Persecution Complex

I see the word "persecution" thrown around quite a lot on Christian blogs these days.  People write something controversial- they are vilified all over the place on the internet- and then they cry persecution.  

I confess: This drives me more than a little bonkers.  Every day, I read stories of people who faced physical and psychological torture and death, who had body parts ripped off, who faced being torn to shreds by wild animals, who saw their children murdered in front of them- all so they would deny the Truth Faith and renounce Jesus Christ.  I thought I'd put up a few short stories of some great women who suffered and died because they were Christians and because they refused to back down.  Hopefully, learning about a bit about their stories will offer a little perspective to this new "persecuted" crop of Christians. 

St. Sophia and her daughters Faith, Hope, and Love : St. Sophia witnessed the brutal torture and murder of her daughters because she would not renounce her faith in Christ.  Her daughters endured this torture, but also refused to renounce their faith.

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity : Both these mothers were brought into the Roman arena to be dismembered by wild animals.  When that attempt failed, they were both impaled by the sword.

St. Paraskevi : She was imprisoned, tortured (including being boiled in oil) and STILL managed to forgive and even heal her captors.

St. Christina, the Great Martyr of Tyre : St. Christina had her breasts and tongue cut off before being impaled.

St. Maria Skobstova : She hid Jews during WWII in Paris.  St. Maria was finally arrested and sent to a concentration camp where she volunteered to take the place of a Jew in the gas chamber.

St. Julitta : Hid with her son from those who were arresting Christians.  After finally being arrested, she was tortured in front of her son.  Her son cried out for her but would not be persuaded to renounce Christ.  He was murdered in front of her and she was beheaded.

St. Katherine : Faced torture over an iron wheel before being executed.  Hers is one of the most extraordinary stories I've ever encountered and goes so beyond the one line I've recorded here.  

St. Markella : Secretly became a Christian and spent years nursing her sick father.  He recovered and somehow developed a sexual interest in his daughter.  Eventually, he tried to rape her.  She fled and became greatly injured while trying to escape him.  He caught up with her and dismembered her limb by limb.

For these people, facing persecution was a way of life.  They lived with the constant threat of imprisonment, torture and death hanging over their heads.  I've listed people here who were martyred for their faith, but there have been millions of others who have lived with no right to safely practice their faith, who lived in constant fear of being discovered.  I think about the Romanian Christians sent to Pitesti to undergo "re-education", which mean enduring months and years of psychological and physical torture all because they would not forsake their faith.  Let's not even mention the tens of millions of Christians who were killed under Communism!  Forget about what it was like for Christians to live under Muslim rule in Turkey for hundreds of years...  

Believe it or not, keeping a blog on the internet, participating on Facebook, interacting with people on message boards and comment threads- all of that is voluntary.  If we put ourselves out there by writing controversial stuff, Christian or not, we should expect disagreement- we should expect to be vilified.  That comes with the territory.  But if we write about that stuff, we also need to have a mighty thick skin and a little more perspective on what it actually means to be persecuted.  

We become stronger when we remember their lives and the stand they took for the Faith because we can see how small our lives and our problems are compared to what they faced.  We draw strength from them- if they could faith torture and death without renouncing Christ, certainly we can endure an internet smack-down.  

Gossip, snark boards, nasty emails, even baseless threats- can those really be called persecution?  Really?  I'm inclined to say "no."

Movin' On Up

So, over this past weekend, we moved from our cute little one bedroom + den house to a three bedroom + bonus room house.  I've pretty much been MIA for a week now.

I have some thoughts but they are all in a jumble right now.  I have ADD, so the kind of change that moving house brings makes the adjustment more difficult.

Don't get me wrong- I LOVE the new house.  This is by far the nice place I've ever lived since getting married 11 years ago.  And I've moved 10 times within that time.  There is something so fundamentally awesome about having enough room to put your crap so that an uncluttered house might just be possible.  Some people might find putting their stuff away to be an invigorating exercise.  Sometimes I do... but more often then not, I feel overwhelmed and want to drive up to my Borders and have a latte.

I need to put down roots here, but the only way I can think of to do that is to go shopping... and I don't want to do that.  The house is lovely but the area isn't so great.  Whatever.  I don't really care too much about that as long as we're safe... and we are.

I know I've missed some important stuff over this past week... Tabitha, I'm thinking of you and praying for Karl and your whole family.  Mrs. B, congratulations!  MuseMama, so glad Children's is gonna be awesome... well, as awesome as it can be.

I promise to re-enter life soon.  Just need to finish spinning my cocoon first...

MMMMIIISSSTTTTAAAAKKKKEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

Where can I get me one of these?

MuseMama, you tried to tell me... Can you please appear behind me whenever I go to do something stupid and sing in my ear?

Loving the Unbeliever: The Page

There's a "most popular girl in school" contest going at Circle of Moms.  Various Mommy-Faith bloggers entered their blogs for the Top 25 Faith blogs contest and readers have the chance to vote once every 24 hours for their favorite blogs.


This all would have remained a quiet little contest had one Christian blogger not pulled herself from the contest in order to protest the presence of pagan blogs.  Apparently she didn't have a problem with the Jewish, Muslim, and Roman Catholic presence in the contest- just the pagan.  And then, she blogged about it and named a few pagan blogs by name.  She didn't want to be in a contest alongside "those women".


And then, she blogged about it.  The reaction she received, at least from what I've seen, has not been positive.


This situation got me to thinking about a blog post I wrote a few months ago called "Loving the Unbeliever."  The gist of the post goes like this:

 All too often, we Christians are characterized by what we stand against.  We expect others to hold to our religious and moral standards and when they don't, we gossip about them or we boycott their businesses or introduce legislation to trample their rights.  THAT IS NOT CHRISTIANITY.  That is not Jesus Christ....

I know of people who are leaving the Faith, in part, because of the way American Christians are living out their lives in battle against those with whom they disagree.  They are known by what they stand against rather than what they are for.  Again, let me say, those people do not represent Jesus Christ any more then the 9/11 hijackers represent Islam.  May the world know that we are Christians by the love we show to one another, even those who appear to be our enemies.  Loving people does not mean we have to agree with everything they stand for.  But it does mean extending KINDNESS, assistance when needed, mercy, friendship, and a constant recognition of my own faults and not my neighbors'.  My sins are great enough!  

For what its worth, I think its great that different faiths are represented in this contest.  And I don't believe that my thinking this way means that I am in any way compromising the truth of Christianity.  People are free to disagree with me and I'm fine with that.


Do me a favor- take a second to read the page up above called "Loving the Unbeliever."  I think the message is important and since most of the words don't come from me, I feel pretty confident about sharing them.

Loving the Unbeliever 

ETA: The "Most Popular Girl" line above is in reference to that Brady Bunch episode where Jan and Marcia are competing for the title at their high school.  Its supposed to be tongue-in-cheek and not meant to mock the contest or anyone involved with it.  :-)

The Thousand Mile Journey Begins With One Step...

I've been all over the planet when it comes to food.  I have a love-hate relationship with the stuff.  I really hate carbs but I really love fruit.  I see my relationship with food as a journey that started many years ago.  It began with one step...

One afternoon, when I was 13 years old, I saw this episode of Degrassi Jr. High:

Even though this episode is more about journalistic integrity then it is about animal rights, something struck a chord with me.  I wrote letters to PETA and ASPCA asking for information on cruelty to animals and received tons of information in return.  Although I didn't wear a lot of makeup at 13 years old, I determined never to wear anything tested on animals... a conviction I still hold to this day.

A few years later, I decided to embrace vegetarianism.  I could not imagine killing animals for food.  I used to picture it in my head... the slaughterhouses, the hatcheries... I even visited a turkey farm once and I still can't eat turkey to this day.  The idea of eating meat was disgusting to me.  Flesh, fat, blood... (I'd better stop writing all the nasty stuff now or I'll go back to my veggie ways!).

Being a vegetarian presented a number of challenges throughout the years.  I went to Bible school in England for six months when I was 19.  The school was actually situated on a farm, so the food mainly consisted of meat at least twice a day.  Obviously, I didn't partake of that so oftentimes I was left eating mashed potatoes topped with Taco Bell hot sauce when chili con carne was served or just French fries on Fish 'n Chips Fridays rolled around.  I survived on bread and cheese that I used to hang out my bedroom window because it was cold enough outside to keep the cheese from going bad.  How I managed to gain weight while at Capernwray I'll never know.  Hefty bowls of crumble and custard probably didn't help.

No one else in my family was vegetarian, so I got used to eating sides.  My Thanksgiving meal consisted of mashed potatoes, stuffing and creamed corn- my plate colored with yellow, white and brown.  The food was and is always delicious.  I'd constantly pick pepperoni off of pizzas or try to eat around meat when it was in something I couldn't avoid eating.  Heck, I married the son of a butcher!  Meat is a big thing in Mark's family. He put up with my inability to cook good meat for a long time.

