Implicit ... there are always explicit exceptions ... on glowing terms ... but the brutes still despise a sharp person ... just isn't smart ... unless buried in metamorphosis ... comes on sloe ... like a creeping djinn ... contrary to the status quo ... we learn so slowly! Got ta be the hard, difficult part ... a threshold to get over mentally?
TRUMP - Some people think......... How do you feel?
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Well said Seeler. Working with others to help the poor is definitely part of Christ's mission.
revjohn
Well-Known Member
Inannawhimsey said:
I did. I deleted the message rather than assign it to spam. Last thing I want is for the text alerting me about the Zombie apocalypse to go right to the spam folder.
I expect this is in response to some of the fire response out West. We also had some issues this spring out on the West Coast of NL with flooding and erosion issues. Hopefully the alert texts get through better than regular texts in some parts of the island.
revjohn
Well-Known Member
revsdd
Well-Known Member
I got one from Primus telling me that my Samsung Galaxy J1 wasn't equipped to receive the messages and suggesting that I upgrade (even though the Galaxy J1 was an upgrade just three months ago) - I'm sure to something that would cost me more. I'm gonna take my chances that when the zombie apocalypse strikes I'll be able to find a hiding place. Plus I've watched The Walking Dead. I know how to deal with zombies.
revsdd
Well-Known Member
I lived through one of those. Huge blizzard around Easter of 97 - right about now, cause I remember Easter was March 30 that year. The freezing rain started to fall as I was leaving church after the evening Easter service. It turned to heavy snow a few hours later. The local stores were all running out of food, etc., because trucks couldn't get to the outports. The blizzard lasted for something like 3 days. Then there was the digging out. Trying to clear the highways. It was almost a week between deliveries of food for some stores in the outports. We all survived without cell phones.
Mendalla
Happy headbanging ape!!
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
No, no. That's vampires. Zombies you have to decapitate. Even if it's your dear dead mother.
After all, there's nothing worse than the person who used to pack your lunch having you for lunch.
Amazon vs Trump ... volume discounts that are sour ... what do the small customers feel about the monsters getting large breaks?
Imagine the effect of the tax break on the poor ... Amazon getting ~ $190M break ... if only the little people could relate ... good rational (reason) for keeping the common people (pagans) in the dark --- some church fathers ... the status quo continues and even spreads into the precious monster!
Keep it complex and preach simplicity ... it has worked for a great number of years ... supporting naïveté theory!
How does naïveté, innocence, ignorance and brute stupidity relate in the greater picture? Monstrous ... I get a picture of a lengthy critter chewing on its tale, tail ... talus? ... that's the dirt!
Imagine the effect of the tax break on the poor ... Amazon getting ~ $190M break ... if only the little people could relate ... good rational (reason) for keeping the common people (pagans) in the dark --- some church fathers ... the status quo continues and even spreads into the precious monster!
Keep it complex and preach simplicity ... it has worked for a great number of years ... supporting naïveté theory!
How does naïveté, innocence, ignorance and brute stupidity relate in the greater picture? Monstrous ... I get a picture of a lengthy critter chewing on its tale, tail ... talus? ... that's the dirt!
Great-grand mothers are huge inhibitions ... existing mostly as phantoms on the mind ... that'salle! Leads to salient observers ... poorly accepted as in the Watchman! Few interpreted the jester that well as satyr!
Graeme Decarie
Well-Known Member
Well, I don't really criticize those who feed the hungry and house the homeless. But I do know that is hopelessly inadequate. I know that only the state can do that. And I know that the state controlled by billionaires will not do that. That's why the church has to work on the state.
And it is almost unknown for the church to take up issues with the state (except for abortion.) The U.S. is murdering millions and plundering millions. Is it impossible for the churches to discuss that and to take positions on it? It is not unknown for the churches to bless weapons as Cardinal Spellman blessed bombs to be dropped on Cuba. Churches commonly bless soldiers who are going to 'fight for their country' - which commonly means murdering people in another country so that billionaires can plunder it. That's what Iraq was about.
Germany did NOT start World War 1. They all did. And Germany of 1914 was no more evil than Britain or Canada. The war was fought for capitalists who wanted to kill off the competition. That was true of almost every country in that war. (It was also true of World War 2). Canadian soldiers may well have gone to fight for their country - but that was all a propaganda hoax. And the peculiar 'evil' of Germans was created by our press. And, far from Britain loving Canada, it was trying to get rid of it from the 1870s on, and cuddled up to us only about 1900 when it realized it was facing a powerful enemy in Germany.
