Eclipse and "Wicked" Men: Anne Shirley Had It Right

There are no spoilers here...FYI. I'm keeping this general and safe. It would be wrong to the code of Twilight to ruin your experience in the theater AT ALL:)

I've always loved, understood and been pleasantly haunted by a line in Anne of Green Gables. Marilla asks Anne as they are walking through the pasture "would you want to marry a wicked man?" and Anne replies in her clever, potently witty way "No, but I'd like it if he COULD be wicked, and wouldn't".

And THAT ladies and gents is why women love Edward Cullen. I realized it this morning waking up out of my "got in at 3am" stooper after the six hour Cullen viewing last night. Not only is he a being that by nature, is supposed to be "wicked", he also has the strength to carry that out if he wanted to. Still, on a character level, Edward is fully capable to give into not only his Vampire instincts but his passions for Bella as well. He really COULD be wicked in every way and on every level, and on EVERY level he restrains himself and won't because of his love for virtue and for Bella (as well as Bella's virtue).

This phase of the story, in Eclipse I mean, there is more revealing about this part of Edward and frankly I loved it and I loved that Hollywood showed it. It's frankly not a popular view in entertainment today at all. Part of the reason Anne enjoys that thought in her head of a man who COULD be wicked but wouldn't is because the level of resisting all you COULD do reveals the level of character and in some cases, love you have for others. It's the revelation of the level of self-sacrifice and unselfishness. Isn't that what all women want, a man who could completely give into his instincts but doesn't for the deeper character quality of virtue? It's a strength we identify as stronger than his physical capabilities.

Ironically Anne Shirley is an Edwardian character, as is Edward (thus probably, his name choice). I can't help but think that Anne would have had something for him had they ever met:) Still, I love Gilbert so my brain won't let me imagine too far into that one.

I realized too that I do have an Edward type husband. Not only is he handsome, he is so self-sacrificing. Yes, he has his struggles but his heart is pure gold to do what is best by me and my kids. He strives well for virtue and faithful love for me. Sometimes I feel like the undeserving Bella wondering why this man loves me so much. I guess that's normal. Oddly, my husband could not be mean if he wanted to so there is no correlation there, but on the level of character and selflessness, he is totally my Edward. And as I came home at 3am and snuggled next to him I wished he was awake enough for me to tell him that. I just listened to the fan and his breathing, and wished I'd not drank so much Diet Pepsi at the theater, thinking how blessed I am to have him. Unfortunately, when he took off for work early this morning the shoe was on the other foot and I have some vague dreamlike memory of him hovering over me and saying goodbye followed by some affirmative groan out of myself.

In conclusion, I loved the movie for many reasons. They followed the book well, they put in some great humor, and they are building the story to my satisfaction. Twilight is famous for is cheesiness (high levels in the first movie...my friend and I literally laugh out loud when Edward runs up the mountain side with his "spider monkey" and it seriously looks like his legs and dangling in mid air) and there are one or two in this one too but they are getting few and far between by now (whew!). I felt especially on the topic of virtue, virginity and marriage, with our culture today they could have really fuzzed over Edward's convictions on those points but instead they make it obvious. I'm still thrilled by that.

The fact too is that any man is capable of selfishness and "wickedness" and though the norm of today may be a myriad of those who just give into every whim of that, I like that we are reminded of the truly sexy man who reigns it all in for (in reality) God (referred more to as "virtue" and "the soul" in general in the story) and the woman and children he loves.

So, go smooch your wicked warrior today. I know I will ;)

Offline for Awhile

My computer is not working right now. I am not able to blog or moderate my comments. I will let you know when I am back online.

