King, Beck and the Tea Party
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The Day The Lord Made
Psalms 82:4-5 ‘Deliver the poor and needy: Rid them out of the hand of the wicked. They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: All the foundations of the earth are out of course.’
“So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Forty-Seven years ago today, August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and proclaimed he had a dream. He also proclaimed several other things. He said, “. . .the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.”
Today’s Pittsburg Post-Gazette published an article stating that “the Pittsburg region has the highest rate of poverty among working-age African-Americans of any of the 40 largest metropolitan regions in the country.” Poverty stands at 28 %.
On July 20, 2010, Phil Wilson of the Black AIDS Institute wrote that still today in America, “Black people are disproportionately poor. Almost 25 percent of Blacks live in poverty, compared to 9 percent of whites.”
James 2:6 ‘But ye have despised the poor. . .’
Of course, Tea Party people seem to have taken it upon themselves to discount these disproportionate facts as some kind of anomaly meant to destroy all society. Any restructuring to bridge the gulf is socialism and/or worse – Communism.
After all, there is a black president in Washington, and a communist one at that – and a Muslim to boot. Let’s think, what other ridiculous labels can we paste on this colored-man in order to smear his presidency? Perhaps we can be like Sarah Palin and side with the likes of Dr. Laura Schlessinger who so ignorantly stated, “Yeah, we’ve got a black man as president, and we have more complaining about racism than ever. I mean, I think that’s hilarious.”
Hilarious? More than ever? This woman had to have been alive to see and hear the original march on Washington by the civil rights movement – the one that followed other marches met with water cannons and police cordons. Ignorance is bliss for those who want to decide for themselves what is racist and what is not. How else can you explain continued support for New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino after he says he wants to convert prisons into welfare housing so cultured professionals can “Teach them personal hygiene?” Isn’t there supposedly already a lack of prison space in this nation? And if you house a bunch of welfare recipients in the same building aren’t you only reinventing the ghettos and the projects which have plagued major cities like Chicago and New York for decades? Of course, mankind has a long history of rounding up its unwanted members and placing them strategically in places where they will receive humane treatment. Asylums, concentration camps, internment camps, plantations and reservations quickly leap to mind.
“Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off some steam and will now be content, will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.
When you listen to blunt detractors of change like Glenn Beck, what you are hearing is a desire to return to “business as usual.” This is a man who has the audacity to say things like, “We are on the right side of history. We are on the side of individual freedoms and liberties and, damn it, we will reclaim the civil rights movement. We will take that movement – because we were the people who did it in the first place.”
Who the heck is “WE!”
The civil rights movement he wants to take – or reclaim – is really a rehashing of Mormon militarism that believes in Joseph Smith’s ancient America, a land of white Christians driving out the ungodly heathens to create a utopian society. Mr. Beck, the Mormon, has labeled the current President, Barack Obama, a racist. And yet, his Mormon faith taught and practiced racism, declaring all blacks as cursed and unfit for the priesthood. And if he is unit for the priesthood because of his color, he surely can’t be president.
President Joseph Fielding Smith of the Mormon Church once said, “There is a reason why one man is born black and with other disadvantages while another is born white with great advantages. (Blacks sided with Lucifer and Whites sided with Christ in heaven a long time ago) . . . The Negro, evidently, is receiving the reward he merits.”
This all looms large in the insensitive world of those who fear political correctness aimed at bigots and capitalist who nurture greed as though it were a child. Listen to Beck’s own words concerning President Barack Obama.
“This guy has a social justice; he is going to set all the wrongs of the past right.” - Glenn Beck
Hmmm – Like Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to do?
And what about these wrongs of the past? How far back in the past must one go to see injustices that should be righted?
There is a valid reason Obama keeps pointing to the past administration, to Bush’s administration. In December 2008, while Bush was yet in office, the media was reporting on how Bush was rapidly approaching the disaster mark set by Herbert Hoover. The economy had declined for twelve straight months, a recession approaching the early 70s and the Great Depression. Unemployment increased every month for the last year of his presidency – and each month was progressively worse than the one before. A statement by Ian Shepherdson at High Frequency Economics said at the time, “We have gone from recession into something that looks more like collapse.”
This calamity the Bush administration spurred into action was not going to be stopped or fixed in one, two or even three years – and anyone but a complete fool would think otherwise.