When the war ended, capitalists on the victorious side promptly set peace terms that plundered Germany - and that caused the rise of Hitler. (immediately after World War 2, the U.S. embarked on it's great dream of world conquest - check Project for the New American Century -. It planned to replace the British Empire in China and the middle east, and the French Empire in Vietnam. And so it was that American heroes went off to murder millions "for their country". And the churches said very, very little.)
I've read a great many letters and speeches praising the goodness of World War 1, many of them by leading clergymen. I have not been able to find more than a very few clergy who were critical. (One of them was J.S.Woodsworth).
We live in a economic system based on greed. It's a system that creates poverty. And Christians are, for the most part, uncritical supporters of that. That's how far (little) we have come in 2,000 years. In the U.S., it's Christian church-goers who are the main support of people like Trump who rose to power on quasi-racial hatreds.
Christian churches enthusiastically supported all the wars of the British empire, a process of mass murder and exploitation to enrich a tiny number of wealthy British while impoverishing the British people. All the western Christian societies sent out armies to murder native peoples, then sent missionaries to convert - the native peoples! Shouldn't they have sent the missionaries to convert their own millionaires and generals?
Of all the world's advanced countries, the largely Christian United States is the one that does the least for its poor. In the field of literacy, the U.S. has perhaps the worst record in the world for functional illiteracy (and New Brunswick is in the toilet for Canada.) And who has the highest literacy rates in the world? Try the non-Christians of North and South Korea.
Yes, making sandwiches for the poor is a good thing to do. But it does very , very little to help the poor. That can be done only by influencing our governments to behave in a more Christian way. And the Christian churches that have done that are few.
I realized early, while collecting food for the mission church I worked at, that our food collections would make very little difference in the vileness of the way we made those people live - the low, low wages, the lack of any security, the dreadful housing, the hopelessness.... That could be done only by tackling the wealthy who created those conditions, and they can be tackled only through the state.
(That mission church, by the way, was on a street named after a very, very wealthy woman, Mme. de Bullion.)
Our own Mr. Irving occasionally takes bows for his philanthropy. What isn't mentioned is that he and his type commonly don't pay any taxes at all - and frequently get monstrous handouts from governments at the expense of the rest of us. (check Bombardier). In North America alone, that's an annual loss of well over a trillion dollars that could have been spent to help everyone. The American government squanders vast sums every year - not to make sandwiches for the poor - but to churn out weapons from extraordinarily corrupt capitalists. It has the biggest prison system in the world - not to redeem anybody but to provide extraordinarily cheap labour for billionaires.
True, Jesus did not support the rebels of his time. I don't know why not - but a factor may have been that the rebels of those days were in no position to create a better society. We are (I hope).
At the present time, the western world is on the edge of universal destruction. Heard any sermons suggesting this might not be a really good idea? Is Donald Trump really our idea of a Christian leader? If not, how come his steady support in the Bible belt from all those people who make sandwiches for the poor?
In fairness, evangelicals are the worst. I don't know how many of them I have seen who are delighted and rubbing their hands and chortling at the prospect of going to heaven soon, while the rest of us go down to hellfires. For many, for a great many, that becomes the whole meaning of their lives and their faith.
There is nothing wrong with making sandwiches for the poor. There is everything wrong in thinking that this is all God expects of us.
And it is almost unknown for the church to take up issues with the state (except for abortion.) The U.S. is murdering millions and plundering millions. Is it impossible for the churches to discuss that and to take positions on it? It is not unknown for the churches to bless weapons as Cardinal Spellman blessed bombs to be dropped on Cuba. Churches commonly bless soldiers who are going to 'fight for their country' - which commonly means murdering people in another country so that billionaires can plunder it. That's what Iraq was about.
Germany did NOT start World War 1. They all did. And Germany of 1914 was no more evil than Britain or Canada. The war was fought for capitalists who wanted to kill off the competition. That was true of almost every country in that war. (It was also true of World War 2). Canadian soldiers may well have gone to fight for their country - but that was all a propaganda hoax. And the peculiar 'evil' of Germans was created by our press. And, far from Britain loving Canada, it was trying to get rid of it from the 1870s on, and cuddled up to us only about 1900 when it realized it was facing a powerful enemy in Germany.
When the war ended, capitalists on the victorious side promptly set peace terms that plundered Germany - and that caused the rise of Hitler. (immediately after World War 2, the U.S. embarked on it's great dream of world conquest - check Project for the New American Century -. It planned to replace the British Empire in China and the middle east, and the French Empire in Vietnam. And so it was that American heroes went off to murder millions "for their country". And the churches said very, very little.)
