Excuse Me While I Rant for a Minute...

The school I went to, Bob Jones, really frustrates me. I started out there in 5th grade and went through about half of my Sophomore year of college. I LOVED it in elementary school, junior high school, and high school. And then I got into college and it was like an entirely different school. I couldn't stand it, there was so much hypocrisy and nobody really cared about you, I don't even know that the teachers and professors saw us as actual people. When you went to them for help they were always in a rush to get you out of their office and they treated you like you were stupid while you were in there. So I left. I moved back up to Maine, where I was born and where I feel the most at home. One of the reasons the school still frustrates me is they keep asking me for money. They have chapel every day, it's about 30 minutes of worshiping God, and they would have a couple graduates they would pray for each day. They would always send out a letter to them asking how they were doing and when they got the reply they would pray for them in chapel. I've been gone for a little over 4 years now, and do you think they've sent me a letter asking me how I'm doing? Not once. One of their many slogans is "B.J. Cares" with a little heart. Now, the way I left, I just stopped going to classes, left home without telling my parents, for that culture (Southern, Fundamental Christian) that was VERY unconventional. And VERY wrong, and it signals a heart problem. Not even all of that was enough for them to send me a letter to ask how I'm doing, not even asking me if I'm right with God. But they care, don't ya know. Instead of any concern on their part all they ever send me is requests for money. Remind me why I should send people money who care nothing about my well-being and walk with Christ? *silence* Exactly. The other reason they still frustrate me is hypocrisy. The former president of the university constantly told us to read the Bible for ourselves and come to our own conclusions and thoughts on it. The rules in place at the university were to govern a campus of thousands of people, and while they were based on Biblical principles the rules themselves were not straight out of the Bible. He CONSTANTLY told us that. And I believe he actually meant it. And everybody else on the campus would nod their heads and agree with him...provided you came to the same conclusion they had. Because that's the only right way to interpret the Bible. Don't ya know. The Bible only ever says (concerning drinking) "be not drunk with wine wherein it is excess", in other words don't get drunk. There are plenty more places where it says to "eat, drink, and be merry" etc. But according to just about everybody on that campus it's not Biblical to have a drop of alcohol in your body. And if you drink you have a heart problem and you're probably not even a Christian, and you're certainly not a good person. It's the same way with SO many things there, it's all black and white, grey areas do not exist. And it would be wonderful if life worked that way, but there are grey areas in life, and God provided answers for those things in the Bible too. What do you do when you see in the Bible that God says it's wrong for a man to sleep with a man, or a woman to sleep with a woman, and then a close family member turns out to be gay/lesbian? Do you condemn them to hell, do you make an exception case for that one person, do you just ignore it and pretend it/they don't exist? Just because WE think they're wrong, why does that give us an excuse to judge them and condemn them and try to forcibly change them? Why can't we just love them? I thought God gave us free will and a brain to use them? Again, "B.J. Cares" until you don't agree with them, and then...not so much. How much more effective will we be if we feel we need to change somebody if we are loving about it, if we show we care, than if we are judgemental and condemning? Nobody responds well to being treated that way, so why do we, Christians, Bob Jones, do it? We shouldn't, and that's all there is too it. I'm glad I left that school, and I hope and pray I never turn into that kind of Christian, that I will always love people for who they are even if I don't agree, and if I feel like I should try and change them, I only do it with love for them and their best interest in my heart.

Just a Day in the Life of Me

Can I first just say that I'm incredibly excited for tomorrow at 11:00 am? Because I am, it is the start of my week long vacation, the only one I've ever taken that's paid. It's a week long. That's a week's worth of sleeping and not wearing work clothes or sneakers and not being told two different things to do 50 times a day... and you get the picture. I DON'T HAVE TO GO TO WORK! And aside from picking up my check next Friday I'm not stepping foot in that building until my vacation's over. I may not even go into town. It's going to be a good week. Speaking of work, we had a pot luck today to raise money for the Dempsey Walk, and I was making stuff to bring in and I picked out a piece of sausage and ate it and then licked my fingers off. Except I forgot that I had just, as in seconds before, painted my nails. Do you know how hard it is to get nail polish off your teeth and lips without nail polish remover? It's difficult. Trust me. I've started couponing again, The Boy has set break times now so takes his own lunch and comes home for supper most nights so I actually have to have food around. I forgot how expensive that can be. There's something to be said for McDonald's dollar menu. Anyway, one of my friends gives me the coupons in the free newspapers that get thrown in her driveway because she doesn't use them and I also pick up the Sunday paper (I've really started doing this as an excuse to read the Sunday Comics ;) jk). This week alone I ended up with enough coupons for yogurt to last me a few months, which is nice because I like bringing them to work for breakfast, and they're usually on sale anyway. Almost Free yogurt here I come! All this talk of food is making me hungry so I'm going to sign off and go eat, but before I go just a thought. God is a very ironic being. I'm a Christian, I may not talk about it as much as others do, but I'm very firm in what I believe. However, since I've moved back up to Maine I've learned to be much more accepting and loving. I've learned that just because somebody is doing something I believe is wrong doesn't make them a horrible person, and even if they profess to be a Christian it doesn't mean they're lying. The school I went to was like that, very judgemental, if you did anything wrong your salvation was automatically in question, and being there so long you tend to get that mindset as well. I always thought that was silly while I was there but it took me moving up here to realize that without knowing it I'd picked that up a little myself. Today, I'm glad I've learned that lesson, to not be judgemental and to really love people, not just say you do and then show by your actions that you really don't, no matter what they do. There's going to be some tough times ahead for some people I know and I'm glad that I can stand back and not be caught up in it. FOOD! :) Later :)