A few years ago, I started making the shift from vegetarianism into raw veganism.  Raw vegans eat only uncooked fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.  People on this diet look healthy, lean and vibrant.  Whether or not they actually are healthy is another story for another time.  I tried to incorporate as much raw into my life as possible.  I bought all the appliances- a BlendTec, an Exaclibur dehydrator, a juicer... I concocted tons of delicious and some not-so-delicious raw foods and I lost weight.  Unfortunately, as many raw vegans find, this lifestyle is difficult to maintain because you are hungry all. the. time.  Even when you eat a ton, all you are eating is carbs and if you oxidize carbs like I do, you burn through them like a baby burns through breastmilk- incredibly fast.  I initially lost weight on this diet but ended up gaining it back when I started eating cooked again.

Enter veganism.  I read T. Colin Campbell's book The China Study and became totally convinced that eschewing dairy as well as meat and eggs from my diet was the way to go.  Casein causes liver cancer dontcha know... It seemed like the perfect middle ground between vegetarianism and raw veganism.  I started listening to tons of vegan propaganda.  I said things like "I don't eat animals or their bodily secretions."  I didn't impose my veganism on anyone, but I felt very judgmental toward those who continue to eat animals.  I bought the Earth Balance, Garlic Aioli and Grain-based "meats."  I tried meat substitutes like soy and seitan.  And I ate a lot of rice, pasta, bread and potatoes.

I joined Weight Watchers but their calorie-restricted, low fat approach proved to be a total failure for me.  I know it works for others and that is wonderful.  But it didn't work for me because calorie-restricted, low-fat diets don't work for some people.
I got fatter and fatter...

How is this possible?  I'm a vegan for crying out loud!  I am supposed to be one of the healthiest people on the planet and yet I'm ballooning up!  I don't drink soda and I don't eat animals or their secretions!  Why am I fat?  Why does my liver hurt?  Why am I pre-diabetic?  I have no energy and a headache almost everyday.

Blah blah blah blah blah...

I went to my doctor who diagnosed me with fatty liver disease and told me I needed to try and eat eggs at least and better yet, some meat.  She said "Check out Nourishing Traditions" (a book I already owned) and take cod liver oil.  You need to eat protein.  No, beans do not count because they are so high in carbs.  Nuts are good, but if you're trying to lose weight, eating lots of them won't help you.

I thought- okay, I can do a vegetarian version of NT, right?  I started soaking my grains and nuts.  I made sourdough bread.  I started eating yogurt (yuck!).  But I didn't lose weight.

Then I found Carrie Thienes, founder of Northwest Holistic Nutrition.  We worked together for several months and she helped me so much.  Basically, Carrie shot straight with me- I need to eat more protein and fat and way less carbs.  I'd carb-loaded my way to obesity.

"Would you consider eating meat?" she asked me.

Oh man!  This was what I was afraid of... but at this point, I was feeling so bad that I didn't care.  Carrie told me I needed to basically hit a low-carb, Atkins-like diet if I wanted to lose weight and start feeling better.  Instinctively, I knew she was right.

"Yes," I answered.

A few weeks later, I visited my brother's restaurant, the Lazy Dog Cafe, to eat my first meat in 17 years.  It was difficult, but I ate what I ordered and I haven't looked back.  Sure, there's been a large gross-out factor to overcome, but that's dissipating every day.

What happened to my vegetarian convictions, you ask?  Well. honestly, when I realized that my vegetarian diet was making me sick, I decided to put myself before the animals.  There are ways to be a responsible animal consumer- eating grassfed organic meat, drinking raw milk, buying pastured, free range eggs... Supporting small, local farms encourages the adoption of more sustainable farming practices.  When there is a greater demand for organic, grass-fed meats and raw milk, suppliers will have to change their ways to meet the demand.

There's a lot of bad information floating around out the health and environmental benefits of vegetarianism.  The results of The China Study have been called into question by folks who have analyzed the raw data and have come to significantly different conclusions than Dr. Campbell.  In fact, many prominent vegans and raw vegans have returned to meat or dairy consumption around the same time I did.

So where am I today?  Well, I'm about to take a new step in my "thousand mile journey."  I've discovered paleo...

Paleo?  What the heck is paleo?

Very simple, people who follow a paleo diet consume meat, veggies, fruits, and some healthy fats like coconut, nuts, avocado and olive oil.  They do not consume grains or legumes of any kind, processed food, sugar (natural or otherwise) or dairy (the exception being butter or ghee).  It seems restrictive, but I don't think so.  The basic idea is this: At every meal, eat protein, tons of veggies, and a little healthy fat.  If you're trying to lose weight, keep the fruit and nuts to a minimum.

