Ok ok so yes I'm updating this thing for the second time today. Sssh. I had a late start this morning and so had spare time to kill. Heh. That won't happen once assignments kick in, which they're beginning to.

 

Anyway, so Heidi was having a whinge on her space about how busy her weeks are. I don't think mine are as busy as hers, but I thought I may as well figure things out like she has anyway, just for the heck of it.

 

168 hours in a week. Like Heidi, my Sundays are generally pretty unproductive, so get rid of that. 144 hours. Take off 7 hours a night of sleeping, I have 102 hours.(not including Sundays).  (I'm lucky to get 7 hours sometimes.) Take off 2 hours a day of eating (not including Sundays), that leaves 90 hours. I have 13 contact hours at uni, that leaves me with 77 hours. I spend about 9 hours a week on CU/Church biblestudy stuff too. 68 hours. Take off half hour piano lesson with Elisabeth, 67.5 hours. Take off 4 hours for Adventure Club each Fri night, 63.5 hours. I have 1.5 hours of Speech on Mon nites, every two weeks. So, going on a "full" (incl. Speech) week for me, that leaves 62 hours for everything else. Which is quite a bit more than Heidi, yes (I don't work 15 hours a week.. if I did, I'd be equal with her). But my "everything else" includes quality time with Andre, prep for Adventure Club, assignments, study, socialising, housework, 'me' time (which, like Heidi, is generally socialising time or internet), and keeping an 'eye' on my 'mentees' and the CU Humanities/Law Faculty.

 

So that is my week. Not too bad. And now I have to go... to do housework!! Have a good week everyone...

 

*Correction*

"ooh. I forgot about one on ones. whoops. less time for me lol. hmmm... i'm one hour bible talk, one hour bible study, 3x one on ones, (w/ Kara, w/Tori, w/a first year) 1.5 hour Meaty bites, 0.5 hour faculty group leaders meeting, 2 hour bbq, plus 2.5 hour church bible study. So instead of 9 hours, it's... 11.5. Hehe whoops..." <comment I left on Heidi's space>

 

2.5 less hours for me...

Hrm. Anthony Venn-Brown is taking a long time to reply to my email. Oh well. I can wait.

 

In other news... I have updated my website. "What website?" I hear most of you ask. The website I used to use before MSN Spaces came along, which I had seriously neglected since about August last year. But Kara revamped hers, and that inspired me to do the same with mine. It will probably last a month. And then I will get sidetracked with deviantART, uni, MSN (messenger & Spaces), Adventure Club, social life... etc. Again. So if you feel bored or would just like to check it out, it's www.freewebs.com/lilabearsworld/ Don't bother going to the "What I've Been Up to" link... it will just bring you back here. I wasn't about to start another online journally thing when I already have this blog.

 

Grrr. Uni is crap. They went and rearranged THREE tutes and pracs. THREE!!! Which means I don't have Fridays free anymore, I now have 2 tutes on it. And I dont' have Thursday arvo free, coz I have a prac there. But that leaves Thurs morning free. Hmm. But I'm so unproductive in the morning. Meh. But that means I start uni later on Tuesdays... but that's also kinda crap coz i'm so unproductive in the mornings!! I will have to start timetabling in definite study/ Adventure Club prep/ CU Faculty prep periods in my free times. Esp the mornings. (Faculty prep = I'm a faculty leader in CU [Christian Union] for the Humanities/Law faculty.)

 

Oh well. Now I need to get ready to go to uni. Have fun children, make your beds, be nice to your parents and don't swim in piranha infested waters. (-Mr Carmen)

Ok, this is a veeeery looooong entry.

 

For those who read/commented on/were interested in my entry concerning homosexuality in the church, featuring Anthony Venn-Brown, you'll be interested to hear that Mr Venn-Brown himself found my blog and commented on it. Feel free to go read the comments. I was actually quite excited to discover this... never dreamed I'd attract the attention of Anthony Venn-Brown himself ;) :P

 

I have now written an email in reply to him, and thought I'd post it here for interest's sake. Warning: As I said, it's long.

