A Gift For The Spirit

Well, If you have been reading my blog for any legnth of time you are well aware that many of my posts were excerpts from an upcoming book. But what you don't know is...........

POW! POW! HERE IT IS!!!!!!!




I could not be any more pleased with the way the book has turned out. DON'T JUMP THE GUN YET. This is only a proof getting it's final proofreading.

The book will not be available for sale until October 2010 for $16.95 on Amazon.com and Banrnes & Noble.com. But if you do not care for purchasing items online, then by all means go to your local Books A Million and request they order it for you. There is no extra charge for you requesting the store to carry a book you are interested in purchasing that they do not have in stock.

I labled this post as a gift for the spirit because that is exactly the reasoning behind me writing this book. It is not just a book, but a family legacy for the women in your family. This will be that one gift you can buy for that woman in your life that you love and wish all the goodness in the world that God has for her. Be it your mother, sister, neice, daughter, or best friend, this book will be a gift for the spirit.

I know many of you have enjoyed my posts regarding Eve, but they were only a taste of what you will read in the actual book. If your appetite has been whetted by any of the posts on Paul, women in Christian history, or how women have been treated in the early church and now - then this is a must have book for you.

I am like a proud momma, showing off baby pictures to anyone she can corner. But this has truly been a labor of love and I hope many readers; male and female will benefit from my work.

I HAVE A DREAM August 28, 2010

Everone is talking about August 28, 2010 when Glen Beck and Sarah Palin will hold a Tea Party event in the exact spot Marin Luther King gave his "I Have A Dream Speech." King had a vision of peace between minorities and majorities, the rich and the poor.

The television cable stations will cover this event with their own spin. But one thing does not need spinning; Martin Luther King's speech. It will resonate for centuries to come, because it was a cry of God. King could not stand by and watch his brother suffer in any way shape or form because of their gender, race, disability, or economic situation. I AM FREE TO VOTE BECAUSE OF HIS SACRAFICE FOR JUSTICE.

Some people are upset about the event planned for that day. Why. No one can rewrite history, it has been penned and attested to. Christians faced a similar dillema years ago. There was a group of pagan worshipers who had turned to Christianity but held on to a pagan celebration that had just been a part of their tradition. Seeing how difficult it was to break this tradition, the Christians decided to overlay the pagan holiday with a Christian celebration to deminish the significance of the celebration. The pagans got to keep their pagan celebration and Christians could point to the new holiday as a Christian holiday. Eventually, as generations continued, they forgot the pagan entity celebrated and celebrated the heralded Christian celebration. The date the Christian church turned from pagan to Christian: December 25th the birth date of Jesus. Is Glen Beck trying to overlay Dr. King's speech with the Tea Party Movement? If so, it will never work. I pray the day will be peaceful and a manifestation of King's dream where people of all races are joined shoulder to shoulder for a common purpose. I hope to see a sea of white, black, yellow, brown and red celebrating the liberties of American. Is this the plan?

Below is a refresher to help us to remember Martin Luther King.

In the book "Judgment Days" the author writes about the 1960’s, a time of social and political turbulence. CHANGE was being demanded from those faced with the indignities of being denied the right to vote, to eat in restaurants, to use public restrooms, to hold a job, and to choose a dwelling place and not be judged on the color of their skin, origin of ancestry, or gender.

The cry for CHANGE demanded a leader able to organize and represent the people. A Baptist preacher trained in philosophy and theology would be the one to answer the people’s cry. Martin Luther King Jr. would come to symbolize a courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love. His wise choice of true pacifism was met with resistance, but when scenes were shown on national television of black protestors kneeling, praying, and singing while whites yelled, spat, and threw objects or beat them, the civil rights movement gained sympathy and support from fair-minded citizens across the country.

King knew the movement of the masses was about more than one man-one person. It was a protest of the people who were tired of their rights being trampled. He knew injustice anywhere was a threat to justice everywhere.

