As you might imagine, things have been somewhat hectic here. That might account for the fact that I forgot to take my sleepy-time OTC meds. That’s the only way I can try and maintain a sleep schedule that matches the rest of the humans around me even though my condition predisposes me against that.
So when Maz heard a sound at 2:10AM and alerted the household, as he should, I was up for the rest of the night. I tried to get back to sleep, but the brain was working overtime. So, since I had moved my WiFi-equipped computer into the bedroom with me, I decided to check my email and write down my thoughts to post here. But when I got to my emails, I found something interesting.
I subscribe to a quote service that sends me liberty quotes by guys like Jefferson, Socrates, Adams, Cato, Locke, and Washington. So I was intrigued when I found an email of quotes by a guy named Jesus of Nazareth; I had to read them.
What I found was interesting. And, in my state of mind, I had a surprisingly different take than I had when I first read them years ago.
Let’s take a look at them:
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." -Holy Bible, Matthew 5:44.
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." -Holy Bible, Matthew 5:9.
Take a look at that second quote again. Who shall be called “the children of God?” The peacemakers, right? So the folks who aren’t peacemakers, the warmongers, can’t or won’t be called the children of God. With me so far? And all good Christians should want to be called “the children of God,” I should think. So, all good Christians should be peacemakers, right? Loving their enemies, blessing those who curse them, doing good to those that hate them, all that stuff.
So all those good Christians here in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave should be for Peace on Earth and have Goodwill towards all Men. Right? Am I missing something here?
Then why do we have troops in over 140 countries and are engaged in two war zones? Sounds like all those potential ‘children of God’ aren’t doing their job. So whose children are they then?
Just a thought.
As for why I’m interested, I believe in LIBERTY. It’s a strange thing, liberty. I can’t have it unless I ‘allow’ you to have it. If you have liberty and I have liberty and neither of us try to make the other do something against our rights and will, we will have peace between us. So folks who advocate liberty have a shot at becoming a child of God; those who don’t, don’t.
Just as long as we understand each other.
Feliz Navidad!
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3 comments:
Yep, I've always thought Christianity is a pretty good idea to spread around, if only someone would try it someday, and not at the point of a gun (or, in past generations, the sword). I hope you had a nice Christmas except for the not-sleeping.
i would post a comment about thi but o point really since im sitting about 3 feet from Ben right now typing this
TTFN
I guess someone needs to tell “Christians” that using the point of a sword means that they will have to get themselves a new description because they ain’t Christian, by definition. It was that Jesus of Nazareth guy that said that the second greatest commandment was to love your neighbor as yourself. William Hazlitt (from my quotes service yesterday) defined it this way, “The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves." If you love yourself enough that you want power, and you actually follow the second greatest commandment, you have to allow your neighbor the same power as well.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh (again from my quote service yesterday), wife of aviator Charles Lindbergh, Jr., pioneering American aviator in her own right, and author put it nicely when she said, "Him that I love, I wish to be free -- even from me." If you wish to be free, if you wish to have control over your own life, you have to allow others to be free, if you are going to follow that commandment.
I may be betraying my age, but I always liked the way Jimi Hendrix put it. “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”
I did have a nice Christmas; thanks, Warren. And welcome to my blog! As I said somewhere else, the sleeping isn’t too much of an issue if I can follow my body’s rhythm. But to try and conform to other people’s sleep patterns can be problematic. Last night, although extremely tired, I was up until midnight. No regrets there, I was having a nice talk with my sister. Even with sleeping pills and my white noise generator, I was up by six. I just consider it life in the fast lane. :-)
BTW, Ronnie was sitting maybe six feet away from me when he posted his comment via his WiFi-equipped computer over my WiFi system. I happened to be on-line at that moment, as well, and received email notification that he had posted. I read his posted comment and tried to talk to him about it. He didn’t know what I was talking about, not knowing that I had just read his comment. Who says computers facilitate communication? :-D We got it straightened out though.
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