2016-2017 #IANGTTTS

It has been 11-years since my first Blog posting.  There are too many words for this to be put on Facebook, so I have returned to Blogging.

As we leave the year 2016 and enter the year 2017 it is a time like no other for a lot of people.  But for me, I have in my almost 63 years of living witnessed great change and upheaval.  With that said, when unexpected things happen, I don't get so far off track and stuck in a rut of, "Oh my God, how could this have happened?"  After the initial shock of a situation (reality), you have to put everything in perspective in order to be able to function and move forward.

1. Figure out what is in your control.
2. Do what you can to help where you can.
3. Find out who has the authority, not just who has a title.
4. Work behind the scenes (secret alliances), undercover (underground railroad), etc.
5. Develop a plan and do what you can, not just voicing words of outrage.

I will be posting comments, thoughts, clips, pictures and videos of others that are saying what I feel.  I am one for Not Re-inventing the wheel.  If someone else says what I feel or agree with, instead of writing the same thing, I will post it to my blog.  I will always give credit to the source, I will never try to claim something as my own when it is not.

I hope this is ok with the people that I am referencing...if not, just contact me and I will delete your comment, posts or videos.

#nottheresistance but #IANGTTTS

Dr. Minnie Hayes Patmon-McLaurin
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https://www.facebook.com/darrenbraz/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED

Darren Braz

· January 20 at 5:05pm ·

Something to consider... (by a Christ follower)
Edit: after seeing some comments, I thought I'd clarify a few things. First, thank you to those who left kind wo...rds 😉. As for some of the criticisms, a few thoughts:

1) On forgiveness and being judgmental: This video isn't about forgiveness or judging someone, it's about accountability - an important aspect amongst believers since the first 12 disciples. I've seen a lot of comments that this isn't forgiving of Trump and very judgmental of him, but this video isn't about him - it's about the voters who put him in power who also believe in Christ. We absolutely can forgive and not judge any person's words and actions, but that does not mean we then put them in the most powerful earthly position. Forgiveness and non-judgment can coexist with healthy boundaries and wise decision making.
2) On picking between two bad candidates: This video is not meant to be politically slanted in any way and rather is intended to be vertically focused. It's not anti-Trump/Republican just as much as it's not pro-Hillary/Democrat. That said, we did not have two candidates to choose from, we actually had dozens. Voting didn't take place on just one day in November, but the years leading up to it where the conscious decision to place country and self over Christ's teachings of love and selflessness resulted in candidates many found unsatisfactory. As believers, let's recognize that earlier by not letting political platforms and country blind us of the Kingdom.
3) We should pray for our leaders: Yes! I totally agree, and this video doesn't at all suggest otherwise. I pray for this leader, prior leaders, this country - and MOST IMPORTANTLY - the well-being of everyone on this Earth and all God's creation.
4) These words are taken out of context: due to the format of the video, yes, but I encourage you to research the context of them for yourself. I did, and I feel they are great examples that have the same message both in and out of context (ex. "love your neighbor" is pretty spot on as is 😀).
5) You can't compare Trump to Jesus: I'm not - never would. No person compares to Christ. The difference in their words isn't about comparison but that he's not even trying to lead the life that Jesus exemplified.
6) Why don't you do this for Hillary or Obama?: because they didn't win the election with 80% of the white evangelical vote. Again, this is less about the candidate, and more about the action taken by many, many believers to vote for him.
Lastly, this video is rooted in loving accountability, from one believer to another, so if it's speaking to you, I hope you find it humbly encouraging rather than combative. And if it doesn't apply to you, please don't use it to attack anyone's politics. It's not about that.

Blessings and thanks for watching/sharing,

Darren

Our Social Construction of Realities


We each are born into a social order that has already arrived at a “consensus reality”. We are the products of a social construction of reality (this is like a foundation or our core beliefs). Human beings are creatures of habit. These behaviors become habitual and soon become socially acceptable ways of behaving. They are socially agreed upon. After a while these socially agreed upon habitual ways of behaving become “legitimized”. After being legitimized for a while, they become unconscious. The unconscious legitimization gradually evolves into laws of reality. We no longer question them. We accept them. The laws of reality that emerged from our legitimized habituations are actually a ‘consensus reality’. This consensus reality is what we have all agreed on as constituting reality. A prominent part of every culture’s consensus reality is its notion of what a woman is. At birth it was decided how you and I must behave in order to be a real woman. These stereotyped roles are perfect (for having an unstable foundation one that will not hold up under pressure).