An August 28th march, organized by King, of 200,000 Americans in Washington, D.C. was the backdrop for King’s famous I have A Dream speech. This is the same march that would inspire the legendary composer and singer Sam Cook to write A Change Is Coming. This song would be played for over a week following the election of America’s first African American President elect, Barack Obama.

King pressed forward when opposition leaders said “You are moving too fast” or when relatively moderate local white clergy called his protests “unwise” and “untimely.” His reply: “Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say ‘Wait.’” This is the same sentiment argued when then Senator Barack Obama decided to run for president. King addressed a question posed to the movement, “When will you be satisfied?” in his I Have A Dream speech he answered: “…not until America is a nation where all citizens could come together in a society of equal opportunity in which differences of race, religion, national origin and region were no longer barriers to brotherhood and peace.”

King lived to see the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act passed. He believed both Acts would establish a solid basis of legal equality for Black Americans, but more needed to be done. His civil rights goals evolved into class and economic issues. He was trying to put together a populist coalition in which poor blacks, whites, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans could seek to transform the economy. This populist coalition would address the problems of unemployment, inadequate education, job training, housing, and health care; problems reminiscent of today and challenges facing President Obama. Martin Luther King did not live to see such an America.

It is clear the Civil Rights Movement led by King, demanded by the masses, directly influenced and inspired future protests against the Vietnam War, equal rights for women and older workers, rights for the handicapped, and the struggle overseas for human rights. Before his death King prophetically claimed he had been to the mountain top- he had seen the promised land.

His service and sacrifice of life must continue to inspire the masses to work toward the dream of ‘Justice for all’ whether they are able to live to see it come to pass or not. The people’s cry for CHANGE, echoes on, always waiting for a symbolic leader to answer. The attack is on ignorance, discrimination, poverty, and disease; not on a particular people.

BLACK FEET
by Dorothy Guyton

Move fast little black feet Master needs a drink
He awaits the arrival of the cold well water
Keep your black feet moving no time to rest or think
Aunt Suckie is chopping cotton; so is your six year old daughter

Move fast black feet to quickly birth your slave baby
One day in bed a luxury; back to work back to history
Recuperation denied; a gift from God to only gentility.
With coarse matted hair and dark brown skin you be no lady.

Move fast black feet the hounds are on your scent
Keep pushing on to the promised land where you can be
A free black person no longer for sale or rent
A place where big noses and lips are treated with humanity.

Move fast black feet stand in line to protest
Your right to be counted to vote for president
Still learning to read and spell to speak eloquent
Rising each day free to give and do your best.

Move fast black feet its time to go to college
To sit where science, history, and math are being taught
To enter into that new Garden of Eden; price paid for knowledge
Through blood shed and tears it was earned and bravely fought.

Move fast black feet the bullets are whizzing by
Innocent life struck down on streets by thugs
In darkness they hide to conceal their identity their mugs
Black feet survived so much to live forget and now die

Move fast black feet to remind our people of the past
To tell them freedom is flighty and doesn’t always last
To remember black feet toiled once upon a time
For stripes upon the back and for sale for not a crime

Move fast black feet to the picket lines once again
Raise voices and hands that loudly ask can you see me
We all have fought to live and to forever live life free
For every ethnicity of people who ever claimed to be human

Move fast black feet for while all of you slept
Jim Crow’s Law came back into today it stealthily crept
Nappy hair, monkey brains is the story now being told
Back to the bidder’s block, Look! A negro is being sold.

Amazon Women Warriors and their contribution to Christianity

Excerpt from soon to be released "When Will Eve Be Forgiven?"


During the time of Paul's ministry there was a strong dominant female influence in the nation. Women were not seen as weak, but as embodying what gave life and salvation. This influenced how Paul would evangelize the people of Ephesus.

Why would Paul write to Timothy who was in Ephesus at the time: “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But woman will be saved through childbearing---if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with prosperity.” I want to examine this passage paying close attention to what was occurring in Ephesus at the time Paul wrote to Timothy: goddess worship.

