"Christian nationalists gathered Tuesday night at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C, for a National Association of Christian Lawmakers gala at which House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered the keynote address and received the NACL’s American Patriot Award for Christian Honor and Courage.
The tenor of the evening was set by far-right anti-LGBTQ pastor E.W. Jackson, who used his time at the podium to declare that he refuses to use the words “transgender” or “gay” because, he said, “to be gay means to be happy, to be joyful, to be carefree, and there is nothing happy, joyful, or carefree about being a homosexual in rebellion against almighty God.”
[skip]
But, it turned out, God intended for him to be that Moses.
“The Lord impressed upon my heart a few weeks before this happened that something was going to occur,” Johnson said. “And the Lord very specifically told me in my prayers to prepare, but to wait.”
As one candidate after another stepped forward to run for Speaker but failed, Johnson said that “the Lord kept telling me to wait” but “then at the end, when it was toward the end, the Lord said, ‘Now, step forward.”
“Me? I’m supposed to be Aaron,” Johnson said. “No. The Lord said, ‘Step forward.'”
[skip]
Speaker Johnson was honored by this gathering and is considered one of them.
This is how the event ended:
“I am not against homosexuals, but it is not a godly lifestyle,” Wommack said. “We don’t have to stand up and say that you have a right to be this way, you have a right to practice pedophilia, you have right to choose to try and change your sex. Those things are demonic.”
******************************
When Andrew Wommack said he's not against homosexuals, he lied. To call fellow human beings who are true to their innate nature "demonic," is to tell those who listened to him that the LGBTQ and transgender communities are like the Devil, therefore evil. What could be more "against" human beings than calling them "demonic?" That labels them all as devils.
Men like Wommack believe they're doing God's work, when, IMO, they are themselves the embodiment of what is truly evil in our world -- dehumanizing people they don't know or understand and suggesting to weak-minded individuals that their fellow human beings are devils -- possibly implanting ideas in their minds of harming them.
Fanatical religionists are the same in all religions in their belief that what they don't understand is evil and demonic.
These supposed men of God preach hatred, slander, and bear false witness against those they do not know -- their God's actual creations.
"Johnson said that 'the Lord kept telling me to wait' but then at the end, when it was toward the end, the Lord said, ‘Now, step forward. '”
IMO, Speaker Johnson is delusional and dangerous.
When people tell their therapists that they hear voices telling them what to do or telling them the future -- especially a voice that claims it is God speaking to them -- therapists and other mental health specialists seek help for that person, usually hospitalization and deep psychotherapy. But the crowd who listened to Speaker Johnson telling them that God talks to him and tells him the future were perfectly fine listening to this man's claims that God talks to him and advises him about his job.
Isn't it amazing that Speaker Johnson's conversation with God -- the being that religionists believe is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, the creator of the vast and magnificent universe and multiverses, the creator of subatomic particles and vibrating strings -- would be so intricately concerned with the selection of the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States?
Wouldn't it have made more sense if this omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God had perhaps warned Johnson, or someone, about the coming slaughter in Israel on October 7? Wouldn't that have been a tad more important than having God talk to Johnson about a change in his career path?
What Anne Lamott once said comes to mind:
48 comments:
You're doing good work Shaw.
What i see in the growing Christian Nationalism is precisely the same thing the Christian Nationalists accuse believers of Islamn of doing. Albeit not yet as vehement as Islamic radicals they hate.
The path these religious zealots are attempting to lead America down will only lead to evil. Such movements alwsys do.
Mike Johnson claims God spoke to him and advised him on his career path. Really.
He, and many others, actually believe that an omnipotent, all-knowing creator of the universes gave him advice on how to advance his career by becoming Speaker of the House!
Johnson proudly spoke in front of a crowd that approves of supposed men of God calling the LGBTQ and transgender communities "demonic," which will give permission to nutcases all over the country to eliminate them -- demons are devils, afterall.
Johnson and those people who attended that event and did not push back on those anti-human words spoken by those pastors are the cause of evil that happens to the LGBTQ and transgender communities.
They do not represent any sort of human love, understanding, or compassion. They represent only their own fears and hatreds.