 

NB: There are a few phrasing alterations from the original email.

---------------

 

Hi Anthony

In case you don't remember, I'm Leah, the one whose blog you left two comments on recently.

Firstly, before I say anything; I was just wondering, how did you find my MSN Space? (ie. not what did you think of it, but quite literally, HOW did you find it).

I know you asked those specific 5 questions; I do not know the answer to all of them, (the ones I do know the answer to, I will address towards the end of this email), however I believe I have a reasonable understanding of the necessary parts of the bible, and I would like you to be reasonable and read and take into consideration my email before dismissing it simply because I don't know the answer to all 5 questions.

The intent of this reply is simply to give my beliefs and replies in relation to your comments left on my blog, and to outline my beliefs on homosexuality, as I did not publish them on my blog. 

 I'll start with the replies in relation to your comments, but before I do, I'd like to say the prospect of engaging in discussion with you is much nicer given your diplomatic comments. I don't mean to say I expected you to be nasty by any means; I simply never dreamed I would attract the attention of Anthony Venn-Brown himself.

Ok. Firstly, in response to this comment...
 "Please before you are quick to make judgements as Peter and Jenny have you need to be more informed. I asked Peter Stokes (Saltshakers) to begin a respectful dialogue with me. He didn’t respond."
I don't consider myself quick to make judgments. I did not make my judgment simply based on Jenny's article, but I have established it based on what I have read in the bible. I was of this opinion (Which I didn't really express on my blog) before I ever read this article. I hold Peter and Jenny Stokes in high esteem though, as I have never found their opinions to be unbiblical.

"... because I really believed my choice was to be heterosexual and Christian or be gay and go to hell. "
Let me say, I do not believe that all gays will go to hell. I believe I'll see you in heaven. I do believe homosexuality is a sin; however, it is not our actions that dictate whether we'll go to hell or heaven. It is Christ's sacrifice which dictates that. You have placed your trust in that sacrifice, and that is all that's required to go to heaven. Lying is a sin too; however, just because we lie, does not mean we will go to hell! So, while I agree that Christians can have homosexual tendencies and still go to heaven, it does not mean I believe it is right.

"(don’t even think of telling me I didn’t try hard enough or I just gave in you……….that would demonstrate you  have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about)"
I'm not going to say anything like that, as I don't know what it is like, however I found it slightly offensive that you immediately assumed I was going to make ignorant comments like that. I'm not sure I want to know what you meant by "you........"

"It seems that I’m not going to hell after all and that I’ve been given a very important work to do." As I said previously... I do not believe you are going to hell.

"In one Pentecostal church in Melbourne three young men suicided in the space of two years, because the ministry didn’t know how to help these young men."
I agree, this is unacceptable. The church should have accepted these young men, even if it didn't accept their homosexual actions. It is wrong to reject people simply because they sin; otherwise, no-one would be accepted into the church. While I still stand by my opinion of not accepting homosexuality, we should still accept homosexuals.

"There are now Pentecostal churches which are inclusive of gay men and lesbians"
I am curious as to what you mean by "inclusive of". If it means that gays and lesbians are included in the church, that's great. However, if it means the church has accepted their homosexual lifestyle as OK, that's not great. Please don't get mad at me on this (and similar) comments... I'll back it up and talk more about it later. Currently I am simply looking at your specific comments.

"I’ve been contacted by AOG church members who have changed their understanding, some attend your churches."
For me to make a judgement on this, I would have to know what entailed these AOG church members "changing their understanding". I am also interested in what you mean when you say "some attend your churches". I for one am not part of the AOG church.

"Gay and Lesbian people are the Gentiles of the 21st century."
What, in the bible, backs up this statement? Gays and lesbians live by a lifestyle contrary to what pleases God. And, I understand, many Gentiles did too- however, they were still able to be saved, and when they were, they changed their lifestyle to one that pleased God. So if Gays and Lesbians are like the Gentiles, then surely they would change to what pleases God? I'm not trying to say homosexuals need to change when they become saved (while I do believe that, it isn't the point of this paragraph)- I'm simply pointing out, you can't validly say that gays and lesbians are the Gentiles of the 21st century, that is simply an opinion, and there is nothing biblical to back it up.

