Source: John Pavlovitz – Stuff That Need To Be Said

John Pavlovitz continues to inspire me as a blogger, an American, and a Christian. I can’t imagine being as productive a blogger as he is! I often struggle to find the words to adequately express my feeling whereas he seems to do it effortlessly. This post is about his words above.

This list comes from a recent post from him about his belief that he is in the “Humane Middle”, not the Radical Left that the MAGA/Evangelicals want to tag him with. His beliefs follow so closely to mine that it is almost scary. They also align very closely with my “10 Pillars”

I think that it is important to all of us to periodically evaluate what we stand for in our lives. We need to constantly remind ourselves why we are here on this earth and that we not just taking up space and sucking air.

With that in mind, I want to go through this list to add my personal prospective. Since this task will take me well beyond my maximum word count for a single post I will use the next couple Wednesdays to fully express my thoughts.

I would love to hear where you might agree or disagree with what I am professing.

I believe in full LGBTQ rights.

I understand where John is coming from on this statement but I will expand it to include several other groups. Well, in fact, many other groups.

Now let me put a few limiters on this belief. By saying that these groups must have full rights does not mean that I necessarily endorse some of their practices, as if that matters to them. As long as they don’t affect how I want to live my life, they certainly should be able to live their lives as they want.

I believe we should protect the planet.

The Christian Bible says that we are the caretakers of our world. It is up to us to keep it in good shape. It is totally obvious that a tipping point is coming in the not too distant future where the world will start destroying itself. 98% of scientist have come to that conclusion.

One of the problems is that there are many in the Christian community who are anti-science. They simply don’t believe that science is valid. Especially when it contradicts their version of the Bible. This anti-science belief is not unique to our times. When Galileo proved that the earth is not the center of the universe, nor does the sun revolve around the earth, the Christian community of the time thoroughly shunned him.

I believe everyone deserves healthcare.

It is almost unconscionable to me how many Christians are adamantly against providing healthcare for all our citizens. Jesus told us very clearly to “do for the least of these as if you were doing it for him.” Being able to live your life without having to worry whether you might die from something that is easily cured in those more affluent than you seems to be very central to those words. How can so many self-professed Christians fight against that mandate?

In fact, many other countries including both our northern and southern neighbors provide healthcare to all their citizens. Why do some of us seem to think that healthcare is a privilege only those who can afford it is beyond my belief system?

I’m sure some of you might be shocked to see Mexico on this list, so I will give you some info from Wikipedia about that below:

There are nearly 13 million people covered by ISSSTE. The state governments of Mexico also provide health services independently of those that are provided by the federal government programs. In most states, the state government has established free or subsidized healthcare to all of its citizens.

Next Wednesday I will cover the next few items on the list.