Saturday 3 May 2014

Random extract from the homeless blog

his way of resolving things, despite his own Asperger's Syndrome, is to talk, or even shout, the church have gagged me and left me with years of damage and emotions trapped inside me, things I haven't even been able to write in this blog yet, and no words will come, I have never been good at verbally expressing myself and now I am even less able to.

Good things about the Church of England


  1. The Church of England is dying out and more people are questioning it -I will get blared at by the old dears for this comment.
  2. There is a good book actually written by Anglicans. It is a bit heavy weather and involved (stuffy) because it is written by Anglicans, but nonetheless, someone needed to write it. It is called 'An Inclusive God'.

Thursday 1 May 2014

The good things about the Church of England

Good evening,
Well I have been thinking about the good things about the CofE.

But first a random 'Anything and Everything'.
Is this song funny, offensive or reality? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3NVPOedkEk
It reminds me of the diocese of Winchester trying to have me put away as mad.
But it also still amuses and saddens me.

I thought of two goods for the Cof|E.
One is that they do run and organize social events, and this keeps at least some of the lonely old dears entertained and ensures that they aren't isolated, which is good.

The other good thing, which was buried deep in my memory, was actually something JM said.

There was a homosexual couple in one of her churches, one of them was the organist and the other was in the choir. JM always had a soft spot for gay men, and was fond of them, and she said to me that no matter how people ranted about homosexuality being a sin, it was far from the worst sin around, and we are all sinners.
Ok, I do not like to get involved in the debate, but a good non-judgemental attitude is not only refreshing, but a good example, and her words touched me.
JM could be very narrow, judgemental and condemning in other areas, and she certainly was about me when the diocese heard about her husband abusing me when JM involved herself on the side of the abuser in Jersey, she was damning of me and my side of what I had been through because of her unprofessionalism and her husband's abuse of me, was never heard, but nonetheless despite all that, I remember her words about the homosexual couple.


Wednesday 30 April 2014

Chancel liability tax.

Make Bishops pay chancel liability tax on their mansions, in proportion to the size of their homes!
It may help to open their eyes to what they are inflicting on others.

Head of the Church

I noticed the Newspaper Headlines recently.
I didn't stop to read the paper but the headline spoke about the Queen possibly no longer being Head of the Church.

Well...

No offence to Her Majesty, because I am not anti-Monarchy, but surely God is the Head of the Church?

As I once said to the Bishop, I am confused by the CofE  because the head of the Church should be God, but in the Case of the CofE, they have: God - presumably, and the Queen, and the Archbishop, and 10 Downing Street, etc.


Someone sent this in - an extract.

How the Church of England became what it is.

In those bad old days, still in memory, School was a place where children sat, stood, did exactly as they were told, never answered back or did anything except what they were asked, for fear of punishment.

The generation who run the Church of England, have regained their sense of self through positions in the Church, but remain blindly obedient to the Church heirachy, just as they were blindly obedient to the schoolmasters, for the same reason, it is in their psyche and they are afraid of punishment if they don't do as they are told.

Hence the Church dying out, as the new generations since the war have been given increasing freedom, and are not afraid to ask qeuestions, including questioning the Church.
Quite rightly too.

It is difficult to develop and become broadminded and enquiring if you are oppressed constantly, the oppression weighs you down.
Discipline is good to set boundaries, but fear of speaking up indicates an unhealthy environment.
Although it can go to the other extreme these days and lack of boundaries can lead to antisocial behaviour.

But the difference between the two generations keeping the Church alive and the two or three who are not, is that the newer generations question rather than blindly follow, and the older generations do as they were taught.

The Church of England have become desperate as a result, and ripping out of pews and turning services into a kind of house party with no alcohol or drugs but abuse of the 'Holy Spirit' and other mind tricks has increased as the Church of England desperately tries to draw new people in.
It is quite a pitiful situation.
Because this isn't God that they are drawing people to, this is a cheap alternative,formed out of desperation.