[i] Based on my reading of the book by John Bradshaw (1988), Healing the Shame That Binds You: (p. 84).

Your Foundation

Your foundational—core beliefs will determine what kind of life you will have. In order for you to have a whole, complete, and honest life you have to do away with the sub-class mentality. The idea that you were destined for the dung heap, that you were created less than human.

Traditional Psychotherapy, Counseling, and Counseling Techniques can only take you so far. Emotional pain and compulsive behaviors cannot be overcome by forcing yourself to practice “healthy habits.” Healing must take place from the inside (the core) then it will manifest itself on the outside and in your truly changed behavior and choices.



Minnie Patmon-McLaurin

Core Healing
By
Minnie Hayes Patmon-McLaurin

Core Healing is resolving the issues that are at the core of our daily problems. The Core Healing that I am referring to is based partly on my understanding and application of Dr. Ed M. Smith’s Theophostic Prayer Ministry (TPM) and also on my many (50-plus) years of experience on this earth dealing with life’s issues. A major pivotal point on my journey to healing came on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 in the afternoon while reading an article entitled, “Where to Now? Women as a Mission Field” by Diane Langberg published in the magazine, Christian Counseling Today.[1] 2005 Vol. 13 No. 3 (pgs. 50-54). As I was reading the article the tears started streaming down my face, a sure sign of “healing”. The article started with the statement: “In the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world, being born female is still something of a risk.” It goes on to state that 20 centuries ago female babies were considered a liability. Female infanticide was not uncommon. And that baby girls were often considered the equivalent of deformed and were killed by exposure. It was permitted by law to leave them outside the city on the dung (animal manure) heap to die. If that isn’t considered “worthless” human life, then I don’t know what is. But there were people who went against the mainstream culture and went outside the gates, risking their lives to rescue the abandoned babies. The article asked, “Who were these people?” And then it goes on to answer: They were the Church—the body of Christ. They followed the Lamb who went outside the city gates to make the ultimate sacrifice and give His life in ransom for many who were deemed worthless. By His death, He judged them to be precious. This was the answer I had been looking for! This was the final piece to the puzzle, a puzzle (issue) that had haunted me all of my adult life. So needless to say by now the tears were almost uncontrollable.

My Issue: I had always had an issue with the Bible and Women. And no preacher, teacher, counselor, pastor, or prophet had been able to satisfactorily explain the position of; view of; and in general; women and women’s issues in the Bible to me. That unresolved issue had been the primary source of my emotional baggage throughout my adult life. I could never accept the explanations given to me by preachers, pastors (usually men), counselors, or people in general about women’s positions, purpose, and roles in life. I had discovered that the only person who could answer these questions satisfactorily for me was the Creator—the Ultimate Father. I had always had an issue with how women were sub-classed in the Old Testament. The fact that they had practically no rights and were usually treated as less valuable than men. And throughout history this same sub-classness has continued. I had issue with how a Creator of life who said He loved all of His creation the same but allowed this type of treatment towards his creation (women) to continue. So needless to say, I had issues and questions that needed to be answered in order for me to do the work that I was put here to do.

Since I had already learned that man has a will that the Creator will not violate. The article put things into perspective for me. Man has choices he can make, and most of the time those choices are self-serving and in total disregard to some. Whether it puts women in second or sub-class status or people of different races, beliefs, or cultures in those categories, these were choices and decisions made by men. It was not intended to be this way in the beginning.The article goes on to state that by and large the evangelical community in this country has primarily focused on women surrounding the issues of ‘roles and place.’ Being overly concerned that women not overstep whatever boundaries a particular circle deems right and focusing on keeping females in their “right” place. All the while girls and women of this world are dying on the dung heaps while money is poured into mega-churches and sound systems. But the true principle that was laid down by Christ is: as you leave your world and go out of yourself in order to give yourself to others, you return exponentially richer than before. He is the One who set forth the principle by leaving His world and going out of Himself in order to give Himself to others. He returned home exponentially richer than before. He is richer because He has us—we who were deemed “worthless” and abandoned on the dung heaps to die—our rescue became His glory. (Amen!)

