When Greg Zanis, a carpenter from Illinois, made crosses for the young people who were killed in the Columbine High School massacre he included two for the gunmen who died along with the 13 victims.
This was controversial at the time but perhaps it is closer to a true Christian approach than screaming for harsh penalties or hoping they burn in hell forever.
Jesus tells us to pray for our enemies as well as our friends.
We are also told to visit criminals in prison.
So perhaps the picture is not so black and white as some would have us believe.
The young gunmen may also be forgiven.
What was done to them to make them act the way they did?
What did we do to them?
It is worth thinking about.
Some have been influenced by Satanic entertainment - rock music, movies, video games etc..
They have also been bullied and rejected.
May they also partake of the healing love that God provides.
Saturday, 7 September 2013
Friday, 6 September 2013
Drunkenness.
Why is it that there is such peer pressure to indulge in alcohol while we are socializing?
It cannot just be because alcohol lessens our inhibitions.
Of course I know why the powers that be don't oppose drinking culture - it is very good for the economy - a lot of money is spent on alcohol while people are socializing.
But why does a man think that it is preferable to have a drink with his mates after work rather than going home to his wife and children? As if intoxication is a substitute for the love and affection of his family.
It is like the work hard/play hard ethos of the corporations and hard-nosed businessmen which has suffused the whole of our society, especially the young who have no other mentor.
These are myths.
Drugs are overrated.
They have mild effects but they cost a lot of money and they're addictive.
The side effects can be disastrous.
Peer pressure once again!
And messages in rock music!
It is time to explode the myths and show young people that drinking and taking drugs does not lead to happiness.
More like a headache and a red face.
This is no substitute for real relationships and the thing that we are all seeking -
Love.
It cannot just be because alcohol lessens our inhibitions.
Of course I know why the powers that be don't oppose drinking culture - it is very good for the economy - a lot of money is spent on alcohol while people are socializing.
But why does a man think that it is preferable to have a drink with his mates after work rather than going home to his wife and children? As if intoxication is a substitute for the love and affection of his family.
It is like the work hard/play hard ethos of the corporations and hard-nosed businessmen which has suffused the whole of our society, especially the young who have no other mentor.
These are myths.
Drugs are overrated.
They have mild effects but they cost a lot of money and they're addictive.
The side effects can be disastrous.
Peer pressure once again!
And messages in rock music!
It is time to explode the myths and show young people that drinking and taking drugs does not lead to happiness.
More like a headache and a red face.
This is no substitute for real relationships and the thing that we are all seeking -
Love.
Thursday, 5 September 2013
An Unholy Alliance.
What is it that drives the conservatives and plutocrats to take over and control everything, even religion and , if it were possible, God Himself?
It can only be fear.
Mistaking the actions of men and women and the indifference of nature for the nature of God they develop a tough philosophy that is realistic and pragmatic.
In fact they see no evidence that there is a God at all.
So they pursue purely worldly goals.
The fear that you feel in the schoolyard is the fear that drives them.
Everyone will pick on me.
Everyone will spit on me.
Everyone will reject me.
Everyone will take advantage of me.
So, out of fear, we act first.
Get the other guy before he gets you.
Dog eat dog.
He has no idea that he can appeal to God for help.
He has no idea of God other than the purely reactive nature of his life.
Life is tough.
He is hard , he is cold, he is merciless, he is violent, he is hypocritical, he is brutal.
He blames God and crucifies Jesus.
All out of fear of what everyone will do to him.
He dare not show a weakness.
He dare not show mercy or compassion.
Business is business.
Everyone will take advantage of me.
So we are locked into this grid of fear.
Why are financial arrangements always kept secret?
Because the rich are afraid of what will happen if people find out how much they have and how they make it.
We fear losing our riches - our money, our possessions, our privileges.....
Our fear is so great that it overrides our principles.
It's sink or swim.
And they impose these conditions on everyone.
The board of directors. The C.E.O.. The shareholders.
They report the bottom live. The Profit. Not how they made it or how they treated their employees.
And if someone does find out that they exploit child labor, or steal third world land, or avoid billions in tax havens there is always the fall guy - the one who acted independently, and of whom the executives and the board of directors had no knowledge.
As if they did not know what was happening in their own companies.
This tough philosophy finds a companion in fundamentalist religion.
The severe and stingy God.
As if we make God in our own image.
Driven by their fear of God they restrict freedoms and resist change.
How could this happen?
How could they be in a Church and worship God and still be ignorant of His nature?
What is their motivation?
Why are they there?
"'Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.'" Matthew 24;28 (NRSV)
Does he want power?
Does he want authority?
Does he want a throne, or a crown?
Does he want magnificent robes, or pure gold candlesticks?
Does he want a palace?
These are the things they are reluctant to relinquish.
And perhaps this is why Jesus said to them, ""you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.'" Luke 11:52b (NRSV)
This is the unholy alliance of the religious conservatives and the plutocrats.
A pact that worships money and power.
Their fear of poverty is so great that it overrides their principles.
The rod has flourished.
