Author: RJ Walters

I am an Independent thinking, highly functional person who is deaf and has some unique views and challenges in life. Like all of us, I am a person who is composed of all my life experiences and that is what I write about here.
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A Real Leader Leads……

RJ Walters

Source: Boehner’s GOP Problems Complicate Deficit Negotiations – ABC News. House Speaker John Boehner is about to begin another attempt at a grand bargain deficit reduction deal with President Obama, a high wire act in which he will be buffeted by demands from the White House as well as from House Republicans It looks like total gridlock may again happen coming out the gate of the new year. Mr. Boehner in some of his words seemed to say that he was open to compromise but soon took those words back after some in his party chastised him. The sign of a … Continue reading A Real Leader Leads……

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Saving Jesus — (Part 4) Science is Not the Enemy…..

RJ Walters

This is the fourth post on the book Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus  by Robin Meyers: One thing every pastor knows is that knowledge is not redemptive. Indeed, sometimes we can know the truth, and it will not set us free…. One of the great divides in the church could be overcome if we got one thing straight: the truth of which Jesus speaks is wisdom incarnate, not intellectual assent to cogent arguments made on behalf of God. … Having said this, it is not the case that faith is more … Continue reading Saving Jesus — (Part 4) Science is Not the Enemy…..

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The World is Ending….

RJ Walters

Here is my favorite cartoon about the 2012 election results. Whenever the minimum wage is raised there are those who claim it will cost millions of jobs and basically cause the end of the USA. Now that President Obama has been given four more years the same rhetoric bumped up by a factor of ten is echoing now. These guys just seem to be totally shell-shocked! Some one needs to tell them that the world goes on no matter who occupies the Oval office. After all, we survived Reagan and baby Bush didn’t we? :) Continue reading The World is Ending….

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Thank Heavens The U.S. Is Not a Democracy….

RJ Walters

Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_form_of_government_does_the_US_have#ixzz24fhg3VC9 Thomas Jefferson said, “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”  Thomas Jefferson, March 11, 1790: “The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.”  f Alexander Hamilton, in debate, said: “Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate government.”  Alexander Hamilton, in Senate: “It has been observed that a pure democracy, if it were practicable, would be the most perfect government. Experience has … Continue reading Thank Heavens The U.S. Is Not a Democracy….

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Saving Jesus — (Part 3) About the Gospels….

RJ Walters

This is part three of my review of the book Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus by Robin Meyers. This is somewhat the continuation of the study of the pre-Easter Jesus and the after-Easter Jesus mentioned in the previous text. Here is the quote for this post: The simple fact, that the Bible came to us through a process of review and selection by human beings who condensed an enormous amount of material down to four gospels, a pseudo-history we call the Acts of the Apostles, and the letters that complete the New … Continue reading Saving Jesus — (Part 3) About the Gospels….

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The Cliff……

RJ Walters

Now that the national elections have finally played out there is much talk about the financial cliff. That is the mandated 10% budget cuts and letting the Bush administration tax cuts expire. It seems most of the media treats this event as some sort of catastrophe but in my usual contrarian ways  I just don’t see it that way. Even though I am strongly a social progressive, I am also a fiscal conservative. So here is my take on this matter. Continue reading “The Cliff……”

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Saving Jesus — (Part 2) Post-Easter Jesus

RJ Walters

This is a continuation of my review of the book Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus by Robin Meyers. Here are the quotes we will look at on this post: Adoration of the post-Easter Christ so dominates the language and liturgy of the church that the wisdom of pre-Easter Jesus is all but lost. We know that Saul of Tarsus, who never met Jesus, became the apostle Paul through a completely mystical experience and seemed to care nothing for the earthly teachings of Jesus, only his “adoption” as the Son of God … Continue reading Saving Jesus — (Part 2) Post-Easter Jesus

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Is The World Still There??

RJ Walters

One of the first things I do every morning when I get up is to look out the back door to make sure the world is still there. What I see now that my neighbor in back has stripped (he says harvest) all his mature trees is a lone Sycamore proudly standing by itself. It used to be hidden by a large oak tree but is now left to sway majestically in the wind untethered by that mighty oak.  I will continue to watch it in the coming years. It has now become one of my daily friends. Continue reading Is The World Still There??

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Frustrations Of a Soup Kitchen Volunteer…….

RJ Walters

I want to focus this post on the unseen and the unheard. I apologize in advance as I am in a somewhat dark mood right now and I am sure it will show up here. Sometimes even Will’s words can’t lift me up. Continue reading “Frustrations Of a Soup Kitchen Volunteer…….”