"If God Is Good" Session 2: Accept The Diagnosis

Thank you ladies who got together with me last night to discuss Session 1+2 of the book. It was a great discussion. I'm so excited that you are reading and getting lots out of it. Thank you Tammy also for following along with us. It seems that everyone is being blessed and challenged by this book and that really excites me! I love seeing women enjoy their theological mental workouts.:)
On a side note I'd like to say something about my series of this on my blog. I know many of you come by blogs for some fun daily tid-bits and these posts are long, deep and challenging. Perhaps you've changed 15 diapers today and just put three little ones to nap only to come here and think "are you kidding me!?" This series is not going to be a mindless escape at all and for you who are looking for that, I'm sorry! I do hope to pepper in some family stuff to share soon but with the business of school ending, and the importance of the material of this book, I'm afraid this is all I've had time for right now. I'm glad it's break now and I should have time to share more on both levels. I hope.
Regarding Session 2, I'd also like to mention that I'll be kind of skipping the most interesting chapter "Evil's Entry Into The Universe" because it correlates with a blog I've been wanting to do on humility, and whether the sin originates with pride or unbelief. It's a very important post to me and It's not ready yet. It will be a wonderful rabbit trail off this reading but that chapter is an excellent spring board for it. So, look for that soon.
Section 2 Reflections: Accept The Diagnosis
So, another big disagreement I've had with God is definitely covered in this section. I don't like the fact that men are born into a sin nature they did not ask for. Having to come to grips with that in my relationship with God is not easy but it does not mean I stubbornly don't come to grips with it! It's another thing on the road to understanding evil where I have an emotional response but because of my love for my God, and my desire for His glory (which he has chosen to include this scenario) I want to bend my knee not just in submission but in total worship for this being for those purposes.
"Too many people, Christians included, view the Christian faith in bits and pieces. We should see it as a holistic worldview, a large-scale belief system based on the unfolding of redemptive history." (Alcorn)
Here are the biggies for me from this section:

• "What's right in our eyes is not synonymous with what's right". God decides what defines good and evil. How I feel about something being good or evil may be expressed but it does nothing to change the truth He has authored. "We can choose to do either good or evil, but we have no vote in establishing whether something is good or evil. Unfortunately, when evaluating the problem of evil and suffering, many Christians retreat into a man-centered worldview. Once they do this, subsequent discussion becomes almost pointless. If we accept the argument that the highest value of the universe is short-term human happiness in the form of immediate fulfillment of desires, then we cannot defend the Christian worldview, because we ourselves have departed from it. (later on...:) Since evil offends God's nature, the true test of good and evil is how God sees it. Simply serving our desired ends does not make something good; neither does causing our unhappiness make something evil."


• The more aware of sin I am the better...especially my own. "If you have not learned about sin, you cannot understand yourself, or your fellow-men, or the world you live in, or the Christian faith. And you will not be able to make head or tail of the Bible. For the Bible is an exposition of God's answer to the problem of human sin and unless you have that problem clearly before you, you will keep missing the point of what it says." (J.I. Packer) This speaks to us today in the cultural, Christian "movements" of our time. We don't want to talk about sin and human evil, we want to talk about how God loves us. But the true bright light of how God loves us is not seen fully unless the darkness of our sin is first understood to make love's brilliance known and astounding to us. "This I believe to be a fact: and I notice that the holier a man is, the more fully he is aware of that fact" (C.S Lewis regarding the topic of the horror of our own sin)


• My sin is an offence to GOD FIRST, and THEN to those I also offend by it. "We tend to minimize our sin because we fail to see it's real object. When we hurt those we love, we become aware of our sin. Their pain reflects our evil back to us like a mirror. But because we do not see God and see how our sin hurts him, we don't see either the frequency or the gravity of our offenses. We imagine our sin has no effect on him. 'Against you, you only, have I sinned' I think David is correcting in himself the tendency we all have- to limit our sorrow to the hurt we've inflicted on human beings. And when we fail to see that we have sinned against God above all- the One who has maximum worthiness- then no matter how bad we feel about what we've done to others, we will inevitably minimize our sin. Repentance without recognizing our offense against God is not repentance." These thoughts can really guide our parenting as well. What great elements to instill in our children. The problem is, we have to get it through our thick skulls first before we can pass it on, am I right?


• I AM THE BAD GUY. Randy points out that our own evil nature is the catalyst for our sin, not the sources outside us. We are the perpetrators. Not only so, but he points out that apart from Christ, we are equal with the greatest of evil men. "We'll never appreciate Christ's grace so long as we hold on to the proud illusion that we're better than we are. We flatter ourselves when we look at evil acts and say 'I would never do that'. Given our evil natures and a similar background, resources, and opportunities, we would.' (Alcorn) Seeing this awful truth should not and does not have the purpose of self bashing and pointless depression. It's purpose is more realistic recognition of the beauty of what Christ has done for us and results in a more genuine humility and repentance. How could any Christian find themselves evaluating their own righteousness better than anothers under the true realization of this fact? I don't think it's possible, and the fact that we struggle with doing so proves we don't really get our true sin nature outside of our Savior. "They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good" (Jeremiah 4:22) "Only one who is deeply aware of his evil tendencies will humbly take the necessary steps to guard his heart from sin. I've found tremendous freedom in knowing that I am a great sinner. It helps deliver me from pretending I'm better than I am. It makes me more honest before God and others, and hopefully more truly humble (as opposed to merely appearing to be humble as a prideful strategy).(Alcorn) WOW...is that not convicting!? I say bring it on God, because THAT is the character of you I want ingrained in me!