And the key is lost.
[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.]
It can only be fear.
Mistaking the actions of men and women and the indifference of nature for the nature of God they develop a tough philosophy that is realistic and pragmatic.
In fact they see no evidence that there is a God at all.
So they pursue purely worldly goals.
The fear that you feel in the schoolyard is the fear that drives them.
Everyone will pick on me.
Everyone will spit on me.
Everyone will reject me.
Everyone will take advantage of me.
So, out of fear, we act first.
Get the other guy before he gets you.
Dog eat dog.
He has no idea that he can appeal to God for help.
He has no idea of God other than the purely reactive nature of his life.
Life is tough.
He is hard , he is cold, he is merciless, he is violent, he is hypocritical, he is brutal.
He blames God and crucifies Jesus.
All out of fear of what everyone will do to him.
He dare not show a weakness.
He dare not show mercy or compassion.
Business is business.
Everyone will take advantage of me.
So we are locked into this grid of fear.
Why are financial arrangements always kept secret?
Because the rich are afraid of what will happen if people find out how much they have and how they make it.
We fear losing our riches - our money, our possessions, our privileges.....
Our fear is so great that it overrides our principles.
It's sink or swim.
And they impose these conditions on everyone.
The board of directors. The C.E.O.. The shareholders.
They report the bottom live. The Profit. Not how they made it or how they treated their employees.
And if someone does find out that they exploit child labor, or steal third world land, or avoid billions in tax havens there is always the fall guy - the one who acted independently, and of whom the executives and the board of directors had no knowledge.
As if they did not know what was happening in their own companies.
This tough philosophy finds a companion in fundamentalist religion.
The severe and stingy God.
As if we make God in our own image.
Driven by their fear of God they restrict freedoms and resist change.
How could this happen?
How could they be in a Church and worship God and still be ignorant of His nature?
What is their motivation?
Why are they there?
"'Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.'" Matthew 24;28 (NRSV)
Does he want power?
Does he want authority?
Does he want a throne, or a crown?
Does he want magnificent robes, or pure gold candlesticks?
Does he want a palace?
These are the things they are reluctant to relinquish.
And perhaps this is why Jesus said to them, ""you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.'" Luke 11:52b (NRSV)
This is the unholy alliance of the religious conservatives and the plutocrats.
A pact that worships money and power.
Their fear of poverty is so great that it overrides their principles.
The rod has flourished.
And the key is lost.
[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.]
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Isaiah 61.
"'The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
"'He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.'" Luke 4:18,19 (NRSV)
When these words, which Jesus spoke at the beginning of his mission, were read out in Church we were informed that some passages from Isaiah 61 were missing.
When I got home I looked it up.
Apart from some paraphrasing the obvious omission comes from the end of the reading. Isaiah 61 has "'and the day of vengeance of our God'" after "'the year of the Lord's favor.'" Isaiah 61:2 (NRSV)
Could it be that, like myself and other Progressive Christians, Jesus did not believe that God was vengeful and punishing?
The overwhelming spirit of Jesus' mission was love, forgiveness, compassion, and generosity (abundance).
It has been demonstrated elsewhere that the writers of the Gospels put words retrospectively into Jesus' mouth.
Could it be that we are being given justification for our practice of removing from the end of passages (mostly from the Old Testament) about God's nature the additional lines of vengeance and punishment?
This occurs elsewhere in the Bible.
Jonah's declaration of the nature of God (Jonah 4:2b) which refers back to Exodus 34:6,7 omits the last lines about guilt and punishment (later revoked in Ezekiel 18).
Could it be that later writers discerned more clearly the nature of God?
The image of God evolves in the Bible from a primitive, tribal God to be appeased to the benevolent, loving Father of all which Jesus showed us.
I am prepared to say that the Old Testament prophets were wrong when they spoke of vengeance and punishment from God.
God is all-loving, all-forgiving, all-compassionate.
His nature is the abundance of life.
His light is without shadow.
And His heart is full of Love.
[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.]
"'He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.'" Luke 4:18,19 (NRSV)
When these words, which Jesus spoke at the beginning of his mission, were read out in Church we were informed that some passages from Isaiah 61 were missing.
When I got home I looked it up.
Apart from some paraphrasing the obvious omission comes from the end of the reading. Isaiah 61 has "'and the day of vengeance of our God'" after "'the year of the Lord's favor.'" Isaiah 61:2 (NRSV)
Could it be that, like myself and other Progressive Christians, Jesus did not believe that God was vengeful and punishing?
The overwhelming spirit of Jesus' mission was love, forgiveness, compassion, and generosity (abundance).
It has been demonstrated elsewhere that the writers of the Gospels put words retrospectively into Jesus' mouth.
Could it be that we are being given justification for our practice of removing from the end of passages (mostly from the Old Testament) about God's nature the additional lines of vengeance and punishment?
This occurs elsewhere in the Bible.
Jonah's declaration of the nature of God (Jonah 4:2b) which refers back to Exodus 34:6,7 omits the last lines about guilt and punishment (later revoked in Ezekiel 18).
