arguing it with my ma. Started out with a friend from church saying she expected me to be at bible study(somewhat of a joke, as I don’t even regularly attend church), and I said that my opinions would get me branded a heretic.

I said St. Paul was a bit extreme in his views for women, specifically in First Corinthians.

In the end, I had shouted that he was flat out wrong, and my mother saying that she was worried about me because I chose to look at the bible both as a historical work, and as a spiritual work. And that King James Version was inaccurate as to the translations…and wow. The whole thing devolved from there.

because I criticized one section of the bible, she claimed that I didn’t believe anything at all in there, and that in fact, I was criticizing God Himself, as there was some verse in revelations that said one shouldn’t try to criticize the bible or parts of which(I think the verse is in timothy, but regardless).

The bible, in her view, is a complete work, of which you should not view it historically at all, just spirtually. She doesn’t care if revelations was written before the bible was put together, or that St. Paul was writing to the heads of the church, not to every member, or anything…that is irrelevant. I agree it is irrelevant for belief, but more knowledge is never a bad thing. It was all put together by God, and to even PRESUME to question or go against it in part is going against it in whole.

I perhaps made a mistake when I pointed out she doesn’t wear hats in church…against st. paul’s wishes. her response to me was, “I’ll wear a hat to church if it will make you believe.”

I told her I’ve not stopped believing, but she told me she worries about my soul anyway and she wonders how true that really is, about me believing.

She didn’t like me bringing up the fact that Esther didn’t do what St. Paul believed women should do either, but that was ok…cause God directed her. And she didn’t like me saying that St. Paul SPECIFICALLY said that it was from him, not from God(and quoting her the verse) the things he said about women. Again…see the above argument about parts vs. whole of the bible.

She said that I’ve been in college too long, if this learning is turning me against God. I told her again that I’ve never been nor will ever be against God. It didn’t mollify her, all this new knowledge that I have seems to be a threat to her son, to make him one of the heathens. I am worried that it is too late to convince her that regardless of what she thinks, I’m still a christian.

“From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.
They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother in law against daughter in law, and daugther in law against mother in law.” Luke 12:52-53(NIV translation)

Renee’s post…

“Why? I saw a Masters thesis in the library today. It was a creative project. I was not impressed. I’m sorry if this is rude, but I was not impressed. I write more (i’m not talking just length here) on this weblog in one week than what I saw in that thesis, and is this what I am working towards? A degree that puts me at the same educational level as the writer of that thesis? I know I sound like a snob now. But, there you have it. That thesis, well, that thesis makes me see that the work in getting a Masters degree is in completing these classes. And the time involved and the commitment. The thesis? No problem. Ok. I guess I’m disappointed. It’s just that I thought more was required. Or can a person slap the word “creative” on to a stack of papers and have it count as a thesis because it’s got that word that stops us from judging the work. Creative. Does anything pass for creative or art? I guess so.”

Thank you, Renee….now you understand what perhaps Josh, and definitely I, have been saying about this place all the time that you’ve known us.

and just in case you’re wondering….I sat in a Doctoral thesis presentation at Pacifica last time I was out there…it is no different there, the same stuff goes on, different places. Except this wasn’t a creative thesis, this was an actual research/quantitative data thesis on the similarities between hero quests and therapy.

The thing is that we’ve been lied to for the last, well in my case, 23 years. Thesis work is nothing now that we’re prepared for it. We do the time, we get what we can out of the classes. We don’t do this for the degree anymore…we don’t do it because they have something new or different to teach us…we do the classes to see what we can learn for ourselves and how we can fit it in for our plans. The thesis, after doing 15-20 page papers for classes, is nothing. It is a step for making ourselves better learners and/or teachers.

Why, if I think that, am I going to do a creative thesis? Because research is nothing except looking at what other people have said, summarizing it, and then agreeing or disagreeing with it based on more reasearch.

At least creative thesis, I can say what I think using a medium I enjoy. As stated before, I’m not doing it for other people, I’m doing it for me.

Why do a thesis if you’re not going to enjoy it?

not able to read as much of Don Quixote as I’d like…but this is the best quote I’ve found…

“…and what is worse, turning poet, for it is said that disease is incurable and catching!”

that’s the truth.