Politics

Why must politics sink their slimy paws into everything? I'm a political animal. I am. Very. However, I believe there's no room for politics in Church. Yet, the Church is super political, forcing me into a corner from which I have no choice but to defend my political views. I hate it! Church should be about God! Why must we assert our views in Church? We are so flawed. God help us.

Readings

Today's readings spoke to me. I felt I needed to be at Church today, for my spiritual welfare you could say. I thought the scriptures spoke to me. The Old Testament reading had me longing to be called by God too. The New Testament reading spoke to me about my own shortcomings, and the Gospel message about the faith of Nathaniel left me thirsting for a faith like Nathaniel's. I found the sermon quite unpalatable however; maybe God had a message there, but it's sometimes so hard to see the message through politics.

War

I've written about just war before. And, there are a lot of peaceniks out there that spin their view, as we all do. But, I do not believe in peace at all costs. It didn't work for Chamberlain, and it's not a safe practice. But anyway, there is a conception in popular culture that war is hate. We all know that hate is wrong, right? Right. However, this association, believed by many (between war and hate) is just not true. Granted, in war soldiers often come to hate their enemy. However, I do not have to hate to kill. Does a pilot who drops a bomb hate the workers in the nuclear weapons facility that the bomb kills? I doubt it. The pilot just pushed a button. They don't even know the people the bomb may kill. How can he hate them? Sure, he or she may hate the people or hate the enemy. But, I can kill a person without hating them. I would kill a person I love to prevent the taking of the lives of my wife or daughter. So, where is this kill/hate relationship? It's a psychological association that serves the peaceniks. When we see violence in the news, it can be scary. Fear is good, it's what protects us from danger. However, we should not make a decision based on emotion. We should not let fear cloud our judgment. Decisions about security and safety should be made based in logic. In the NIV version of the Bible, it doesn't say not to kill (as it does in most modern versions), it says do not murder. Murder is very different. Murder is for hate, revenge, gain, etc. Killing in war (just war) is for defence or for protection of self or others. It is not the same thing at all. When St. Peter cut off the slave's ear, Jesus told him to put away his sword; Jesus knew that He had to die for us. He didn't say, "Peter! What the hell are you doing with a sword!" Jesus even said at one point in the Gospel that a time would come when we would have to take up a sword. When the soldier asked Jesus what he had to do to be saved, Jesus told him to not extort money from others and be happy with what he had. Jesus did not say, "Well, you can't be a soldier." God told the Israelites to kill all the people that lived in the land that He was giving His people. Kill? So the NIV version says murder, eh? I wonder what the most direct translation of the Hebrew says. People and nations have a right to defend themselves. When are people going to realize that man can not bring world peace? Only God can do that.

Pope Gay Bad

So, the Pope says that gay marriage is bad for humanity. That got me thinking about a lot of other laws in the Bible, like not eating pork for instance. Now, Peter had a dream about eating unclean animals being acceptable; but, why was in not okay to eat pork? I think maybe God was protecting us. In that part of the world in those times, you could get very sick from eating pork. So, if the people didn't understand this, God might just tell them not to eat it. It's like a three year old wanting to stick a toy in the electrical socket. I can't say, "Don't do that. You'll be electrocuted." The child will not understand. So, I give the kid a slap on the butt if the kid goes near the socket. This works. Maybe homosexuality was anti procreation, so the law said that it was wrong because we were supposed to multiply and fill the Earth.

For Evil People

I guess that you could say Christianity is a religion for evil people. Jesus said the greater the sinner, the more they would love Him. The more we sin, the more we need Jesus/need to be Christian.