Every morning I get my coffee and sign on to Facebook so I can start hiding offensive posts. It is ridiculous. People do not even think about what they are posting. Egocentricism rules.
I am tired of people posting about being "disarmed". No one proposed that. Know what you are talking about before you post. I don't like seeing pictures of guns randomly popping up on my newsfeed. Bring back the kittens. They are much more pleasant. Tell me, if you are packing heat, and you walk down the street, and a thug pops up behind you with a gun....oh...wait...your gun does you no good because the guy with the gun - you didn't know he had it until it was too late. I don't want children seeing guns everywhere. This is not the OK Corral. Seriously. CCW - few things aggravate me more than that. If you are a hothead and carrying a gun around in the WalMart parking lot, I deserve to know you are armed. It should not be concealed. Aren't concealed, unknown weapons the big problem you are worried about? I had a person post "if you don't agree about guns, unfriend me". So I did. Asinine to be that invested in it, isn't it? As for the constitution - it was not written when automatic weapons were available. I saw this quote and liked it: When did an armed well regulated militia become a well armed unregulated public? (paraphrased).
The next thing is bring prayer and the Bible back to schools! NO! I take my child to church. I teach him our religion. There is a new kid in his class from India. Nice, polite little boy. Is it fair to make him uncomfortable and point him out as "different"? He is not Christian. We should not force it on him. He is fine. He is not violent, evil, or wrong. He is simply a child who is Hindu. Many people who do hateful, violent acts are "Christian". Warren Jeffs molested his own nephews as well as many other children. Westboro Baptist Church, they are Christian, right? The school does not have time to teach my child everything he needs to know as it is. They have to teach toward these tests. I do not want them taking time out of his day to teach him what my church and myself should be teaching him. Our religion is ours. Everyone else does not have to be in agreement. Morality and religion are two different things, and both can exist without the other. Many horrible things have been done in the name of religion.
Let's start looking at ourselves. If we all show love and kindness, that will catch on, and things will change. Honestly. Smiles and laughs are far more contagious than crankiness and depression. Many studies have shown that. So if we all start spreading smiles and hugs, we may not need these darned guns and can stop pointing fingers. Violence and intolerance are not the solution to our problems.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
On my soapbox this morning
I have never been a blogger, but recently I find myself having so many thoughts when I look at Facebook that I don't think they necessarily fit in a status or response. In general, I think politics and religion are poor bedfellows for social interaction. If I wouldn't discuss it at a dinner party with casual acquaintances, I probably should not post it on Facebook. Most importantly, I have declared my Facebook page a positive place and I don't like to post any negativity whatsoever. With that being said, I created this blog as a place to express my ideas and opinions, so be warned, that is exactly what this is.
Lately a few things have been bothering me. This division among people is disheartening. I am both a Christian and a proud American. That means I follow the teachings of Christ and love my country. But what that means seems to be lost on most people in a fog of self-service. I will explain my position here.
As a Christian, I care what God thinks of me, not people. I will not sit back and allow people to be mistreated because "other people in my church may not agree". God's opinion is important, not other people. I don't remember reading anywhere in the Bible "if the deacons say", "if the bishops say", "if the congregation approves". None of that. What I have read is that Jesus promoted loving all. No judging. We aren't allowed to judge other people, we are allowed to love them. Blindly following what a church tells you is ridiculous. God gaves us brains, we should use them. He gave us free will, we should exercise it. We can read. We should study, research, and pray. Figure it out for ourselves. Blindly following what other humans say leads to trouble. If you don't believe me, refer to The Crusades, The Inquisition, Nazi Germany. Look at Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, David Koresh, Warren Jeffs. As far as I am concerned, to sit back and not speak up for what is right is a sin. It is allowing harm to come to others.
Second, there is this whole political thing. The last time I checked, in the National Archives there is a Constitution, not a Bible. That Constitution gives us all the right of religious freedom. That means I am free to attend church every Sunday and no one can legally stop me. That also means you are free to NOT attend church if you so choose, or you are free to attend Temple, Mass, anything that fits with your beliefs. I do not have the right to force my religion on you. That makes this country a beautiful place to be. We can all be ourselves. It is disturbing to me that people think laws should be based on religion. That is a direct violation of religious freedom. I do not have the right to say what you can and can't do based on my religion.
Some people believe that I cannot be a good Christian if I believe this. I disagree. The Bible and the Constitution are two different things. One is the basis of my personal religious beliefs. The other creates a government that allows people with many different views to live together and all be represented. Many of our founding fathers were free thinkers. That means they were very open when it came to religion. They did not necessarily want anyone legislating their morality. If you don't believe that, researching Thomas Jefferson will show you that he fathered children with a slave. Yes, he had slaves, and he had extramarital relations. Benjamin Franklin spent a large part of his married life living with another woman in England, away from his family. I don't think they necessarily wanted anyone enacting laws that dictated what was right and what was wrong morally.
