Do-Your-Own-Theology: Ethics 101 and The Church

The church, as many people know, has a history of supporting death as a way of dealing with people it considers unsavory.  This is a truly dumb idea, and not particularly Christian.

My friend Lynn Carman Bodden, an ordained UCC clergywoman, posted a cause on Facebook that I couldn’t believe. It’s a complaint about the Archbishop of Canterbury’s lack of courage in one area and perceived over-zealousness in another area.

The cause blurb says, “The Archbishop of Canterbury has failed to exercise moral leadership to protect gays & lesbians in Uganda and has instead exercised political pressure to attack a bishop-elect in Los Angeles because she is a lesbian.”

It goes on to say, “The proposed legal actions that would make homosexuality punishable by death in Uganda, and the lack of outrage regarding this proposed action by the Church of Uganda… ” [Italics mine]

What an exceptionally dumb idea.  Let’s assume, for the sake of the argument, that the Bishop  doesn’t believe in lesbianism. Let’s say he thinks its a sin.  OK, it’s open to debate and it’s not my position, but OK.  Killing people because you think they’re sinners is a really dumb idea. In fact, it’s pretty much the ultimate dumb idea. It has been a dumb idea and it continues to be a dumb idea.

(I should be clear here. I’m not sure the Archbishop is pro killing of lesbians. In fact, I hope he’s not, but there’s a history in Christianity that comes to mind that I wanted to address.)

So, here’s my reasoning:  In the Old Testament, in the 10 Commandments, it says, “You shall not kill”.  Seems fairly clear to me, and straightforward.  In fact, the Hebrew is something like “Don’t kill!”.  But there are those who would point out that it means something like “Don’t murder!”, which differentiates between general “killing” (like for dinner) and planned killing (against people, and supposedly not in war).  Making laws to kill people doesn’t make it any less murder to me, but we do it all the time.  So…

Next, in the New Testament, Jesus — the founder of our faith — says, “Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you”.  I don’t want people to kill me, so I don’t kill them, no matter what kind of a jerk I can be.  He’s also against being angry and likens that to killing/murder (I’m not sure what the Greek/Hebrew says).  I can’t beat that rap, as I get angry, so that’s not going to work.  Which leads me to …

In the Old Testament, it says, “‘Vengeance is mine‘, says the Lord.”   And that’s where I stand pat.  If, in fact, God is the ultimate judge of sins, then it’s not our place to be the judge for sins.  Sadly, of course, we do judge people for their sins, me included.  It’s the ultimate part that we don’t generally do.

In therapy, I frequently tell people, “Therapy works best with the living“.  That means the first thing I have to do is keep people alive. After that, they can work out whatever problems they have.  If I don’t do the first, I can’t help them do the second.

If salvation is the goal, the same rule applies. Salvation works best when people are alive to be saved. After that, all bets are off.  Until then, there’s still hope.  If I kill the person, I short-circuit the process, I take all hope of salvation from them. Nothing could be more against the God Who Saves’ plan than preventing salvation.  It’s that simple.

So, killing people that you want to save (if, in fact, you want to save them)  makes no sense.  Now, personally I don’t feel the need to save lesbians from themselves, so I don’t see any need to kill them… or witches, or gay people, or Jews, or non-Catholics, or non-Protestants or anybody else. The list goes on.   And, by my standards, other Christians shouldn’t kill them either.  So, Christian = Don’t kill people you want to save and don’t kill people you like. Simple as that.

And yet, oddly, the Church has done it on so many occasions and can’t understand why people think we’re hypocrites or murderers.  Did I mention it was a dumb idea? So, in case anybody hasn’t said it lately — the Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, the killing of gay folks by the Nazis with the support of the church, the fiasco of 17th century British religious history (change leaders, change religions, kill the last one) — all really dumb ideas for the church.  Nobody should be killed with the blessings of the church, ever. Even if we don’t like them.

Oh, by the way, the killing of people for falling in love  in Uganda or anywhere else — another really dumb idea. Stop that law. Now!

