My mother used to call me imbecille. So, because I heard it so often, I lived it. I tried over and over to escape the stigma to no avail. According to me I was still just an imbecille (stigma).

Infallible Mary: I worked on the information you wanted about writing. Guess What? You are nowhere to be found in ULC. I thank the person who is behind it.

Maybe she no longer receives PM's from you, as you did to me. You spam me with SEVEN PM's, the when I answer you, you shoot back two more incoherent ones then disable your PM. I am sorry you had to have such pain growing up, but it is obvious you are STILL in pain. I pray for you.


Rev. John

Greetings to you my sister,

Contrary to popular belief, words do hurt, don't they. I pray that you grow beyond the hurt, and always remember that you are a precious child of God.

I have tried to respond to your last two pm's to me, however you have disabled that function here. If you really want response to your private messages or emails, you need to reactivate that function on the board.

Your brother in Christ,
Padre

You call me sister! What does this mean to you? Does it mean you believe what I ahve written? Are you trying to placate me in order to bring me under your command?

Your antagonistic posts are now being reported. Im sorry, but you are out of control. It saddens me to witness you degrading so much lately.

Rev. JOhn

truthseeker;
It may be necessary for Dreamer to have an outlet to release whatever troubles her. I would let her vent whatever is on her mind but it does not require me to answer any of her posts. She is playing a game with this blog and we continue to entertain her. I think she knows exactly what she is doing. We have to remember that there were many genius's in history who were also insane. And then there were figures in history, like John the Baptist, whom everyone thought was insane but proved to be quite the opposite. I think I will not entertain her with any responses, that might better serve us on this site. Peace to you and thank you for your wisdom.......To`na Wanagi

Truthseeker: I'm glad to know that you are a person of GOD of Love, compassion, understanding, etc.

Was Jesus insane? Yet he had enough anger to scare a rat into its' hole. His anger was about GOD. If serving GOD as I do is a game...it's the best game in town...all win!!! When a man speaks up in anger, people listen. When a woman speaks up in anger, she's looney.

Greetings to you my sister,

To answer your first question, you are my sister in that we share a common Creator, God, and a common Savior and brother, Jesus the Christ.

Do I believe what you have written? I believe that you are a troubled soul, seeking to understand God, and giving voice to your pain in that you have not yet come to understand God and your path in life. I also feel that in your zeal to experience God and find relief for the pain in your soul, you lash out unreasonably at those whose experience of God and life are different from your own.

Bring you under my command? My dear sister, the need to control anything or anyone is a need I abandoned long ago. In my faith journey, I have learned to allow God to be God and be in control of my life. When I surrendered to Christ, I found the only peace I have ever known. My life is spent in service, to my family, my community, and my Lord and Savior.

Your brother in Christ,
Padre

Padre;
Thank you for your words of support and validation of what I too believe. There are many who are wandering aimlessly seeking that which is right before them, but they cannot see it until they recognize the blockage is in them, not in God, not in religion, not in others. Through the process of spiritual discovery we travel many paths to get where we need to be, and sometimes it is very dark in those sordid places of our minds. If we can survive the journey through darkness, as I have experience, then it makes me stronger in my faith and belief that God, indeed, is with me and had never left. It was me who moved, not God. Today, I have found the peace that surpasses all human understanding until they can find it in themselves, through God. Wopila Mitakola(thank you my friend)...Inila'(Peace)...To`na Wanagi

no, when she rants incoherently she's looney

truthseeker;
Thank you for my first chuckle of the day! Your response made me laugh.....Peace and Joy....To`na Wanagi

The word "Stigma" represents a label that someone else affixes to you, just as the stigmata is put upon others by someone else. You can't completely hammer yourself to a cross, someone else has to complete the task. Just as a stigma has no authority or power over me unless I believe it and allow others to finish me off with their prejudices. I don't concern myself with the foolishness of others, but rather, see what is right and do that, despite what others may label me. Only God and I really know what is in my heart. Nelson Mandela said,"You are a child of God. You were born to make manifest the glory of God that is in us. And It's not just in some of us, but in all of us." (Inaugural speech 1994) Only if you buy into it does the stigma have any effectiveness.....Peace and strength of heart.........To`na Wanagi

After few of the things shes said, I do belive that praying for her would be the best option.

