Christian. Feminist. Socialist.

Are you still reading?

Or did I turn you off with my title of “controversial” identities?

If I’m honest, I’m hoping for a little bit of both.

I am a Christian. I believe Jesus was the Son of God, that He came as a representation of the Lord to save us from ourselves. I believe He was crucified  – tortured, mocked, murdered – and I believe he defied death. I believe He was perfect, never once falling to sin and temptation as we all do, and I believe His life is the ultimate example of God’s original design. Still, he died. Jesus went to Hell and suffered the fate of us all. Only after he had suffered, did he return. In living perfectly, dying sacrificially, suffering in place of and rising again did Jesus conquer all things human and supernatural.
I have thus chosen to live my life in His footsteps. I have chosen to hand over what little control I have, what little knowledge and understanding I posses to my God, to El Rey – the one who sees and knows all things. I recognize that I am both small and big. Small, in the sense of the world, the universe, the passage of time. Big, in the sense of purposeful design and uniquely loved by an infinite God.
My Christianity informs everything I do in life and everything I attempt to embody. It is the center of my marriage, my job, my friendships. When I inevitably screw everything up my Christianity is the rock on which I stand, which I return to, that rebalances and rights me no matter how twisted my life has become.

I am a feminist. I believe in the inherent worth and goodness of both the masculine and the feminine. I believe in the equality of the sexes. Furthermore, I believe in the intrinsic worth of the human being. This is not separate from my Christian identity. To be human is to be marked by God. To be male or female, black or white or Asian, and everything in-between and surrounding, is to be a product of the Creator. God is revealed through gender, though God is not bound by it. God is, in fact, genderless. God is revealed in ethnicity and race, though God is not bound by those either. God is, in fact, without form. I believe Jesus showed us this in his care and treatment of women, and in his recognition and love for “Gentiles” (anyone who was non-Jew) – a radical concept for his time.

I am a socialist. I believe we are each other’s keepers. I believe Jesus exemplified this in how he treated both the begger and the rich, the healthy and the sick. I believe the earliest Christians were socialists, before that title existed. The Bible says of early Christians “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had…And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all ³⁴ that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales ³⁵ and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.” Acts 4:32-37

While these short descriptions do not come close to explaining my convictions, they do begin to paint a picture. I hope that they help to validate and support both my faith and my failings, my words here on this page and my actions in real life.
These identities, so often seen as separate, are for me all deeply tied together.
In the last year I have felt increasingly convicted to share my vision and be undoubtedly clear about what I believe God is calling me, my fellow Christians and my fellow humans to be and believe.

As a Christian, Feminist and Socialist I must DECRY any action, law or belief that denies a human being decency, compassion, free will and inherent worth.

I will not stand for racism, sexism, prejudice or oppression in any form regardless of my opinion about how other’s live or believe.

This is why I will STAND WITH Black Lives Matter and commit to breaking apart my own racism and the social and cultural structures it is bound to.
This is why I will SPEAK AGAINST the wage gap and education disparities.
This is why I will PROMOTE the welfare system and single payer healthcare.
This is why I am AGHAST at immigration policies that seek to rate human beings through the use of “points.”
This is why I will vote for CHOICE and AGENCY in policies involving human rights.

Finally this post – this is just the beginning.