Peace,

John

Stray Thoughts on Christmas…

Happy Christian holidays to me and all the other billions (I think there’s that many) Christians around the globe!  May I/we not belittle other people’s faith or lack of it this Christmas in order to bolster our own. Knowing Jesus is enough.

The Bible says “there is a time for war and a time for peace”. Even though the Senate has passed their version of Health Care reform and I have opinions about it, I promise to keep silent on them  here.  It’s not a time for yelling at or about anybody.  If we’re all going to “sleep in heavenly peace”, no politics today.

How is that John Lennon — notoriously NOT a Christian — has all the best thoughts about Christmas?  “So this is Christmas/Well what have you done/Another year over/And a new one just begun… for black and for white, the yellow and red ones, let’s stop all the fight”

Why do the Brits say “Happy Christmas” and Americans say “Merry Christmas”? Who else says one or the other?

My old organist used to say to the empty church after Christmas service, “We’ll see you on Easter!”, meaning that the Christmas and Easter people would only be back at the next Big Holiday. If you’re one of those people, stick around.  The manger scene only works because there are donkeys there, and stinky shepherds, and kings, and bewildered people having babies. Nothing’s really changed.  Life works so much better and feels so much more fun in community.  Whatever church you go to, find one you like, that really touches you, and stick around for a few months. Being in a place that you like and that gets to your deepest core is a good thing — even better when you do it regularly.

Next year, I’m going to give myself a few days to downshift from 90 miles per hour to zero. “BOOM! Christmas is here!” is not the way to do it.

All my ministry friends, you can stop right after Christmas — at least for a few days. Sleep in heavenly peace.

I love the John McCutcheon song about a soccer game between Germans and Brits on Christmas Eve in the middle of a world war. It’s a true story, I guess.

At least one 8 and one 10 year old still believe in Santa.

My thoughts go out to friends whose loved ones have died.

Christmas without a lot of money is going to be a good thing, I think.

My students at Manchester Community College are really cool and they have great ideas. I’m going through withdrawal from teaching. Grades were just completed last night.

Our church (South Church in New Britain) is really cool and doing a wonderful thing — walking from the church to a homeless shelter for services. I love liberal Christians when we get it right, which we do every once in a while. Nice touch, George. Nice background support, Dave and everybody else.

A lot of my clients have recently developed cancer. May God be with them this holiday.

Apparently, there’s a disco version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”. My daughter’s dancing to it while it plays in her head.

We won’t be dressing up our dog for Christmas. But she will be getting bones as gifts.

Merry Christmas, and to all a good night…

Peace,

John

The Worst of Both Worlds? What now?

OK, the democrats have 60 votes. Now what? If it’s as bad as I hear, I hope they vote it down.  In these pages, Bob and I have been going round and round about health care reform. That’s to be expected.

All the scenarios that Bob imagined — forced insurance costs, higher costs and government intrusion are all there — with none of the competition-driving public option I wanted.  I know that in  a compromise, nobody gets everything they wanted. If the bill is as bad as I hear, everybody gets what they don’t want.  I get another bill the poor can’t pay and Bob gets government intrusion. The insurance companies have a forced market, making it, in essence, illegal to be poor. Medicare’s not being expanded, so the government isn’t going to help, it’s only going to impose the law and hurt.

Here’s my only caveat: Perhaps the Senate’s vote only brings it to the floor and the compromise with the House’s bill will make things a little better or perhaps really better.

If I were Obama, and I’m not, of course, I’d let the bill go down to defeat, say that the Republicans and the insurance companies defeated it, and blame it on them. Remember when Clinton let the Republicans close the government? Remember how it backfired on them?  Same thing here.

Let them show their cards.  Let THEM come up with something that works, something that brings relief to poor people, guarantees health care for all, without causing further divide between rich and poor and making the insurance companies richer.

Sometimes you’ve got to let people have what they think they want, so they can find out it’s NOT what they want.

For right now, if this bill is as bad as I hear (and it may not be, of course), it’s  the theme song for the Anti-Miley Cyrus.

Peace,

John

Now, here’s the

1000!!!!