It seems Paul wanted the masses to understand how a man and especially a woman could find salvation. In the Young’s Liberal Translation, New Century Version, New International Version, 21st Century King James Version, English Standard Version, and the Amplified Bible, the word “saved” is used in verse 15 of each Bible for this passage. The Darby Translation of the Bible uses the word “preserved” in the place of the word “saved.” The Message Bible elaborates more on the word “saved” in verse 15 with this sentence, “But this salvation only comes to those who continue …” What was happening during this time of Paul’s missionary journey making it important for him to emphasize the role of women in the church and daily living?

Ephesus had a long history of goddesss worship when Christianity arrived in about A.D. 51. For 1000 years, goddess worship dominated the region with many cults loyal to female ‘gods’. Ephesus began as a tree shrine by traveling Amazons, the beginning of goddess worship.

Amazons, a tribe of female warriors, are credited with founding Ephesus. These warrior women first lived in Caucasus and Asia Minor and were the founders of the city Themiscyra. They were governed by a Queen. Men were permitted in their presence only once a year to perpetuate their race. All new born sons were killed. It is reported that their right breast were burned off so they could better handle their bows and arrows.

Trees in general, as well as the world of trees, belonged to Artemis with the latter being the source of unborn souls. It was believed the fruit of the Tree of Life could give, depending on how it was obtained and when it was eaten, eternal life, great wisdom, or help during labor. Artemis was worshipped as a tree goddess.
Eternal life in early civilization, did not mean immortality, but rebirth; the continuing survival of the soul. Diana means Artemis in Greek and she was the illegitimate daughter of Leto and Zeus, a twin sister of Apollo. The Greek goddess Diana is depicted as a huntress with a bow and arrow usually in her hand. Even though there is some blending of the two goddesses, Artemis of Ephesus had a different depiction and attributes that the people of Ephesus worshipped her for.

The Amazons adored Artemis as a protector and leader. Artemis’ tree priestesses at Ephesus served under her title of Opis, meaning silent or awful. Virginity was strongly emphasized in the temple of Aremis. The only people allowed to enter the temple were men and women that were virgins. Married or sexually active women were excluded and could face death if they were not virgins. Artemis, especially when associated with Ephesus, is also defined as the destroyer, death bringer, and the guide between worlds and lives.

Her temple was more than just a religious shrine. It was the source of immense civic pride, an assurance of protection, a secure bank, a treasure trove of priceless artwork, and the center of the city’s thriving economy. The temple was one of the Seven Wonders of the World alongside the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassusos, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. At the temple, the goddess was commonly known as Cybele, Mother of all Creatures, Lady of the Beasts, Artemis of the First Throne, Queen of the Cosmos, Lord, Saviour, heavenly Goddess, and Greatest and Holiest. Her pine cone tipped wand represented her motherhood. Just as she brought all life into the world, she took it back into herself in death. A firm belief developed that Artemis and Cybele were the same goddess. The people just had different understandings of her.

Artemis was worshipped throughout the area. She had centers in Italy that were considered holy groves. A festival at her main Roman temple in Aventin, was held on August 13. On the Island of Kythera, Artemis of Ephesus was worshipped. Her connection to sex and reproduction was directly acknowledged. Celtic hunters paid a fine for each animal taken into a communal fund and used to purchase a sacrifice to Artemis each year.

There is no record of Christianity in Ephesus before the arrival of Paul and his companions in about AD 51. Late in his life, Paul had made several curious references to myths and women in his letter to Timothy in Ephesus as in: 1Timothy 1:3, 4:7 and 2:13-14. Jewish stories of Adam and Eve had apparently merged with the mother-goddess myths so that Eve had become a mother-goddess. For that cult, all life issued from the mother-goddess, so they would naturally claim that Eve preceded Adam. Furthermore, wisdom came from the mother-goddess, so the revisionist version of creation would need to have Adam deceived by the serpent. This can be the reasoning behind Paul’s inclusion of how the woman was deceived by the serpent and the position of man as being before the woman and a position of strength and authority. Paul wanted to clear up any false teachings regarding the Christian creation account.