And so there is the Church, divided between the older people and the House party Church, not much in the middle.

So,  is the House Party Church the right way, or the old unquestioning way? 
Are either actually reflecting Jesus' Teaching?
I hope so.

But the unquestioning older people remain in majority, and so the Church of England is still declining and still oppressing



*******************************




Good Things about the Church of England + anything and everything

Well I have old dears blaring about me 'only saying bad things' about the CofE, and one old dear who pays her 10% tithe dutifully, just as the CofE taught her, wants there to be change.

She wont get change out of the CofE, they are still in the middle ages.

Ok, lets do some good CofE.

The first prize goes to a wonderful woman who I met when I was homeless.
She met me on the steps of her church, the first day I was in her town, she said 'can I help you?' In a friendly way, not the usual patronizing CofE way, and I explained to her I was looking for the homeless welfare, and she and I ended up having coffee and breakfast together in a nearby McDonalds.
This became a tradition while I was in this town, we would go to early communion a few times a week, then go for coffee or breakfast.

This lady and I discussed Christianity, we agreed that Christianity not about denomination, but where compassion is practised, Jesus is there.
She represented the good in the CofE, she was kind, compassionate and friendly and broke up my lonely world with her company. We never fell out, and when I left that town, she said she would always pray for me and say goodnight to me wherever I was.

I just had a sudden thought, how does the church end up full of older people, do they suddenly think 'oh, I will become a Christian!' when they have their midlife crisis and get scared of age and death, do they start to go to church for company and find taking roles and being officious comforting? Or are most of them lifelong?

Anyway, lets go back to the good in the CofE.

????

It is hard to write good about an organisation who have done so much harm to me and to other poor and vulnerable people.

They send money abroad a lot, I don't know how much of this money gets to it's intended destination, but it makes the old people feel good, and they believe this is Christian. It is a pity they are so condescending and ignorant of the poor and vulnerable in their own communities at times though.

The Church of England are hard to write good about, they have all their little schemes and fundraisers, usually things that are not actually helping the local community or poor but are vaguely 'abroad'. They feel more comfortable and less burdened that way, because most old people in the CofE are from comfortable backgrounds and are not equipped to relate to the poor and vulnerable and feel more comfortable with the anonymous sending of money abroad.
Funny isn't it? They are the 'local church' and the 'church in government', and they are shy of the welfare of local people.

Although you sometimes see very encouraging notices like I saw recently, a church raising funds for mobility aids for local people. Good.

I wont be cynical and say it was probably because an old lady in church needed a mobility scooter!

The Church of England are vaguely involved in things like foodbanks, but as usual, their version of food bank, in my experience, is to treat the poor who come to them as naughty children.
I have been to one CofE foodbank, a long time since when I was rough sleeping, and was so dismayed by it, and the way I was patronized, intruded on and even told where to sleep, that I never went back

In my district and for many miles around, the foodbanks are not CofE run or based, they are run and based in Methodist or community or Reformed or pentecostal churches, which is interesting.
But the government are talking about removing more and more welfare services and expecting the church to pick up the slack, now that is going to be tough on churches, dwindling congregations and low funds, how can the church pick up the slack? And can you imagine when the government continue to cut welfare and expect the church to pick up the slack, as they have done by removing crisis loans and sending people to food banks as well.

The CofE, the Church in Government, picking up the slack, with their shyness of poverty and disability and abuse, they can't and wont cope with further responsibility, and us, the marginalized, will not enjoy relying on the CofE either, being patronized and treated as naughty children is wearing on the self esteem.

I will try again with the good in the CofE, although every time I think of it, I think of the good in other churches and the bad in the CofE.

The good is that they provide a social centre in villages and rural communities, I remember when I was young, all the smart businessmen who came to church, who were not greatly interested in the service but it provided a place for them to meet with fellow businessmen and freemasons after the service over tea and coffee, and Sunday school for the kids, a break for the parents for a while.

