Recently in democracy Category

This page was lifted from a section in a page titled » Why Wait 400 Years? Page Three (2 Feb 2022).

Today is the last day of winter. Spring arrives bright-n-early tomorrow morning at 8:33.

So today seems like a much better day to publish this particular entry than tomorrow.

I want to be done with this nasty shit when spring arrives. I want this thing to be dust in my rearview by sunrise tomorrow, when all good vampires must go to bed.

Spring is the time, you know, of new beginnings .. for life here on planet Earth. (Or, at least it used to be.)

The Mark-of-the-Beast .. this is an old story about death and shit so bad that you will have to actually live through it .. in order to fully appreciate the cruelty of the beast.

There are certainly incentives to accepting the mark of the beast .. but these socioeconomic advantages do not come free-of-charge. No, sir.

There are obligations that come with accepting the mark of the beast. These obligations can be considerable and even daunting at times.

<ignore this intentional body-text marker>

This page continues from » Page Two (2 Feb 2022).

» But for the Grace of God

This makes me feel sad for the white evangelical. I knew some white evangelicals. I knew some of them quite well.

Evangelicals can tell you what the scriptures actually say and what they actually teach .. to a degree.

But they do not put into practice these things that they know. It is a strange, perplexing thing. I mean, they have their excuses as to why they do the things they do.

And yes, some of them do indeed put into practice the teachings and the principles found there .. more than I ever did.

But this was relatively small percentage. Maybe 20 percent of them. And that is being generous.

Most of them were not very nice people, I'm sad to say. I mean, they were not even what I would call 'nice people' compared to your average acquaintance ..

.. particularly in a general human-being sentient-soul sort-of-way.

<ignore this intentional body-text marker>

This page continues from » Page One (2 Feb 2022).

» Is a Leader with a Functioning Moral Compass Too Much to Ask for?

This is why I cannot support the Democratic party. They are currently led by someone with a broken moral compass and a badly mangled value-structure .. and she doesnt even realize it. (Because she doesnt get it.)

Katie Porter would make an infinitely better Speaker than Nancy Pelosi. Because Katie Porter still has a functioning moral compass and a value-structure that hasnt been warped and mangled.

Surely Katie Porter is able to see those things that Nancy Pelosi obviously cannot.

<ignore this intentional body-text marker>

This page continues from » Page One (1 Jan 2022).

» A Mystery, Wrapped in Hypocrisy, Living Inside a Political Cult

Speaking of trying to understand the inner-workings of insanity .. I want to begin today's entry by exploring a question I find particularly vexing.

Why is the exorcism of the specter of racism from the soul of America resisted so vigorously by the white evangelical?

This is a valid question, no?

Shouldnt the evangelical be the one resisting racism? Should they be familiar with the difference between right and wrong? As the scriptures so plainly teach?

Shouldnt they know the difference between moral and immoral? Between ethical and unethical? Yes, of course they should. Russell Moore will back me up here.

<ignore this intentional body-text marker>

This page continues from an entry titled » The Heart of the White Evangelical has Become Calloused and Hardened and Morally Unfeeling (21 Dec 2021).

Normally I would begin today's entry ..

.. with the standard greeting used to wish you-n-yours a happy New Year. After a while, you do it without really thinking.

But this year, this New Year's greeting does not feel right. The thought of saying, "Happy New Year," rings false to me.

And let's be honest, folks. Let's all make like good existentialists for a moment, and not hide our heads in the sand from the ugliness that life can sometimes be.

Because this happens to be one of those times.

Because there are many reasons that would lead any sane, rational person to feel less-than-thrilled about the prospects for the future.

Who does not know exactly what I am talking about?

<ignore this intentional body-text marker>

It is written, doncha know, in the book of Isaiah, that Yahweh, the living God Himself, sent the prophet to tell the people that their hearts had become calloused. 

See for yourself.

Better yet, let me go grab those verses for you. Here you go.

That is the New International Version (NIV, rev. 2011) on the left, and the New American Standard (NAS, rev. 2020) on the right.

» What Does It Mean when the Heart becomes Calloused?

The term calloused is defined as » 

1. Emotionally hardened; unfeeling
2. Hardened in mind or feelings
3. Deadened feelings or morals
4. Toughened
5. Unfeeling or indifferent to the sufferings of others

Callouses, I am sure you know, are patches of skin that have become tough and thick and leathery and hard and deadened to feelings over time, usually due to much heavy use.

<ignore this intentional body-text marker>

It probably means nothing to anybody but me, but I have posted this page live on the 10th of October ..

.. even though I post-dated it for the 19th (19 Oct 2021) which is still a week away.

The full moon arrives the next day on the 20th.

Somebody should ask Jimmy Carter how he is feeling.

<ignore this intentional body-text marker>

It is still only Saturday the 18th, but I am posting this entry with tomorrow's date » 19 Sept 2021.

I want to get a headstart. I want to hit the ground running.

The term zeitgeist is defined as » The spirit of the age; the spirit characteristic of an age, or a period, or a generation.

Some synonyms offered are » The feel, the feeling, the flavor, the spirit, the tone.

Looks like autumn arrives Wednesday, 22 Sept 2021 at 12:21 pm local time. Look at all the 1's and 2's there.

<ignore this intentional body-text marker>

This page continues from » Page Three (19 Aug 2021).

» After the German Catastrophe of WW2, and After the Horrors of the Holocaust, Jung Devoted the Rest of His Life to Trying to Understand the Darkness that Lurks in the Psyche of Man

After the German catastrophe that was World War 2, and after the horrors of the Holocaust ..

.. Jung devoted the rest of his life (1875-1961) trying to understand what the fuck was going on in the psyche of man .. and how such moral darkness could take up residence there.

He was trying to find the answer to what lie at the root of the problem, so that such a thing could be prevented from ever happening again ..

<ignore this intentional body-text marker>

This theme continues from » Page Two (19 Aug 2021).

» Scripture Says that God Regretted Making Saul King

This scene with Trump holding up a Bible in front of a church ..

.. this reminds me of what Yahweh told Samuel about Saul.

The 15th chapter of 1st Samuel concludes by saying that » God regretted that he had made Saul king.

I wonder what it was that Saul did .. that caused Yahweh to fire his sorry ass and even regret that he had ever made the man king.

Ouch. That's got to hurt. I can certainly see why Samuel never went to see Saul ever again .. as long as he lived. The prophet never saw the disgraced king ever again.

I bet there was major-league bummer-funk hovering in the air that surrounded ex-King Saul.

Once you have the sparkly thing surrounding you and protecting you and leading you and guiding you and directing you and strengthening you and helping you and pulling all kinds of strings for you .. and then you lose it ..

<ignore this intentional body-text marker>