Michellespagefornonni's Weblog

A Bitter Irony

michellespagefornonni — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:07:45 +0000

I read an article yesterday about the state of Virginia’s concern over rats. It seems rats are being transferred from Washington DC and relocated into Virginia, making them Virginia’s problem. Washington DC, concerned with animal rights and right to life is now requiring all exterminators and pest control experts to have a “no kill” policy. Rats must be captured along with their “families”, where possible and relocated to another place. Since rats will return is relocated too close to their former home, they are taking the rats out of state into Virginia.

The irony is that Washington DC has the highest abortion rate in the nation. Its abortion rate is three times the national average. Its seems DC’s concern for rats lives doesn’t extend to babies. Could it be that babies are deemed either more dangerous pests, or less worthy of life than rats? Rats carry disease. Newborns don’t.

Can a nation survive losing its young?

michellespagefornonni — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:16:38 +0000

Its been said that one of the reasons Britain lost its greatness was the two generations it lost in war. It simply couldn’t survive as an economic powerhouse with a significant loss of its younger population. What would happen to a country that lost 15% of its population, especially if that population loss occurred solely among those younger than 40. Could it survive the economic loss of energy, earning power, innovation, tax base, reproductive potential, and so on? Its a good question to ask because the U.S. has now lost 15% of its population, solely the under 40 population. Who knows what talent and what greatness was lost, and how even future generations will be affected. We are an aging, topheavy economy, and the effect of that hasn’t been fully experienced yet. The U.S. has aborted 50 million of its young. No nation has ever even considered such a thing, and certainly hasn’t considered such a loss to be in its national interest. This week we remember 39 years of Roe v Wade. Something to pause and think about.

Christian Psychology

michellespagefornonni — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 01:59:04 +0000

Many years ago I earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and recently at quite an advanced age, I earned a master’s degree in Christian psychology. A number of people have asked me what is the difference, and that has provoked a lot of thought on my part.

When I was in my twenties and working on my bachelor’s degree, psychology was a way of seeking truth. It was, in a sense, my religion. I wasn’t a Christian myself, although I liked Jesus. I was almost completely ignorant of the bible, and I had certainly made no commitment to Jesus, or any religion. I thought, in studying psychology, I could learn what brings people happiness and fulfillment. I thought psychology would give me answers to problems in my own life, such as anxiety, loneliness and relationships that weren’t working very well. Psychology, I learned, was the science of human behavior. In the first year, I learned that if something couldn’t be researched, it wasn’t psychology, but belonged in the realm of philosophy or religion. By the final year, I was learning dozens of theories of psychotherapy. These theories could be researched as to whether clients felt themselves to have been helped, but it was all very nebulous as to how the theory helped. I became very Rogerian. I felt people just needed love and understanding, and they could go a long way toward solving their own problems.

After college, I began to work in the mental health field. I very quickly learned some conditions were improved with medication, such as certain types of psychosis. I also learned that psychotherapy of almost any stripe seemed to help very little. We did it all. We had a “therapeutic community”, had group therapy twice a day, psychodrama, occupational therapy, individual counseling, and so forth. We had the same patients coming back and back. After three years I was pretty doubtful that we were doing much good other than giving patients and their families a break during hospitalization. I got into a related career field, doing health education. I felt I could contribute more to people’s mental health by helping them to live healthier lives in general.

About that same time, I became a follower of Jesus Christ. I had begun to read the bible, and became convinced the accounts of Jesus were true. What is more, there were answers in His teachings to the questions I had asked since college. Jesus had answers I had never heard while learning psychology.

All human beings have questions, and the answers they come up with determine how healthy and happy their life turns out. Universal questions include: Who am I? What am I doing here? Do I have significance? Why do I feel so lonely inside? Why do I feel so guilty sometimes? Why can’t I get along with …? How can I feel satisfied with my work? Is this all there is? Why am I not happier? Why is life so unfair? What happens when I die?

Psychology, as far as I ever learned, just doesn’t answer these questions. It essentially says its up to each individual to find their own answers. Well, answers that are invented just can’t satisfy. People know they are engaging in wishful thinking. They want to know there is truth, and they want to know what it is. The other thing psychology doesn’t address is our limitations. Limits are what cause mid-life crises. The young think the whole world is out there for them to examine and enjoy, but by middle age one realizes there are limits and one won’t ever do all one has wished to do. How can we live with our limits?