I remember we used to do carol singing round the houses for the Childrens Society, although that tailed out before I was gone, and other non-church groups also do carol singing for money, but last Christmas, my church went out carol singing for the joy of it, not for money, interesting isn't it?
So, undoubtedly the CofE raise money for various causes, which is good.

They also put their congregations under pressure for extra funds for the Church, and years of listening to this and knowing no matter how the Bible was twisted in these 'fundraising sermons' it was not right.
Nor is forcing local people to pay for church repairs, as has been happening in various places, with the Church of England using old laws to force local residents to pay for repairs, now that kind of oppression is from the Middle ages, it does not belong here and now, the CofE is not the great power it was, although it still has a lot of power and abuses it.

Again, lets try and get some good into the CofE.

I can't name names, but a few more significantly kind and non-judgemental CofE members who got me things I needed on the streets, T, E, P, and S, these people got me blankets and food and other things and even let me stay over in bad weather. Bless you, the CofE needs a few more of you.
There are CofE members who do have the Christian Ethic, and all it takes as well as the ethic, is for people to think for themselves and not within the narrow Church ways and guidelines, and more good could be done.
Don't let Church suppress your Christianity.

Also tribute to A and G, who even stood up to their Vicar, who was narrow, alcoholic and anti-homeless, they stood up to him when he tried to make me unwelcome to church-based events, and they and their church were very kind to me.
The Vicar was taken by surprise when they heard from me about how he treated me and they bollocked him, they were important in the running of that church and he deferred to them.
He was increasingly useless and often seen drunk in town, he had no joy for his work, and even preached about winning the lottery.
A and G said something to me which sticks in my memory 'The Church is the people, not the priest, priests come and go, they have their role but the church is not theirs and they are not the Church'.
Again, these people who thought for themselves made a difference.

A lot of CofE work is more symbolic than genuinely involved, such as the Bishop being 'Patron' of the nightmare shelter that I ended up in when the Diocese destroyed me and left me homeless.
And again, that power the Church have, to be patron of the place their destroyed victim has to take refuge, led to me being a rough sleeper and very damaged.
The CofE are sometimes enthusiastically part of all the 'Churches together' and other local charities, and sadly for me, in Winchester this gave them the power to go on destroying me, because there wasn't a homeless service or church I could go to where Fisher and Scott-Joynt didn't slander me, and this was particularly  horrific in that I had had many friends in the church community, and being mainly older and blindly believing what the diocese told them, I saw what I thought were long term friendships, including those in the 'year of friendly emails' section, wiped out, after ten and more years.

Back to good.

err...

The Bishops have a lot of power in government, so they wrote to the Mirror about welfare benefits and the vulnerable.... oh and then they used archaic laws to force local people to repair their churches when the 'tithing' sermons didn't work.
This has left people broke, homeless and broken.
Not so good.

So, I am trying to find new the good in the CofE.
I am convinced that the good in the CofE comes from the people who think for themselves and think outside the system and the rigid narrow way of the CofE, because that is where I have seen the good, and I have realised that as I wrote this.

















Tuesday 29 April 2014

for Jane Fisher :)

Photo

You have a lot to learn!

Don't you find that when you challenge the Church of England, you get Bible quoted at you, usually incorrectly?
That isn't really an answer, it is usually desperation. Self-righteous blaring, as I have previously described it.

I remember an activity day at a Church of England Church, I was on door duty and I remember this lad with learning disabilities kept getting in my way and he was a very noisy lad so it was hard for me to explain to incomers what the schedule for the day was.
So I said to him 'could you let me have some space to explain to people what is going on?'

This really annoyed him, and he said to me 'You have a lot to learn!'
He said it a number of times, and I actually agreed with him!

I still do!
And maybe I should have been more tolerant, but my own disability meant that sensory overload occurred when he was being noisy and I was trying to interact with incomers, which is hard for me anyway.