The Bush administration began what was a greedy, immoral and insensitive experiment in injustice that is still lingering and being perpetrated on people today. The jobs that kept people working here in America and able to be productive consumers, have been sent overseas in a corporate global economy that doesn’t give a dang about nations or religion or patriotism. This world order Bush fostered, empowered certain people, certain families, through conglomerates and monopolies, deregulated industry that can work starving people for pennies. Those who say Obama has not done enough are the ones with their hands on their wallets saying, “We gave enough, we are not giving anymore.” They then turn to Beck and his ilk and call for this fictional return to some reinvented history they believe was more just and fair to all men then the one Martin Luther King and peace advocates sought.
And when I say this I mean men, because women have all too soon forgotten that they did not have many rights at the turn of the century. When they fought this inequality – they too were labeled anarchist, socialists and communists. Funny how those same old labels keep popping up every time the power base is challenged.
“We are erasing history. Our sacred American writings. Our sacred American heroes and ideas. We need to look at our children as a vessel that we put these in. They’re never going to be able to make it if they don’t know the truth of our history. If they don’t know the truth of who we are and who they are and what they are able to accomplish.” - Glenn Beck
Who is he speaking too?
Is this flowery patriotism for the unemployed or the employed?
Is it for the homeless or those with homes?
Is it for the ones with decent jobs and savings, or the ones in broken families, struggling to make ends meet with two or three jobs?
Is it for the ones who want quality healthcare or the ones who just want some healthcare?
The “We” this man is leading into battle are the ones who don’t believe in social justice. They don’t believe in equality. Mr. Beck can call the first President of the United States who is not white, a racist, and somehow continue to idolize the white presidents who sat in office during slavery before the Emancipation Proclamation. He can venerate all the white presidents who continued after Abraham Lincoln, to deny equality, leading Dr. King to make that triumphant march on Washington in 1963. And yet still, here we are today. Political luminaries like Sarah Palin cheering Dr. Schlessinger.
“I really thought that once we had a black president, the attempt to demonize whites hating blacks would stop, but it seems to have grown, I don’t get it. Yes, I do. It’s all about power. It’s all about power and that’s sad . . .” - Dr. Laura Schlessinger
That’s really the only thing she got right. It is about power and those with it desperately clinging to it.
This is the fairy tale Tea Party people are living in. They think racism is suddenly over because there is a black president.
I’m going to sum this all up with one of my favorite moments in “real” history that the Glenn Beck’s of the world don’t tell their children – one that kind of undermines their whole sanctity of the American spirit.
Sitting Bull, that savage Sioux Indian chief that critics and papers alike said killed General George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn before becoming a glamorous side show attraction for Bill Cody’s Wild West, was invited to make a speech at the ceremony uniting the transcontinental railroad. This was a great day for America, especially white America.
Sitting Bull proceeded to the stand and in his native tongue to say to his audience, in part, “I hate all the white people . . . You are thieves and liars. You have taken our lands and made us outcasts.” When he was done speaking, he sat down and a young army officer got up and read a prepared speech which was supposed to be an accurate translation of Sitting Bull. Of course, it was not. The audience gave Sitting Bull a standing ovation.
Those in the Tea Party are no different than the people listening to the lie and applauding – badly informed.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 ‘For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.’
Let me make it quite clear that I am not a political person. The Obama administration means nothing to me whatsoever. The only equality and freedom I see is the one to be found in Christ. And for His administration I will do what is stated in 2 Timothy 4:2. “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
There are no answers to be found in a vote. There are no answers to be found in Washington.
There are however answers to be found in prayers. So pray unceasingly for wisdom and charity to overcome ignorance and greed. Governments, all governments, out of necessity, are in bed with both evils.
“The white man knows how to make everything, but he doesn’t know how to distribute it.” - Sitting Bull
Ain’t it the truth or is it hilarious? Counts on who is speaking I guess.
Either way, Glenn Beck would say that Sitting Bull had “a deep seated hatred for white people or the white culture.”
And you wonder why? You think he would have gotten over it by now –losing his land, his home, his family, and his life. Why can’t everybody just be civilized and assimilate – obey their masters – be more – oh what’s the word - white. Now that is a return to the old American ideals of civil rights and who and what we are – a return to a godly foundation of slavery and imperialism – prosperity run amuck.
