With my ingrained altruist and “Follower of Jesus” worldview I am naturally drawn to and inspired by Sojourners magazine. Â This month’s issue is centered about making sure those in impoverished neighborhoods have access to quality education. Â I hope some of you will consider subscribing. Â No, I am not being paid anything for this endorsement. Continue reading Sojourners….
June 1998 — Here is a picture looking out of a window of the “Windows on the World” restaurant in the World Trade Center. It was our first of several visits there Continue reading Looking Down….
I can’t understand why Ohio is supposedly one of the swing States in this election. Â They have gone from 48th in Job creations in 2008 to 4th in 2012. Â That is the most dramatic change of any State in the Union. Â Of course this is the result of President Obama giving loans to the auto industry which is a large employer in Ohio. I could really say the same thing about my home State of Indiana. It has gained much from those same loans but of course it is usually a solidly “red” State so sadly to say it is not on the fence.
I am well aware that there are Christians who believe that all of the bible is the words of Jesus and must be taken literally and totally without the possibility of error in every regard. Â On my very first post on this blog almost four years ago I was confronted by this belief by a person rather high up in the Lutheran denominations. I have … Continue reading About The Epistles….
You know no Nation has a monopoly on good things, each one has something that the others could well afford to adopt. – November 30, 1930 Â Â Will Rogers I seem to be locked into the political mode lately with my posts! But there is just so much material available to make it that way. Â But as a result I have been forgetting another major part … Continue reading A Monopoly On Good Things….
I know there is a lot of fury going on now about how President Obama has increased the national debt. So, when I came across this graph it got my attention. I have had several ranters here lately who proclaim that “that idiot Obama is bankrupting the country”. They go on and on about the increased deficit and how it is their sole reason to drive that “idiot” out of office. I am going to try and give you some insight into this situation but as President Clinton said recently you are going to have to pay attention…
I am going to start this post with an alarming story of Constantine’s involvement in the Council of Nicaea. It is from a book by Harvey Cox entitle The Future of Faith. Â If this doesn’t cast out any doubt of man’s involvement in the change from faith to rigid belief nothing will: Constantine, not Jesus, was the dominant figure at Nicaea, and it is … Continue reading The Decrees of Constantine…
Here is another poll that shows when it comes to making cuts in Medicare or Social Security a big percentage of people think we should cut our bloated defense spending instead. Â If we could somehow manage to get our war machine budgets in line with the rest of the world, yes I mean the other 95% of the world, then most of our budget and … Continue reading Military Spending Cuts…….
Source: Recent email from FCNL (Friends Conference on National Legislation – Quaker) Do your members of Congress and candidates know what you think about Pentagon spending cuts? What they hear from you now could influence their decisions this December and into next year. Urge them to support Pentagon cuts of $1 trillion over the next 10 years, as recommended by experts from across the political spectrum.1 39 cents out … Continue reading Do Members of Congress and candidates know what you think???
Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?” Vanity asks the question, “Is it popular?” But, conscience asks the question, “Is it right?” And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right. ~ Dr. … Continue reading Is It Right????
Most Christians today only know of two creeds: The Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed. In reality there were hundreds if not thousands of creeds generated during the 4th through the 10th centuries. It seemed that every time a bishop felt his power threatened he claimed to have another creed dictated by God. Â Here is what Harvey Fox said about that in his book the … Continue reading About Those Creeds…..
Source:Â Pizza Man Bear Hugs Obama, Starts ‘Yelp’ Troll War – Yahoo! News. When Big Apple Pizza owner Scott Van Nuzer bear-hugged and hoisted President Obama off the ground during their brief meeting in Fort Pierce, Fla., Sunday, it wasn’t only the (startled) press corps that took notice. Earlier today, users flooded the rate and review website Yelp, sending Big Apple Pizza’s overall rating in a … Continue reading Vicious Retribution…..
I just returned from a trip to northern Wisconsin. The picture above is from a large orchard adjacent to Lake Winnebago (shown in the background). We were there for a wedding but managed to get some touring in. Like so many others the apple orchard is suffering from the worst conditions in 30 years. The majority of their crop was lost. Continue reading Lake Winnebago…
via Romney ridicules Obama on ‘change’ remark – Political Hotsheet – CBS News. President Obama: “I think that I’ve learned some lessons over the last four years, and the most important lesson I’ve learned is that you can’t change Washington from the inside, you can only change it from the outside,” Obama said. “That’s how I got elected, and that’s how the big accomplishments like health … Continue reading Mr. Romney Doesn’t Seem To Have a Clue….
via Romney Reframes Donor Remarks to Refocus on Economic Issues – Businessweek. Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown, who is running for re-election in a close race against Democrat Elizabeth Warren, a former Harvard University professor, told The Hill newspaper: “That’s not the way I view the world. As someone who grew up in tough circumstances, I know that being on public assistance is not a spot … Continue reading There You Go Again….
Jesus meant for us to look forward in the world to accomplish the tasks he gave us. If you read the red letters for what they are and not necessarily what others think about them then you will know that he didn’t intend for us to always be looking backwards to what he did for us. He gave each one of us who call ourselves … Continue reading Stumbling Forward….
Many of us Christians never seem to give up our childhood views of just who God is. We think of him as that white bearded guy up in heaven. True, we do add some things to this vision as we get older we see him as that guy who spends his day saying “You go to heaven; you go to hell”. Â We often view Jesus … Continue reading That Bearded Guy Up There…..