He often told people off, because of his disability, he had a good heart but could get very frustrated and angry with life and people, which is something I can empathise with, very much so, and in dealing with people I do indeed have a lot to learn!

Anyway, back to the activity day, we had a Bible study group where we were meant to find certain topics, and as is typical of the CofE, my group were mainly middle aged to elderly, and to my surprise, they started asking if I had been to Bible college and how did I know the Bible so well etc!
Now I replied that it was simply from reading the Bible from when I was young.

These people go to Church every week, some have done all their lives, so imagine one of these is 78 years old, she has heard the Bible in Church every single week, picked up on various popular proverbs and quotes and stories, but not thought them through, nor does the Church encourage her to do so, it is THEIR Bible, THINKERS are DANGEROUS to the Church (heehee!).
So this 78 year old who has been a churchgoer all their life, if they hear anything against the Church, they will blare and quote text from the Bible, often in the wrong context, but many people who speak against the Church don't know the text any better than  the Church do, so the ridiculousness of the situation is often sadly lots.

So anyway, there is me, in this group of lifelong Anglicans, finding and explaining the Bible passages and them asking me if I went to Bible college.
Oh, shame on the Church of England! Those old dears pay to keep the church alive and you aren't giving them value for money!

That said, everyone has the ability to pick up, read and question the Bible, and I, myself, need to do so a lot more!
I have Bibles, I do not read daily as I would like to.
But, there are those in the Church and who have been involved in harming me, who do read daily, make a big show of it, and yet still behave as if they have no understanding at all.

The other thing is, when you go to church, the person preaching, who can be excellent to poor in their teaching, because the CofE do not appear to have any supervision or standard of teaching, is usually going to give their own take on the Bible.

And as mentioned previously and also in the light of the recent attempts by the Church of England to force bystanders to pay repair bills, the Church try to use the Bible and sermons to force more money out of people for repairs and to keep the Church running, I have heard this done over and over again and it sickens me every time, because that is the Pharisees, not Jesus speaking.

So, we have a problem, the CofE are under-educating, and although I have a lot to learn, I learn more by questioning than by blaring indignantly and quoting Bible text to defend an organization like the CofE who are simply doing wrong.

Monday 28 April 2014

http://whatreallyhappenedinthechurch.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/statement-sent-to-diocese-on-28072013.html#.U17F_ZV8PIU

An honourable mention, Planet Jersey being agreeably noisy again :)

http://planetjersey.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,55.msg59022.html#msg59022

I said I would write some more on the 'lets be honest about Jersey' post, but I am tired and busy, so I may not get much done.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/not-very-christian-rural-communities-in-uproar-as-250-anglican-churches-use-ancient-rules-that-could-leave-them-facing-bills-for-thousands-in-repairs-9289590.html

The CofE belong in the dark ages when discrimination which they still practice today was more normal, when slavery that they supported, was legal, and when they could turn away deceased illegitimate children from burial in churchyards.

The CofE still want to behave as if these are the bad old days, when they could abuse their power.

And here is some rubbish about the latest Archbishop to fail abuse survivors while making a show of helping them.
The smooth rubbish and his show of being 'down with the people' makes me sick.
The CofE are not 'down with the people' it is all just show.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10775220/Archbishop-of-Canterbury-Sometimes-I-think-This-is-impossible.html

Lets be honest about Jersey

It was lovely to meet with a Jerseyman recently and talk about the people and places we know.
It was also traumatic.
My visits to Jersey or Winchester are traumatic, and so for the moment I do not make those visits, however, I have been taught by a psychologist, that it will be better for me, eventually to visit those places enough to make my peace with them, part of the healing process.

Lets be honest about Jersey, it is a small island, and even a member of the clergy there said that if you make the wrong enemies there, it can make life hell for you.
And I guess for a real Jersey born person, it can be hell because you can't escape it.

