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Thursday, July 25, 2013

Church and State

I saw a post this morning that read; "Pass the 28th Amendment: The Complete removal of the Church from the State," and it got me to thinking: It can't be done.
There is no Church and State. The Catholic Church has no office or authority in the U.S. Government. The Baptist Church has no office or authority in the U.S. Government. Nor do the Mormons, the Pentecostals, or any of the other nearly 41,000 sects of Christianity. Neither does the Church of Scientology, Wicca, Chuthulu, or Bob. So, which Church has office or authority in the US Government? There is none. What we have is people. People who are elected officials (meaning one way or another, you had a hand in putting them there), and people are members of various religious denominations... or not. They are people who hold the values of their particular religion or non-religion, and those values are going to affect how they manage things. By asking for a complete removal of "Church from State" what you are really asking for is to vote in only atheists &or humanists into office. If you don't like your Conservative Christian congress(wo)man, then do what is necessary to vote him/her out of office. Otherwise, if you want the complete removal of religio-spiritual influence from all government agency, you had better get started on those AI robots. Let me know how that works out for you.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Where my forgiveness ends...

I saw a post tonight by a friend applauding the abolition of the death penalty somewhere, and a rallying cry to everyone to keep fighting against death penalty laws.
I am of mixed feelings on this front. I do not believe that we as human beings have the right to take another human being's life, even in cases that "warrant" the death penalty. I also believe that "if you kill them, they can't learn nothin'" And, I believe in the words of Jesus of Nazareth when he said "Forgive them seventy times seven times." To a point...
When 3 immigrant workers entered my Ant and Uncle's produce stand in central Florida in the mid 80's, gunned down the friend-of-the-family clerk, and took my Aunt and Uncle in the back room and shot them execution style for the nominal amount of money in the register, my unforgiveness meter jumped straight to 491, and there it has sat for 30 years.
The clerk, by the grace of God and the benefit of being morbidly obese, survived five bullets to the torso, consequently, being able to positively identify the killers.
I do not know if those men have made it through the system to "the chair" yet. And I don't dare ask. All I can do, at moments like this when the maelstrom of rage starts its slow churning in my heart, is ask God for correct judgement on those men's behalf, and for forgiveness for my weakness.

Pray in Secret...

Does the Lord not say to keep your prayers and charities secret? That the Father will know his own? Then why do you wear your prayers and your charities on you sleeve, like some badge of honour? Do you so desperately seek the approval of man that you disregard the advise of God? Or do you seek to prove to man just how holy you are? This is the path of Pharisees and Sadducees, not the path of followers of His Way. Go back in your closet and shut your door. Pray in the silence of a space occupied only by You and God. Then come out and show the world HIS worth by example, not YOUR worth, by a list of things that you do.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

The Bible is only the beginning

  Have you ever read a really good book? One you put down at the end and say, "Wow, that was amazing!"? And it stays with you in your imagination? Now, imagine if you had actually been there. Examine every aspect of it. Every sight, sound, smell, feeling, emotion, impression. Imagine every perceptic at work. Suddenly the book doesn't quite do it justice now does it? Like a photograph of a beautiful landscape, or a Stephen King novel, made into a movie. It just is never quite as good as the original work.
  Well, the Bible is kind of like that.

Monday, July 8, 2013

What does it mean?


"It is not just the Jesus Seminar folks that call into question the authenticity/authorship of certain (and I daresay, MANY) of the NT writings. But that doesn't really matter now does it. It is the CONTENT... it is the MESSAGE... that must be understood. Once you can break through the literary barrier, you move into the realm of a very direct, very personal relationship with God, that will supersede all arguments about who wrote what, and what it might or might not mean." +amd.g+


Saturday, July 6, 2013

Why God? Why?

Every day I hear people ask "Why does God let bad things happen in the world?" And I hear him reply: "Why do you?" Complacency and apathy are mortal sins. Not because the Church tells us so, but because they will KILL US. 
Look, a long time ago, God used to get involved. Sometimes in really good ways (Angelic and personal visitations, the Exodus from Egypt), and sometimes in what we consider not-such-good-ways (Sodom and Gomorrah), but always with our best interests in mind.  He gave us rules to live by. But He also gave us Free-will,and we chose, by-and-large, not to live by His rules. So, as per usual, things got just about as bad as things can get. So in keeping His promise of not wiping the Earth clean and starting over, He gave us an example. An example of how to live, how to love, how to treat one another, and how to treat ourselves. He gave us Him in Our form. The perfect melding of the the Creator and the Creation. He gave us ALL we need. All we need now is to accept the gift and live by the example.
+amd.g+