Unbelievable.
Amen
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Thanks for the quick comment 'who wrote this' Peace
A M Werner, This is a noteworthy hub! Much here to contemplate…
“Ignorance is bliss for those who want to decide for themselves what is racist and what is not. “ So true! Racism takes on many forms…
The remarks of those mentioned should not be taken lightly…
I personally tend not to participate in politics as well… Man’s quest for power usually overrides the fact that the Lord is Supreme and rather seeks to adopt and establish immoral and compromising political doctrines, beliefs and concepts for life that are embraced by those most popular…
I look to our Sovereign Lord! However you have make some very interesting points that I believe one should ponder…
“There are however answers to be found in prayers. So pray unceasingly for wisdom and charity to overcome ignorance and greed. Governments, all governments, out of necessity, are in bed with both evils.” Amen! Never underestimate the power of the Lord!
Thank you for sharing, In His Love, Peace & Blessings!
AW,
A very sad commentary on the human condition.
For me, the extent of my politics is giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God's.
As a nation, we choose to fight where there is no war and point fingers of accusation at others for the same things we ourselves are doing. Generation after generation, we see the same thing and we refuse to learn the lessons of history.
In a short while, Obama will be replaced by another and the attacks will shift as they always do. Man cannot focus on himself for what may be reveal is too horrible and so we keep the attention elsewhere. Man is as Scripture describes, fallen and without God, doomed.
Thank you AW for sharing your thoughts. Very interesting read.
God bless you!!
Forever His,
Allen, I'll need to think on this a while, as it came to me as two trains racing on one track, the last train can never get ahead unless the first derails, Peace Dusty
DeBorrah, you are right, prayer should never be underestimated. Mankind, left to his own, without the Lord, will do the immoral, the unjust, the selfish. Racism is just a means by which these devilish activities can be carried out. Separating people for whatever reason people want to imagine, is a means to an end - an end which results in power for those deciding who should be separated. Peace.
Saundra, you identified the problem precisely - "Obama will be replaced by another and the attacks will shift as they always do." Politics just go on and on, and the infighting, espionage and twisting of the truth continues no matter who is in office. As Christians, we truly do need to leave to Caesar what is Caesars, and show the world the power of the Holy Spirit, the enlightment of the eternal light. There is nothing new under the sun - and what mankind calls best and just - never is. Somebody loses somewhere. Someone gets the short straw and someone suffers. Christ came to redeem the lost sheep. Lazarus, in Luke Chapter 16 should mean more to us than it does. When the rich man is suffering on the wrong side of the gulf after death, and merely wants a drop of water from the tip of Lazarus' finger, Father Abraham responds, "Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime received the good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted and thou art tormented."
I hear the healthcare debate, and all the people with money complaining about the cost - of what it will all mean to future generations, to their children. In the meantime, they're ignoring the needs of the poor today. How will such selfishness be viewed in eternity? As Christians we are responsible for the poor and needy just as much as we are our children. We cannot save to provide for our kids tommorrow if the cost will be a life of another today. But then again, on many scales today, that computes, just as it has, generation after generation. Peace.
Dusty, take all the time you want but please let me know what you end up deciding. Your opinion is always welcome. I truly respect your views and respect your input. Peace.
A M
I can relate to Dusty's comment. There is much to assimilate here and I as well must chew on it for a while. You have a good way of touching a neerve :-)
On Racism. What I see is a pretense of breaking the barrier down. I see it sometimes even in the way some of my extended family treats my grandchildren. They smile and act welcoming but other actions discount their importance and I am left wondering...I also have sadly heard of derogatory comments from some of the church body about our international students that are brothers and sisters in Christ..and yet who are the ones who show up for prayer...the internationals, who is it that takes God at His word for healing, and strength and courage...the internationals...God's people really need to take the leadership in the breaking down of prejudices but we can only do this if our hearts are pure before God and undefiled in the area of love for God, self and others..
I'm going to have to read this over a few more times because I'm not sure I'm completely understanding it.
One thing that struck me as inappropriate was Rev. Al Sharpton saying, "This is OUR day." Who is "us?" He should mean ALL Americans, but he was referring to African Americans. What? So there were no white people involved in the civil rights movement? Yes there were. What? So white people don't care about Martin Luther King, Jr.? Yes, they do.