The disturbance over Diana (Artemis) is one of the most prominent stories in the book of Acts (Acts 19:23-41). There were 33 temples in the Greco-Roman world where Diana was worshipped. For over 1000 years, Diana with her temple provided a focal point for rich religious, economic, and cultural life of her worshippers. The temple was the center of drama and worship. Craftmen and silversmiths at Ephesus made their living crafting idols and statuettes to be sold to pilgrims and tourists coming to worship Diana. Demitrius, a leading silversmith preached, “the sanctuary of the great goddess Diana will cease to command respect; and then it will not be very long before she who is worshipped by all of Asia and the civilized world is brought down from her divine pre-eminence.”

She represented not only fertility, but resurrection in the shape of new birth, the eternal return of life to earth and, can be found in a number of early carvings such as the “Tree of Life.” Paul would have had to combat this idea of divinity in giving birth by the women in Ephesus and to make sure that childbirth was seen as a part of the Christian’s worship to God.

Not only was Artemis the guardian deity of Ephesus, she also figured as savior goddess in inscriptions. Inscriptions with “Artemis Savior” appears twice in Attica, once in Peloponnesos, three times in central Greece, once in Northern Greece, seven times at the Aegean Islands, including Crete, three times in Asia Minor, and three times in the broad area of Egypt, Nubia, and Cyrenaica.

Her cult idol (depiction) can be described as a person holding a staff with an elongated body with legs bond together in a mummy like fashion. The upper half of the front torso covered with protuberances resembling human breasts. There is some debate as to whether the protuberances are actually breasts, eggs, or the testicles of the bulls sacrificed to the goddess. The testicles affixed to the goddess, according to modern scholars, as a way of renewing her strength so that she might better assist her worshippers. This may be one of the reasons she is referred to as “many breasted Artemis.”

On her neck she wears a necklace of acorns. The oak tree was sacred to her and on her breastplate appears the signs of the zodiac. Because she was closely associated with death and the underworld, she became associated also with magic and astrology, thus the zodiac on her breastplate. A high crown tops her head with the turrets of the city of Ephesus. The lunar crescent became a symbol of virginity and adorns the brow of the Greek Artemis and Roman Diana because the ancient month was determined by the interval between one new moon and the next. This same interval also marks a certain recurring event in a woman, menses.

Her skirt is decorated with rows of animals, an indication of fertility. On the sides are bees adorned with crowns and wings symbolizing the actual insects and priestesses. The use of bees is due to the fact that Artemis her self was known as the “Queen Bee” and her castrated priests were called “drones.” The first idol of Artemis was carved out of wood and set in an oak tree at Ephesus by the Amazons. There are three marble copies of the cult statue that once stood in the temple on display in the Ephesus Museum. One of the statues is called Beautiful Artemis and it is from the first century AD. A second statue is called Great Artemis and it is from the second century AD.

By understanding the history of Ephesus, one can understand the need to combat the worship of Artemis as the one who can save and protect women. Paul would have had the daunting task of introducing Jesus as the savior of all people, man and woman. Artemis was the goddess women turned to for protection and assistance with fertility issues and childbirth. There would also be the women who would want to remain perpetual virgins so they could have access to her temple without the fear or penalty of death. Replacing a female goddess, a stable source of revenue, would also be a challenge for Paul and his endeavor to spread the gospel. So Paul’s battle was with a dominant female goddess and not with women at large.

Brainwashing Rant

Today, after listening to AFR (American Family Radio), I heard for the hundredth time a standard Christian view which irritates me to no end. The statement:
COLLEGE BRAINWASHING OUR KIDS

The reason this statement came up was due to a poll that was taken showing that people with college education tend to view President Obama more favorably and people with a highschool or lower education tended to not favor President Obama. The radio hosts stated this was not because those with a higher education were smarter than the other group, but that they had gone to college (any and all colleges) where the professors have secular/liberal beliefs. These professors then in turn have 4-6 years to indoctrinate the kids to think liberally like them. In essence, most people with higher education are brainwashed by secular society.

I FOUND THIS CHAIN OF THOUGHT TO BE RIDICULOUS AND INANE.

