“In a world swimming in violence, in a land where “messiah” meant militancy, Jesus never acts violently. Whenever violence is addressed, Jesus condemns it. Whenever His followers try to act violently, they are confronted. Whenever Jesus encounters people who deserve a violent punishment, Jesus loves them. And in doing so, He leaves His followers with a nonviolent example to follow. When people around the globe … Continue reading Jesus and Violence…
California is America’s bread basket—or, more accurately, its fruits and vegetables basket. The Golden State produces 95 percent of the country’s celery, half of its bell peppers, 89 percent of its cauliflower, 96 percent of its tomatoes, 95 percent of its garlic, 90 percent of its avocados—and the list goes on. In fact, the state accounts for nearly one-fifth of the entire agricultural output of … Continue reading Epic California Drought Could Change the Way We Eat
A theology of love begins with the assumption that all people are God’s cherished children and deserving of love. “We love because he first loved us. Those who say ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers and sisters, are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen” (1 John 4:19–20). … Continue reading The Theology Of Love….
Anyone who has spent much time on this blog knows that I am a big fan of Wikipedia. I give them at least a couple of donations every year to support their efforts. It was only recently that I discovered Wikimedia Commons. Click on the graphic to the right to go there. Wikimedia Commons has literally thousands of public domain media for all you bloggers … Continue reading About Wikimedia Commons….
I can remember in my younger years how when I came across older people who didn’t know some of the things I did I automatically thought they were just senile old folks who were no longer living in the “real” world. They were simply out of tune with the times. They just didn’t see the world as I did. Of course now that I am … Continue reading Out Of Tune…..
Got to show you this one from my Facebook link. LOL Continue reading If Men Could Get Pregnant….
What do we do as Christians when confronted with these harsh realities? The Bible urges us to “remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself!” (Hebrews 13:3). Jesus knew what it was like to have a loved one incarcerated. His cousin, John the Baptist, was falsely accused and arrested (and eventually executed). Perhaps this is why Jesus, in Matthew 25, tells his disciples … Continue reading To Set Prisoners Free….
Looking at all the religious oligarchies around the world I am thankful that the U.S. is not a Christian nation. Without exception those countries that adhere to a strict religious dogma are plagued with strife, war, and are constantly battling with their neighbors. I am totally convinced that the reason that the U.S. is what it is today because of our diversity. We are a … Continue reading Being Thankful That The United States Is Not A Christian Nation….
All my life I have been for the underdog. I don’t know if it is because I was one or if it is just some innate empathy built into me. As I mentioned a few posts ago my favorite saint from the Catholic days was St Jude – the patron saint of lost causes. It is just something about these David/Goliath type battles that brings … Continue reading The Underdog…
I was in college in the 1960s and can say I never took a spring break cruise or anything so lavish. There were a few kids I knew who did go to Ft. Lauderdale for the week but that was about it. But then again I lived my college life in a dormitory. I suspect that the frats and sororities whose kids usually came from … Continue reading Spring Break Cruises…
I spent the first couple decades of my life as a Catholic. That was the dogma that my parents chose for me. They, for the most part, were not “real” Catholics but for whatever reason they thought that we kids should be. One of the things I thought was kind of neat about being a Catholic was that there seemed to be a patron saint … Continue reading Patron Saints….
Young and old, rich and poor, and people from every social, economic, political and cultural background are starting to rethink their faith. A fresh movement is happening, and in its purest form is about one thing: following Christ. This transformation is reshaping the Christian landscape. Believers are starting to simplify their faith in order to exemplify Christ—a simple yet profound way to live out the … Continue reading Revolution….
Young and old, rich and poor, and people from every social, economic, political and cultural background are starting to rethink their faith. A fresh movement is happening, and in its purest form is about one thing: following Christ. This transformation is reshaping the Christian landscape. Believers are starting to simplify their faith in order to exemplify Christ—a simple yet profound way to live out the … Continue reading Revolution….
Legislatures are like animals in a zoo. You can’t do anything about ’em’. All you can do is to stand and watch ’em’ About being a U.S. Senator, the only thing the law says you have to be is 30 years old. Not another single requirement. They just figure that a man that old got nobody to blame but himself is he gets caught … Continue reading A Couple of Quotes From Will….
I always try to tell the truth or at least my version of it. I acknowledge the premise that all of us lie to one degree or another and that certainly includes me. But I always try to tell the truth. Sometimes that makes me seem insensitive and maybe even an ass. I tell the truth when others would lie to make someone feel better. … Continue reading I Tell The Truth….
For-profit prisons have now become the norm throughout our country. We now leave it up to others to house those who we deem unfit for society. Some, especially fiscal conservatives, say that is a good thing. After all doesn’t the private sector always do it better than the public one. Doesn’t the drive for profit always mean a better way of doing it? Here are … Continue reading Privatizing Prisons…
I will admit here that I got a first time comment today that I immediately sent to the trash because I don’t have the energy to deal with it on a serious level right now. It goes like this. “I will ignore the needs of the 99 in order to prevent the 100th one from getting something he doesn’t deserve”. This comment also declared that … Continue reading Whose Fault???
When I was a kid I often heard that the USA was the great American melting pot. That implied that when people came to this country they gave up all their traditions and heritage and merged seamlessly into the American ethic. I was a pretty naive farm boy in my youth so it was years before I realized that the melting pot was not as … Continue reading A Melting Pot vs. A Stew….