Could it be that later writers discerned more clearly the nature of God?
The image of God evolves in the Bible from a primitive, tribal God to be appeased to the benevolent, loving Father of all which Jesus showed us.
I am prepared to say that the Old Testament prophets were wrong when they spoke of vengeance and punishment from God.
God is all-loving, all-forgiving, all-compassionate.
His nature is the abundance of life.
His light is without shadow.
And His heart is full of Love.
[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.]
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
The Ways of God 3.
A third reason why we do not see the ways of God in the world is that Satanism in the entertainment industries hijacks any cause that has popular support and drives it to ruin.
This can clearly be seen with the sabotage of the human rights movement of the 1960s. Rock stars took over the reins and ruined a whole generation of idealistic people with drugs, divorce, hedonism, and anti-Christian propaganda.
This continues today - most of our entertainment, including sports, is directed (overtly or covertly) towards this end.
They are the enemies of God and they work to undo His works in the world.
This is why the presence of Satanism in our entertainment must be exposed.
Otherwise they will take over any new religion or idealism and wreck it completely.
What is left of the idealism of the 1960s and 1970s?
They will betray you, distract you, and reverse whatever you try to do to make a difference.
So this element must be addressed if we are to move towards a better, more loving world.
This can clearly be seen with the sabotage of the human rights movement of the 1960s. Rock stars took over the reins and ruined a whole generation of idealistic people with drugs, divorce, hedonism, and anti-Christian propaganda.
This continues today - most of our entertainment, including sports, is directed (overtly or covertly) towards this end.
They are the enemies of God and they work to undo His works in the world.
This is why the presence of Satanism in our entertainment must be exposed.
Otherwise they will take over any new religion or idealism and wreck it completely.
What is left of the idealism of the 1960s and 1970s?
They will betray you, distract you, and reverse whatever you try to do to make a difference.
So this element must be addressed if we are to move towards a better, more loving world.
Monday, 2 September 2013
The Ways of God 2.
Another reason why the ways of God are not followed on earth has to do with the power of the corporations.
Because the corporations own everything, not only do we encounter them directly as our employer, but we also encounter them indirectly through the media.
And because everything in the corporations is geared to making more and more money the values of Mammon are universal.
How can this be addressed?
The only institution which has more power than the corporations is the government.
If we elect a government which is prepared to regulate the corporations we will be taking the first step towards changing the values we encounter in the world on a daily basis.
Were the state to regulate work place relations, tax evasion, unfair dismissal, media ownership, corporate bonuses, shareholder rights etc. we may be able to narrow the widening gap between the rich and the poor.
Anti-discrimination, gay marriage, asylum seekers, immigration, disability insurance, and other social issues can be legislated to create a fairer, more compassionate world.
But it is up to us to overcome our fears and open our hearts to those around us.
Then we may begin to see the ways of God in the world.
Because the corporations own everything, not only do we encounter them directly as our employer, but we also encounter them indirectly through the media.
And because everything in the corporations is geared to making more and more money the values of Mammon are universal.
How can this be addressed?
The only institution which has more power than the corporations is the government.
If we elect a government which is prepared to regulate the corporations we will be taking the first step towards changing the values we encounter in the world on a daily basis.
Were the state to regulate work place relations, tax evasion, unfair dismissal, media ownership, corporate bonuses, shareholder rights etc. we may be able to narrow the widening gap between the rich and the poor.
Anti-discrimination, gay marriage, asylum seekers, immigration, disability insurance, and other social issues can be legislated to create a fairer, more compassionate world.
But it is up to us to overcome our fears and open our hearts to those around us.
Then we may begin to see the ways of God in the world.
Sunday, 1 September 2013
The Ways of God 1.
"In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.
"Many people shall come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths.'" Isaiah 2:2-3a (NRSV)
The main reason why this has not happened in the past is because the Churches were not teaching the ways of God.
The Christian Churches preached a version of Christology which did not reflect the pacifist, forgiving, loving nature of God.
How could the nations learn the ways of God if His own Churches did not teach them?
As I have said elsewhere, this is because the conservative establishment usurped the absolute power of Christ and modified Jesus' message of love and forgiveness to suit their own power and position.
We are only now beginning to see the true nature of Jesus' message as Progressive Christianity deconstructs the scriptures to reveal the true ways of God: unconditional love, forgiveness, benevolence, and equality.
[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.]
"Many people shall come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths.'" Isaiah 2:2-3a (NRSV)
The main reason why this has not happened in the past is because the Churches were not teaching the ways of God.
The Christian Churches preached a version of Christology which did not reflect the pacifist, forgiving, loving nature of God.
How could the nations learn the ways of God if His own Churches did not teach them?
As I have said elsewhere, this is because the conservative establishment usurped the absolute power of Christ and modified Jesus' message of love and forgiveness to suit their own power and position.
We are only now beginning to see the true nature of Jesus' message as Progressive Christianity deconstructs the scriptures to reveal the true ways of God: unconditional love, forgiveness, benevolence, and equality.
[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.]
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