Thank you for the exchange.
And for your military sacrafice DA ...
Our common goal as human beings should be to end human suffering and to ensure equality, freedom and humane treatment of ALL people around the world.
No, I am not a tree-hugging pacifist.
You sound like someone else I know ...
[holyspirit,cough,jesus,cough,god]
Three centuries after Jesus died, when Christianity became the sole official religion of the Roman Empire, people of many different 'stories' were suddenly all jammed together under one roof. It was like the bar scene in Star Wars. A lot of compromises were made. Christianity became a melting pot of many diverse and unrelated stories. Below is a version for those who are not easily misled or offended. There is no chapter and verse ...
A long, long time ago, when Jesus was alive, it was a lot like today. People were suffering and struggling under the weight of civilization. There was a powerful military system running everything. Few were rich and many were poor. Common people had no power at all. It was not a happy time.
When Jesus was about 30, he'd been working for many years, watching the suffering, and thinking. One day he came to realize that carpentry was not the answer, so he set off for the wilderness. Out in the wilderness, he met a wild uncivilized holy man named John, who wore animal clothing and lived on locusts and honey.
John's story was one of baptism and repentance. He called out to civilized people -- the warriors, carpenters, farmers, and priests -- and he begged them to repent of their sins and return to a state of harmony. Those who repented, he immersed in the River Jordan, and thereby opened their hearts to the perfection of Creation.
When John baptized Jesus, the sky opened up, the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a shining white dove, Jesus was filled with divine ecstasy, and he instantly recognized the infinite beauty and power of the Creator.
Immediately after his awakening, Jesus went off into the mountains for a 40-day vision quest. During that time, his soul was deeply imbued with the perfection of Creation. It was a time of profound healing and growth for him. Many important answers were revealed.
One day, Satan, the King of the Yuppies, saw this scruffy long-haired blue collar carpenter pilgrim sitting on a rock in the sacred forest. Satan offered Jesus a free ticket to Consumer Nirvana - a lifetime shopping spree at every mall on planet Earth. By this time, Jesus was so high on Creation that he just shook his head, laughed, and said "Nah, that sounds like a bad trip, man." Not being one to pass up a chuckle, he followed with his best Yoda voice "Once you've chosen the path to the darkside, forever will it control your destiny, hurmmm."
Out there in the wilderness, Jesus found what the people of Palestine had lost. When he finally came back into town, he was floating, glowing, and utterly radiant with holy energy. Folks picked up on this right away, and they asked him what he'd been smoking.
Well, Jesus would just break into a big grin, laugh, and sit down and tell them his story. Accumulating riches isn't the answer, he'd tell them. Wealth is a disease of the soul. Blessed are the humble and poor, and woe unto the Consumers - lol.
Another thing Jesus talked about was unconditional love. The Romans ruled the land by using the tactics of divide and conquer. They kept people alone and afraid. Love was the antidote to this tyranny. The miraculous power of love could bring people together, unite them in action, and make their journey easier and brighter.
Jesus told them about the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Most of the great theologians of Christendom have never taken a 40-day vision quest in the wilderness, so most of them have completely missed the great meaning of the Golden Rule. This rule may not just apply to human matters; to PETA's credit, it likely applies to interactions with every species that walks, flies, blooms, and swims.
Well anyway, it didn't take too long before this talk had the priests, generals, and all the groupies riled up. We all know what happened next. Jesus got killed long before he could live out his vision. The truth of His vision still stands; it still remains to be completed ...
And it's up to us to pick up where he left off.
Armageddon is not innevitable unless we as a species desire it to be!
A very uplifting assertion, though it appears unfortunately untrue; reality will manifest itself whether it is ignored or pursued. The conscious pursuit of armageddon is only one of a number of ways to reach the 'innevitable'. We as a species have incidentally (accidently?) arranged the possibility of armageddon within our reality, independently of such purposes as it may provide. This simply implies we have created the egg before the chicken; we do not need to desire these 'innevitable' scrambled eggs in order to blow up the chicken though.
Historically speaking, reality suggests armageddon (species suicide) is seemingly innevitable. Technology may sustain humanity to its population limit, but it will not likely save humanity from final and fatal catastrophe, and military technologies like weaponized chemicals and atom bombs will likely facilitate such a disaster. Additionally, armageddon is simply possible before fatally innevitable or finally purposed and the bulk of mankind does not appear to fancy a desire to participate in Armageddon's festivities. Regardless of fanatical persistence, religious fringe beliefs of select few, though increasing, have not willed their fate upon the rest of us; to think otherwise is to accept religion. Respectively, our species need not desire armageddon, or the threat it seems to provide, in order for it to manifest in reality.
In conclusion, being naive to such ends throughout the ages has encouraged progress thus far. Hence, ignoring the reality of Armageddon should reasonably permit and promote its future manifestation. A prerequisite stipulating preconceived desire for annihilation of mankind does not seem necessary to promote the onset of armageddon (species suicide); such a reality will manifest itself whether it is ignored, pursued or otherwise. Respectively, ignoring the reality of the Golden Rule should reasonably permit and promote its future manifestation; one need not subscribe to succumb.
We may likely agree that one must believe in something or they'll fall for anything ...
One Love
Edited by Bailey, : spelling
I'm not here to mock or condemn what you believe, I'm just a fool playing with ideas.
My only intention is to tickle your thinker. Trust nothing I say. Learn for yourself.
Think for yourself.
Mercy Trumps Judgement,
Love Weary
™ Version 4.2