I am going to talk about a “below the belt” issue here so all you prudes out there take warning. Also take warning to not take what I say here too serious. I am kind of poking fun at this issue so don’t flame me too much. 🙂 Some read the Bible to say that the only purpose of having a sexual relations is for … Continue reading Below The Belt…
I have come to recent insight that there is really no such thing as a grownup. We all carry our basic insecurities and fears with us throughout our lives. They might not have the intensity they once had but they never disappear. Let’s face it none of us ever really grows up. Especially as far as our parents are concerned. I was always somewhat embarrassed … Continue reading There Is No Such Thing As A Grownup…..
What About The Bible… ? (Chapter 6) This is the final post on my series about the Bible. It has been an enlightening time for me. This final post is about the history of Christianity and how it seems to stop with the establishment of the biblical text. But before I get into that I must mention that I have found that to really understand … Continue reading The History Of Christianity???
We all know the story of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – four remarkably similar accounts about his life. What we don’t agree on is our interpretation of what he taught. I’m talking about the Gospel message that Jesus intended to be a guide for how we should live our lives, and to be passed on to others … Continue reading The Gospel According To Who?
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is planning to cut the U.S. Army to its smallest force since before World War II and eliminate an entire class of Air Force attack jets, the New York Times reports. The moves are part of a new spending proposal that officials say is the first Pentagon budget to push the military off the war footing adopted after the terrorist attacks … Continue reading Hagel plans to shrink Army to pre-World War II level
For those of you who have read some of the classics of the past I”m sure you will finish this post title with “Walter Mitty”. I think all of us at one level or another live our own Walter Mitty lives in our minds. There are those missed opportunities where we could have made fundamentally different choices that might have radically changed who we are. … Continue reading The Secret Life Of…..
As we age we become more aware of who we are, and we have more time to enjoy the smaller, ordinary things that fill our days. These words or something like them fill a myriad of books about living a fulfilling retirement. But on some level this seems to me to be a cop-out of not trying to do something to live out remaining dreams. … Continue reading Savoring vs. Seizing….
I’m not sure who brought up the concept but it is about how churches are actually more like clubhouses than anything else. They are buildings that are built almost exclusively for their members comfort. Yes that comfort does bring in some to hear the message but that seems to be very secondary at best. I had a recent round of comments on this topic over … Continue reading Everyone Needs A Clubhouse….
Half of American adults ages 18 to 33 are self-described political independents, according to a survey out Friday, but at the same time half of these so-called millennials are Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party, the highest share for any age group over the last decade. In addition, young adults tend to be single and churchless — turning away from their predecessors’ proclivity for … Continue reading Many millennials are skipping church, marriage and political affiliations…
THIS JUST IN… Louisiana Judge orders Glenn Ford to be released after 30 years on death row. Glenn is African American convicted by an all-white jury, and lost 30 years of his life and was nearly executed for a crime he did not do. Huge news, hopefully moving us one step closer to abolition of the death penalty. Louisiana Judge Ramona Emanuel ordered Glenn Ford … Continue reading Released after 30 years on Death Row…
Now that I set my own schedule I have found that sometimes not setting a schedule is the best option. Up until my retirement I was the epitome of a planner. When I started my professional work life in 1970 I used to fill out a weekly 3 x 5 card with everything I needed to accomplish that week. When desktop computers came in the … Continue reading Planning And Creativity…
In my opinion, those concerned with justice must lead the fight to re-humanize those we have considered criminal. Rather than looking at individuals as the unwanted other we must begin to learn their stories and connect with them as people again. We must aggressively seek to eradicate the incarceration of our young people and provide services rather than prisons. Though once outlawed, at the beginning … Continue reading The Unwanted Other…
I can’t help it. I’m dabbing my toes into the political arena here. When I saw the picture on the left recently I was immediately struck by how similar these two guys appear. Except for one having a little more hair than the other they could be brothers. And the effect they have on the country … Continue reading Any Similarities???
That second set of ears belongs to Sharon Wolozin, who takes notes the old-fashioned way – with pen and paper – and then reads some of the main points aloud to confirm them with the doctor. If the patient forgets a question she told Wolozin she planned to ask, Wolozin will remind her. But she is not an advocate and has no medical training. “We … Continue reading During Doctor Visits….
What About The Bible… ? (Chapter 5) I used to mourn the fact that there are almost 40,000 different versions of Christianity around today. But, in reality maybe I should celebrate that statistic. At least it shows that we are all trying to find the heart of God. But the problem with this is that we end up picking the type of God we want. … Continue reading Religious Diversity…
Time and again, those who opposed Jesus would quote Scripture. They would remind him of the Sabbath law, the requirement to fast, the provision for divorce, and the penalty for adultery. Jesus seemed unimpressed with a person’s ability to quote Scripture. His interest was in a person’s ability to hear God’s voice. He said, “He who belongs to God hears what God says” (John 8:47). … Continue reading Muzzling God….
No slick lawyers, or income tax experts can get you out of a national sales tax. It’s so much on the dollar on every luxury you buy. Then, if you live in luxury, the poor fellow knows you are paying for it and he will even encourage you to buy more so it will help out the government. — Will Rogers November 2, 1924 Continue reading An Argument For A National Sales Tax…
Most of us, and especially my very conservative friends at least during Democrat administrations, have in our minds how government simply can’t do anything right. Whatever it does is most likely screwed up and can be done much better in the private sector…. In direct contrast is one thing most conspiracy theories contain is the idea of a hyper-competent government doing things way beyond any … Continue reading Conspiracy Theories and a Hyper-Competent Government….
RJ's Corner 