It used to be that a man’s word was the primary definition of his character. If you didn’t keep your word how could you be trusted with anything else? A man’s word was his word. But it seems that somehow this idea has been lost in America or at least in the Republican party. When the super-committee, one of whose members is the current GOP … Continue reading My Word….
Source: Mitt Romney video fact check: Is 47 percent of US ‘dependent’ on government? – CSMonitor.com. That is one of the questions that has been raised after Mother Jones magazine on Tuesday released a video of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaking to donors at a $50,000-a-plate fundraiser May 17. “There are 47 percent who are with him [President Obama], who are dependent upon government, who … Continue reading I Guess I Am One Of Them…. Or Maybe Two Of Them….
Why is it that Germany seems to be just about the only country in the world who is not struggling with a disappearing middle class? They are doing well in that regard because they are the most unionized country in the world and their increased wages drives their demand. How do they manage to keep their wages high in light of the pennies-on-the-dollar labor found … Continue reading About Germany….
Here is a quote from a letter I recently received from my friends at American Friends Service Committee (AFSC.org) Who wins when our country goes to war? Â Defense contractors! Who profits from the highest imprisonment rate in the world! For-profit prison corporations! Who benefits by cutting agencies charged with mine safety and the protection of workers rights? Mining companies! Each year a handful of corporations … Continue reading Who Wins???
I got the above plaque from a Facebook friend’s page and it struck me as being filled with wisdom. Â I don’t know who wrote it but it is certainly worth making note of. If any of us just lived by these rules we would find a level of happiness we might not otherwise realize. Free your heart from hatred — The old saying that hatred … Continue reading Rules to Live By….
Here is a picture to celebrate summer’s end. Continue reading Summer’s End
Since Hank convinced me to get off my butt and get involved in this coming Presidential election I will occasionally be  bringing up what I call “A grossly blatant political ad”.  I promise I won’t become a raving lunatic and start calling everyone horrible names. I will be more civilized  than that. These ads will be tongue-in-cheek and one-sided so you have been forewarned. To … Continue reading Romney’s America….
My regular viewers you know that I have recently had some discussions with a commentor on this blog named “Hank”. Of course since the Internet is a virtual gathering place I really don’t know for sure if Hank is a male or female but for the sake of this and maybe future posts I will call him “he”. Now Hank made several comments to posts … Continue reading Putting a Face on the Tea Party….
Yesterday I got the below email from Sojourners with responses from both presidential candidates on how they will address the problem of poverty in America. Given that our current study is “our responsibilities to the poor” it came at a very appropriate time. I am tempted to make some remarks about the two approaches but will refrain from doing so in this post. Â Click on … Continue reading Maybe…. Just Maybe….
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. Â And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. Â If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, Â how can the love of God be in that person? Â Dear children, Â let us not love with … Continue reading The Love of God….
I pride myself in frequently looking outside my box in this world. Yes, my life’s experiences pretty much, like everyone else, defines who I am but we must also try to look at things from a different perspective on a regular basis. That brings up the topic of this post. The typical voter and that certainly includes me seems to want to elect a person … Continue reading Maybe We Vote For President For The Wrong Reasons….
A statesman is a man that can do what the politician would like to do but can’t, because he is afraid of not being elected. – July 5, 1934  Will Rogers I’m sure my fellow blogger over at SatisfyingRetirment knows the source for the above post title. It is from my favorite composer Bob Dylan and was made famous by Peter, Paul, and Mary … Continue reading Where Have All The Statesmen Gone, Long Time Passing…
I am again an Apple computer guy so when I saw recently that Apple had won a court case against Samsung on their using things that Apple has patents on the thought of for the title above came quickly to mind. Many Christians seem to think that they have exclusive rights to who God is and what we are to believe about him. I believe … Continue reading Christians Don’t Have Exclusive Rights on God…
We in the U.S. know that one of the primary foundations of our democracy is freedom of speech. That is being able to say something different from our leaders and not suffer serious consequences. In my opinion this is what has allowed our country to remain so strong over the centuries. Many times criticisms lead to change and though we might not realize it at … Continue reading The Church Is Not a Democracy….
Just a quick aside to make sure you see the Dave Granlund cartoon above. It needs no explanation! Continue reading Looking Back… Way Back…
via Fact-checkers find exaggerations in Obama, Biden conventions speeches | Fox News. President Obama and Vice President Biden made statements in their convention speeches about unemployment, Medicare and other issues that fact-checkers say appear inaccurate or at least misleading. Among the questionable remarks were Biden’s argument that “after the worst job loss since the Great Depression we created 4.5 million private sector jobs in the past … Continue reading Fact-checkers find exaggerations in Obama, Biden conventions speeches
This is a cross post from one of my other blogs at RJ’s Corner. I thought it appropriate for RLL also. It is terrible to think what the churches do to men. But if one imagines oneself in the position of the men who constitute the Church, we see they could not act differently. The churches are placed in a dilemma: the Sermon on the … Continue reading God Is Not Dead But the Church Is On Life Support…
It is terrible to think what the churches do to men. But if one imagines oneself in the position of the men who constitute the Church, we see they could not act differently. The churches are placed in a dilemma: the Sermon on the Mount or the Nicene Creed–the one excludes the other. If a man sincerely believes in the Sermon on the Mount, the … Continue reading Inspiring Radical Thinking……
In recent days I have been getting frustrated by the progress I have made into the parallel studies of the Roman empire and the Christian church. It is not that I am not learning things it is just that it is taking longer than I originally anticipated. My wife claims that I always underestimate these sort of things and maybe I do 🙂  I certainly … Continue reading A New Direction…. Again….
RJ's Corner 