I've read a great many letters and speeches praising the goodness of World War 1, many of them by leading clergymen. I have not been able to find more than a very few clergy who were critical. (One of them was J.S.Woodsworth).
We live in a economic system based on greed. It's a system that creates poverty. And Christians are, for the most part, uncritical supporters of that. That's how far (little) we have come in 2,000 years. In the U.S., it's Christian church-goers who are the main support of people like Trump who rose to power on quasi-racial hatreds.
Christian churches enthusiastically supported all the wars of the British empire, a process of mass murder and exploitation to enrich a tiny number of wealthy British while impoverishing the British people. All the western Christian societies sent out armies to murder native peoples, then sent missionaries to convert - the native peoples! Shouldn't they have sent the missionaries to convert their own millionaires and generals?
Of all the world's advanced countries, the largely Christian United States is the one that does the least for its poor. In the field of literacy, the U.S. has perhaps the worst record in the world for functional illiteracy (and New Brunswick is in the toilet for Canada.) And who has the highest literacy rates in the world? Try the non-Christians of North and South Korea.
Yes, making sandwiches for the poor is a good thing to do. But it does very , very little to help the poor. That can be done only by influencing our governments to behave in a more Christian way. And the Christian churches that have done that are few.
I realized early, while collecting food for the mission church I worked at, that our food collections would make very little difference in the vileness of the way we made those people live - the low, low wages, the lack of any security, the dreadful housing, the hopelessness.... That could be done only by tackling the wealthy who created those conditions, and they can be tackled only through the state.
(That mission church, by the way, was on a street named after a very, very wealthy woman, Mme. de Bullion.)
Our own Mr. Irving occasionally takes bows for his philanthropy. What isn't mentioned is that he and his type commonly don't pay any taxes at all - and frequently get monstrous handouts from governments at the expense of the rest of us. (check Bombardier). In North America alone, that's an annual loss of well over a trillion dollars that could have been spent to help everyone. The American government squanders vast sums every year - not to make sandwiches for the poor - but to churn out weapons from extraordinarily corrupt capitalists. It has the biggest prison system in the world - not to redeem anybody but to provide extraordinarily cheap labour for billionaires.
True, Jesus did not support the rebels of his time. I don't know why not - but a factor may have been that the rebels of those days were in no position to create a better society. We are (I hope).
At the present time, the western world is on the edge of universal destruction. Heard any sermons suggesting this might not be a really good idea? Is Donald Trump really our idea of a Christian leader? If not, how come his steady support in the Bible belt from all those people who make sandwiches for the poor?
In fairness, evangelicals are the worst. I don't know how many of them I have seen who are delighted and rubbing their hands and chortling at the prospect of going to heaven soon, while the rest of us go down to hellfires. For many, for a great many, that becomes the whole meaning of their lives and their faith.
There is nothing wrong with making sandwiches for the poor. There is everything wrong in thinking that this is all God expects of us.
revsdd
Well-Known Member
Much of what you post is a reasonable analysis. I (and many, quite frankly) am embarrassed by the support Trump receives from supposed Christians. But let us not pretend that there aren't a lot of Christians who are appalled by him as well. I know many American Christians - most of whom hold him in contempt and are working against him.
For what it's worth, I have never preached a sermon in support of war. I believe (with Jesus, actually) that war may be inevitable, but it's never to be glorified. It's always a tragedy when we have to resort to killing to try to solve our problems.
As for the quote above, on that, we agree. Which is the whole point that I've been making. It's not either/or. It's both/and.
GeoFee
I am who I am becoming...
Hi,
“Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was more likely a very small political protest march, more like a form of street theatre.” Howard Bess
This is me performing street theatre. My actions are based on a work called "Theatre of the Oppressed" based on the work of Paulo Freire, who wrote "Pedagogy of the Oppressed." This action took place on the front steps of the NB legislature, in Fredericton.
While in Fredericton, as in almost all places I have been, I was actively engaged with a diversity of justice seeking persons and associations of persons. We were active in the streets as a means of addressing social, economic and environmental challenges of our time.
At one time a walk about the streets of Fredericton was planned. I was a member of the Woolastook Presbytery at the time. At an executive meeting I made a motion that we invite members of the Presbytery to join the walk as a sign of solidarity with the justice seeking community. The conversation went on for a wee while. Then one member spoke out contrary to the possibility. She had a son working for Irving and felt that it would reflect negatively on the UCC if we publicly denounced Irving's drive to domination of NB social and economic realities. My motion was defeated unanimously. It was decided to write a letter expressing UCC concerns specific to the matter.