I think it is irresponsible to pull things out of context. It is done with the Bible and with the Constitution. For example, if you want to define marriage based on the book of Leviticus in the Bible, take it in historical context. Polygamy was the norm. So, do we accept multiple wives and concubines in our marriages? If marriage is so sacred, why is the divorce rate so high? Why is having a mistress morally superior to loving someone of the same sex (ONE someone)? Do we stone people who work on Sunday? Are people put to death for what they eat? People like to say "The Bible is never wrong". Are they reading the entire Bible? Because there are more than likely a lot of things in there they do on a regular basis, and if the Bible is never wrong, they should probably be immediately executed. Let us remember that the Bible has been translated many times, but many different....HUMANS. Humans, who all had motives of their own, thoughts of their own, beliefs of their own. Everything has a historical and social context. Study the time and place these passages were written, and take that into consideration. It can't be done lightly. It requires a lot of work, study, and prayer. Times have changed, and the same social norms do not apply. The same goes for the Constitution. Take it IN context. It was written a long time ago. Things were different. Much different. What may have been 100% applicable then is not necessarily so now. That is why it has to be interpreted. Don't take one single line out of the entire document and use that as your basis for an argument. Read the whole entire thing.
I am sure I have lost you by now. I am ranting quite a bit. The bottom line is this. I am heartbroken by the violence and hatred I see in this world. People are more concerned with "my rights my rights I believe" and not "what is right, what is good, what is best for everyone". Giving someone else the same rights you enjoy is NOT taking away your rights. Allowing someone else freedom of or freedom from religion is NOT taking away your religious rights. Let's all learn to love each other, and take things in context. Let's look at the big picture, not just parts of it. And if we want to base things on religion, let's worry more about what CHRIST taught, not other people.
Lately a few things have been bothering me. This division among people is disheartening. I am both a Christian and a proud American. That means I follow the teachings of Christ and love my country. But what that means seems to be lost on most people in a fog of self-service. I will explain my position here.
As a Christian, I care what God thinks of me, not people. I will not sit back and allow people to be mistreated because "other people in my church may not agree". God's opinion is important, not other people. I don't remember reading anywhere in the Bible "if the deacons say", "if the bishops say", "if the congregation approves". None of that. What I have read is that Jesus promoted loving all. No judging. We aren't allowed to judge other people, we are allowed to love them. Blindly following what a church tells you is ridiculous. God gaves us brains, we should use them. He gave us free will, we should exercise it. We can read. We should study, research, and pray. Figure it out for ourselves. Blindly following what other humans say leads to trouble. If you don't believe me, refer to The Crusades, The Inquisition, Nazi Germany. Look at Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, David Koresh, Warren Jeffs. As far as I am concerned, to sit back and not speak up for what is right is a sin. It is allowing harm to come to others.
Second, there is this whole political thing. The last time I checked, in the National Archives there is a Constitution, not a Bible. That Constitution gives us all the right of religious freedom. That means I am free to attend church every Sunday and no one can legally stop me. That also means you are free to NOT attend church if you so choose, or you are free to attend Temple, Mass, anything that fits with your beliefs. I do not have the right to force my religion on you. That makes this country a beautiful place to be. We can all be ourselves. It is disturbing to me that people think laws should be based on religion. That is a direct violation of religious freedom. I do not have the right to say what you can and can't do based on my religion.
Some people believe that I cannot be a good Christian if I believe this. I disagree. The Bible and the Constitution are two different things. One is the basis of my personal religious beliefs. The other creates a government that allows people with many different views to live together and all be represented. Many of our founding fathers were free thinkers. That means they were very open when it came to religion. They did not necessarily want anyone legislating their morality. If you don't believe that, researching Thomas Jefferson will show you that he fathered children with a slave. Yes, he had slaves, and he had extramarital relations. Benjamin Franklin spent a large part of his married life living with another woman in England, away from his family. I don't think they necessarily wanted anyone enacting laws that dictated what was right and what was wrong morally.
I think it is irresponsible to pull things out of context. It is done with the Bible and with the Constitution. For example, if you want to define marriage based on the book of Leviticus in the Bible, take it in historical context. Polygamy was the norm. So, do we accept multiple wives and concubines in our marriages? If marriage is so sacred, why is the divorce rate so high? Why is having a mistress morally superior to loving someone of the same sex (ONE someone)? Do we stone people who work on Sunday? Are people put to death for what they eat? People like to say "The Bible is never wrong". Are they reading the entire Bible? Because there are more than likely a lot of things in there they do on a regular basis, and if the Bible is never wrong, they should probably be immediately executed. Let us remember that the Bible has been translated many times, but many different....HUMANS. Humans, who all had motives of their own, thoughts of their own, beliefs of their own. Everything has a historical and social context. Study the time and place these passages were written, and take that into consideration. It can't be done lightly. It requires a lot of work, study, and prayer. Times have changed, and the same social norms do not apply. The same goes for the Constitution. Take it IN context. It was written a long time ago. Things were different. Much different. What may have been 100% applicable then is not necessarily so now. That is why it has to be interpreted. Don't take one single line out of the entire document and use that as your basis for an argument. Read the whole entire thing.
I am sure I have lost you by now. I am ranting quite a bit. The bottom line is this. I am heartbroken by the violence and hatred I see in this world. People are more concerned with "my rights my rights I believe" and not "what is right, what is good, what is best for everyone". Giving someone else the same rights you enjoy is NOT taking away your rights. Allowing someone else freedom of or freedom from religion is NOT taking away your religious rights. Let's all learn to love each other, and take things in context. Let's look at the big picture, not just parts of it. And if we want to base things on religion, let's worry more about what CHRIST taught, not other people.
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