I don't like the "us", "we" and "them" things they say.
CS, while part of my family was very welcoming to my wife, some were not; and still make things uncomfortable when we are around. With that phone call between Dr. Laura and Jade, I could relate. When we are around these people they can say some things that they don't think are racist or hurtful, and like Dr. Laura, chalk it up to being hypersensitive.
I think as Christians, it is our duty to always be sensitive to the feelings of others and try our best to be peacemakers. It is sad when "church-people", as you said, act welcoming but have no filter on their words and actions. Peace.
Lori, I think Sharpton's words were actually spot on, and this is the part of racism which still remains unfathomable to many white people. Joining a protest aimed at someone else is never the same as being the one targeted. Those that join always have the option to walk away from the situtation and rejoin the mainstream without anyone noticing.
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was black America trying to convince government that they had rights which they were not receiving. It was fantastic, and still is today, that many white people support this cause, but it doesn't change the truth that white people cannot comprehend or feel the hate. To know that your family members, because of the color of their skin, were enslaved, were tortured, were dispossessed of property and rights, were not allowed to eat in the same places as whites, were not allowed to even use the bathroom in the same places as whites; can't be equalled. Caring about Martin Luther King will never be the same from the white and black perspective. Somehow, someway, Christian whites need to embrace this and realize that what they are choosing to oppose still makes them different than those forced to oppose. Peace.
Peace indeed.
You raise some excellent points, then completely misunderstand their significance. Black Poverty is a shame in a country like America. I feel it necessary to point out that the Black population has a tendency to vote Democrat, and that virtually every Democrat majority district is in financial shambles.
It is the Left which habitually and systematically segregates people into groups, so they can be pitted against each other for political gain. Conservatives -and I can assure you that I am very much the Conservative- just see People. Not "black" people, and "white" people. Just People.
If we were such the sexist bastards the Left paints us as, why are all these conservative women doing so well? If were all that Racist, how did Justice Clarence Thomas or Dr. Condoleeza Rice make it so far? If memory serves, it was the Left which spread slander and libel against people like them. As if it was sacrilegious for them to escape the Liberal Plantation, and think for themselves.
So I have to ask you; If liberal policies are such the great way to run a polity, why is it all the most liberal districts are in such financial ruin? Why do they suffer the most crime, abortion, and civil unrest? Why, indeed, do you keep voting for and blogging for those very same people who have lead you to the edge of calamity, over and over again?
And I'm not talking about the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He said it best when he said we should judge a Man by the content of his character, not the color of his skin. And to quote the Bible "A good tree can only bare good fruit." Where is all that Good Fruit of liberalism?
Hi there A.M.
I actually thought that the Mormons believed that those born black were born so, because they didn't fight as valiantly as the angels who were born as white people. Not because they sided with Lucifer.
Not being a Mormon, I'd have no clue as to that statement.
My default position would be "All men are created Equal." After which, what you do and create and contribute to society at large will directly dictate what society does for you.
These notions of "Social Justice" and "Economic Fairness" seem predicated on equality of outcome, not equality of opportunity. If working harder and smarter than the next guy, nets you exactly zilch more than just sitting on your kiester, few people indeed will actually work harder OR smarter.
It's the soft slavery of Dependence: Make something -or someone- dependent upon you (lets just say "you" are the government) for its basic necessities, and you own it. Outright.
Mankind has been domesticating animals of every breed in that manor for generations. We know the concept backwards and forwards. "Social Justice" puts people in complete dependence on the government for food, shelter, and most of the rest of the hierarchy of needs. Which makes them de facto slaves to the State.
Watching anyone volunteer for that kind of dependence makes me queasy. Listening to liberals tell whole groups that they cannot make it on their own, so dependence on the State is their only recourse, makes me rather angry.
I am reminded of the line in the movie "300" when the god-king Xerxes told the hunchback Ephealtes "Cruel Leonidas required that you stand, while I only ask that you kneel." All the while claiming he was compassionate and loving, just like modern liberals. No matter how pretty the words you use, slavery is slavery.
I prefer to stand, thank you.
Sanctus, I stand corrected. I have not studied the Mormons in awhile and was going by memory. You are correct. Thanks for showing me the light. Peace.
American Tiger, I had some time to digest your comments and I thank you for taking the time to read the hub.