What they have claimed at that event is one of the biggest reasons young America is stepping away from religion. They have only themselves to blame for that.
Anti gay anti - transgender. LOL!
National Association of Christian Lawmakers
If stepping away from religion equates to stepping away from the party that supports this inhumanity i say bravo for that!
To seek is to grow
To grow is to learn
To learn creates a better world
Reified beliefs in anything is to stagnate and wither. Eventually losing all relevancy. That hopefully is the future of the MAGA movement and the party that suports it.
"Joe Conservative said...
Anti gay anti - transgender. LOL!
National Association of Christian Lawmakers"
Yup. The mullahs of American "Christian" Lawmakers.
"Les Carpenter said...
If stepping away from religion equates to stepping away from the party that supports this inhumanity i say bravo for that!"
The people referenced in this blog post do not represent any Christians I personally know. Johnson and the crowd he spoke to are a special group who twist the meaning of Christian love into something unrecognizable to all people of good will.
They give Christianity a bad name.
It's not just these few folks. They exist all over. I recall the "moral majority" of yesteryear. We're now witnessing Act II.
Can only imagine Act III.
.
Mike Johnson said, in October 2023, America Was Going to Hell Because 25% of High School Students Identify as “Something Other Than Straight”
Three weeks before becoming House Speaker, Mike Johnson said American society was “so dark and depraved it almost seems irredeemable,” citing statistics about high school students' sexuality.
"...House Speaker Mike Johnson has said some terrible stuff about the LGBTQ+ community over the last two decades, including calling homosexuality “inherently unnatural” and a “dangerous lifestyle” and claiming that legalizing gay marriage would lead to people marrying their pets."
Mike Johnson sounds unhinged. Is he so stupid that he doesn't understand one cannot marry someone or something that cannot give its consent? Marry a pet? How would one's cat or dog say "I do?"
Johnson is just another frightened, ignorant religionist who understands nothing about human sexuality, straight or gay. He's a danger to the LGBTQ+ communities, labeling them "inherently unnatural." Gay people are NOT unnatural. Homosexuality is NATURAL and common among humans and nonhumans. Fact:
"More common than recognized. The encounter was yet another data point in a growing understanding: Homosexual behavior is more common among nonhuman animals than scientists once acknowledged. By several estimates, researchers have observed such activity in more than 1,500 species."
He's an ignorant man. Religion combined with ignorance and hate is a terrible combination and a blight on humankind.
Go ahead, let your freak flag" fly!
"-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...
Go ahead, let your freak flag" fly!"
This post isn't about abortion, and you will not hijack it for your own narcissistic pleasure.
But to refute the link you posted:
"The pregnancy-associated mortality rate among women who delivered live neonates was 8.8 deaths per 100,000 live births. The mortality rate related to induced abortion was 0.6 deaths per 100,000 abortions. In the one recent comparative study of pregnancy morbidity in the United States, pregnancy-related complications were more common with childbirth than with abortion.
Conclusion: Legal induced abortion is markedly safer than childbirth. The risk of death associated with childbirth is approximately 14 times higher than that with abortion. Similarly, the overall morbidity associated with childbirth exceeds that with abortion."
SOURCE
Christian nationalists are demons.
"Les Carpenter said...
It's not just these few folks. They exist all over. I recall the "moral majority" of yesteryear. We're now witnessing Act II.
Can only imagine Act III."
Present-day Afghanistan and its repression of women is ACT III.
This is what a theocracy does to women.
The better half and me know several individuals that Johnson and others would call evil based on sexual orientation. Accordong to Johnson we probably are evil people too because we think they are perfectly normal healthy people who are JUST LIKE us in most every way. Their personal private lives are of no concern to us and should be of no concern to Johnson or anyone else.
I used to know a gay man back in the 70's that i would occasionally enjoy a couple beers with at a local bar near where i lived. Wasn't long before some folks stated rumors that i was "queer." I still laugh at the narrow mindedness of so many.
The people Johnson hates may very well be among the most talented, natural, and decent among us. But the conditioned fear Johnson and that "special goup" have over those they choose not to accept as human is nothing but short of evil.
