Give Peace A Chance

Some things in this lifetime are achieved by facing what may come with peace, love, and understanding. I get that war is certainly a human event, we’ve been waging one war or another since the beginning.

War against one’s self,

War against one’s friends and family,

War against one’s sisters and brothers,

War against the undefined fear and the desire to resolve it,

War against whomever our so-called leaders deem the enemy du jour…

I get it even though I am a civilian, but I also get that war, like violence in and of itself, doesn’t resolve anything. If anything, it keeps an ongoing cycle of violence in circulation.

As Martin Luther King Jr. said; “Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that” so I say as a Conscientious Objector and Pacifist and a Follower of Christ that war and violence cannot drive out war and violence, only peace and love and understanding can do that!

My beloveds, Soldiers, and anyone who reads this please give weight and energy into waging peace. Make your world and the world at large a better place. Become a “White Flag Warrior” today.

Stand down, be as you were. You weren’t always involved in the tactics of empire than only causes death and destruction, you can still change and aim for peace.

Give peace a chance, the course of humanity and the world can shift and become better as a whole.

Much love from the source of love, Nathanael the mystic Exvangelical.

My 2 cents about the Asbury Revival

Asbury Revival

It is very easy for me to be skeptical as an individual but also as an Exvangelical. I’ve seen this occur in my time; at the drop of a hat, everyone (except myself) at a Charismatic church in the Chicagoland area started “speaking in tongues”, everyone. I was doubtful and skeptical at this occurrence of glossolalia.

But when it comes to what’s occurring at Asbury my 2 cents are as follows.

I’m curious as to what the longer term affects of this. I would hate for this to be another “missions trip high upon coming back” vibe, but I’ll suspend my disbelief and simply wait and see.

So there ya go, simple enough for the time BEing.

Much love to you all from the source of love, Nathanael the Exvangelical

I am me (part 1); a preface, a parable

The kingdom of God is like…

A vegetarian is invited to a barbeque cookout and attends. The vegetarian knows full well that he’s going to be hungry so he brings himself food that he eats and has a good time.

The non-vegetarians observe this and ask; “what’s with the Boca Burgers? Don’t you want a REAL hamburger?” The vegetarian smiles and says, “no thanks, this is what I eat, this is what I need in my life. It wasn’t always so, but I’ve changed. Feel free to eat one in my honor if you so choose, but that isn’t me any longer.” The non-vegetarians smile and say; “suit yourself, enjoy your Boca Burgers!” And all is well between the vegetarian and the non-vegetarians, because it’s about the fellowship and sharing of life, not the food being ingested by all parties…

Thanks be to God!

Hello again! I’m “back” to writing here on WordPress, a lot of things in life has changed and I feel the impetus to write on here again. This preface, this parable is but a veiled idea behind other ideas behind what’s going on in my life as of late. So buckle up, things are about to get interesting!

~Nathanael

Spiral Dynamics Blues (and Yellow and Green and Orange and Red and Purple and Beige)

I don’t buy into Spiral Dynamics completely, but it has helped me see the world in a different way, a way that makes sense as to how people think, act, and interact with one another…

With that being said, here goes something.

***

I am on eHarmony, I mentioned this in my previous post, and things are going swimmingly with connecting with women, finding out about them and their interests and their passions, but then I propose my 3 questions in the dig deeper portion of the guided conversation set up by eHarmony.
I will be gracious in this, I am coming in contact with a lot of women who haven’t given much thought to my questions in an abstract way. Sure some responses I have received pertaining to the LGBTQ Community and God, Heaven, The Devil, Hell are very concrete in nature, but I have grace for them because I once was there as well.

It’s not that my life’s journey is somehow or somewhere better than theirs, I’m just coming from a looking back in hindsight perspective.

Still, I carry on. My roommate thinks I rush into these questions too quickly, that I should ease up a bit before going for the jugular heart of the matter. Maybe I do ask these questions too soon, but frankly I would rather know the answers to these questions, whether in concrete terms or even abstract ones, now then cultivate a possible relationship with someone only to ask these questions at a later time to only, well let’s be frank, cause a rift in our relationship.
I rather take my chances and put my cards face up on the table.

This hasn’t been too hard or too easy, I still feel like I’m baring my soul when I ask these questions to the women I engage with on eHarmony every single time, and I have to sit beside myself after I put myself out there because I don’t like feeling vulnerable; whether that’s something I do to myself or being put in a position of vulnerability.

But life and its wonders and its magical moments, I’m making headway! I know that when it comes to my questions I am not alone, and yet (and this is where the Spiral Dynamics part kicks in) I feel so alone sometimes / a lot of the time because of these things that are of utmost importance to me. I might seem very black and white about these issues, but I think know I want to connect with someone, someone I can evolve with and love, and having someone who’s more of the green yellow turquoise variant will make things easier for us as individuals as well as a couple.

***

Yet I realize there are issues that arise from Spiral Dynamics, it’s formulaic and life doesn’t always go by the rules, this categorizes people, creates/fosters paradigms of people…but still, there is something to how people attract similar minded and hearted people, and I realize in my life that there are people I gravitate to and people who gravitate to me simply because of our commonalities.

Which is why I still press on, why I still ask questions that make or break, still waiver a bit before hitting send but I hit it anyway. I want to believe it will pay off, whether here in eHarmonyland or offline!

Onward and upward,
Nathanael