This mostly dovetails nicely with my post a year ago saying that Putin's war in Ukraine is the first step in a religious crusade, to reunite the mother church in Kiev with Russia. He also intended to punish Estonia and Poland for rejecting the Russian Orthodox Church in favor of Roman Catholicism.
- Personally, I do not believe in an anthropomorphic God who looks down from Heaven, picking off his enemies and empowering his followers.
Yeah, what a conceit. God looks just like me. I seriously doubt that we are the only sentient species on the planet - cetaceans, bonobos, octopus and possibly squid are good candidates. I take it another step. I am not a Christian, although I do attend a Christian church. I'm a deist. I believe God created the universe and established the rules, otherwise known as mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc. Then, he sat back to watch the show.
Charles, you have nailed it! Brilliant piece... and YES there is, has been, and will always be a fight between good and evil. And while evil is seemingly winning right now... we all know who will prevail in the end. (Spoiler Alert: It's God)
Great writing Charles. "By their deeds we should judge them." I do believe that we are in a spiritual war, good vs evil. It is time to realize that and choose sides. If you think that by ignoring what is happening, guess again. Silence is tacit approval, no fence sitting this time. It has become life and death, and not just our bodies but our souls. God works thru courageous people and you are one of them in speaking the truth and not being cowed.
I missed that one. I did see that the FBI has termed Catholics "extremists" because they attend Church.
"The Pentagon is trying to root out political “extremism” in the ranks, but its definition is so broad and blurry that some retired officers and military analysts fear it could inadvertently sweep up traditional Catholics, Republicans and others who aren’t racist or violent but simply embrace conservative, pro-life politics."
Now that the cat is out of the bag:
"The FBI says it is retracting a leaked document published on the internet Feb. 8 that appears to reveal that the bureau’s Richmond division launched an investigation into “radical traditionalist” Catholics and their possible ties to “the far-right white nationalist movement.”
Well, the 42 months mentioned in Rev sounds about right per Biden, fwiw. Fall guys must fall, jah? That said, I'll note that our obsession with who is evil and who is good stems from that eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which was as direct a violation of a commandment from God as Abrahamic history records.
I think that it is wise to keep an eye out for mischief-makers. Killers be killers, and I personally have no problem killing killers... but I haven't any use for deeming them evil or good. That kind of talk turns into rabidly murderous nonsense like 'keeping the world safe for democracy' and 'liberating the proletariat from capitalist imperialism' or 'rescuing Jerusalem from the heathens'.
Deeming earthly entities good or evil is what God told us NOT to do. Lack of access to legal abortion was deemed evil, that consensus fomented a crusade, and that crusade has become more 'evil' than the 'evil' it allegedly sought to remedy. This is true of most moral crusades.
'Judge not that ye be not judged' has massive heft when applied to the concept of heavenly judgment of our lives on earth. I will kill a man but not judge him because I don't know what is inside that man; I only know that his actions have become insufferable to me or others and killing him seems to be the only way to stop the no-longer-bearable suffering.
May God's mercy shine on all of us despite our efforts to cast shade on others. As for the question of God, this is perhaps my favorite perspective:
"After all, the real test of God's omnipotence would be His ability to save us even if He doesn't exist." (some obscure latter 20th century novelist whose name I forget)
This mostly dovetails nicely with my post a year ago saying that Putin's war in Ukraine is the first step in a religious crusade, to reunite the mother church in Kiev with Russia. He also intended to punish Estonia and Poland for rejecting the Russian Orthodox Church in favor of Roman Catholicism.
- Personally, I do not believe in an anthropomorphic God who looks down from Heaven, picking off his enemies and empowering his followers.
Yeah, what a conceit. God looks just like me. I seriously doubt that we are the only sentient species on the planet - cetaceans, bonobos, octopus and possibly squid are good candidates. I take it another step. I am not a Christian, although I do attend a Christian church. I'm a deist. I believe God created the universe and established the rules, otherwise known as mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc. Then, he sat back to watch the show.
Charles, you have nailed it! Brilliant piece... and YES there is, has been, and will always be a fight between good and evil. And while evil is seemingly winning right now... we all know who will prevail in the end. (Spoiler Alert: It's God)
“To love Yahweh , we must hate evil.”
Great writing Charles. "By their deeds we should judge them." I do believe that we are in a spiritual war, good vs evil. It is time to realize that and choose sides. If you think that by ignoring what is happening, guess again. Silence is tacit approval, no fence sitting this time. It has become life and death, and not just our bodies but our souls. God works thru courageous people and you are one of them in speaking the truth and not being cowed.
I missed that one. I did see that the FBI has termed Catholics "extremists" because they attend Church.
"The Pentagon is trying to root out political “extremism” in the ranks, but its definition is so broad and blurry that some retired officers and military analysts fear it could inadvertently sweep up traditional Catholics, Republicans and others who aren’t racist or violent but simply embrace conservative, pro-life politics."
Now that the cat is out of the bag:
"The FBI says it is retracting a leaked document published on the internet Feb. 8 that appears to reveal that the bureau’s Richmond division launched an investigation into “radical traditionalist” Catholics and their possible ties to “the far-right white nationalist movement.”
"Revelations 13: 5 - 8"
Well, the 42 months mentioned in Rev sounds about right per Biden, fwiw. Fall guys must fall, jah? That said, I'll note that our obsession with who is evil and who is good stems from that eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which was as direct a violation of a commandment from God as Abrahamic history records.
I think that it is wise to keep an eye out for mischief-makers. Killers be killers, and I personally have no problem killing killers... but I haven't any use for deeming them evil or good. That kind of talk turns into rabidly murderous nonsense like 'keeping the world safe for democracy' and 'liberating the proletariat from capitalist imperialism' or 'rescuing Jerusalem from the heathens'.
Deeming earthly entities good or evil is what God told us NOT to do. Lack of access to legal abortion was deemed evil, that consensus fomented a crusade, and that crusade has become more 'evil' than the 'evil' it allegedly sought to remedy. This is true of most moral crusades.
'Judge not that ye be not judged' has massive heft when applied to the concept of heavenly judgment of our lives on earth. I will kill a man but not judge him because I don't know what is inside that man; I only know that his actions have become insufferable to me or others and killing him seems to be the only way to stop the no-longer-bearable suffering.
May God's mercy shine on all of us despite our efforts to cast shade on others. As for the question of God, this is perhaps my favorite perspective:
"After all, the real test of God's omnipotence would be His ability to save us even if He doesn't exist." (some obscure latter 20th century novelist whose name I forget)
https://youtu.be/kcDaAr3EPqI