Monday, 12/26/16, Public Square

So this is Christmas…………………

So this is Christmas
and what have you done
another year over
a new one just begun

and so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
the near and the dear ones
the old and the young

a very Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year
let’s hope its a good one
without any fear

and so this is Christmas
for weak and for strong
the rich and the poor ones
the road is so long

So Happy Christmas
for black and for white
for the yellow and red ones
let’s all stop the fight

a very Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year
lets hope its a good one
without any fear.

Happy X-Mas (War is Over) – John Lennon – 1971

Well, Merry Christmas, to one and all. Regardless of your religious preferences, it is almost impossible to ignore the fact that this is Christmas week. The stores have been jammed, so I hear, neighborhoods are decorated with Christmas lights, the newspaper weighs five pounds and Santa is rumored to be lurking in the shadows.

So what are you looking for from Santa under the Christmas Tree?

The other day, in a moment of reflection, I thought about what I would ask of God, should I be given one request. Well, maybe it was a moment of hallucination, but you get the idea.  Peace on Earth? Good will towards man?

I am still lusting after that 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia (Verde over Crema, please.) but I was thinking that a Ferrari wouldn’t exactly solve the problem of the world. Perhaps wishing for an end to discrimination would be more appropriate. Perhaps, with irony, an end to religion would be a better choice.  Maybe, asking that all people observe the “Golden Rule” might bring and end to much of the suffering in our nation and our world.

It is unlikely that God is going to grant me one wish or that Santa will bring anything other than lumps of coal for my stocking.  Such is reality, but I can still dream.

And you?

William Stephenson Clark

Does a belief in God constitute religion?

While reading “The Family”, I got to wondering about God and religion. If one assumes God exists, does it then become necessary to form religious beliefs? Are they one in the same?  There are over 4200 active religions in the world, all of them thinking they’re the one true religion. The average Christian religion posits one cannot attain heaven if one doesn’t take Christ into both their lives and hearts. That would leave out all atheists, Jews, Muslims and non-Christians. Quite a large group of humans destined for someplace other than heaven.

Jews believe Christ has not been on this planet, Buddhists believe in Buddha, Muslims believe in the prophet Mohammad, etc.. Would a God, any God, exclude such a population because of something they don’t  believe in? God supposedly told the Prophets, after the flood, He would not interfere in the affairs of man again. One can take that to mean there was no Son of God on earth, because if He did, wouldn’t that make God a liar? Can God lie?

My point is religion can be both a good and bad thing, and at the same time. How many wars have been fought in the name of religion? How many humans slaughtered in the name of Religion? Do those wars justify religion in any way? Conversely, and maybe more importantly, does religion justify war? Believe me, I know religion is abused by any number of people, Tony Alamo being one example, but the majority of religious people are good people. But is religion, in the long run, necessary to attain heaven? Is a religion, such as Catholicism, any better than an Australian tribe worshiping  Uluru? My opinion would be emphatically no. My base belief is if one lives the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, that is all that is needed to attain heaven, assuming, again, heaven actually exists. That, to me at least, is not a religion, per se, but a core belief in humanity. Does that mean I’m destined for the bbq pit? I have no problem with religion, I just don’t think any organized religion is a deciding factor when it come to God’s judgment: He judges on how one lives their life.

Okay, can open: your thoughts? (Imagine this post on TBTSNBN)

jamnmer5

GOD Explains Things to Fred Phelps on Judgement Day

This is a scenario from the near future when Fred Phelps dies and meets his maker.  As in turns out, on that fateful day, St. Peter has some well deserved time off and it is up to GOD HIMSELF to mind the Heaven Shop when Fred arrives.

GOD:  WELL, GREETINGS REVEREND PHELPS, I’VE BEEN WAITING  FOR THIS FINE DAY. [As you will note, God talks loudly and in all capital letters.]

Phelps:  God, I am glad to be here after a long life of doing your work on earth…

GOD:  ACTUALLY, I’VE BEEN WANTING TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT “YOUR WORK”.  YOU SEE, FRED, YOU AND I HAVE A FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCE OF OPINION ABOUT “YOUR WORK.”  I SEE “YOUR WORK” AS HARASSING MEMBERS OF MY FLOCK DUE TO YOUR EXCESSIVE HATE AND MISPLACED SENSE OF PURPOSE.

A REVIEW FOR YOU FRED:  I AM GOD.  I AM PERFECT.  I MADE ALL OF MAN & WOMANKIND IN MY IMAGE.  THIS WILL COME AS A SURPRISE FOR YOU, FRED, BUT I’VE HAD HOMOEROTIC FEELINGS AND BECAUSE OF THAT I DEDICATED PART OF MY CREATION TO EXPRESSING THESE FEELINGS IN THE RAINBOW PORTION OF MY WORK.  I KNOW YOU ARE AN ATTORNEY IN ADDITION TO BEING A MINISTER,  BUT, FRED,  YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED TO JUDGE MY PERFECT CREATIONS.

THREE QUESTIONS OF GOD.

THE LIGHTS suddenly went so bright that they were blinding but the noise dead in an instant.
Now there was no sensation, none at all, any light, sound or movements just total darkness and a void.

Without warning the light came back with an almost thunder and a whispery sound everywhere.
I stood dumb struck, It seemed I was nowhere but at the same time seemed to be everywhere. A part of everything this place was like nothing I had imagined but I felt at a thought it could be anything.

A sudden warmth surrounded me and he was there setting just a head of me on the second step of a staircase. Not on some golden throne and neither did a brilliant light surround him as so many times it had been described to me. God seemed to be just human, I felt the same feeling I did whenever as a child we would go to visit Grandpa. His eyes show a deep felt love and his manner was welcoming and you just wanted his attention, you just knew he would listen like no other adult ever seemed to do.

“Well hello again!” God said.
“Again?” I said not having any memories of ever being here before.
“Yes I am not surprised you do not remember the first time it was so short a time.”
“When?”.
“How did the scar on your right arm do?” God replied.
Out of reflex I looked at my right arm, the scar was so tiny that only if I pointed it out would anyone have noticed.
Nineteen years old and the summer after graduation in my first attempt at living on my own in the adult world. The sand pit was not the largest I had ever dove in, certainly not big enough for the fifteen foot ski boat that was trying to get going enough to lift the skier out of the water.