Sunday, July 5, 2015

It Takes Courage to Admit Fear

The tale of a confused man right now is in vogue: a man who thinks that because he changes his appearance that makes him a woman, is just confusion. He may truly feel like a woman, but that doesn't make him a woman. He's just effeminate, or what as children we called "sissies".

Bruce Jenner rationalized in his interview with Diane Sawyer that his confusion is normalcy because he was only getting in touch with his feminine side. He went on the stretch the boundaries of truth by saying that God had a feminine side. That not only is false and stupid, but heretical as well!

First off, God is beyond gender. Even stupid theologians from a normally orthodox denomination, Nazarenes, contend that God has a female side, merely because the Hebrew word "Shekhina" is feminine. Let me digress for a minute. My own name "Herrin" means "mistress" in German. while "Herren" means "men". One is the male form of the name. The other is the female aspect of it. Because I'm called Herrin doesn't make me female nor a mistress! It's merely a name.

False religions want God to have a female side because pagan religions do! That makes paganism more compatible with Judeo-Christianity and easier to digest than the old male demiurge. Ashtorah(Astarte)  is a female goddess of the Mesoptamian empire. Hebrews had a masculine name for her: Akkadian. Astarte had the construct of a female, but the Hebrews gave her a male name! However, she already had a male counterpart; the male god Baal. Many times the Hebrew people fornicated with the foreign gods, Astarte and Baal! By equating God to pagan deities, which are of both sexes, people attempt to minimize God and legitimize false gods!

However, it's obvious that God has a male personality, not because he is like a male, but because males were assigned a dominant role at the creation. Because God desired other beings with some of his attributes he needed to make them reproductive beings. To this end God created male and female both in his own image. It wasn't the gender which was the image, but the spirit and the flesh. You say "But God didn't have flesh!"  He didn't, but with his foreknowledge, he knew that someday he would have!

Why is God depicted as a male, then? Because he is our Father! Man assigned him a gender because he created us all. That's because we're limited to a language. God is without name. He just IS. Being always he needs no name because he was the ONE and ONLY ONE. Why would a "person" who is alone in the universe need a name or even a title? We call him "God" because he just IS!

It's silliness to claim that Bruce Jenner did a stupid thing because ignorant people claim that God too has a feminine nature! What is "feminine" about God? His main attribute is his great love! Love is not a female attribute. It's where man relegates emotional things. Men can be emotional too! Jesus wept! I cried last week. I cried because I love someone with all my heart. That's not feminine; that's godly. It takes a man to love with that much power!

In a sense Bruce Jenner was courageous, but along the lines of Evil Knievel. Knievel did crazy things! He was self-destructive. He did it for fame and notoriety. Evil's sensitive side said to him "I'm impervious to danger like no other!" He did things other people won't do. He was still a normal man, but he did super things. However, his injuries show that Evil Knievel was just like everyone else. We know that he feared, but he did it anyway. He spit in the face of death. Evil Knievel was a "fraidy cat" with courage. He overcame his fear with confidence. He was a very normal human who turned a blind eye to fear.

I was at a symposium in Williamsburg, Virginia several years back. Gary Bauer was the speaker. Gary asked "Is there anyone here who isn't afraid to speak in public?" Thinking that many hands were extended high behind me, I, being accustomed to public speaking, raised my own hand. It turned out that my hand was alone. Gary turned the meeting over to me for about fifteen minutes. The skeptic who laughed at me the hardest, said "I was wrong. He wasn't afraid!" to which Bauer replied "He was afraid. He only concealed his fear!". Gary Bauer was right. I was fearsome and hid it well. Now, I'm coming out of the closet! That takes courage to admit that I'm a coward!

Bruce Jenner is afraid, but is obstinacy is greater. In spite of ridicule, Bruce is trying to be a female because it brings attention to whatever ails his soul. He's got an itch inside that he can't scratch, so he brings that itch outside so that it can be reached.
Ezekiel 24:21 says "the yearning of your soul". 
We have an empty place inside. It's called the soul. It is a vacuum which seeks filling. There are two things which can fill the soul: the Holy Spirit or evil. Iniquity can fill the yearning too! It's wrong for Jenner to supplant that yearning with fleshly attributes. Whether he looks a woman or not is non-consequential in Gods' scheme of things! Rather than filling that yearning with deceit, God would have Jenner turn to him. I don't know Jenner's status or whether he claims to be a Christian or not, but Christian people can be wrong-thinking Christians! Jenner is "in the flesh" and if he is a Christian, Jenner himself is "the other god besides God". Jenner is trying to appease his god which for mankind is the "Self".
Romans 8:5 (ESV) "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God."
There you have it! The things of "the flesh" is what makes men have pleasure. It pleases Jenner to be a woman. It doesn't please God because Jenner is self-absorbed. Rather than worshiping God, it's he that he worships! Jenner may feel and emptiness inside as a man, but what are we to do when our emotions deceive us?
James 4: 7 "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you."
This is akin to the idol Dagon falling down in the presence of the Lord. Jenner needs to topple his idol. He needs to submit to God with humility. His sadness that he experiences as a man, with submission to God, can be replaced with exultation! Jenner doesn't need to worry about the gender of his idol. He needs to worry about the will of God! That empty hole can be filled with the Holy Spirit and then Jenner will be joyful. Caitlyn can only temporarily appease his flesh. Caitlyn will be toppled in the presence of God!

A really courageous Jenner would admit that he fears Caitlyn. He fears her because she is not of God! That is what a brave person would do.

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