You stated that I made some excellent points but then misunderstood their significance. Actually, I believe you misunderstood my intent on presenting them. You quoted the Bible when you asked "Where is all that Good Fruit of liberalism?" You then, in your follow up comment state, "What you do and create and contribute to society at large will directly dictate what society does for you." And hence, the root of the problem. Like every liberal and every conservative - you make society the tree on which everyone is dependent.
You state a few lines later that "Social Justice puts people in complete dependence on the government . . .(making) them de facto slaves to the State." Hence, what you did unconsciously was pretend society is not the tree that feeds and shelters in certain regards, and then say it is when you say that how you contribute to it is your reward or fruit. In the end, society is your focus because without upholding society, you don't have success or wealth or fruit - hence it is your tree of life.
As soon as one man, or a band of men say, "I own this land - I own this river," they begin the cycle of dependancy because now those requiring what is on that land and in that river must do homage of some sort to obtain it. And once everything is accounted for and owned, those who didn't get a cut, are basically left without.
Christ called on us to have mercy for those who are left without. He was not preaching an equal opportunity to succeed or obtain wealth. He was preaching a kingdom to come where all these unmerciful and selfish attitudes don't exists. He preached a kingdom where there was no cost for those who required food or drink or healing.
As Christians, we are to live our lives here as though we are already in that kingdom - we are represenatives of it.
I hold no love for the liberals. Both conservative and liberals are different sides of the same coin I wish Christians to render unto Caesar - let them play their foolish games of vanity.
I believe as a Christian, you will be constantly asked to choose between upholding true Christian principles or being party to a system that has no mercy or forgiveness and injures and kills out of necessity - for survival.
For Christ, everyone standing beneath the pole during His execution was a terrorist and terrorist sympathizer. He could have called out to His Father at anytime and destroyed everyone of them - and us - but He didn't. He had mercy on His terrorists - on us - and forgave them - and us.
His kingdom is completely different from anything this world can create or understand - or accept.
You asked, "Why do you keep voting for and blogging for those very same people . . .(and so forth)?"
Truth is, I have never advised anyone to vote for a liberal. I have never advised anyone to vote for a conservative.
Anyone who has read my hubs knows exactly where I stand on this subject - and I stated it in this hub.
"There are no answers to be found in a vote. There are no answers to be found in Washington."
I believe in Christians being Christian - above and beyond every thing else. Morally, a Christian - like Christ - will never be able to fit into a society on earth, political or economical. They are all a vanity that goes against the principles of "Love thy Neighbor" and "Turn the Other Cheek." They are each and everyone, a tree that has the blood of the innocent coursing through its veins - keeping it alive.
Gandhi once said, "Live simply so others can simply live."
Truth is, that is as much blasphemous to a conservative capitalist as it is a liberal socialist. There is never a dialing down, never a step backwards, never a willingness to simply be content. The drive is always to have more, gain more, protect more, and do it faster. It is mankind's imaginary ungodly form of evolution, escalation, that will doom this world.
I simply believe it is time that real Christians realize that there are plenty of loaves and fishes to feed everyone, to divide among us - and anything less is hoarding, selfish, temporal and sinful. Peace.
Allen, I've again read this several times and an trying to find an answer and still I have none. The racist is an issue I cannot understand as though I lived in the days of the fight at it's peak for America to give up fair rights to the black people of this nation I was disconnected by not living in the areas most affected and grew up sans a black person anywhere in town or the area for that matter. It was whites and Mexican immigrants, I'd say about 50/50. I don't recall much discrimination either direction. I left home and went to boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina and that is where I was integrated with volunteers and draftees from the Bronx of New York and other eastern states. All my experiences were rounded by team work, what ever you were or came from in order to survive you were expected to work as one, and we did. I'm still disconnected from that subject and probably will always be. I'm largely cut off from the struggles of the world, good or bad, I like it this way as I find little comfort in the company or words and attitudes most express if you hang out with them long enough their actions will out them.
