The Religious Left.

The Religious Left have been labelled Satanic by Conservative Christians.

But left in a spiritual sense - i.e. wrong or bad - is not the same as left politically.

Left politically believes in: freedom, equality, social justice, and peace.

This has nothing to do with right and left as described in Matthew 25. 

There the deciding factor is compassion and care for the poor and the needy.

This unconscious prejudice has caused untold suffering in our modern world.

And it is time for it to stop.

Photo Credit: lovinggraceradio.net

Play the Game.

The problem with joining a Church is that they will expect you to play the game.

The truth is that the Churches are not good enough.

Either they preach the wrong things or they don't put it into practice.

They steal the credit and they deceive themselves.

And they expect you to play the game.

"We are the Church."

"So we are good."

Even though the society around them sees the Church as a bankrupt and corrupt institution.

"But we are the good people in God's Church."

Despite the fact that their efforts do not extend beyond the church's door.

And despite the fact that they do next to nothing.

The Church has declined dramatically.

But no one will face the question:

Why?

It is because the Church is not good enough.

They do not contribute to society.

They don't even look after their own.

And they avoid responsibility.

So the Church will die.

There will be a small remnant of Christianity.

But God will have to find another way to save humanity.

Church Stock photos by Vecteezy

Pacifism.

Today is ANZAC Day and we had an Act of Remembrance in church complete with the Last Post.

While I do not disagree with remembering those who died and suffered in war I object to being told I am a disgrace because I am a Pacifist.

My father was injured in a plane crash in World War II but when he returned he received no sympathy for his injuries or the incapacitating after-effects of the war. 

He was permanently scarred and never really recovered.

He died in his 60s.

But my generation has been shamed and bashed because of their Pacifist beliefs.

The older generation think that we are disrespecting those who fought and died in war.

But that is not what was intended.

Our objection was to war itself and the use of ANZAC Day to justify war.

The Vietnam War was a foreign war against a phantom Communist threat.

My generation did not feel compelled to fight.

We were accused of attacking Vietnam veterans on their return from the war.

But I have never seen anyone of my generation attack a veteran.

Rather we felt sorry for them.

They may have felt excluded.

But they were never attacked.

And so another ANZAC Day has come.

But the conflict is not resolved.

The older generation will go to Heaven feeling justified.

And my generation will feel justified as Pacifists.

Cloud Stock photos by Vecteezy

Anti-Christ.

Evangelical Christians in America called Barak Obama the Anti-Christ.

But they don't know their Anti-Christ from their Godfather.

Ronald Reagan was the Godfather of the Religious Right.

He used them to damn his political enemies and whitewash his allies in the corporations and Generation X.

Barak Obama was a good man who tried to help the poor and the oppressed.

Ronald Reagan was a violent and hateful man hellbent on revenge and victory at all costs.

So they don't know their Anti-Christ from their Godfather. 

  

Photo Credit: clipgound.com

Joie de Vivre!

When we establish a relationship with God we experience joy!

This is the joy of life that comes from God.

Gone is the debilitating pall of morbid depression.

Gone is the death-wish.

Gone is the emptiness.

For life is full of love.

And full of color.

Once again we can appreciate the beauty of nature:

The flowers, the trees.....

And our companions:

The animals, the birds, the fish of the seas.....

And we become co-creators with God.

We create love and life

And joie de vivre!

Photo Credit: Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

Eternal Life.

"'Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.'"  John 11;25,26 (NRSV)

Even if they are gay.

Everyone who obeys the commandments to love will have Eternal Life.

And homosexuality is love.

So the objections of homophobes in the Church and in society are contradicted by the words of Jesus himself.

Our relationships are love.

And we will have Eternal Life!

[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.]

Photo Credit: pressandjournal.co.uk

Sex Life.

Satanists in rock music and popular culture believe that sex leads to death.

This is the death to God of St. Paul.

But sex leads to life.

It is the agent of the creation of life.

And so sex is intimately associated with God.

God invented it after all.

And the pleasure associated with sex is good in His sight.

So do not feel guilty about sex.

It is our natural God-given design.

And it leads to life.

Nature Stock photos by Vecteezy