EQUAL OPPORTUNITY OFFENDER
My own religion, I am a Conservative Jew, the level of belief I chose. It also makes me aware of Judaism's Orthodoxy element, the Ultra in some cases extreme faction of the Jewish belief that has its own following as does the Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Goth world. It bothers me. For there will never be peace because of these ultra groups, even my own.
Peace in the Middle East, never, not till these factions understand the value of life, not death. A belief in the now and not the hereafter promises made by soothsayers, "babelists and nutcases".
There is no next world, make the best of what you have here. Live a cautious benevolent lifestyle if it suits you but don't hate, hurt or kill anyone who has not chosen that path. Fanatics are fanatics whomever they call their GOD. Share bread not hatred, Amen…
"MY RITE OF PASSAGE"
As a young Bar Mitzvah student studying for my Haftorah recital, I remember being smacked on the head with a book when I got one of the passages either phonetically wrong or out of sequence wrong. Little did I know it had cracked a molar and would come back to haunt me later during an extraction.
I had a lot of headaches, he got a little too liberal with that book and I had enough, I stormed out one day. On one occasion the class actually locked the Rabbi in the anteroom, whilst he was visiting it, and using a chair as a wedge against the door and escaping. I dragged the whole class with me and we played stickball instead. I hit a double and a four sewer home run. He had no right to touch anyone of us. With parents intervening, I and my crew went back and finished. He never raised a hand again. We all wanted to quit.
But they tell me I put on a stellar performance at my Bar Mitzvah. I sped through my Haftorah and did ten minutes of fast standup. I got great reviews and a nice lot of Black Parker Fountain pens and a few envelopes I hid from my parents with bills inside. At almost 6'2 and 215, no one smacks me on the head anymore. I will smack back and really don't care who is the smacker. Technically today what he did would be offensive and arrest-able for.
THE EPISCOPAL QUANDARY
A group in the Episcopal Church is trying to raise to the rank of Bishop, a known Lesbian. What a stir this caused in the Church! As long as her beliefs and actions are kept to herself, thats her business. I am quite sure on any busy Sunday in any busy church there are those with many secrets to hide. After all they are all there to forgive their sins, aren't they.
According to the Gospel of John, the Pharisees, in an attempt to discredit Jesus, brought a woman charged with adultery before him. Then they reminded Jesus that adultery was punishable by stoning under Mosaic law and challenged him to judge the woman so that they might then accuse him of disobeying the law.
Jesus thought for a moment and then replied, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.” The people crowded around him were so touched by their own consciences that they departed. When Jesus found himself alone with the woman, he asked her who were her accusers. She replied, “No man, lord.” Jesus then said, “Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more.”
What do the words freedom of who you love and inclusion mean? They seem to be forgotten when controversy arises. Hmm, we never did this before? Good be the first, the masses will flock to you. It would probably bring thousands to their Church, thats what it would do by showing the openness of love and not hate or looking down on some because of gender or sexual. Welcome those who think and feel differently, maybe they will change and maybe they will accept, and be accepted.
Like a Bishop has the time to philander 24/7. There is no other reason. Technically that is against the law. So, another reason to separate the Church and State from the Church side of the issue. But the bottom line is this…"What would Jesus do" and let the BS spew forth by the Babelists… Amen
THE EXTREME TALIBAN
Bill Maier once explained the difference in the Christian world versus the Extreme Muslim world. A Christian man gets up on Sunday and hears his neighbor mowing the lawn, yells at him and pays little attention to it.
An extreme Muslim gets up on the Sabbath, hears the mower, gets his AK-47 and shoots the guy. One takes religion for what it is and the other takes it for what it commands, literally. We have the same nutcases on some of the TV channels.