If I am not mistaken, most parents have 18 years to rear their child before they send them off to begin their life. How can 18 years of guidance be tossed to the wind so easily? How does a child, who clearly understands their family's values decide to throw them all away because a stranger has presented opposing (according to Christians)mores and concepts?

And really, are Christian parents actually suggesting that their kids are suceptable to every new person they encounter? If their children are so easily swayed then why do they let them go out into the world? They may be persuaded to do or be anything. It is almost as if Christian parents believe Christian children have a brain of mush and whatever they come into contact with they will believe it without questioning it or thinking about whether it is true or not. CAN YOUR CHILDREN THINK FOR THEMSELVES OR NOT? CAN THEY CHOOSE RIGHT FROM WRONG WITHOUT YOU TELLING THEM? It seems by the complaining that colleges brainwash Christian children, they can't. OR CAN THEY????

Story time.

My oldest daughter who is 26 and a professional has met and made friends with dozens of people of different ethnicities. One of her male friends, who declares he is a Christian, came to her one day and said: "Yesterday when we were in a group, I was going to make a remark about _________ (who was of Hindu descent), but I realized if I said something racist about her it would have more than likely offended you or at least made you think I would talk about you in the same way; so I did not say it" With that he walked away.

My daughter said something interesting. Her friend came from a rather elitest background. A family of well educated parents, grand parents and siblings. He went to the private academies and private colleges. His fish bowl was made up of like people. It was while persuing his career goals he had been exposed to other ethnicities on a consistent basis and thus befriending my daughter. This is the profound revelation my daughter came away with: as you branch out into life around people unlike you, you find that they are just like you and once you make friends with one person that is different than yourself, it begins to change your actions which in turn influences how you treat all people-across the board- that are different from your self. Your fishbowl gradually turns into a pond, lake, and finally an ocean.

So maybe, when Christian parents control the enviroment in which their kids are reared, limiting exposures to the bare minimum for recognition sake; they are presenting the ONLY thing the child can believe or adhere to. Once the Christian child has freedom of choice and exposure, then they recognize what they once was told was not exceptable did not attack, kill, mame, or hate them (remember most Christians say they are persecuted in the world and when this does not actually happen the child may start to believe their parents were not being completly truthful with them which causes bitterness on the kids part).

A person's religion has to be their own. I can not make or insist that my children be a Christian. They can go through the motions to satisfy me, but what good does that do me. It may make me look feel better, look better to my friends and the church but it has not accomplished anything for God. I never cracked the whip on my kids. I told them about God, talked about Christianity daily; but I always let them know they had free will to choose to be a Christian or not and the consequences of both. We discussed the Creation debate and that they were the one to decide which one they believed. I did not create an alternate reality for them because I wanted them to always be prepared and able to live in the world, like all of us have to do eventually.

I raised my kids with the full knowledge that God created them to have free will. As long as they were alive they could choose evil or good and that their life choices were between them and God.I could not be the overseer or salvation of their souls.

College is not for brainwashing. There is no torture room where they are stripping your child of all they once knew replacing it with satan's message. If it were so, no one would send their kids to college. STOP BLAMING COLLEGE. Face the real issue. You have always heard you cannot change people; only the way you react to them. Women have been forever warned don't get married and think you can change him. Change doesn't come easy as evidenced by the turmoil our country is going through. People change because they want to change.

It is like people believing the only way we could ever have a black president is because we are living in the end times or because he is the antiChrist, or at least his hand maiden. This is said over and over. Those who want to believe it believe it. Those who do not believe it has to be the end of the world for a black president to be elected don't. I have heard the one about college and the president enough to be brainwashed, but I am not.

This is the end of my rant. I know rants usually tick someone off in one way or another. But I wrote these things because I was ticked off. Misery loves company.

In the end if you believe colleges are brainwahing Christian children then prepare them for it. Don't send them out to be sheeps for the wolves. Talk with them about this concern. Talk to them about the entire college experience before they go and while they are in college. Believe it or not, there is more than you who can teach your child something for their betterment.