This is a very low-carb diet, similar to Atkins except without the fake sugar and cheese-a-thons.  I'm excited to try it.  Between now and the Apostles' Fast (when I have to go vegan again, ggrrrrr....), I'm doing the paleo thing.  I will follow the Church's fasting rules on Wednesdays and Fridays though, but believe it or now, I can still be mostly paleo if I eat tons of veg any maybe throw a little legumes in there for filler.  We'll see how it goes.  I'm excited!  Everything paleo I've tried over the last week or so has been freaking delicious!  A few recipes have included:

• Thai-Inspired Stir Fry with Spring Vegetables from the Simple Food for Spring e-book that I mention below
• Carnitas from the same e-book paired my own concoctions for Mexican coleslaw and Salsa Fresca
• Paleo-Tacos from Sarah Fragoso's blog Everyday Paleo .

So as you can see, I've been around the dietary world.  I'm sort of thinking I may have found my home. Wish me luck and please, please pray for me.

Simple Food

Nourishing Days: I love love love this website.  I haven't read much in terms of this gal's life (except that her family is grain free and lives on a homestead) but I've tried tons of recipes from her site and I've loved them all.  She's written two cookbooks: Simple Food {For Winter} and Simple Food {For Spring}.

Click here to visit Nourishing Days.

The recipes ARE simple, delicious, and nourishing.  There's a nice mix of meat and meat-free dishes.  All the recipes are grain free.     If I'm not mistaken, the only dairy used in the recipes is cultured dairy.  The ingredients are seasonal, so they should be available at their peak freshness making the food extra delicious

I've based the next two weeks of dinners off the recipes in these cookbooks.  My family, including my very picky kids, have loved everything I've put in front of them.

Highlights from Simple Food for Winter include: Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup, Slow Cooker Dijon Chicken with Broccoli and Grain-Free Buttermilk Biscuits.  BISCUITS!!  Made without flour!

Simple Food for Spring includes such favorites as: the best RANCH DRESSING I've ever had.  Ever.  Ever.  Thai-Inspired Spring Vegetable Stir Fry, Braised White Beans Scented with Rosemary, and Grain-Free Scones.  SCONES!!  Made without flour!!

There's a really nice variety in these books.  We're fortunate to live in an area where a lot of the winter ingredients are available year round and we do get a cold night every now and then so we'll be using these cookbooks quite a lot.  They are reasonably priced as well at $10 for the ebook version.

So check it out, yo!  You won't be sorry!

Click here to visit Nourishing Days.

PS- I signed up to be an affiliate so if you click on any of the links above and buy the books, I get a little something something.  I really believe in these cookbooks!

Carb Overload

I want. To die.

Well, not really.  But my insides feel like they are going to explode!  And its all because of carbs.  I've eaten more bread in the past 24 hours then I have in months and I'm feeling it.  YUCK YUCK YUCK!

Tomorrow, I begin the 4 Hour Body plan.  That, combined with South Beach, will hopefully get me down another 10 pounds in the next 5 or 6 weeks.  I'm psyched to get started, actually.  I've already lost 10 pounds on South Beach... and when I lose another 10, I get to pick up a special something-something for myself.

The main idea behind the 4 Hour Body is this: Give yourself the Minimum Effective Dose of what works and then commit to it completely.  Apparently, a lot of people are having great success with it.  There are over 1,000 five-star reviews on Amazon.  I know someone who is using it and has lost over 10 pounds.  And its pretty easy.  Here are the main points:

1. Eat one protein, one legume, and one vegetable at every meal.  The protein should be at least 30 grams or more of protein.

2. Keep meals simple and repetitive

3. White foods are verboten... the exception being cauliflower.  Mmmmm....  Oh and no fruit or dairy.  Booooo!

4. Try not to snack.  If you're hungry, eat more at meals.

5. Have one binge day a week.  He's not talking gluttony here... he's just recommending that one eats some of the forbidden foods one day per week.  For me, that will be Sunday.  Then I won't have to say no to all the coffee hour goodies!  Apparently this helps shake up your metabolism.

Really, the book explains it all.

There is nothing incompatible with 4HB and South Beach... except that you are allowed to snack and have dairy on South Beach.  The diet is called "Slow-Carb" but really, it basically sounds paleo to me.  And that's okay.

All my problems would be solved if I could just eat eggs.  I can't do it.  The only way I'm able to get them down is in cauliflower pizza.  Maybe I need to sneak out and buy a few heads...