Christian psychology helps people to seek truth where it may be found: in the teachings of Jesus, and the older book Jesus so often quoted, called the Old Testament by Christians. Jesus addressed all the issues that go beyond psychology to our deepest self, beyond this life, beyond this world, to God Himself. In addition, He offers a relationship, whereby He helps us with our limitations, satisfies our loneliness, deals with our guilt, gives us meaning and purpose, and settles once and for all our value, based on God’s love for us.

The bible has something to say about every issue people face, and deals with these issues on a deep level beyond the surface behavior and emotions. Christian psychology gives people, not only answers to their day to day problems, but a view of life based on God and eternity.

One might ask if this isn’t just religion dressed as psychology. It is more. It is the same truth found in the Christian religion, but it is made personal, it points to specific, individual needs, and it uses counseling techniques as pschology does. It also shares truth with psychology, because truth is a unity, and all truth comes from God. Where psychology can teach relationship dynamics and communication skills, that is truth and is used in Christian psychology. Where psychology attempts to get into humanistic philosophy, relativistic values or sheer speculation, that would not be part of Christian psychology.

Much more could be said on this topic. Someone smarter than I am could write a book titled “Why Christian Psychology.” I have just scratched the surface. What I have seen, is healing going on in lives where a person begins to follow Jesus. These healed lives aren’t all that uncommon among Jesus followers, yet they would have been considered a miracle in the mental health world where I worked.

Yoga, Prayer and the difference.

michellespagefornonni — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:01:26 +0000

“Yoga is about clearing away whatever is in us that prevents our living in the most full and whole way. With Yoga we become aware of how and where we are restricted—in body, mind and heart—and how gradually to open and release these blockages. As these blockages are cleared, our energy is freed. We start to feel more harmonious, more at one with ourselves. Our lives begin to flow—or we begin to flow more in our lives.” quote by Cybele Tomlinson.

I read this quote today on the facebook page of a friend who has been going through a lot of soul searching. It sounds good, but its really so very, very limited. Its ultimately all about self, and no one else. The human condition is such that we are limited and we are lonely. We can’t solve our problems all alone. Our problems with our loneliness and limitedness can’t be solved by a limited, lonely self. Someone once quipped they couldn’t run from their problems because “wherever I go, there I am.” The self is so constant it becomes a pain. “Otherness” is as necessary to us as the air we breathe. Its not so much whats in us that prevents us living a full and whole life, its the need for more than what is in us. We have to open up.

Rather than Yoga, prayer opens the heart, mind and emotion to the great Other. The best part of that is this Other is the only One who has the power and wisdom to truly help us. No one understands us like God, for He knows us better than we know ourselves. As we pour out our hearts in prayer, we not only see ourselves more clearly, but we see answers to what we are seeking. By opening up to Him, we learn to appreciate and love Him back. This gives us the energy to love others and to have compassion for them. “We love because He first loved us.” I John 4:19

Thoughts for a New Year

michellespagefornonni — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:24:38 +0000

Throughout history, humans have had all kinds of religious and antireligious ideas. Because God is so far removed from humankind, it would be impossible to know Him unless He revealed Himself to us. Christians believe He did that. In Jesus, God appeared in human form to reveal himself to us and also to ransom us from the power of evil and death. Its quite a story–not something humans are likely to think of. Jesus did things no human has ever done before or since, including rising from the dead. His remarkable stories are written down for us by people who were eyewitnesses to history, and they risked and sometimes gave their lives telling what happened. You can read it for yourself. Look for a book called the New Testament and see what You think. Wishing you peace, joy, blessings, and a relationship with the God who made and loves you!

Nonni

Apologetics

michellespagefornonni — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:00:31 +0000

I talked in the last blog about apologetics meaning not an apology, but a defense of belief. Theoretically, apologetics could apply to defense of one’s political views, or any other belief system, but generally the term is used to mean defense of one’s religious or philosophical belief.