The Church has a prophetic obligation to keep the State focused on service to the whole population. Where the State deviates the Church is called to speak out. This speaking out can be effective only where what the Church preaches and practices are consistent. Which is not the case in the UCC. We preach Christ crucified but practice near universal adaptation to the way of the world.
I have touched and been touched by many persons in the Canadian resistance culture. In all contexts I have been appreciated as insightful, supportive and encouraging of resistance to State domination. Excepting the UCC. Here I am basically ignored and on many occasions shunned. No surprise for one well studied in the prophetic tradition of ancient Israel fully revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
George
“Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was more likely a very small political protest march, more like a form of street theatre.” Howard Bess
This is me performing street theatre. My actions are based on a work called "Theatre of the Oppressed" based on the work of Paulo Freire, who wrote "Pedagogy of the Oppressed." This action took place on the front steps of the NB legislature, in Fredericton.
While in Fredericton, as in almost all places I have been, I was actively engaged with a diversity of justice seeking persons and associations of persons. We were active in the streets as a means of addressing social, economic and environmental challenges of our time.
At one time a walk about the streets of Fredericton was planned. I was a member of the Woolastook Presbytery at the time. At an executive meeting I made a motion that we invite members of the Presbytery to join the walk as a sign of solidarity with the justice seeking community. The conversation went on for a wee while. Then one member spoke out contrary to the possibility. She had a son working for Irving and felt that it would reflect negatively on the UCC if we publicly denounced Irving's drive to domination of NB social and economic realities. My motion was defeated unanimously. It was decided to write a letter expressing UCC concerns specific to the matter.
The Church has a prophetic obligation to keep the State focused on service to the whole population. Where the State deviates the Church is called to speak out. This speaking out can be effective only where what the Church preaches and practices are consistent. Which is not the case in the UCC. We preach Christ crucified but practice near universal adaptation to the way of the world.
I have touched and been touched by many persons in the Canadian resistance culture. In all contexts I have been appreciated as insightful, supportive and encouraging of resistance to State domination. Excepting the UCC. Here I am basically ignored and on many occasions shunned. No surprise for one well studied in the prophetic tradition of ancient Israel fully revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
George
"Religion goes disastrously astray when it ceases to be a sign of contradiction and becomes the cement for social conformity. The foolishness of God is then replaced by capitulation to the values of the world." K. Leech, "We Preach Christ Crucified"/ 1994
"Philip Barrigan, as is his way, expresses the thesis of body-politics somewhat more bluntly: "Hope", he is fond of saying, "is where your ass is." C. Meyers, "This is My Body: Our Bodies on the Line."
"Philip Barrigan, as is his way, expresses the thesis of body-politics somewhat more bluntly: "Hope", he is fond of saying, "is where your ass is." C. Meyers, "This is My Body: Our Bodies on the Line."
GeoFee
I am who I am becoming...
While charity is to be both practiced and appreciated it is not a substitute for justice seeking. Jesus met the diverse needs of others by his compassionate inclusion of the socially and economically excluded. He also denounced the practice of injustice on the part of religious and political elites. Not from some safe distance but by personal commitment and engagement.
Mendalla
Happy headbanging ape!!
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Indeed, charity should be driven by the justice seeking and done in balance with other justice seeking activities. Sure, run the soup kitchen or food bank out of the church, but also advocate for those using them socially and politically. Make sure their needs and voices are heard.
However denial and elimination is often advocated so that is put out of mind ... thus light surrounds us dark bodies --- Einstein on the mystery of cosmological constants ... tis out there ...
Myself! I just don't understand succession the -ology (-ology defined as belief ... a system out of control due to avarice)! Thus the sale of souls ... salient? In the light of $$ ... much was lost --- Marley (Scrooge's haunt)! Sub-conscience? couldn't be right ... thus it went ...
Is there a label to attach to folk without conscience ...? Forensic science ... a thought full concern! People do as enabled and some step across that line in the san ... darkness of law without reason! Irrational advantages ...
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BetteTheRed
Resident Heretic
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Her
Re-quoted for truth. I'm sure that many of you remember that when Food Banks first started to open in Canada in the 70s/80s, we all said that their best purpose would be to be short-lived. That the safety net would step up to meet this gap in need. However, the seemingly unending stream of potatoes, day old bread and cans of assorted stuff seems to get bigger, wider and more needed all the time.