Here is how Indigenous peoples of North America understood homosexuality, untainted by any western religious books, doctrines, or dogma:
Two-Spirit Community
“Two-spirit” refers to a person who identifies as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit, and is used by some Indigenous people to describe their sexual, gender and/or spiritual identity.
As an umbrella term it may encompass same-sex attraction and a wide variety of gender variance, including people who might be described in Western culture as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, gender queer, cross-dressers or who have multiple gender identities.
Two-spirit can also include relationships that could be considered poly. The creation of the term “two-spirit” is attributed to Elder Myra Laramee, who proposed its use during the Third Annual Inter-tribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conference, held in Winnipeg in 1990. The term is a translation of the Anishinaabemowin term niizh manidoowag, two spirits."
By no means did all pre-colonial Native American communities accept or celebrate gender and sexual orientation diversity. Often when tribes were conquered, they were taken as slaves or forced to submit sexually to their conquerors. However, we also know from writings of the European colonizers that not everyone they wrote about self-identified as third gender — some of them were conquered warriors who were forced to dress femininely. Interpretations of the role and standing of Two-Spirit and third gender people varied by tribe. What is clear from these accounts is that gender and sexuality was certainly more fluid in Native American society than it was in European society.
The effects of colonialism in Native American communities resulted in both marginalization on the basis of racial/ethnic identity and also of gender and sexuality. Christian European colonizers condemned same-sex relationships and gender variance as sinful and used these beliefs to further dehumanize Indigenous people. Native American Heritage Month enables us to honor and build awareness of the legacy left by many whose stories are rarely told.
Besides Putin's and Trump's, there's one more notable party -FJ would revere:
On October 10, 1936 Heinrich Himmler created the Reich Central Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortion, or Special Office (II S), a sub-department of Executive Department II of the Gestapo.
Openness and the willingness to accept diversity and embrace it as a natural phenomenon in human existence is the way the human spirit will evolve to reach its highest potenial. Spiritually and otherwise .
I want to know exactly how God talks to Mike Johnson.
Does he call him on his cell to deliver these messages? Maybe just a quick text from the Lord?
Or does the Speaker of the House hear God's voice in his head?
You didn't post what preceeded the flag post, removing proper context. Johnson and the Christian leaders are right. You're all just Moloch worshippers.
I want to know exactly how God talks to Mike Johnson.
There's a book called "The Bible". Maybe you've heard of it?
"-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...
You're all just Moloch worshippers."
Definition of Moloch: A deity whose worship was marked by the propitiatory sacrifice of children by their own parents.
Hey, -FJ. Are you okay? It sounds like you're having some difficulties. Why would anyone who isn't "going through some things" say that about anyone?
Take care. And rest.
Peace.
"-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...
I want to know exactly how God talks to Mike Johnson.
There's a book called "The Bible". Maybe you've heard of it?"
Yes. It's the Christian Holy Book. A majority of humans on this planet do not read or follow it.
But Johnson did not claim he READ that God told him he was Moses in a "Red Sea moment," Johnson claimed God "told" him.:
Johnson: “And the Lord very specifically told me in my prayers to prepare..."
But Johnson hearing God tell him he would be Moses is not the point.
The point is that Johnson participated in an event where pastors called LGBTQ+ and transgender people "demonic," which means they are devils, and devils are evil according to their religion.
True "godly" men and women don't say things like that. Only people with fear and hatred in their hearts say such things. And in my opinion, THAT is evil.
IF Johnson were truly a "man of god" he would not have smugly sat there and listened to supposed pastors vilify and malign their God's own creations.
Johnson, IMO, is an ungodly person who pretends he's a man of God. Nothing that comes out of his mouth is anything near "godly." It's all political.
The Holy Bible
A book written by MEN.
There are more accurate representations of truth and reality.
Johnson is a religionist fanatic.
Did you know that the word "apocalypse" originally meant "unveiling". I'll bet that Johnson does.
Or perhaps Buddha had a more accurate "representation" of truth and reality?
"Prepare"... what do you think Johnson means by it? I have my suspicions. John 19:14 "It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.