"There is a group of people who read the same bible you do, have been saved by the same Jesus, speak in tongues by the same Holy Spirit but many Christians say they are excluded from the kingdom of God."
And Christians SHOULDN"T say they are excluded from the kingdom of God. For they are included. They are doing something which displeases God, yes, but we all do that. We all sin.

"I hope you will say like James ‘we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles [Venn-Brown implies 'homosexuals' with the term "Gentiles"] who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them and say we welcome them into the fellowship of Gods people, telling them to abstain from sexual immortality.’"
Yes, I agree with that. We should not make it difficult for (what you are talking about) homosexuals to turn to God; we should welcome them; and we should tell them to abstain from sexual immorality-- which includes homosexuality, as I'll explain later.

"I trust that you will show love, compassion and embrace all Gods’ children. The only thing that will stop you from doing that will be your own prejudices and judgements. Those prejudices and judgements will be based on limited information."
Again, you seem to be immediately assuming I am prejudiced and have based my opinions on limited information, which I find slightly insulting. I didn't even explicitly publish my opinions, so how can you say how I've formed them? I will always strive to show love and compassion to all God's children, and I know that includes homosexuals. I will always accept a homosexual (I have a homosexual friend) even if I don't accept their sin.
Also, you said the only thing to stop me doing that will be my own prejudices and judgements. I strive to make my judgements always based on what the bible says.

"what is the Hebrew word for homosexual" I have no idea. However, the New Testament was originally written in Greek anyway.
"What year did the word homosexual first appear in the bible?" Again, i don't know. I would assume it appeared once the word "homosexual" was invented. Prior to that, it probably said phrases such as "men lying with men" or something along those lines- which actually appears in the Old Testament, even these days. Does it matter when the word first appeared? What matters is that the concept was discussed by the writers of the bible, even if they didn't use the exact word we use for it.
"When did the word homosexual first appear in the English language?" Again, I don't know. Can I ask, why does it matter?
"Where did Paul write the letter to the Romans?" In Greece, from what I know.
" What was the temple and over that city and what were the ritualistic practices performed in the temple?" I can't remember the name of the temple- I think it was to the Goddess of love?- and I know, many immoral sexual acts were practiced there. I don't see what this has to do with God's opinion of homosexuality though.

Well those were my repsonses to your comments; now I will express my actual opinion (because while it is very similar, if not the same as Jenny Stokes', I didn't actually publish it in my blog) and I will show you why I believe this (ie. I will give bible references).

MY BELIEF: As I have said throughout the email, and as I implied in my blog entry, I believe homosexuality is wrong. However, I also believe that homosexuals can still be saved by Christ and go to heaven. It is not our actions that dictate our salvation; if it were, then no-one would ever go to heaven as we all sin. So yes; a homosexual can be a Christian, and should be accepted by other Christians too, because essentially, they are no different from us; we are both Christians who are sinners, as all Christians are.
However, once someone is saved, they should strive to live a lifestyle pleasing to God. We are instructed in the bible to live lives to glorify God; unrepentantly committing acts that displease God is not glorifying him. While this does not dictate whether they go to heaven or not, it is simply out of love, respect, and devotion that we should try to please God. And he makes it quite clear that homosexuality does not please him.

WHY I BELIEVE THAT:
"I believe that homosexuality is wrong... [God] makes it quite clear that homosexuality does not please him."
       Leviticus 20:13 "'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."
       Now, I know that you may argue this is void, as we shouldn't kill homosexual offenders, so why should the first part of the statement be considered valid? The only reason that homosexual offenders (and any other sinners) are not to be killed is because Jesus has already made the sacrifice; he has already died instead of said sinner. The 'crime' or sin still remains just that- a sin- it's just that the punishment is not necessary anymore as Christ has taken the punishment for us.
       Romans 1:26-27 "26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."