P.S. I have been to college and never stopped believing in God and the Creation account in Genesis or any other part of the Bible. Science is not an enemy of Christianity, nor Philosophy. Not being grounded in God with a personal relationship with Him is the enemy.

Sex with eyes wide open

From my soon to be released book "When Will Eve BE Forgiven?"

In studying the fall of man I have asked myself many questions. One question in particular was WHAT DID GOD MEAN THEIR EYES WOULD BE OPENED IF THEY ATE FROM THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL?

In most cases we just focus on the fact that Adam and Eve were disobedient. They did what they were commanded not to do. Then immediately we turn to their punishment. But hold on. They ate of the tree; so what enlightenment did they now possess?

Let's start with the punishment. He started at the most guilty and continued to the least guilty: serpent-Eve-Adam. Let us start with Eve.

God goes on to explain at this point and time, the woman’s desires will be for her husband and he will rule over her. In Genesis 1:26, God had given man rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground. Eve had not yet been created and it was not unit after they ate of the fruit of the tree (Genesis 3) that Adam’s and Eve’s relationship changed. The woman and man lost equality in the garden.

When Adam was put in charge in Genesis 1:26 the words "rule" and "dominion" were used. In the account of the fall, the woman’s desire changed and Adam would have rule over her. The word “desire” is used three times in the Bible. It is a Hebrew word t’shuwqah (tesh-oo-kaw) meaning in the original sense of stretching out after; a longing: desire. This is the appropriate time to point out that there had been no sex in the Garden of Eden up until this time. We hear about sex in Genesis 4. Genesis 4:1 begins with: “Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.” In verse 15, we see that Cain lies with his wife and the Bible continues on with generation after generation.

My children enjoy me comparing the animal kingdom in this respect to the human species. Indulge me for a moment without labeling me as a heretic. In the animal kingdom it is the male who must put on a show to get the female’s attention in the mating ritual. The beautiful male peacock has vibrant colors to attract and lure the female peacock. He struts around proudly displaying his beauty and arrogance. In the animal kingdom, the male must put forth the effort of courtship demonstrating his acceptability with his intended mate.

Now look at the human race. It is the female who does the dance in regards to the mating ritual with the male in the human species. She uses her body, clothing, makeup, and now cosmetic surgery to lure and entice her intended mate. This switch in the rules of attraction is a great example, possibly, of how Eve’s desires are now for the husband.

In the Baker Theological Dictionary the word “desire” covers a wide range of human wants, emotions, and cravings:
“It can describe natural desires, which include hunger for food, sexual longings, and desire for God. It can also describe unnatural desires or cravings, which include such things as greed and lust. Most of the time they are ascribed to man, and these desires come under the scrutiny of God… One final word of importance is the root shwq and its derivative tesuqa. It is translated as “desire” or “longing.” This term is found only three times in the Old Testament: Genesis 3:16, 4:7, and Song of Solomon 7:10. In Genesis 3:16 the term is negative in nature, occurring in a context of sin and judgment.”

So, there is no sexual activity going on at first in the creation account until chapter 4. We know that the enlightenment that the tree would give could not be that they would be able to understand things better because God gave Adam a command and he was able to understand it in Gen. 2:16-17. Adam could already think and speak as evidenced by him naming all of the animals in Gen. 2:20. And the Bible tells us specifically that Adam and Eve lived together naked and without shame in Gen. 2:25.

So what good and evil would Adam and Eve become aware of from eating from the tree?

Chapter 3 answers this question. Gen. 3:7 states after they both ate of the tree they noticed they were naked. Later they would hide from God out of fear, because they were naked Gen. 3:10. Finally God asked them who told you you were naked and then God himself made them coats of skin and clothed them Gen. 3:20. It was after this their individual punishment was given and we hear about sex in the following chapter.

My conclusion is simple. The knowledge that was obtained from eating of the forbidden tree was the knowledge of sex. While discussing this new found revelation of mine with my daughters; I wondered out loud why would God not want us to have knowledge of sex? In Genesis 1:28 God told them to be fruitful and multiply. The command not to eat from the tree came after he told them to be fruitful and multiply.