"Unaware of Social Construction of Reality—From Birth"

From birth we tend to think that the new baby comes into the world with a clean slate, one that has the capacity to draw upon it any story that can be imagined. But we as human beings are creatures of habit. The fact that these habits are so well ingrained in society that when a child is born—for the most part these ingrained habits are not recognized as habits. They are accepted as reality. Though each person possesses their own unique set of attitudes, beliefs, and opinions, these were formed on the basis of and drawn from a well that had already been filled by our ancestors, history, and media. One of the most powerful influencers in our social construction of reality that may be even more powerful than our family is the media. By media I do not just mean television, movies, music, the Internet, and radio. I am referring mainly to the historical interpretation of the bible and other important literature. The messages that are produced by the media, of all forms, interacts with the humans already existing knowledge and a socially agreed upon reality is formed.

This socialization process goes on in every society and culture. Socialization is important in the process of personality formation. This is done in order for successful socialization to occur. This then results in uniformity within a society. Which develops into what are called norms. These norms are the conceptions of appropriate and expected behavior that are held by most members of the society. These social facts come into existence through human construction.

One example of this is, Shiite Muslim men in Iran ritually beating themselves bloody with hands and chains as an act of religious faith commemorating the death of Imam Hussein in 680 a.d.

"Suspicions Confirmed"

My suspicions were confirmed recently as to why so many churches and people in churches are having the same problems that people not in church have. I was recently talking to a pastor, we were discussing our professions. He was telling me how after years of being a pastor he hit a brick wall, he reached a "burn-out" point. He realized that the reason that this happened was because of some issues that he had not resolved in his past.

In my profession as a faith-based counselor, I understand that unresolved issues carry over into our professional as well as personal lives. While in Seminary classes, I was taught that your unresolved issues will be transferred to your clients. So it is important to first of all recognized that you do have issues and to get them resolved before you begin helping others.

In the case of the pastor, when he hit the brick wall, that is when he started his journey to resolving his issues. His main issue was that when it came right down to it, "He did not believe that God would be there for him." This has always been a suspicion of mine about Christians in general. I reached that conclusion about a year ago, when I started my journey towards my destiny of starting a non-profit and becoming a faith-based or "Christian Counselor". I realized that the reason so many Christians have so many problems, is because they do not believe what they profess to believe. The majority of Christians read the Bible as if it were a mere history book about an ancient civilization. The connection that they have with God is through a pastor or minister. And that is where the problem begins. Because if you have pastors and ministers who do not fully understand God's purpose for them and believe that He is able to do what He says He can do, that "issue" of doubt and unbelief will carry over into the ministry. And that group of people which are under that pastor will be exposed to the same "issue" as the pastor and will not be able to grow and experience God as was intended. Therefore you will have a lot of Christians having all of the same problems that non-Christians or non-faith people are having.

Christmas Eve 2005

On this Christmas Eve the world is out of control. With the push for political correctness it is just absurd, it has turned into a farce. The burning question; should we say, "Happy Holiday or Merry Christmas"? Some are saying by not saying "Merry Christmas" we are leaving Christ out of the holiday. For your information, Christ never gave you his stamp of approval for this holiday. If this was truly a "Holy" day, then we would not be out buying gifts for family, friends, and co-workers, or cooking large meals in order to over eat. We would in fact be fasting and praying and giving to the poor, needy, homeless, widowed, and orphaned. This "Holiday" season has evolved into a commercial "cash cow" for the retailers and we are all participants.

So as we go into the New Year and the next big "politically correct" debate come up, lets stop, think and ask ourselves, "Do I really want to partake of this absurdity"?

Don't for one moment think I do not believe in Jesus of Nazareth (Yeshua) the Christ (Messiah), because I do! Most Western Christianity is so far away from its roots, until sometimes it (the true meaning of Christianity) can hardly be recognized.

Minnie

"New Year--New Chance--New Charge--New Challenge"

As we leave 2005 and enter into 2006, we all make new years resolutions. Each new year we get a new chance to accomplish the things we have resolved to accomplish. I would like to take this opportunity to challenge you to make it happen this year. One way to make this happen is to choose one thing to focus on and work away at it in small pieces.

The #1 New Year's Resolution is to lose weight and to get fit. But almost no one keeps that resolution. The reason why is because they don't break it down into a workable project. If your goal is to lose weight, the first thing you should do is get a physical. Then change only a small part of your diet at a time. For instance, one thing you could do is to stop eating after 7:00pm in the evening. Another would be to just cut your serving sizes and portions down. In other words, if you usually eat 2 rolls, start eating just one. Simple and small changes over a period of time makes a big difference.

As a society and a culture, we want everything instantly. But if we gradually institute changes they are more likely to last.

My hope and prayer for you for 2006 is to realize that to undo what has taken some of us a lifetime to do will take time, patience, dedication, and most of all a little help from someone who has made the journey.

Minnie