My studies

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

1810- THE CRUCIFIED ONE

Yesterday I shopped at the local grocery store- and as my habit is- I started at the vegetable/fruit section.

When I grab the little bags to put the stuff in- I usually grab a few extra- and if I don’t use them I’ll take them home and stick them in the cabinet.

So, as I’m checking out- the lady asks me ‘oh- do you want me to throw these out’. I think she knew I was gonna confiscate them for personal use.

So- as a joke- I say ‘no- that’s fine- I sell them to the homeless guys out front’ [The store is a couple of hundred yards from the homeless mission where I hang out- everyone in the area knows about the ‘homeless guys’].

As I tell her the joke- both she and the bagger- they don’t seem to think it’s funny.

They look pretty mad- to be honest.

I tell them ‘no- I’m kidding- I take them home and use them for the onions and stuff’.

Their look didn’t change one bit- they did not want me to get those damn bags!

Right now in Texas we have an ongoing war with the Obama administration. In all my years as a political observer- I have never seen someone as petty as this current president.

I have written about him denying us federal aid when we applied because of wild fires we had a few years back.

Then the recent accusation that Texas is racist because of the voter I.D. laws.

Plus- the E.P.A. rules that are shutting down parts of our power grid- this coming year Texas is going to face some blackout problems because of this.

So- this week the president cut the federal funds for the WHP program.

This program gives care to poor women.

There are over 2400 hundred providers in Texas that will lose the majority of their funding because of this.

Why would the president do this?

Texas- like a few other states- passed a law that prevents tax payer money going to clinics that provide abortions.

The federal money supplies about 90 % of the funding- the federal govt. said if you deny any funding for the Planned Parenthood clinics- then we will cut all the funding to all of the 2400 clinics.

Now- did they have to do this?

No.

How many Planned Parenthood clinics are in this group of over 2400 providers?

If you simply listen to the media- you would think that just about all of them are- or maybe half.

Out of the over 2400 providers- Planned Parenthood makes up 44.

Yeah- 44.

The president cut off funding for 2400 clinics- that do breast screenings and mammograms.

That actually treat cancer and other diseases.

He cut them all off- because Planned Parenthood would not be in the group any more.

Planned Parenthood does not treat for breast cancer- does not offer pre natal care- and does not even have mammogram machines.

Many of the 2400 clinics that the president cut off do all of these services.

So why would you cut off over 90 % of the clinics that actually do these real- needed services?

Because of the political ideology of being pro abortion.

Obama has positioned himself as being on the side of abortion and his supports want that.

So- to appease his base- he cut off 2400 poor women’s clinics in Texas- this was a choice he made- not Perry.

A poll was done the other day- they asked women ‘would you like free birth control- or have to pay for it yourself’?

Now- if you ask just about anybody ‘would you like free dental- or health insurance- or beer’ what do you think the majority of people would say?

So after they did the poll- they said ‘see- most people support the position the president takes on abortion and birth control’.

See how the media shapes the conversation? You can ask a question in a way that gets a certain answer- and Walla- they achieved the goal.

Society has a decision to make- can we as a people live without any ethical requirements.

Should ethics- making a distinction between right and wrong- should this be part of the conversation?

In our Philosophy study- as scattered as it has been- we ended right around the 18-19th centuries.

We were coming up to the Existentialists.

Existentialism is a difficult philosophy to pin down [as most are].

But the easiest short definition I have found is it’s the philosophy of Existence.

That is real life- It’s not just a matter of intellectual data- it’s what we learn and experience as passionate people- people who have real problems and issues- yet they strive for meaning.

The father of Existentialism was the 19th century thinker- Soren Kierkegaard.

Kierkegaard was a Christian- he challenged the dead church of Denmark- the state church- and he called for a more adventurous approach to the faith.

Some notable followers of this philosophy took a different approach- they were the atheistic existentialists.

One of the most famous being Frederick Nietzsche.

Nietzsche taught that men should abandon all hope of a future afterlife- that the whole field of ethics was futile ‘do what you need to do to excel- step on the other people on the way up the ladder- and that’s what life is all about’.

He called this the Superman- man coming into this new age of science and reason- and rejecting the old forms of religion and ethics- which keep man down.

Nietzsche spent the last years of his life in an insane asylum.

His sister sold tickets to the ‘audience’ who wanted to see the madman.

She exercised her ‘superwoman’ and did what would benefit her- financially- without any worry about whether it was right or wrong.

The last couple of years of his life- Nietzsche signed his letters ‘the crucified one’.

In his rejection of God- he lost his mind and took the identity of Jesus Christ- the ethical one.

As we grapple with what’s right and wrong- as states pass laws that say 'we don’t want our tax payer money supporting abortions’.

Then we are going to have to deal with the backlash- those who at the time have the power [money] to cut the states off who see ethics as a priority.

Yes- the Superman [Feds] can deny that ethics play a role in women’s health- they can say ‘no money for any of your 2400 clinics’ just because you won’t fund 44 Planned Parenthood clinics.

People can get mad- and even take polls that say ‘we want free things’ [don’t we all? My grocery bags!]

At the end of the day- right and wrong do make a difference.

Trying to live a life- a worldview [philosophy] in a passionate way- that’s a good thing- we are all real people who deal with real issues.

But when you leave God/ethics out of the picture- then you are on a crash course- you might wake up one day- having lost your mind- and signing you letters as The Crucified One.

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John

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