Mixing Religion & Politics
Or at least doing a segway from one to the other . . .
(Medical complications – for at least a week after today I won’t get out much into the blogosphere. I do expect to continue posting.)
Beyond Reward & Punishment Spirituality:
In traditional Christian terms:
Jesus gave his life for the sake of the world, not for the sake of getting to sit at the head of the table at the right hand of the Father.
The Father sent his only begotten Son into the world because God loved the world, not because God wanted to sit with himself forever at the head of the table after the ascension.
If Christians focus on something as narrow as scoring points for personal salvation, how can they claim to be followers of their God? Maybe God’s looking at placing a want ad for followers that at least bear him a vague resemblance.
If we were made in God’s image, maybe the reference wasn’t to a nose, mouth and white beard. Besides, not that many of us have the white beard.
And speaking of true leadership without a white beard . . .
Beyond Business as Usual Politics:
Ford Simms for President! A Face You Can Trust and The Real Candidate for Change.
(Medical complications – for at least a week after today I won’t get out much into the blogosphere. I do expect to continue posting.)
Beyond Reward & Punishment Spirituality:
In traditional Christian terms:
Jesus gave his life for the sake of the world, not for the sake of getting to sit at the head of the table at the right hand of the Father.
The Father sent his only begotten Son into the world because God loved the world, not because God wanted to sit with himself forever at the head of the table after the ascension.
If Christians focus on something as narrow as scoring points for personal salvation, how can they claim to be followers of their God? Maybe God’s looking at placing a want ad for followers that at least bear him a vague resemblance.
If we were made in God’s image, maybe the reference wasn’t to a nose, mouth and white beard. Besides, not that many of us have the white beard.
And speaking of true leadership without a white beard . . .
Beyond Business as Usual Politics:
Ford Simms for President! A Face You Can Trust and The Real Candidate for Change.
Posted by Paul at 7:01 PM Permalink
19 Comments:
Also, I just posted a pdf version of his world-renowned tome, The Tail of the Geckos. :)
I agree with what I take your meaning to be, but just to play devil's advocate: maybe being a good person is it's own reward. So people who are good are being that way for the internal reward of feeling like good people and aren't really beyond reward/punishment at all.
CARRIE: I started having trouble physically manipulating books a long time ago and haven't been able to do so at all for years. My only reading in recent times has been online, and even that's been very limited - with so little of my time out of bed now, it's all accounted for in other ways.
What does he have to say?
VISHESH: For me, those basic questions have turned out to be the most important ones to ask.
especially around Election time.
Poor Mitt, right our of Central Casting, lost because America isn't ready for First Ladie'S'.
Poor McCain isn't myopic or dogmatic enough for the Fundamentalists.
Barack's middle name is Hussein...
(too bad he IS going to win)
Hillary is damned for NOT divorcing Bill and damned FOR forgiving him.
BUT Mike Huckabee is just right. YES!
His Quixotic campaign, everyone knows that it is mathematically impossible for him to win, is the PERFECT metaphor for how out-to-lunch and insular the fundies are.
They just don't get it.
Rush Limbaugh, a Megalomaniac Arsehole of biblical proportions, is trying to coerce frontrunner McCain into becoming more desirable for the flock block of voters...can't have a backslider in office...master propagandist Joseph Goebbels had nothing on idiots like Rush.
These nutjobs are probably on their hands and knees praying that something terrible happens to McCain so that Huckabee can SAVE the country.
Then again, the heart of a boy caring for his gecko is just as precious if you ask me.
Rush is one scary, influential, viscious man. The influential part is disturbing - that he can have that many followers. No kidding, when I first heard his act on my car radio in northern NH, I thought he was some kind of local clown - this was in the early nineties. I'd literally laugh out loud at his ludicrous personal attacks on the Clintons - honestly thought at first it was some sort of goofy political satire.
N2: What astounds me about our species is that if more people's hearts were in the right place, the variety and degree of human intelligence is just amazing. As a species, we haven't learned how to harness our own power in a creative direction.
I bet that's what Ford Simms would say...
Sometimes people do manage to touch, with language, on spiritual matters that are truly important. In my own case, I found that my best approach was for the text to continually refer readers back to their own experiences ("original" faith...)
As for white beards, I've had a beard for nearly 20 years--it's a lot lighter than it was--one day I'll have a white one. Good points about spirituality too. I hope whatever your medical issues are, you'll recover quickly.
SAGE and HAYDEN, thanks for the good wishes.
Ford Simms - a fresh face all right. I'd pick him over any of the other candidates. I say just let his mom and aunt advise him and America will do better than it has over the past seven years.
Indeed, many folks miss the mark when it comes to understanding the reality of their spirituality. Most folks are content to take directions from the pulpit and apply it sparingly to their everyday lives. However, as Christ pointed out, this is something which has to be lived and fulfilled in every moment, every hour, every week, every year, in every life. Connectedness with God is not something which happens overnight, nor is it something which happens every day. People who truly understand God, and how it applies to life.... are few and far between.
Come back soon.
Love,
Tim
It seems to me that lately I more often run into people looking to approach spiritual life and faith from what I see as a truer direction.
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