Fearless Christianity…

Deep Breath… How do I give my take on this one? Well first of all, I would like to say I am not a “Churchian”, I am a Follower of Christ. But since Christian means Follower of Christ, the academic answer is; yes, I am Christian…

I was raised in a rather conservative non-denominational church, however the “conservative” part of that is far removed from what is seen as evangelical or extreme-right wing theology (which I do not agree with, but do not condemn), however it was a literalist church, that believed in the concept of dispensation: basically that after Jesus died and resurrected that miracles ceased with him. Well, I never could buy that!  

I had  a very very very horrible abused childhood, involving rape, molestation, psychological trauma and emotional rape/degridation, and torture (though you never would have known it)… Miracles had to be a fact in my belief structure in order to give me the hope of something, anything being better than what I had…I have experienced many, including visions, voices etc….As I tell my therapist; “They could just be subconscious Delusions there to comfort my mind, or it could be messengers, either way it works.” (But as per my psych eval: I merely have PTSD, and am not psychotic nor schizophrenic, so HAH to that assumption at the mention of visions and clairaudience! oh and given the severity of my abuse, it’s a real miracle I’m only suffering from PTSD))

I’m not a literalist, in fact I don’t even believe that the Bible is necessarily the “word of God”, I  believe it is inspired writing, and I think many world “Books” are inspired.  I am a Follower or Disciple (student) or Chela (student) of the Christ principle.  I practice a form of esoteric Christianity, and enjoy Christian Mysticism, because it is the “mythos” and “cultural story” with which I grew up. It’s my comfort zone. It’s the part of the Elephant I see most clearly…

I have studied many religious viewpoints to understand the who, why, where, how and when of other cultures and the human experience. What that has taught me is this: There is a golden thread, and we often get caught up arguing about apples and oranges, forgetting the most important point: Both are fruit.

I do belong to a body that is Christ Centered, Christ the Healer, UCC in Portland, Oregon. In fact I’ll have to add a page about how I met them! They are not a cult, people come and go, ebb and flow. It’s a small cell church, perhaps best described as a mission church dedicated to wholistic faith, life, and healing. It is the most tolerant and accepting group I have ever belonged to; which is why it tends to stay very small in it’s membership.

Humans just love to segregate and categorize and rate others, and CtH doesn’t go for that, we love all and accept all, including ourselves and our faults. I wouldn’t have grown as much as I have without having Rev. Gabrielle Chavez in my life, or her husband a great gifted alternative physician and learned friend, Thomas Chavez. I trust these two friends with my life, and as you will read about in future documents, my life has been in their capable hands more than a few times.

So, yeah I’m Christian, yeah I do astrology, yeah I follow Buddist practices, meditate, and enjoy making mandalas…if you have a problem with that, it’s all cool; it’s your problem, I let you deal it with it. What I won’t do is argue about it, because that is a waste of time, well at least of my time and I am not so rude as to want to waste your time. Life’s too short to sweat the small stuff.