What Can We Do?

11% of the world's population go hungry every day.

1% of the world's population own half the world's wealth.

Rich corporations control the flow of money.

They pass their greed off as serving their shareholders.

It may be possible to get an item on the AGM agenda but if the shareholders vote it down what can we do?

Land grabs, slave labor, sweatshops, exploitation, intimidation, and corruption are common practices among the corporations.

But even if these practices are exposed no one ever seems to take responsibility for them.

They are denied, blamed on subsidiaries, justified, hidden, and ignored.

What can we do?


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A Father's Love.

We all seek our father's love.

We seek his approval and his blessing.

But God is our ultimate Father.

Jesus called Him Papa.

And God called him Son.

Love God and love your neighbor.

Then you will be Home.


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The Rod.

My grandparents' generation lived by the quote: "Those who spare the rod hate their children."  Proverbs 13:24 (NRSV)

This was paraphrased as: "Spare the rod and spoil the child."

But this is to instruct with violence and fear.

And violence and fear beget violence and fear.

But there is no evidence that God punishes wrongdoing.

"Why do the wicked live on, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?"
"Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them."  Job 21:7,9 (NRSV)

Jesus said: "'Do not resist an evildoer.  But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.'"  Matthew 5:39 (NRSV)

God's way is the way of non-violent Love.

And we should be the same.

 
[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S,A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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The Polite Assassin.

She'll try to kill you.

But she'll be terribly polite about it.


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Bad.

People who think that they are bad for whatever reason are jealous of good people and try to corrupt them and bring them down.

Failing this they try to kill them.

This scenario is played out in the Biblical story of Cain and Abel.

Cain is jealous of God's blessing of the virtuous Abel and kills his good brother.

But what makes people think that they are bad in the first place?

A dark side, demons, and a fascination with evil are common characteristics of bad people.

They may have been naughty children.

But God can take away their demons and turn them to the good.

If only they would pray.


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Sexuality.

I may be older but I am young enough to remember what it was like to be young and virile and looking for love.

Sex was an urgent need.

And this is how it was meant to be.

The rules of religion were made by old men who no longer felt the need to express their sexuality.

Therefore they traded sex for spirituality.

But this was never what God intended.

Sex does not banish spirituality.

It is possible to be sexually active and spiritually elevated as well.

The sex act does not cancel our relationship with God.

The idea that sexual orgasm leads to death is propaganda put out by Satanists with a vested interest in spiritual death.

These are lies circulated to deceive us.

God's attitude to sex is matter of fact.

He does not entertain the phobias and aversions that his priests and ministers suffer from.

So do not feel that your sexuality is bad or dirty in some way.

Sexuality, including homosexuality, is a normal part of life.

And we should teach our children that.


Photo Credit: Flock of Angels.

Love.

A baby cries until you give him love.

A child delights in his parents' love.

An adolescent feels the stirrings of love.

An adult searches the world for love.

To be loved is good.

But to love someone is even better.

We look for love in the outside world.

But we find love in our own hearts.

Give love.

This is the ultimate lesson.


Photo Credit: Love Flower.