Wow, folks. Yesterday, December 16, somebody was the 1000th person to cross the electronic bridge to my blog site.  So, let see, that’s 1000 since July 4 of this year (a little less than 200 per month).  I have no idea how much an average  blog gets “hit” but I’m thrilled with 1000 anybody listening to me — even 1 person listening 1000 times is good, but there seems to be more than that, so I’m REALLY excited.  Apparently, I have 3 subscriptions now, so it’s not repetitious for that one person.

Stray thoughts on what it all means:

I didn’t know I had that much in me to say. Apparently, I’ve written 50 posts in those 5 months, and actually published 42 of them.

I also didn’t know that you, the readers, had so much to say, either. It says there were 61 comments submitted.  In addition to that, there are Facebook comments not here which have led to some heavy duty conversations, so probably 75 – 80 comments came from that 5 month period.  Many of them came from my libertarian friend — and foil — Bob.  He’s a good man. Thanks to him and all the others who expressed a viewpoint in these pages. It gave me something to think about and added some real depth to old friendships (Joe).

I believe that I’m still friends with everyone who argued, disagreed or just plain got P.O.’ed.  If that’s not true, then I’m not doing this right.  I want to both welcome comments and keep friends.  I realize that that may not always be possible, but I do try.  I don’t try to provoke. I try to say what’s on my mind, and hope others agree or that civil dialogue — even heated civil dialogue –  can happen. As I told my friend Dawn the other day, “I write what I want to hear, but haven’t heard elsewhere”.

Below is a list of the top 10 most viewed of the pages. It seems like there’s a need for discussions of theology, since a great portion of them are on theology.  Also, somebody wants to know about me. I hope it’s not the FBI or the CIA (or the Republican party after my last post). I’d love for this to be a safe place to  do good theology and I sincerely mean “Do your own”.  My beliefs are, well, my beliefs.  I hope you discuss them with your local pastor, your friend or philosophy teacher, or here on these pages until they fit for you (Josh, Becky, etc.)

I never know what people are going to respond to. Just like sermons, I get what I think is going to be a “knock it out of the park” piece and get no comments. Other times, some random thing gets people going. I think that’s healthy, because it shows the diversity of priorities out there.

As a matter of journalistic integrity, (not like I’m really a journalist, but I do have high standards — the idea of lying to folks while I express an opinion is already too prevalent in our society. I don’t need to make it worse.),  I will go back and correct — on the article — where it’s factually incorrect (Sandy, Gordie, and Dave for instance)

Prophetess Gerry Claytor seems to be the winner in searches within my articles.  The “dashboard” of the blog lists what people searched for and her name comes up regularly. Gerry, keep up the good work for the Lord.  In case you’re curious, she works in Bridgeport, CT at a food-pantry-and-other-things program.  She all over the place down there, as well, and she deserves your support.

Liberals, this is your day — or it should be.  At least it’s your blog.

Val Perrins and Rob McCarthy get a shout out for being most supportive. I’m touched deeply by your friendship.  Cathi and Liz, kudos for technical assistance while being supportive. There aren’t enough words to describe how much this means to me.

Most of all, thank you very much for reading the thoughts written here.  I hope to live up to my ideals here and make a difference in the world with these pages — even if it’s just letting people know they’re not alone (Dawn — and Derek).

So that’s it for now.

Peace,

John

Title	Views
Trucks Going Both Ways — Maine and the	49
About this blog and its author…	45
Do Your Own Theology — Are you a Christ	42
Michael Jackson’s actual gift to America	33
Welfare Reform in Massachusetts	29
Liberal Christians Exist — And We Are R	27
Where Were All These People 8 Years Ago?	26
An Open Letter to Bob – On Ethics and Ec	22
Do Your Own Theology: Saved from “Sin” or “Sins”	21
Do Your Own Theology — My List at Judge	20

Just in Time for Christmas — EVIL WINS!!!

That’s it.  There is no more America. There’s Red America and Blue America, and where there used to be hope for this country in the middle, there isn’t anymore. Get used to it. The rich win. The insurance companies win.

If you’re poor, you can die now. If you’re crazy, you can go crazier, then die now.  There really is no more to say than that.