Johnson know he stands between Athens and Jerusalem. But unlike the Left, he does not slouch towards Gomorrah.
Wanna know where all of your democratic "rights" come from? Not from what everyone knows about human nature. But what from what we don't know about it. Hence you right to "life"... and "liberty"... so you may "pursue happiness". Because the Socialist "knows not" what "happiness" is to all men, the classical liberal acknowledge o "right".
Is it a "home" to the "homeless"? Is it a "job" to the "jobless'? Do you "know"?
Thersites "Because the Socialist "knows not" what "happiness" is..."
LOL!
The happiest people on the planet live in Socialist countries:
Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Switzerland.
Why? Because they don't have to worry about becoming bankrupt if they get sick, new mothers and fathers get paid maternity/paternity leave after children are born, the leading cause of children's deaths is NOT firearms! Just to name a few reasons. Also, those countries are among the least religious.
The UNhappiest country, according to the 2023 Gallup World Poll? Afghanistan -- where religious fanatics rule -- a theocracy!
Also this: A Mass. city was named best place to live for families in 2023, according to Fortune
A Mass. city was named best place to live for families in 2023, according to Fortune
By Lindsey Thorpe, Boston 25 News Staff
June 19, 2023 at 9:01 pm EDT
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A Massachusetts city is ranked the top place to live for families out of America’s best zip codes all of which can help fight isolation and build social ties, according to Fortune.
The publication recently released its annual list of 50 best places to live for families, and Cambridge ranked number one.
“Home to world-renowned educational institutions Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge embraces its dual position as a college town and bustling metro, just across the Charles River from Boston,”
I was born in Cambridge, Mass., and live on the other side of the Charles River from it, and spend half my time there. My companion lives there. He also attended one of Cambridge's most famous schools.
Cambridge is like living in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, or Finland! I say that all the time.
Cambridge's mayor is Sumbul Siddiqui
Mayor Siddiqui earned a 2020 NAACP award, the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts Emerging Women Leaders in the Law 2021 award. She was also the South Asian Bar Association 2021 Member of the Year, a Margaret Fuller House 2021 Gala award recipient, and a recipient of the 2021 Greater Boston Labor Council Labor Champion award. Mayor Siddiqui looks forward to continuing to make Cambridge a more equitable and civically engaged community.
"Thersites said...
Johnson know he stands between Athens and Jerusalem. But unlike the Left, he does not slouch towards Gomorrah.
Johnson is a fake Christian. No Christian I know would engage with "pastors" who call fellow human beings "demonic." Johnson is IMO a spineless charlatan who is the complete opposite of Christian love.
Johnson is a politician who uses his Christianity to polish his pharisaic image.
"Johnson wrote the forward on Scott McKay’s The Revivalist Manifesto, a book that insulted poor people, defended white people who used the n-word, and called Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg “obnoxiously gay.”
Johnson promoted the book in 2022, calling McKay a “dear friend” and adding, “I obviously believe in the product, or I wouldn’t have written the foreword.”
Johnson didn’t just put a quote on the back of the book. He wrote a forward that is in the book, then had this guy on his podcast, and then went out of his way to say things associating himself both with the author and with the book.”
Sumbul Siddiqui
At least Cambridge practices its' "minority fetish". And why not, she's not a crack head like Baltimore's mayor, Brandon Scott.
Mayor Siiddiqui is as American as apple pie. She’s a naturalized citizen, and has been in America since she was 2 years old. Only a xenophobic person would suggest she attained her position because of a “minority fetish.” You emphasized her name, as though that proves, what? That she was born to non-Anglo parents?
Henry Kissinger was a naturalized citizen as well, and a religious/cultural minority. Was his attainment to lofty positions in American political power the result of “minority fetish?”
Our troll with three faces asked "Wanna know where all of your democratic "rights" come from?"
I'm certain our rights are guaranteed (at least in the USA) by the Constitution and Bill of Rights. A document created for the people by the people, no deity required.
They also hinted that they knew what Johnson was talking about when he said prepare. Their link goes (at least for me) to a song in Godspell where John the Baptist is preparing the way for Jesus Christ.