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Saving Jesus….(Part 1)

RJ Walters

I am going to spend several posts discussing some of the insightful words from a book entitled Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus  by Robin R. Meyers. This book gave me some pretty profound re-enforcement of my belief that the words of Jesus have been losing focus in the church. Here are the words for today. Strangely, we have come to a moment in human history when the message of the Sermon on the Mount could indeed save us, but it can no longer be heard above the din of dueling doctrines. … Continue reading Saving Jesus….(Part 1)

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The End Justifies The Means….and Thomas Jefferson

RJ Walters

I recently read an article in the October 2012 Smithsonian magazine about Thomas Jefferson and slavery.  I think most of us remember his infamous words that “All men are created equal”. That seems to give him an emphatic view of slavery but this article showed that has now been found to not be the case. It ends up that after studying the numerous documents left by him that he viewed slavery very much as a profitable situation to be engaged in. In 1792 he wrote Washington the now famous, at least among historians, “4% Letter” in which he talked about just how profitable being a slave owner was. He also recommended to some of this friends and relatives to move away from tobacco farming (he said it destroyed the land) and get into the more profitable area of owning slaves. Continue reading “The End Justifies The Means….and Thomas Jefferson”

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Sheer Christianity….

RJ Walters

I came across an article entitled Sheer Christianity in the November 2012 Sojourners Magazine that moved me. I want to tell you a little about it and quote some of the inspiring words. It is by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson who is the general secretary of the Reformed Church of America. I have to admit that I don’t know much about this organization.  Here is a quote that got me to thinking about the issue. The article is basically about another article in Newsweek cover story entitled “Christianity in Crisis” My sense is that people are leaving organized Christianity because it has left … Continue reading Sheer Christianity….

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Who Can I Trust?????????????

RJ Walters

Here we are on the eve of election day and I am strangely somewhat calm. I have confidence that the people of this country will put the good of the country above partisan gain. To me it comes down equally between “who can I trust” and “who will promote the common good“. I, like many of us, have been watching Mr. Romney for months now and the thing that bothers me the most is how he has flipped on issue after issue. He was against the UN and then he was for the UN. As a governor he was for universal … Continue reading Who Can I Trust?????????????

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God’s Will…

RJ Walters

I live in Indiana which is pretty much a red State.  Senator Lugar, who was our long-time representative in the U.S. Senate was defeated in the primary by Richard Mourdock who proudly announced that he is a loyal Tea Party candidate. His stated view on compromise is when the Democrats finally come to agree with everything Republicans want!  I really haven’t been paying much attention to his campaign but I imagine he is a Christian fundamentalist of one flavor or another. Here is a quote I just came across : Mourdock could see both fade after telling a live television … Continue reading God’s Will…

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And Its All Small Stuff…..

RJ Walters
This is a post that I have carried over from my other blog at RedLetterLiving. It is about an epiphany I had several years ago about my spiritual beliefs. I wanted to share it with my readers here.

Posted on October 22, 2012 at RedLetterLiving.net

In 1997 Richard Carlson wrote a very popular book entitled Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff…. and it’s all small stuff. In that book he listed one hundred things to make our lives more peaceful. Some of those topics that I took to heart included: Continue reading “And Its All Small Stuff…..”

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A slightly Changed Quote….

RJ Walters

via Obama, Romney promise change as election winds down. “Candidate Obama promised change, but he couldn’t deliver it. I promise change. I will change my mind almost daily about everything I say or even believe.” Thanks heavens the election is now only three days away. After President Obama is re-elected  the flip/flopping will finally stop. At least the reporting of it. I did something above that I have wanted to do on numerous occasions and that is to “correct” a quote from Mr. Romney. If you really don’t know what I changed look at the original quote in the source above. … Continue reading A slightly Changed Quote….

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Flip……Flop………Flip…….Flop

RJ Walters

Flip……Flop………Flip…….Flop……..Flip……Flop………Flip…….Flop…….. Source:  Mitt Romney offers answer on his FEMA stance And so it turns out that after superstorm Sandy battered the East Coast, Mitt Romney is far more supportive of the government agency in charge of coordinating disaster relief. Only last year, as Romney hewed to the right while battling for the GOP nomination, he seemed to downplay the federal government’s role in disaster response. “Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction,” Romney said at a debate last June. “And if you can go even further, and send it … Continue reading Flip……Flop………Flip…….Flop

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On Ward Christian Soldier????

RJ Walters

Today Christian families are often also military families but at the beginnings of our religion that was definitely not the case. Up until about the time Constantine made Christianity a State religion (about 350 CE) to be a Christian meant you refused military service. Of course Augustine in the fifth century disavowed this belief and put forth the first rationalization of a “just war”. After that this belief, like so many others, was all but thrown out the window by many future church leaders. Here is a story by Diana Butler Bass from her book  A People’s History of Christianity: The … Continue reading On Ward Christian Soldier????

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The Three Legged Stool…..

RJ Walters

Being in an engineering school in college I didn’t take too many business courses but the one I did take emphasized the three-legged stool as the foundations for our capitalist system.  The three foundations for business at that time were: employees, customers, owners.  It was commonly acknowledged that as long as each of these three groups were given equally importance the operations of a business remained on a level plain. I’m not sure when this theory was thrown out the window but it seems to have virtually disappeared from our financial landscape. Continue reading “The Three Legged Stool…..”