While I’m normally open to debate, I don’t want to hear about conservative policies and saving money. I don’t want to hear how Mr. Obama’s this and Mr. Obama’s that.  The long and short of it is this: there will be no health care overhaul. Things will stay as they are.  How are they now? Terrible.

Why will there be no health care overhaul? Because Republicans stonewalled. Period. End of story.  And make no mistake about it, Joe Lieberman is a Republican.  This is not about the American people’s health. (Thank goodness for that). It’s not. It’s about the Republicans saying “Told you so”.  Debate, my ass!

OK, so they win.  The Democrats lose. But let’s look at that.  Does anybody really win when their constituents DIE? And they WILL die.  How do I know? Because that’s already reality. People can’t get their meds now. People can’t can’t get coverage now.  Cancer? Pre-existing condition. A senior who requires extra meds? Well, too bad, you were going to die anyway.  Veteran who now has PTSD and will need coverage? Tough. Same old, same old. Lost your job and got sick? Die.  Poor? Too bad. Apparently your life isn’t worth squat. The insurance companies have nothing holding them back now.  Are we all happy yet? And yet, oddly, I don’t totally blame the insurance companies. I blame the 41 Republicans (yes, I include Mr. Lieberman) who refuse to give up power, who refuse to play ball, who refuse to do anything but say “No”.

I never want to hear, ever again, that America has the best health system in the world. We don’t.  We’re not even close. If you’re rich, maybe we do, but how many of us are that rich?  Certainly, the greatest portion of America isn’t. That means that America as a whole does NOT have the the greatest health care system.

So, what do I do now? I’m not really sure.  Well, first, I go to work every day and hear sad stories of people who can’t get their meds, who can’t seem to get their lives back in order, due to health care costs.  I lose clients  because they can’t afford treatment and they’re too proud to come in for free or $5.00 or whatever I would charge them.

But then, with whatever energy I have,  I do everything in my power to get Joseph Lieberman to stop being my senator.  And anybody who ever supported this blasphemy will get my unfailing antagonism.

Oh, and by the way, make no mistake, this is blasphemy. The Republicans, all 61 of them, have chosen their power over their people’s welfare. They have chosen death over life for people. They have chosen money over people. They have chosen politics over people, because they have chosen their party over people.  Those people that they have chosen death, money and power over? Those are God’s people.   If they want to bring about the Reign of Christ, there is no finer way to do it than that.  When evil wins enough, Jesus will come and change things, or so they say they believe.  I just wouldn’t want to be them when it happens.

I pray that some Republican develops a conscience and looks beyond the well-being of their own party.  I believe that they have it within them. I just don’t believe they’ll do anything with it.  Merry Christmas to all.

Peace,

John

A Prayer for the Addicted Family

I just saw clients today and I am reminded just how badly the holidays stink for some families.  The holidays are difficult for many people — people who have lost a loved one, people who are away from home during them, people who expect them to be all-you-see-on-TV, and so on.

But nobody seems to have more real problems with the holidays than the alcoholic and/or addicted family.   Picture this if you can — the holidays approach and the kids get all excited because Santa’s coming. They’ve seen all the commercials, their hopes are all up, and …

1) Their presents got sold for drugs or they GOT their presents because somebody sold drugs, in any case, the *police* are suddenly invited to be “home for the holidays”

2) Daddy or Mommy did “what everybody else does” and “celebrated” the holidays.  People who only drink only on days that end in “y” now have a license to be stupid.  Now, they use it and…

Somebody drives while drunk and anything could happen or…

They get drunk and fall asleep and don’t get up all day. Then they wake up with a hangover, and the opposite-of-fun begins, whatever that turns out to be.

Mommy and Daddy fight or invite the relatives over and THEY fight

The list of possibilities is endless, and the now-adult shows up on my door years later….

It’s not just that this is normal life for the addicted family the other however-many-days-of -the-year (yes, there are Jewish drunks, with 8  days of  “fun”, I bet).  It’s that it’s placed side-by-side with expectations of better than normal life.