Genesis 2:8 singles out the Garden of Eden and this is where the two trees were located: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Are we to assume there is a distinction between procreation and having sex when one desire's?

Back to the animal kingdom. Animals do not have sex by on demand and by choice. A female comes into heat at the appropriate time, then she is fertile and then she can conceive. Humans on the other hand can choose when to have sex and the woman does not have to be fertile. So, is this the eye opening thing that was learned from eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Later God would expel and seal off the Garden of Eden to keep the humans from eating from the tree of life "And the Lord God said, behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil, and now lest he put forth his hand, and take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever (Gen. 3:22)"

Adam and Eve had the power to create life at their will, unlike all of the other plant and animal life. They could decide when to create life or not to create life, a power that only God had. Of course the miracle of conception and birth still demonstrates the power and majesty of God, but the humans could now decide to create life when they wanted to as well.

Of course this may not be the true outcome of eating from the forbidden tree. But I do know it has something to do with sex. For centuries the church has counted sex as something dark and sinful and I know from reading Scripture that God did not say the sexual act was bad. Out of the context of marriage it was a sin. And we see that God intended for humans to procreate which needed sex to occur. So the knowledge of sex in itself was not the evil of the world.

We may never know what Adam and Eve came to know. But the serpent already existed so there was already evil on earth; thus they did not unleash evil with their disobedience.

A Win for women ministers

Found this article and decided to share it.

28 June 2010
A Win for Women's Ordination
By Keith Lockhart
in GC2010 General Conference Session

The main topic up for debate this morning was the ordination of deaconesses. The issue of the ordination of female pastors having been kept off the conference agenda, this discussion was designed to provide a less controversial way of advancing women in the church.

The delegates took full advantage, approving changes to the Church Manual that went farther than the platform expected. At issue was a proposed new section of the manual that gave divisions the option of ordaining deaconesses if they wished.
But that proposal was rejected and instead delegates voted for amended wording that simply said that when local church officers are elected a “service should take place for ordination for deacons and deaconesses.”

Speaking to SPECTRUM, today's chairman of the General Conference Session floor Vice President Lowell Cooper said that the delegates voted effectively to regularize the ordination of deaconesses worldwide, which was more radical than anticipated. “They went further than was recommended in the original motion and I did find that surprising,” he said.

As might be expected, the debate on the floor ranged far and wide, with many suggesting that the measure was a slippery slope toward the ordination of women ministers. But on this occasion the fearful argument for the extreme failed to gain traction. The delegates were intent on going as far as they could today.
The applause on the floor when the amended motion was won was the loudest thus far at the General Conference Session. It gave a sense that the leadership could win the vote for women’s ordination if they really wanted.

Comment:
Why does anyone need ordaining? Are you against this pastor in China (see today's Spectrum news of G.C.) who pastors the largest SDA church in the world and she and her fellow female pastors have been ordained. Ordination means a different status, extra pay and allowances: IOW, equal pay=equal work. Are you against women receiving equal pay and recognition for equal work?

If you check the minutes and news of over 100 years of the General Conference in session you will see that in 188l women's ordination was voted. What has happened in the ensuing 100+ years? This was before any "feminist movement."

If God created man and woman equal, and Paul declares the same, what man do you wish to submit to in your spiritual discernment? We are equal and responsible before God. We can ride no man's coattails into the kingdom.

DREADLOCK interviews still needed for book

Hello fellow dread wearers.

I am still working hard on my book "Don't Dread Dreads: The People Speak." Help me to get the word out for those who may be willing to participate by answering a few simple questions sharing their decision and journey to wear dreads.

By sharing your story, and hopefully a picture if you like, you will be part of something that will last forever in print. You will also be helping people to understand the hairstyle and its wearers better. Sharing is caring.

You can e-mail me (rizerfall@yahoo.com PLEASE put HAIR in subject line) with your questions and concerns and also if you need more information on exactly what type of book my book will be. If you know people of different ethnicities with dreadlocks, please tell them about this project.

I am thanking you all in advance for your support, help, and encouragement.