Dreamer your in my prayers Sister.

Your point for dredging this up is? Praying for her is and was done. Your point?

Rev. John

He was expressing an opinion. We still allow that, don't we? We allow someone to suggest prayer too, even if it's "already been done?" If someone is going to get yelled at for suggesting prayer, we all might as well go to Burger King or somewhere instead of hanging out in a church forum.

I respond to posters taking in to account the totality of their posts at a given time. There was a reason I said what I said, and I stand by it. Besides, I was expressing my opinion of his post, am I not allowed?

Rev. John

No one said you couldn't, certainly not I. I'll stand by mine as well.

I do not know if this person is still with us, or likely to read this, but my heart certainly goes out to her.

Not to rehash an old post, but I wanted to take a moment to discuss my opinion on the nature of social stigma, that is, stigma placed upon one person by another, the impact it has on the lives of those it's attached to, and the meaning it holds for those that feel the need to attach it.

Certainly I cannot speak for everyone, but in my own experience, those that endeavor to attach a stigma to another person are usually doing so to compensate for their own feelings of inadequacy, their own fear of inferiority, or to help them rationalize a problem in their own lives which there is no one to help them address...this would even seem to me to be true of people whom apparently have nothing better to do, or take joy in, antagonizing or tormenting others.

I'm currently living in the deep south, in a town where stigmas are passed around with open joy and a sense of righteousness by those whom regard their beliefs or actions as being "better" than those of the others they seek to belittle or berate with these stigmas. They placate their own concerns with them, reassuring themselves in their values by showing a lack of tolerance for those that do not fall within their desired function of a human being. Simply by saying this, I feel that I am, myself, placing a stigma against others...and I am. It would seem to be an inescapable act, when one views the actions, routines or values of another person as "wrong"...although I would certainly not seek to berate anyone for their lack of tolerance (if I could stand back and think about it first, certainly), as I would be embracing the same cold value. Stigmas are the basis for cultural custom and systems of law, in that society defines what it views as acceptable, and what it views as unacceptable, undesirable or criminal.

I would pull examples of social stigmas from my own life, but there's no need...this thread is full of them, the same as the world around us is full of them. People all over the world in every walk of life face them every day, find ways of dealing with the stigmas of others, and to develop their own to level against others. It would seem to be a deeply-rooted part of human nature. Every member of this Church is likely very familiar with the stigmas placed against us if they've researched opinion abroad on the internet...many regard the Universal Life Church as being a joke, a fraud, or even an affront to god, as god is recognized by the values of the members of other churches.

I'm a newcomer to this discussion, as I've not read any of the other posts by this individual, but let me hash over the psychiatric definition of an "imbecile". By psychiatric definition, an imbecile is a person of the second order in a former classification of mental retardation, above the level of idiocy, having a mental age of seven or eight years and an intelligence quotient of 25 to 50. In archaic terms, it may imply that someone is weak or feeble.

Just from this limited exposure, I think it goes without saying from my perspective that this individual certainly is not an imbecile, that they are likely both quite intelligent, and strong of will...that any stigma attached to them as such likely stems from the insecurities of the other party, or their desire to alter the values or actions of the individual that they would attach the stigma to.

As I said, I have no idea whether this person is still around, or if their point was similar to mine, but I get the impression that we probably agree on some matters regarding this topic, and even if not, I am certainly open to discussing anything that's bothering anyone...especially stigmas leveled against them by other people, as most of these stigmas, in my experience, can be dispelled with as little mental energy as what goes into leveling them in the first place.

I'm going to stop writing now, in hopes that my second post will not be as long-winded as my first. I hope that you're all doing well, and that we can all find ways not to be chained and sheeted by the stigmas of others.

Very Nice.