Mike (I need my children to keep me away from pron) Johnson is NOT John the Baptist, nor is he Moses or any other biblical character. If he'd lost everything and was on the street talking like he does now he'd be on a 72 mandatory mental health hold followed up with therapy and medications if needed.
As part of the LGBTQA+ community my evangelical family were all about calling me demon (before I even admitted to myself who I really am). They only stopped the "they're demons" hateful language when they used it with my mom when talking about my transgendered niece who unalived themselves. She told me she started to shout at her brother (something she does. not. do) and he finally stopped. He may still believe my niece and I are demons but he won't say to my moms face. It's not much but for now, it's enough.
Our three faced troll hates everything American - our Constitution, our immigrants, the way we decided to choose our leaders. Are they sure they are on the correct side of democracy and history? I ask because to me, if my opinion were requested, I'd have to say no, they are not on the correct side.
Thank you Grey One talks sass for your comment.
Just to make something clear. I am NOT trashing Christians. Members of my family, whom I dearly love, are Christians. They are NOT, however, anti-human because of anyone's sexual orientation or because of transgender issues. Not one!
I go after Mike Johnson because he sets himself up as a person who loves God, reads and is motivated in his behaviors by the Bible, and yet freely associates with "religious" people who call other human beings "demonic," which means being like the Devil, which is evil.
This is dangerous talk!
Haven't we, as a human race, suffered enough because of people's interpretations of the Christian Bible and the Quran? Must we give any credence to men/women who use the Bible or Quran to isolate, denigrate, demonize our fellow human beings? Our sisters and brothers?
How do other Christians square that with what they say is a loving God? Why do they so eagerly accept those damaging words about our gay/trans brothers and sisters?
I have to point out that the Evangelicals in this country believe the Ten Commandments are the basis of our Judeo/Christian laws (they're not, BTW), and in the Ten Commandments (God's COMMANDMENTS we are told). We can read that it prohibits adultery, lying, killing, coveting, and having false gods before Almighty God -- THERE IS NO COMMANDMENT AGAINST HOMOSEXUALITY, is there.
And yet the Evangelical Christians, who follow the Ten Commandments and believe they are God's laws, make allowances for Donald J. Trump -- even worship him as equal to Jesus! -- who has broken quite a few of those Commandments, and has said with his own mouth that he doesn't need to be forgiven for ANYTHING.
This is, among other things, why I go after people like Mike Johnson. I believe he is a religious hypocrite, and dangerous.
As for the Evangelical Christians who still support Trump and denigrate Joe Biden, how would any critical thinking human being react to that religious hypocrisy?
For me, I react with disgust and disbelief in what they preach.
You two really don't get it. You don't see the lines, or the middle. And you're very likely unwilling to learn. Cuz it would take 40 minutes to introduce you to the "modern dilemna" and educate you. Watch the Thiel interview. Go farther and read his paper (30 pages), or watch the summary of the paper video (1:50:00). Maybe THAT would help you understand what it means to sit "between" Athens and Jerusalem. But then again, that would require you to think.
btw - History has no "sides".
ps - My brother is gay. My son is gay. You really think I call them "demons"?
I also find it ironic that you're so willing to point out the VIOLENCE hidden behind Mike Johnson's words, as you conceal the very same behind your own.
Apocalypse may be an "unveiling". But it doesn't required once to "conceal" the reality of human nature. In the bellum omnium contra omnes, there are sides. The Enlightenment was a successful 300 year distraction from them (Athens and Jerusalem). But we've reached another crossroads. Psych-political tricks and mind-games aren't going to work much any more.
Johnson at least has learned the folly of constructing scapegoats, having seen his own Savior crucified as one in the bellum omne contra unum [war of all (Rome) against one (Christ)].
-FJ "ps - My brother is gay. My son is gay. You really think I call them "demons"?"
No one here, least of all me! said you call ANYONE a "demon" or "demonic." But the supposedly good Christian, Mike Johnson, accepted an award and honors from a group that welcomes "pastors" who call gays and trans people, "demonic."