---

<Here I had a few paragraphs about parts of my beliefs which I imagine to be the same as Venn-Brown's. I included them in the email simply to illustrate to him that I have based my beliefs on the bible, not on "limited information".>

 

---

I would also like to say (and I am not making this a personal statement about you, though I do believe it of you) that it is possible to quit homosexual ways. I don't know whether you claim this to be true or false, but it is possible; Salt Shakers has featured articles and letters from ex-homosexuals.

I hope I haven't offended you in any way in this email; that was not my intention. It was simply my intention to tell you what I believe in relation to what you said on my blog, and to outline my beliefs about homosexuality and why I believe those particular beliefs.

God bless,

Leah.

---------------

That was it :P took me forever, but I got there.

YAY it was my 18th party last night... FINALLY!! THANKYOU everyone who came! I had a great time. If I can remember, this is everyone who came... Jessie, Jacinta, Andre, Jako, Johann, Heidi, Joel, Caitlin, Talia, Benn, James, the Nicksons, the Burys (except Em), Mr and Mrs Mills, the Allens (except Dave), the Campbells, my grandparents, Uncles David and Bryan, Janel and Tony came later, Uncle Geoffrey and Aunty Loraine. 38, plus 6 ppl in my family, which makes 44 people. Lots of fun.

 

It was held in the backyard and under the house, with people playing pool, chatting, eating, fairy lights up, party lights up, a tarp in the backyard with the food tables under it, music playing... yup, we had a good night. Ohhh, and the 18th Kite tradition! Jessie brought her kite, which is always flown at our 18ths. It was flown at Emily's, Ben's, Jessie's, and now mine. Yay. We always have to run up and down the street with it coz there's never any wind, but it's a great kite for doing that so it worked fine.

 

Anyways, I had the greatest cake. It was chocolate, double layer, with red flowers on top and an 18 candle. YUMMM. And we had heaps of yummy food, and I got heaps of lovely presents, THANKYOU EVERYONE :) Photo frames and jewellry boxes and chocolate and books and toiletries stuff and movie vouchers... wheeee :D

 

If Emily ever reads this: THANKYOU SO MUCH for the ring, it's beautiful and I love it so much Em. It means so much to me :)

 

So thanks everyone for coming, hope you had a great time, coz I did :) LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Wheeeee... haha man I am so spoilt. Yesterday was Valentine's Day and I got soooo spoilt

 

Firstly Andre rocked up on my doorstep with this beeeeautiful boxed floral arrangement of 9 roses (for 9 months we've been going out) AND a box of Darrell Lea chocolates and a chocolate heart. Then once mum and the kids got home we headed off for some mystery destination (he wouldn't tell me) and we ended up on a sunset cruise on Ross Dam with a buffet dinner. It was soooooo beautiful, we saw swans and turtles and kangaroos and hawks on and around the dam during the cruise, then we moored at a buoy in the middle of the dam to have dinner.

 

Andre and I ended up at a table with a guy called Joel and his girlfriend Jess (from Twin Cities AOG) and the guitarist from Essta (can't remember his name ) and his wife Stacey. It was pitch black out on the dam (well, it seemed that from the lit environment of our boat) and then we saw the moon rise, and turned off all the lights on the boat to watch it. It was so beautiful and i couldn't take photos coz Michelle had killed all the batteries in the camera!!!

 

Then we got home at about quarter to 9 and grabbed pillows and a blanket and went and lay on the trampoline talking and looking at the stars for ages. And THEN we got stuck into the chocolates (both the ones I'd given Andre and he'd given me).

 

So yah... I had an excellent day (love you Andre :D) and was very spoilt. Hehehehe. What did everyone else get up to (if anything) for V-Day?

YAY!! Tom had a BBQ at his place tonight, and the whole group made it at some stage, plus we went and saw Kate in hospital- so the whole J Block group was together once more! Except for Sarani... who is in Perth... :(.. and there were others too :)

 

So there was me, James, Marnie, Matt, Kara, Ricky, Scott, John, Tom, Makula, Gay, Jaime, David, Daniel came for a while, Wade, Katherine and of course Kate when we went and saw her. We were gonna surprise her with this huge bunch of ppl but one of the nurses went in and said "You have like 20 people coming to see you" when there were only 11 of us at the time, silly nurse, can't count. We spent almost 2 hours there... 