I said I would like to learn more about apologetics this year. I have learned enough about various worldviews and religions to solidify my own beliefs. I feel very comfortable believing Jesus was divine, and the eyewitness accounts of his life are reliable. I believe what the Christians call the New Testament is true, and written by those who either were eyewitnesses to what they wrote, or were close associates of those who were there. I believe the Old Testament is true, because I believe Jesus was divine. Jesus testified to the truth of the Old Testament in that He quoted from nearly every book of it.

That being said, I have learned enough to be convinced myself, but I want to learn how to dialogue with those who are equally convinced their own belief system, or lack of belief is true. I want to know the arguments of the other side of each debate, not to directly refute them, but to know how to introduce Jesus into their model. I am utterly convinced Jesus is for everyone, no matter their background. I am convinced He has the answers to all human problems, and is Himself the answer to the 5 existential questions every worldview must answer: How did the world come to be? What happened to cause evil and suffering? What is mankind’s purpose? What happens when we die? and How does the wrong get remedied? Not every worldview can answer all these questions.

I have come across some marvelous Christian apologists. Some give themselves this title, and some don’t, because they talk about other things as well. Probably my favorite apologists are Ravi Zacharias and his group of speakers/writers. They are so down-to-earth and easy to understand. You don’t have to be a philosopher or theologian to understand them. I also like the books of Lee Stroble–especially interesting in that he came from an agnostic background, and initially set out to disprove Christianity, the bible, and even a creator. He ended up convincing himself to change his own belief system. Another apologist is Josh McDowell. He’s been writing quite awhile, and has expanded his offerings to include answers to the most common questions skeptics ask. A theologian who is deeper and more into doctrine is RC Sproul. He has some good answers to more specific questions about Christian belief and practice. A classic apologist, who is still very popular and readable is CS Lewis. Here again we have a skeptic whose research dissolved his own skepticism.

The work of an apologist, in my opinion, is to give people intellectually satisfying reasons to believe. In the apologists mind, God doesn’t expect blind faith. He gives us plenty of evidence to mull over. On the other hand, evidence beyond a reasonable doubt is not evidence beyond ALL doubt. If there could be no doubt left, there would be no faith. Sometimes in life, we just have to step out and trust. If we didn’t do that, we would never marry and never have children.

Ultimately, there can never be enough evidence to convince a skeptic who has emotional reasons for their unbelief. Faith has two components: intellect and will. If I do not desire to have God in my life, if I simply won’t trust anyone but myself, if I prefer to believe I am the captain of my own ship and make my own destiny, then no amount of evidence will ever be enough.

Writing on here again

michellespagefornonni — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 03:06:20 +0000

I realized I’ve taken quite a break from this blog. I haven’t taken a break from writing, just blogging. I’ve been writing for some other websites, and doing an internet mentoring kind of thing. Thats where people write in with all sorts of concerns and questions and look for someone who can help them untangle things. One site has been concerning faith issues, and the other, mostly relationship issues. I got into this through a master’s program which I just completed this year. Its a Christian psychology master’s program, and that was also a lot of writing. What is Christian psychology, you might ask? That would require another post.

The other website concerning faith is something I got into just by word of mouth. This year I would like to learn a whole lot more about apologetics. And what is that? Apologetics isn’t apologizing for anything, but comes from the Greek, and means giving a defense. It says in the bible that we are to study so that we may always give a ready defense for why we believe as we do. In doing this website about faith, I realize how much more I need to know about defending my faith in Jesus, and that is my learning goal for 2012. I’ll share more about what I learn, as I remember best those things I share.

Incarnation

michellespagefornonni — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 03:40:53 +0000

Lord Jesus, today we celebrate your birth into our world. What would our world have been like without you. For four hundred years before your birth, heaven was silent–no prophets, no angelic visitations. People must have thought you had forgotten them. And then you came. God with us. You left your home and came into our dark and cold world.

A humble teenage girl agreed to grow and birth you. She agreed to care for you, not knowing what that meant for her. It could have meant disgrace, the loss of the man she loved, and maybe the loss of her life. Yet, she said yes to your living in her life. Today you ask the same of me. Your desire is to live in my life–to have the place of honor in my heart. Yes, come Lord Jesus. Live in me. Live your life in me. Go with me wherever I go. Love through me. Do your goodness through me. Lord, do the biggest thing you want to do in my life, and then help fearful, trembling me to get out of your way while you do it. Let 2012 be the year Jesus fully lived His Life in Nonni.