Whether I think my sin nature is unfair or not really does not matter. I may be tempted to think it matters that I don't like it, and I may be honest about the emotion I have of it seeming unfair but none of this does anything to get me where God wants me to be in response to him. For HIS glory, this is the way he has allowed the set up to be. I waste me time to bemoan this fact. "...we will not submit ourselves to the treatment if we deny our disease or bemoan it's unfairness." (Alcorn) Even worse, I continually glaze over it! I think at times I mentally say "search me oh, God and see if there be any wicked way in me....but I'm sure you won't find any." Yikes. My favorite statement from Alcorn in this Section was the following:

"Instead of bemoaning our own predicaments, how often do we look at the world, with all it's evil and suffering, and say to God, 'Forgive me for my part in the world's sin'?"

I think the key is to recognize that my enemy would love for me to fall one way or the other. He would love for me to be laden with guilt that debilitates me or denial that blinds me. Both keep me from humble submitting resulting in astounding joy that is contagious and effective for the glory of my God.

The final chapter is very interesting and addresses the issue of natural disasters. I won't cover that but it's great reading. My favorite point from there was "The synonym for natural disasters is 'an act of God'. Interestingly, beautiful weather isn't widely referred to as 'an act of God'."

....boy, ain't that the truth.

(Click the link on the upper left side bar for links to the reading schedule, and previous posts in this series)

If God Is Good Session 1: Facing the Big Threat To Christianity

What is God's biggest goal toward humanity? To glorify himself by revealing himself to us, as well as fulfill our deepest need which he has placed within us. What is that need for? Himself. Therefore, his greatest goal is to give himself to us. If this is his greatest goal, then EVERYTHING he does will work toward that goal and NOTHING can thwart it. His goal is complete good, and yet we find ourselves looking upon many things in life that we seriously cannot call "good".

"If God is all good, then he would want to prevent evil and suffering. If he is all knowing, then he would know how to prevent it. If God is all powerful, then he is able to prevent it. And yet...a great deal of evil and suffering exist. Why?" (Randy Alcorn)

First of all, I want to point out that if you ponder evil and are in a place of troubled thinking regarding it, don't be discouraged by that. It's better that you ARE pondering it and asking real questions in your heart. Randy states that the fact that the bible brings up the problem of evil, invites us to do the same. He also states that as we are made in the image of God, we are thinking, caring people "wired to ask questions and seek answers". Remember too that if we seek God using his word, he promises that we will find Him. He will reveal Himself to us, and in fact, the elements we are troubled by are the very elements he knew would stir us and his desire is that we WOULD indeed find him.

If instead, what we hope to find is a smooth path of sunshine full of temporal benefit to us, then we will be sorely disappointed. In fact, we will be in complete despair. We will be aching for someone or something to just take the pain away that we find in life, for indeed, it is there and it is real and it DOES touch each one of us. The misconception that God intends to make our lives easy here on earth will set us up to be shattered when trouble and evil cross our paths. The fact that evil is THE problem with God makes it the "trump card" so to speak for those who argue against him, the battering ram that shatters the defenses of a misguided faith, but also the ultimate obstacle to overcome in order to secure true abiding faith in God for who He really is.

Randy says some amazing things about a misguided faith regarding evil and suffering:

"When people lose their faith because of suffering, it's usually a weak or nominal faith that doesn't account for or prepare them for evil and suffering. I believe that any faith not based on the truth needs to be lost. The sooner the better. If you base your faith on lack of affliction, your faith lives on the brink of extinction and will fall apart because of a frightening diagnosis or a shattering phone call. Token faith will not survive suffering, nor should it."

So, be encouraged if you are even shaking in your faith about God and evil. God wants to show you himself and give you a faith you never dreamed of before. If you have lost it entirely, go back to the word and seek truth because truth does reveal itself.

"Losing your faith may be God's gift to you. Only when you jettison undergrounded and untrue faith can you replace it with valid faith in the true God- faith that can pass, and even find strength in, the most formidable of life's tests."