 

"If you close the door Herman will explode." 

 

Herman was this random hospital room thing which had an explosion warning on it. And Kara gave Kate the most cutest card ever with Neo and Trinity and the twins hugging Kate and Morpheus looking like a prune sulking in the corner. It was great.

 

And then when we were walking back to Tom's, Marnie, James, Scott and I were up way ahead of the group... and I just heard James say "... and the physics students are doing physics..." and I was like "no kidding" just coz it was one of those blatantly obvious things, though i'm sure it had a reason. Anyway, Scott, beign Scott, said "if we wanted your input Leah, we'd ask you."

Anyway, after me going off at him, James ended up saying "you and your words.. silly reporter" (being silly) and I was like "i'm not a reporter, nyah" :P So then he shot back "well, you're going to be one, nyah :P" and i shot right back "no i'm not, nyah :P" and scott had to have his input, saying "well you're just a stupid journalist" or something random along those lines. So I jsut said "If i wanted your input Scott, I'd ask for it."

 

James thought this was great and said "I think you might have asked for that one, Scott." And I burst out laughing "MIGHT HAVE?" and James said "Ok, so that was the diplomatic way of saying 'you got your arse kicked'." Which of course I thought was great.

 

And then we got into this stupid discussion about the diplomatic way of saying things vs. the technical way... and they were being stupid trying to push each other into cars or trees or something random. So I said "Technically, you two are stupid." And James said "Thats not technical, that's a fact." So I laughed at him... and apparently if he gets so depressed he kills himself, it's my fault. That's what he said at any rate.

 

So that was my random night. Oh, and Matt brought me home after going back to his place to check out the new house... very cool... except the dodgy construction... but hey :P

 

And then I ended up getting home earlier than the rest of my family did, which I found slightly amusing. :P I was coming home that early to get a relatively early nite... HA. *points at the time this was posted*

 

Oh and then I ended up having a great discussion with a girl I haven't seen in years so that was great. *waves at Sarah*... HI SARAH!!! :D

 

And now... I'm going to bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Similar things are happening across the world.

 

 

 

 

Just some food for thought.  Something seriously needs to be done here... the Mt Louisa Uniting Church underwent a pretty big split over this same thing happening in the Uniting Church... Eesh, just looks like one church after the other, doesn't it?... What is happening to this world... argh it's all politics. Go away you stupid politicians *shakes fist*

Last night was the last SCUM (Summer Christian Union Meeting) of the summer. Awwww. But we had lots of fun. I took a birthday cake for Andre coz it was his birthday on Monday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDRE!!!

 

Andre also gave his talk from Luke that he did on NTE (it was really really good, I was impressed.) Then we split into small groups to have a look at a part of Phillipians. Our group got to the part that says

 

"25But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. 26For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. 27Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. 28Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety."

 

And someone was like "reduce his (Paul's) anxiety? So this implies that Paul sending Epaphroditus away makes him less anxious... why's that??" And I said "Well it's like how the church was worried about Paul being in prison; they were also worried about how Epaphroditus was sick. And because they were worried, Paul worried about them. So he was sending Epaphroditus back so that the church could see he was OK, and then Paul wouldn't have to worry about them anymore."

And Tori said "So Paul was distressed because they were distressed because Epaphroditus was sick?" to which Beebs says "Geez, they sound like a bunch of girls!!" *mimics ditzy girly girls, waving hands round* "'I was like, and they were like, and it was like...'" We didn't stop laughing for about 5 minutes.

 

Later we played Shaboo (A cross between Taboo and Charades) which was lots of fun too... and the time kinda got away from us, and we suddenly realised, whoops, it's 11 o'clock. And then Tori asked some of the guys to help her move a big heavy cupboard, and they got it stuck in the hallway... :D But they rescued it.

 

So it was a very entertaining night. I mean, when is SCUM ever NOT entertaining?? Can't wait for the winter holidays and SCCUM (Slightly Cooler Christian Union Meetings).