Prayer on the 9/11 Anniversary

michellespagefornonni — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 14:31:06 +0000

Father God, Lord of Heaven and Earth, on behalf of my country, I acknowledge your sovereignty over all things. Even though a very vocal minority would like to remove Your Name and influence from everything American, we are still a nation who was founded upon reverence for You, our Creator. The first settlers at Jamestown planted a cross to thank You for their safe arrival and to claim their discovery for the glory of God. Just a few years later, long before we were a nation, the first Thanksgiving was celebrated at Berkeley Plantation to thank You for life and health and sustenance. A few years later another Thanksgiving was celebrated in Plymouth, Massachusetts, giving glory to You. Our founding fathers based our Bill of Rights on the value and dignity of human life, stating this dignity was bestowed by You, our Creator. And later, our currency was stamped “In God We Trust.” Because of the heritage of our ancestors in honoring You, we approach Your throne of grace and mercy today and ask You to hear our pleas for our nation.

Father, we have so many things for which to thank you. You have blessed us beyond the wildest dreams of any nation in history. You have given us a long period of peace within our borders. You have given us wealth, learning, health and technology the world has never before seen. We thank You Father for blessing us so much. May we use your blessings for the good of mankind and bring about praise to You for Your goodness.

Father, on behalf of my nation I must confess our wrongs. The greatest, by far, is ignoring You. Not only are we ungrateful children, we misuse the gifts you’ve given us. We’ve misused our wealth, our relationships, and our bodies. Awaken us to our wrongdoing and help us turn to what is good. Father, I don’t even want to hazard a guess as to how many of us prayed to You today. Most of us go about our business, failing to even acknowledge You, thinking instead that we are self-made people who got where we are by our own efforts. Forgive us Father, we really don’t know what we are doing.

Today Father God, I lift America up to You. I ask for great spiritual blessings. I ask You to grant us an awareness of who You are, and of how much You love us. Bring out the good in us Lord, as onlyYou can do. Teach us to love You and to love each other. Teach us to have wonder and respect for the mysteries of Your great creation. Teach us to have child-like awe before You, and not be such arrogant, unteachable people.

Bless all those in public office. Keep them honest and open. Show them if they will only ask, You will give them the wisdom they need to make good decisions and the courage to follow through. Bless all those in public service. Help them to be people of integrity who serve with excellence and keep them safe.

Bless husbands and wives. Give them deep love for one another and devotion to their marriages. Bless this nation with healthy children. Give all parents wisdom and love for their children. Help them understand their children’s needs and give them priority. Help parents turn to You, the perfect parent, for direction and strength.

Keep our nation safe. Save us from wars and attacks. Save us from succumbing to chaos and totalitarian government. Save us from disasters, epidemics, civil disorder, political instability and all other pandemonium which has brought down nations in the past. Save us from those who hate God. Save us from those who serve a false God–of any kind. Save us from ourselves. Most of all, let us never forget what You said: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” Psalm 33:12

Caribbean Chicken Salad

michellespagefornonni — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 22:09:20 +0000

O God of Peace, we praise you and give thanks for your gentle, guiding calm in our lives. We give thanks for safety, food, shelter, and nations where we are free to pursue those things.

Caribbean Chicken Salad

Marinate chopped chicken breast in favorite marinade.

Stir fry chicken and allow to cool.

Arrange greens on plate. Put 2 tablespoons of pico de gallo in the middle. Arrange chunks of fresh pineapple and slices of orange around pico. Put chicken on top of pico and crush some “hint of lime” tortilla chips over all. Pass dressing around the table.

Dressing:

1/4 cup dijon mustard

1/4 cup honey

1 1/2 TB sugar

1 1/2 TB oil

1 1/2 TB white wine vinegar

juice of a whole lime.

Shake together and put in small pitcher.

Enjoy this refreshing summer salad with rolls, flatbread or other bread, tropical fruit punch or tea.