I vote not to further my self or any other, but to keep the privileges that I hold dear, I would say rights, but who would I be kidding? None of us have any rights, were just allowed to do some things that the rich allow, for now anyway. Things in this world seem to be all wrong to me anyway. I know how America got it's might as well as it's location to exist and it was bloodshed and power chasing the dollar, seems this country was the best at killing and taking what they wanted and using and abusing people of all walks of poor, be it a slave ship from Africa, or a bunch of folks from another country arriving to find their money came from the pits of a coal mine, living in shacks and owing the company store for their food and clothes, often more than they were paid. I grew up in a self sufficient mining town, what that means is the mining company owned everything from the market to the hospital, if you owed you owed the company that held your pay and the land beneath your home and your feet.
Nothings changed I don't suppose as I believe if they wanted to oust me from my land in the blink of an eye it could be done, heck that's how the Apache lost it so I could buy it from those who had no moral right to own it in the first place.
Christ will return and set it all straight and that will be that, so the best I can do is keep the faith and do unto others as I would myself.
Peace, Dusty
Allen...Reading your Hub and your comments I'm not finding much of substance here...American Tiger's comments bring the poverty argument into a tighter focus that gives credibility to the statement " Equal opportunity, not equal outcomes "...I believe America has provided the opportunities of equal access to education, work, and property...The stigma of generational welfare has destroyed any resolve to improve or change behaviour...That the soft racism of the left is tolerated speaks to the dependency created by progressives...
My heroes in this struggle against black poverty is not Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, or Malcolm X...My heroes are:
Herman Cain...Entrepreneur, scientist, and critical thinker.
Shelby Steele...Brilliant writer on the cultural fallacies of Black poverty.
Professor Thomas Sowell... Stanford academic, writer, and commentator on the social anemia of Black Americans.
Please have the courage to see that the solution to poverty lies within each of us, black or white...Personal responsibility, hard work, perseverance, and a dream are all that's needed in this America to succeed...Larry
Dusty, I see that tightrope you are walking on. You can have a keen sense of how things are and how they should be, and an awareness that the two shall never meet. You want to express your beliefs freely and retain your rights, and it is distressing to acknowledge, even to yourself, the freedoms and rights are an illusion that certain men can take from you in the blink of an eye - even here in America. I'm am so thankful you are centered in the Lord, that your desire for the coming day of the Lord remains a final summation when all the variables become too much to comprehend. It's kind of like the old Supertramp song "Logical Song'. Now that we are older and have experienced and tasted some of the world, we want to use that knowledge as a benefit while finding that peaceful wonder we knew as a child. Sadly, the greed of men who cannot see beyond progress and civilization won't let us. Stay well my friend. Peace.
Larry, thanks for coming in and commenting. I know you might have been looking for something of "substance" but I have to wonder what it is you mean by that. The hub was presented as a religious viewpoint, spiritual in nature, and not worldly. The idea was to feed the design in all of us to give without counting the cost, without looking on the reasons for a person's situation. Only looking at the present moment, day by day, and seeing how much we have in our pocket in comparison to someone in need right now. I believe in true Christianity, tomorrow doesn't matter. In Matthew chapter 6 we are told to consider the lilies, how they do not toil and yet are cared for. We are not to worry about the "morrow." And yet, in America, in capitalism, the focus is always on tomorrow, on saving, on planning, on devising. I don't think it really has anything to do with equal access as much as equal choice. No matter how people want to break it down, it was the White man who brought the instability of money, education and work to people they considered uncivilized, and forced them to accept this lifestyle. All of us don't want it - but much like the Native Americans, we are given no choice - it is assimilate or die. One of the biggest things I have noticed in researching White America's imperical run across North America was the constant reminder by those dealing with Indians that they could not be tamed until they learned to forsake their tribal communalism, and embrace the things of the White man. Things have not changed. It wasn't poverty to live simply until people took ownership of the resources and coerced everyone to work for more than the basic necessities.
I have read that capitalism presumes that people want to better themselves. I see that clearly in your comment. Sadly, we live in a nation that has learned to better itself in education, technology and healthcare without moral charity. I believe a "better" morality, through Christ, actually makes us less concerned with civilization and progress when those pursuits will only serve to destroy the enviroment and the lives of the disenfranchised. Dusty brought this fact up in his last comment above when he mentioned the mining towns that were inclusive and owned wholly by corporations. People were at the mercy of business - and business would like nothing better than to return to those good old days. It is the unchecked greed that leads to collusion and monopolies. I believe it was Joseph Schumpeter who called it "creative destruction." It is unstable and volatile, and every good economist knows it will, at times, suffer panics and depressions. Those loyal to capitalism views these side-effects like they do ones on a bottle of medicine, a necessary evil.