This is soooo not what Jesus (“the reason for the season”) would have wanted on Christmas (or God, on Hannukah)

As the holidays approach, let us pray for the sick, twisted, convulsed, drunk, high, criminal, addicted person and the family that has to live with them.   Let us pray that by next year at this time, their healing has begun.  And for those who grew mentally this year because they stopped drinking or drugging,   may their families find the blessings that they so hope for this holiday season.  If there’s anything you can do to make that happen, do it.  God knows, they could use it.

Peace,

John

The war in Afghanistan and how to win it…

I have been too busy with the rest of life to see Mr. Obama propose an increase in the troops sent to Afghanistan.  I gather that’s what we’re going to do, but he promises we’ll leave in 18 months. His top military advisers  (including S.O.S. Clinton) have already began to say “let’s not say that just yet”.  There’s nothing quite like walking out on a plank and having your “friends” saw it off behind you.

Other than the fact that I’m against war itself, I leave open the option that I might be wrong and we might need to be there. I know from Vietnam that we should only go to war if we have specific (limited) objectives, and we should leave when they’re completed.

Where I get off, however, is with this statement from Yahoo/AP: “Defense Secretary Robert Gates said losing the war “would have severe consequences for the United States and the world,” and warned of a deadly “symbiotic” relationship between the Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists.”

I just came back from teaching my class tonight and I was teaching about personality theorist Karen Horney (pronounced “Horn-eye”, BTW) and she was talking about bad symbiotic relationships like the guy who beats his girlfriend and she keeps coming back.  I’m, frankly OK with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda having that kind of symbiotic relationship. I suspect, in fact, that terrorist actually do have that kind of relationship with each other.  Nobody’s loving the other one because they don’t know how to be decent to each other, and it’s one power struggle after another.   In that case, let one suck the other dry. Just leave all those other people (the innocent bystanders/citizens of the country) out of it.

But the way to win a “war for the hearts and minds” of a people — which is what a war against terror is — is not to fight, but to care and to give.  It’s really hard to believe that so-and-so country is The Great Satan if they’re giving you food, or teaching your children to read your own language, or building houses for you.  On the other hand, it’s hard to believe that people are there to help you if they’re blowing your buildings up and killing your children. To the extent that we can do the first without doing the second, we will be successful in winning their hearts and minds.  And, if al-Qaeda starts trying to win the war by feeding people, I’d say we could go home.  But if we had to stay there, well, that’s an arms race I’m willing to engage in.

Frankly, I believe that lots of our troops are pretty nice guys and gals who would rather give out lollipops to promote America to kids than bullets, but it’s not the Army’s  stated purpose and they probably couldn’t get away with it for long.

Michael Moore (michaelmoore.com) says that there are less than 100 Al-Qaeda and we’re sending 10,000 troops to catch them. If that’s true, it’s going to be hard to not look like invaders.

Something else Moore mentions, if I remember, is that many of these people are National Guard or the Reserves.  Regardless of what happens, our government needs to stop lying to people.  As I understand it, people who signed up for the Guard are supposed to be here in America. Most of them signed up to be patriotic and afford school.  There isn’t a Community College in this country located in Iraq, Afghanistan or anyplace else. Most campuses don’t require defending your life or not seeing your family for months (years!) at a time.  Even the worst schools in America aren’t 120 degrees during the daytime and full of blowing sand. Bullets are not on the lunch menu in most American cafeterias, and if there are, we think it’s a real problem.

So, other than the fact that I don’t believe in war, that I think we’re probably fighting it all wrong and I don’t want the National Guard there,  I’m totally fine with Mr. Obama’s plan.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Friends of mine from High School (Sandy and Gordie Clark)  and my present life (David Ratz) have corrected me re: the National Guard. While I have always understood that the Guard was only used in this country, apparently that is NOT the case.  They have historically been used in America AND outside it.  Also, people in the guard are, also apparently, told this.  The fact that some people go in to get help with schooling doesn’t change the fact that it IS the military after all, and it is their choice in join, having been given all the facts. Thanks to those who gave me the info.

Peace,

John