I am lucky in that, even though the way I 'escaped' was very wrong and the way I was treated was very wrong, and I escaped into the hands of Jane Fisher and Scott-Joynt, who thought I hadn't been destroyed enough and did the same again, violating my whole life, privacy and human rights and removing all my friendships and branding me, and setting the police on me for my reaction, I did escape, and currently free from the Diocese in some ways, I have rebuilt my life, although I am deemed unfit to work even in supported employment now, I have some quality of life, although the record will ensure I always live a half-life and will always be waiting for death.

Anyway, I escaped Jersey, where poor and vulnerable people are treated as if they have no rights.
And I was going to start blogging at this point about the Jersey system and who is who in church, states and judiciary, but I am getting tired already and will actually contiue this post by editing it later, but will publish it now.

Jersey is small and not governed well, it can seem just fine to holiday makers and visitors, and it is very popular for 'booze cruisers', but it is a harsh place to live if you are poor, and I didn't meet any contented rich people there, interestingly, I met rich people who said they wished they were dead, who were bitter and burned out and unhappy and treated the poor badly. It's such a shame, what's left of the beauty of the Island is still very beautiful, the beaches and cliffs and reefs, the Ecrehous and all that, beautiful, but it is a crowded and unhappy island, and although I struggle to love the beautiful area where I am, it is better governed and safer and happier than Jersey.

I struggle to love my 'home' area because of the way Jersey and Winchester were ripped from me, because I am afraid of the same happening again, and the disasterous way the diocese launched on me last year did affect me horribly in my community, there is no assurance that the same wont happen again.
Those who don't know, Winchester is my 'home' city, that I escaped from my family to when I was 17.
The diocese, to cover their backs, destroyed my life and community in Winchester when I returned there homeless from Jersey.




Answering a question -in brief

I was asked a question about the blog on Saturday.

The Question was - what do I hope to achieve through the blog.

This is a brief answer as I am only on the computer briefly this morning.


  • I am telling my story through the blog, even though I remain too traumatized by Jersey to talk about it.
  • I am sharing so that other survivors can be encouraged, and I am happy to say that quite a number of survivors have made contact and talked and shared links to websites and support groups, as well as sharing their experiences.
  • I am sharing my day to day life on the other blog, which hopefully shows that I am not just the mad bad user etc that the church of england make me out to be.
  • I am ensuring that a record of my experiences is made, even if I die as a result of the damage by the Church of England - those who don't know, my health has suffered seriously as a result of this matter.
  • It helps me to write and share my feelings and experiences, I am alone a lot, because I need to be because of my conditions, and I get very angry and distressed by what has happened.
  • I would like to contribute towards educating people that the Great Grim Church is not all wonderful and Christian, because so many people do not really know or understand what the Church of England really is, or how they make the vulnerable and poor and disabled suffer. How they use them, even, and how the press releases, so carefully formulated, do not always reflect the true situation - even I was horrified by the dishonesty of Bishop Tim and Luther Pendragon, and the 'lost last and least' statement was horrifying.
tbc

useful links day

http://www.soteriatrust.org.uk/pages/abuse_in_the_church.html

Sunday 27 April 2014

Anything and everything

Good evening,
This blog is on a bit of a break as things are busy here.

I would just like to say that it remains the case that what was inflicted on me last year for no reason at all, and the smear campaign by the Jersey Deanery was an utter disgrace.

The plumbline, yardstick, spirit level of measurement of the Church's behaviour is Jesus and His teachings, and their behaviour, diocese and Deanery last year, was inexcusably completely and utterly out of line.

If the Church, with all their wealth and power, claim to be there because of Jesus and His teachings, they should act as if they are there because of Jesus and His teachings.

Jesus Never publicly flogged anyone, He prevented a woman from being stoned to death, while Deanery and Diocese have acted as if they don't even know the Bible.
Which is why I keep offering them Matthew Chapter 23.