This astounded me:

"But if personal suffering gives sufficient evidence that God doesn't exist, then surely I shouldn't wait until I suffer to conclude he's a myth. If my suffering would one day justify denying God, then I should deny him now in light of other people's suffering."

WOW. Surely we should not wait for our faith to be shaken before we sort these things out! We need to be ready, and we need to help others be ready with a perspective that stands up against this biggest problem of humanity and God. Especially our children.

The WONDERFUL thing about God is that when we ask, seek and knock, we are PROMISED to find Him. "Taste and see that the Lord is Good!" Yet, if we do not taste by feasting on His word and books like this that help us get a right perspective, we will starve our faith to death.

Randy goes on to define and differentiate evil and suffering. I will not attempt to give you everything in my posts. One, because I don't want to take away from his writing, it's excellent. If you are just reading here, you are TOTALLY missing out. If you cannot read the book now, make sure to later on but soon. Secondly, he is just so thorough that I could never attempt it all, and I don't want to. He defines primary and secondary evil which really help you understand evil in general better. He covered some world view responses to evil, refuting their premise. He discusses some arguments against God and evil and gives clear to understand responses. He states that a Christian world view will always and should always do what the scripture does and that is to magnify God and never to do what popular views of evil do and that is to minimize him.

Convictingly he states:

"IF we see God only in terms of his love, mercy and compassion, we will not envision the true God, but only an idol of our own imagination- and that is precisely what we see in the airbrushed God of various modern solutions to the problem of evil."

THAT is why this book intrigued me. I wanted to know my God for WHO HE WAS and not for what I thought he should be. The problem of evil and evil being permitted by him was MY biggest obstacle for responding to Him fully. I wanted to get to the bottom of understanding that. I knew I disagreed with some of the ways I saw God was doing things in his plan for humanity but I knew that I could not attempt to understand his thoughts. In essence I knew I was saying to him "I don't agree with you, but I'm 100% sure you are right." Is that possible to do? Yes, it's through trust and belief. It sounds a little better to say "I don't understand you but I'm sure you are right" but that did not go to the extent of my emotions. There are times I really don't agree. Still, turning TO him and not AWAY from him is the solution. When we turn away, we find despair or temporary pain relievers that disappoint in the end every time until we turn to another, continually distracting us from eternal truths.

"While traveling this long road, I found something surprising: the journey was not only rewarding, but fascinating, enlightening, and at times downright enjoyable. I know it sounds counterintuitive- shouldn't it depress someone to meditate on evil and suffering? In fact, I'd already seen enough evil and suffering to feel deeply troubled. What I needed was perspective. Instead of being disheartened, I'm encouraged. Above all in this process, I've seen Jesus."

Ahh, and that brings us back around. We come full circle to the great goal of God, the revelation of himself, for the glory of himself; for the joy of his people. Therefore, my theory on evil ( I say theory because I've not read the book yet:) is that evil is permitted for the express purpose of God being revealed completely. I think like all suffering, evil brings a further understanding of God's goodness. It is the dark that makes the dawn glorious. It could not come from him so He created the option for it so that it would be taken (the option that is) and create the contrast needed to reveal to his beloved, how lovely he truly is. In a way you could say he purposed to woo his bride to himself through the one element that would show her how excellent he is, the opposite of everything he truly is. If she could see that, she could see who he was better. She could understand why he allowed this revelation and she could love him like she never would have before.

"so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." Eph 2:7

My post on Session 2 will be this weekend.

If God Is Good Schedule For Reading

I've had to remove this from my side bar because it's causing problems for me posting blogs to FB. So, here it is and there will just be a link in the side bar to it.






June 1-5 - Intro and Section 1

June 6-12- Section 2

(Meeting June 11th )

June 13-19th- Section 3

June 20-26th- Section 4

(Meeting June 25th)

June 27- July 3rd- Section 5

July 4th-10th- Section 6

(Meeting July 9th)

July 11-17th- Section 7

July 18th-24th- Section 8

(Meeting July 23rd)

July 25th- 31st- Section 9

Aug 1-7th- Section 10

(Meeting Aug 6th)

Aug 8-14th- Section 11

(Final Meeting Aug 20th)

Posts Related:

Summer Book Club Introduction

Summer Book Club Schedule

When God Paint's In Black

If God Is Good Session 1: Facing the Big Threat To...