My post isn't about you or your family or what you call anyone. I have gay AND trans people in my family as well.
My post is about the hate-filled group that honored Johnson and that Johnson is happy to belong to. Is that his idea of Christian love and doing good works in the name of Christ?
That group is advocating hatred against minorities. That's as far away from being Christlike as anyone can imagine. Those people are too focused on people's sexuality and not focused enough on loving even those you don't understand or fear. In my opinion and many, many others', that is the opposite of Christianity.
It's religious hypocrisy at its worst.
-FJ "But then again, that would require you to think."
That's quite rich coming from someone who still believes the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and who predicted (all wrong, of course) that the stolen election would be proved in the Arizona and Wisconsin recounts and that two poll workers in Georgia had somehow brought in "suitcases full of ballots" when no one was looking (also wrong!) and that the Durham Report would uncover corruption by the Bidens. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.
You're a conspiracist. To stop being a conspiracist require you to think!
"-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...
Johnson at least has learned the folly of constructing scapegoats, having seen his own Savior crucified as one in the bellum omne contra unum [war of all (Rome) against one (Christ)]."
Johnson has "learned the folly of constructing scapegoats? Really?
Mike Johnson: U.S. 'Dark and Depraved' Because So Many Teens Are LGBTQ+
That's an invitation to the weak-minded religious fanatics to attack and harm LGBTQ+ people, spoken by a man who is the 2nd in line to the presidency.
What a colossal embarrassment to our secular country and its Constitution.
He must have learned something...
He’s had little to say on LGBTQ+ issues since becoming speaker, and in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News early in November, he claimed he didn’t remember some of his previous remarks on homosexuality. “I am a rule of law guy. … I respect the rule of law, but I also genuinely love all people regardless of their lifestyle choices,” he added. But the call with Garlow shows his anti-LGBTQ+ stances aren’t that far in the past.
Oh, but I forgot... you're a "secular progressive". I guess that means that "past sins can NEVER be forgiven".
*tsk-tsk*
Trump speaking somewhere in Trumplandia:
Trump says that he’ll implement a religious test for immigrants if he is elected:
“If you don’t like our religion…then we don’t want you in our country.”
Again Trump shows his egregious lack of knowledge about our Constitution. He's an idiot, of course, so this is not surprising.
There is no "our religion" in the SECULAR United States of America.
There are many religions and NO Religion.
Trump is beyond stupid. He's dangerous.
Thanks Shaw. Your blog is a haven because of you. There are other reasons but your world view rings true. And you believe in the scientific method of getting to the fact of a matter. It's important.
I too am not calling out Christians like my mom when I condemn Christian nationalists. To a limited sense I even tolerate the fundamentalist/evangelical crowd as this is the USA and they do have the right to believe as they do. For some all they have is their religion. What kind of monster takes that away?
I have a response to our three faced troll but the topic at hand is Mike Johnson, a man who lies to your face as he shivs you in the back. Everything you've posted about the man Shaw is spot on, and it behooves those who don't know him to get educated. He and those like him will do their best to bamboozle you with how they really love the sinner not the sin.
Yeah, that kind of love isn't love (I know, shocking! amirite?) I'm afraid, to be honest. Minorities in the USA have fought for so long to ensure the rights once only enjoyed by white land owners apply to all We The People. Going back... Yeah, not an option this time.
Christian nationalists like Mike Johnson will just have to learn to share.
My observations on two of -FJ’s sentences:
My brother is gay. My son is gay. You really think I call them "demons"?
Yet he is all in for the Republican Party’s demonizing and dehumanizing war on the LGBTQ community. I have to wonder where his brother and son live.
I also find it ironic that you're so willing to point out the VIOLENCE hidden behind Mike Johnson's words, as you conceal the very same behind your own.
There’s nothing hidden about Johnson’s (and -FJ’s) embrace of Trump’s VIOLENT Jan. 6 coup. I don’t recall Shaw supporting anything approaching that level of malevolent and mendacious mayhem.
His lofty philosophical references and pretensions have certainly done little to promote basic human decency and acceptance of the reality that TRUMP LOST and LIED about it.
