The Atheist Experience

Hi Preacha,I'm a type 1 diabetic, I feel your pain in the health department. Luckily, I have a good job with great healthcare and fantastic doctors, which I'm grateful for. I'm really saddened by your story, and you are certainly not in a unique position in this country...it's unfortunately a very common refrain for millions of Americans in this age of the cavernous wealth gap, where the average Joe works very hard for very little.
I'm also surprised at how bitter you sound at the economic system you were brought up in, yet at the same time defend it so vociferously; all while disdaining another type of system that offers you, and others like you protections against homelessness, hunger, and lack of heath care in your declining years.Your attitude is perfectly reasonable in almost any normal sense of the word...you need safety and basic social protections as you approach your declining years. No one is saying you should not have this basic dignity. No one is advocating that you should lose everything by giving all you have to others. The problem is that Jesus DID say this, several times to be clear. The Early Church practiced this form of socialism as recorded in Acts. And at least a couple of people were killed for not participating fully. It feels like you really want Jesus' words to be real and true, but where the rubber really meets the road, in the deepest, most meaningful and real part of your life... Personal security...you see how futile those words really are, and you want to get out and "Hustle and snatch" (your words) to get "your own." Where your life is deepest and most real, you choose reality over faith. I think that is a good thing, and I'm really glad you do. You can't take care of others if you don't take care of yourself also. But that's really, really not what Jesus taught. And I hope on your videos, and on this forum, you won't advocate that younger, stronger people follow words of Jesus that you are afraid of, and that might leave them as vulnerable as you are at your age. I don't know if I'm saying what I mean clearly.You say you worry that others will get out and hustle better that you can, and snatch more than you can, but it seems likely that you have had your chance to hustle and hoard, and you let it slip by, and it is gone. With your age and health, I imagine most of your opportunities to hustle and stock up your savings are behind you. I'm sad about this, I hope it's not true, but...*sigh*I'm a former Christian, a non-believer. I don't believe in following Divine words of Jesus, and don't think you should be under any obligation to do so either. But on a practical side, I would be happy to pay a few percent higher taxes, if I knew that they would be used to help you, and other good people just like you live and age with grace and dignity. I just wish you, and other people like you, would vote with me to elect the type of legislators we need to put policies into place that would allow this to happen! Edited by Aussie, : Bad grammar...