"If God Is Good" Session 2: Accept The Diagnosis

Tackle It Tuesday: The Simple Solution Of Room Lists

As any mom knows, a couple weeks of busy family schedule and our whole house can look like a someone came in with a high powered leaf blower. The first emotional reaction we all have if we are honest, is defeat. We are overwhelmed just looking at it. So, for a day or two we may come up with errands we "need" to do that get us away from the house, or we just ignore it. Still, like a drippy faucet that somehow does not get louder but increasingly grates on your nerves, housework will eventually drive you to insanity of "dig in or die!". Once you have decided to act, there is one big question "Where do I start!!!!!". That is why I came by today.

I thought this was a good one to share real quick because it's what I'm doing this morning. It's helpful because it allows you to get the stress of the clean up off your brain and give yourself the freedom to plug away at it bit by bit. It works for delegating too because you can specify what parts the kids can do and what you need you husband to help with as well.

So, grab a notebook and at the top of each page write the name of each room in your house. Yes, include the laundry room and your garage if you have one (for me I just put "shed"). Also make a page for your yard or even different sections of your yard as in "front" and "back". Now you will make a professionals tour of your own house. Let's say you start in the kitchen. Write down EVERYTHING that needs to be done in that room. Whether it's little like "put away cereal boxes" or "repair broken cabinet", write it down. Put a small check box at the end of each item on your list. Any of these items that are the kids responsibility (such as "put away art paints", as ours are in the kitchen cabinets and have been left out by the kids on the counter) mark with a specific colored star. Make sure THEY do it. Then, check it off. Be sure also to put what needs to be done in that room to make it perfect like "sweep and mop the floor" or "dust top of cabinets". EVERYTHING. Stand there for a while and really look around. Don't just write down what you can get to today, write down all ways the room would be made perfect. If you don't have money for a repair or project, write it down anyway and use this spot to get a price figure for that job.

Do this for each area and room.

From here, decide which page to start with. Go in that room and do the items on the list. Mark them off when you are done. You may not get to all of them but you can keep coming back to the list later. Of course some are repeats daily but you get the idea.

With the kids rooms, this really helps when you have a child who says "I don't know what to do!". Remember that you feel that way too and just give them one item on the list at a time to do. For instance my sons list will look something like this:

• Put all dirty clothes in the hamper


• Put all clean clothes in drawers


• Hang up clean hang up clothes


• gather all papers in a stack


• Throw away trash papers


• Put away keep papers in drawers


• Pick up all pencils and crayons and put in cubbie


• Pick up all rocks and take back outside


• Pick up all suerhero toys and put in box


• Pick up all legos and put in lego compartment


• Clean off dresser top


• Clean off desk top


• Put away all books


• Place stuffed animals on bed


• Put away shoes


• Hang backpack
• Dust Furniture
• Mommy vacuum

That gives you an idea. The child is much less frustrated when they can check things off a list. Plus, they can go away from it and come back seeing exactly what is left to do. You will feel the same way about your housework.

Outside, you can do the same.

• Sweep deck


• Wash patio furniture off


• Pull weeds in side yard


• Mow grass


• Weed eat fence line


• Pick up trash and throw away


• Fix broken stairs


• Replace broken railing


• Sand deck


• Repaint


• Build deck covering


• Put up two hanging plants


• Install privacy shade

Notice that I've put things at the end of the list that I don't have money to do all at once but I can write them down and get prices for them till we can do them.

Anyway, you get the idea. If it helps use it, if not, move on:).

If God Is Good Book Club

I really have to apologize to you who are reading with me! I've just not been able to get the first blog post done for Session 1. Believe me, I've tried. I've even written most of a post but cannot seem to settle on what to share about the first session because it's all...well...SO GOOD! I feel like sharing anything here would not do justice to the content AT ALL.

I do however want to try to narrow down some thoughts on it and I really do hope to do that soon. Our kids are on their last week of school so there are lots of events this week. Last week I was up there helping with testing and such as well. I know that my free time will open up more for writing and thinking when the kids are off and we are in on hot afternoons to stay cool.

Thank you for being patient.

For those of you who are doing the book club with me either in person or just on the blog, I was wondering if you had any thoughts to share or questions so far (not that I can answer them all, but I'd love to have some to ponder or respond to if I can). Or just tell me what you are really appreciating about the book so far. What is really speaking to you?

Hopefully Session 1's reflections will pop up here soon......oh, where is my magic wand? I know I had it here somewhere......

Just a reminder, the reading plan is on the left side bar. There are links there for any blog post regarding this book club.