I for one prefer to put my faith in the Lord. I think far too many well-meaning Christians are still putting their faith in the society in which they live, in serving it, catering to it, and living by the rules it flaunts.
I know too many good people right now who have had good paying jobs, with good work historys and educations, that have been out of work, losing jobs, losing homes, marriages falling apart. Things are always considered good for those who are insulted from a fire, but those in it or near it, don't think the same. The protected ones are still focused on their futures while the rest are afraid they won't make it through the day.
Christ told us that the poor will always be with us. The desire for people to rise up out of it themselves does not solve the problem of those who will always be with us. As Christians, I believe that is the main focus and there should be no cost to saving, providing and healing despite the reasons. But this is a spiritual solution for our souls, not a national solution to welfare. If the majority of Americans are suffering and want to demand help from the minority with the wealth to make it so - are they any less American? And what will those who have be willing to do to protect what they have from those who need it? I guess that answer can be found in those old mining towns where corporations actually had their owned police force and the federal government stood by and let them exact justice any way they saw fit. Sorry for the ranting reply. Peace.
Allen...I don't consider your comment a rant, rather a personal expression of frustration with the world as you see it...I was somewhat baffled by the rather naive remark you made that tomorrow is not important...My mind is always in the tomorrows of life's struggles...Were I to invest myself with the present I would be a failure as a father and husband to my family...Their future is what most motivates my actions and thoughts...without careful and dedicated planning their future would be determined not by choice, but by the dictates of others...I cannot allow that...
Your search for Nirvana will never occur here on this earth of ours...there is no perfection to be found within the human context...and to expect such is Pollyanna...
I grew up in orphanages and learned early on to toughen my mind and body, yet I failed to strengthen my soul...As an altar boy I served Mass as an automaton, going through the motions, chanting Latin phrases, totally bereft of religiosity...As an adult I am in constant battle with my logical and spiritual minds, finding no answers, even at this late stage in life...
So having no answers for myself, I cannot offer answers to your spiritual plea other then that each person must remain true to themselves and accept others without prejudice or perverse pride...We are all simply animated dirt moving about in a world of absurdity, from which we will return to this good earth...Larry
Larry, I appreciate your candor and openness. It is amazing how much truth pours out of one's soul when we allow it. Many times, people who disagree, have no real reasons to disagree. It is always encouraging to find people who can be honest about where they come from and why they are the way they are. Sharing your walk through religion speaks volumes. I never was a church-going man, and most of what I believe did not come through denominational adherences but life experiences.
Believe me when I say I have heard it all, especially from men in my family. The idea that I am naive, or searching for Nirvana only begins to skim the surface of the things I have had directed at me - but that is okay.
My faith comes from experiences with the Holy Spirit. As you have stated, you learned to toughen your mind and body through your experiences. It taught you to feel as though you can, to a certain extent control your future, and basically become a failure as a father and husband if you don't work towards this.
I, however, gave myself to Christ, which means He is all in all, and today is what matters, even if it cost me everything. For me, "God" doesn't have to prove anything to me. All things work together for good for those that love the Lord and are called according to His purposes. Nothing bad can happen, because anything that does happen if His will in my life.
It is like the three young men in the book of Daniel who were being tossed into the furnace. They told the king that he could throw them in if he wanted, but their lives were not in his hands. If the Lord willed it, they could be saved, or they could be burned - either way it did not matter. Their trust and faith in the Lord superior to what could or might happen.
I am married with three daughters, and all of them know that the Lord comes first - even before them. And this is not a bad thing as many would suspect. Their futures are not in my hand anymore than mine own is. And I expect them to uphold the same teaching, that the Lord come first for them, before me and before one another. It is a humility few can wrap their heads around but it creates a loving and peaceful enviroment within oneself and with those they live with.
I'm not looking for Nirvana for I am already living this life as an ambassador for another. I have peace despite anything that happens - not saying I don't experience frustration or sin, or make mistakes. I just know the Lord accepts me in this state as long as the intent of my heart is always coming back to Him, quickly and expediently. Peace.
Excellent!
Thanks for commenting SJerZGirl. Peace.
who wrote this 21 months ago
I really enjoyed this..