this year as well.
So I sit down, overlooking everything, trying to take it all in, while popping a "skumtomte" in my mouth and then comes the overwhelming feeling when I smell it....
the smell of my mom and dad...
I'm 42 years old but at that moment I almost started crying for my mom.
All the candy and goodies are great but the best thing for sure was to sit down with one of my moms home knitted mittens and sniff the smell of home from across the ocean
The box of stuff from my mom and dad in Sweden.
As usual it was packed, taped, stringed and wrapped by my dad with a determination that would have made Houdini doubt his talent.
when I finally broke in to the big banana box it was loaded with stuff. My mom has been busy knitting socks and mittens to everybody. Erik hates wearing gloves and complained so mormor heard it that he wanted new mittens, like those mormor makes... So she did... 4 pair for Erik, 4 for Syssa and 4 pairs of socks for each too and also a beautiful button up sweater for Syssa.
Then there was a white hat, scarf and mittens that Sissi grabbed and claimed hers right away, so as I said she has stayed busy for a while.
The next layer of stuff was candy.... loads of candy, on bag of sweet, one of sour and one of liquorice. Add to that 2 huge bags of "skumtomtar" and 6 boxes of "viol", two bags of gum and two package of Singoalla cookies with liquorice.
Next layer; Cheese , five tubes of shrimp cheese and ham cheese.
Six dish brushes ( they are so expensive here so every year since I moved here my mom has supplied me with them)
Then came some wrapped presents not to be opened until Christmas, but I think I know what's in them all. My wonderful Aunt and Uncle always send me a crossword puzzle magazine and I think I saw it rolled up and wrapped this year as well.
So I sit down, overlooking everything, trying to take it all in, while popping a "skumtomte" in my mouth and then comes the overwhelming feeling when I smell it....
the smell of my mom and dad...
I'm 42 years old but at that moment I almost started crying for my mom.
All the candy and goodies are great but the best thing for sure was to sit down with one of my moms home knitted mittens and sniff the smell of home from across the ocean
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