If asked what ails this country I'd have to answer Trump and those who carry water for him. Our resident three faced troll (who seems to be sensitive that I call them that) is the poster child for Trump and seems hell bent to ensure fascism is on the ballot in 2024.
I'm too stupid to learn? Really? Wow. I guess you told me! By the way, in your comment "Cuz it would take 40 minutes to introduce you to the "modern dilemna" and educate you" you spelled dilemma wrong. But yeah, I'm dumb.
Because I practice the scientific method I googled the Athens to Jerusalem dilemma and hoped you'd found something new but nope, it's the same old debate between Reason and Faith. Sigh. The new improved debate you suggest is the old tired debate only wrapped up in chrome to make it ooo shiny. Thing is three-face, chrome don't get you home to use a motorcycle metaphor.
Humanity has studied this issue since the beginning. The fight between our inner selves is a multibillion dollar industry with many voices pointing out good thoughts. Thing is though there are as many pathways to the Light as there are souls on the planet but there is only One Way. My way isn't the same as anyone else's which is where I bump into religion because to the religious there is only one way - theirs - to which I give a hale and hearty NOPE.
I've learned the struggle for balance has always been between the self who wants to fight and the self who does not. As far as I can tell the only way to win is to deny it battle. Sometimes the best offense is to not be where an attack is planned.
So, to recap:
Balance in all things.
Moderation in all things, including moderation.
Practice kindness.
And above all, when bellies are presented blowing raspberries is required (you know you deserve what is coming next....PBBBBBBPPPPTTTTT on your misspelled belly three-face.)
“Joe Conservative said...
Oh, but I forgot... you're a "secular progressive". I guess that means that "past sins can NEVER be forgiven".
Of course past injustices can be forgiven. But first the ones who cause injury must acknowledge what they’ve done and never do it again. in our history injustices were perpetrated on minorities as a matter of law — that must be acknowledged and understood.
Right now, there are factions in this country that do not want our past sins taught in history class.
Facism and Christian Nationalism on the rise in the US. Surprising? No.
The Christian church supported Nazism in Germany. It is doing so to a degree already in the US.
If the current trend continues we all know to what end it leads.
Conservative religionist republican ideology now is nothing but regressive reactionary religionist claptrap. These religionists want to CONTROL everyones "rights" and "values" so as to align them with their own.
Religious Authority controlling the state. Sounds like their in the same mental state as the extremism that resides within radical Islamn.
-FJ, Joe, et all...
You snarkily posted... "Oh, but I forgot... you're a "secular progressive". I guess that means that "past sins can NEVER be forgiven"."
i don't know where the "secular progressives" stand, but here's where I stand on the subject of sin and forgiveness.
Biblically for a Christian, and this would apply to folks like Speaker Johnson and former President Trump who both have publicly self identified as Christian, it works like this.
The person who sins, and desires forgiveness, admits their error and asks for forgiveness. The the aggrieved party must offer forgiveness. There can be no forgiveness without repentance which by necessity includes self acceptance of your sin and then an effort to turn away from those sins.
Johnson, as a supporter of the insurrection and effort to overturn the 2020 election, has not, as far as I know, accepted responsibility for his actions, nor has he asked for forgiveness and he is not turning away from those actions.
So, in a classic fundamentalist way, which is his brand of the faith, he is choosing himself to not be forgiven.
Trump, as it relates to almost anything, of course has never, by his own words, asked to be forgiven for anything.
So no... as Christians, they cannot be forgiven at this point.
BTW... if this is all bold, as it looks to me, it's a blogger problem.
Christianity implies guilt at birth.
Which for me is hogwash. At birth one is primordial pure and innocent of any sin.
Cause and effect: karma based on each individual's own actions ultimately determine the course of their future(s).
Relative judgement is made by men/women based on secular laws determined by the culture/society in which they live.
Monotheistic religious faith is based on the authoritarian principles that all authoritarians, like Ttump and Johnson use to manipulate the gullible and unquestioning person. IE: Blind Faith. Which defines all monothocratic religions.
Spirituality is cosmic. Religion is wholly man made.
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