Sunday, May 31, 2015

Terrorism and Jesus.

There was a news feed showing up on my facebook relating a story regarding a Nazi War Criminal that is on trial for his participation during the holocaust.  (link provided)
http://thebea.st/1KvT5nP

What continues to baffle me is when I read these stories and then I see the same acts of violence on humanity.  There have been numerous accounts of the United States committing atrocities throughout the world and we don't view it as such.

There are terrorist acts committed daily within the United States too.  (link provided) 
http://bit.ly/1LQKu03

When I think about how this applies to finding God it's as difficult to see as the Christ who stood in front of Pilate bloodied and beaten.  Pilate asked; "What is Truth?" The Truth was in front of him and he couldn't see it.  He couldn't see the truth because it was covered up with blood. We can't see the truth because it's covered up with the propaganda that shrouds the cultures senses. 

If we can proclaim Christ and His Gospel, then we need to proclaim the injustices that bloody our cultures. OUR culture is guilty of terrorism unless we adapt the Relativism theory.  We oppress diverse minds and thought through the pretext of Americanism.  If you don't believe in the Christ, believe in the good for humanity.

If you don't agree with oppressing Muslims, because of the rogue actions of radical Muslims, you are labeled anti-American.  

If you don't agree with equal rights for "non-traditional" marriages you are labeled a dissenter.

If you fight for the rights of those who have not (globally) you are a "bleeding heart liberal."

Jesus fought against the hypocrisy, The Woman Caught in Adultery and Healing of the Sick on the Sabbath. 
Get the idea?  Keep fighting!  You're in good company.  Jesus faced hypocrites in his day and was faced with the same responses that those who fight for the rights of justice and equality face today, "Even unto death" 

If we are not hypocrites then let's stop acting like hypocrites.  If we are, we need to stop.  "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

Here are some good sources to research.
Moral Truism-
http://www.chomsky.info/articles/200310--.pdf
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10312.htm

Moral Relativism-
Moral relativism is the view that ethical standards, morality, and positions of right or wrong are culturally based, and, therefore, subject to a person's individual choice. We can all decide what is right for ourselves. You decide what's right for you, and I'll decide what's right for me. Moral relativism says, "It's true for me, if I believe it."
Terrorism- 
The Department of Defense Dictionary of Military Terms defines terrorism as: The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.

Monday, May 25, 2015

Memorial Day, A Time To Remember

There are plenty of social media venues that are posting about the purpose of today's holiday.
Memorial Day, a time to remember those who fought for the freedom of the country and the citizens.
My brother fought in VietNam and was never the same again.  I can't imagine the horrors that come along with being engaged in a war or police action but what I do know is that many lives were permanently changed due to the wars.
My brother, John, was one of them.  At age 18 he went to war and when he returned he was severely altered psychologically and never the same again, in fact, the rest of his adult life has been torturous.  John has very serious issues as a result of the war.
John suffered from what we now know as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  There is no pretty side of a war and for those who have family and friends or may have served in war know all too well what follows.
I had a professor in college that remarked about a vet that had lost all limbs; "Geez, that guy has short arms and legs."  Initially, the class was taken back, but he opened up a dialogue that was fascinating.  The point of the comment was to get people to think of the results after all is over.  There are real people that suffer and this war decision is not one to take lightly.
There were staunch military supporters and those that had beliefs that were not as supportive of the military and no matter what the individual views were I wanted to see why they had their views.
Most, unfortunately, they acquired them from a family structure that was a military biased source and never investigated the reality of their belief. They had not thought for themselves.
It's sorta like people that affiliate with a religious denomination that never look into the "telescope" (A reference to the Galileo trial)
I have a perpetual gratitude for my "freedom" and while the system is flawed, it may be the best the world has to offer.
What I have a problem with is the multitude of KIDS that go off to war with this delusion that they are effecting a change for the better and risk their life for a lie. They return without limbs, they have PTSD, and a host of other issues.  They also don't make it home.
When the camera goes off, someone still has to care for them.  There are huge costs to the human population, that fight and are in military actions, which we don't always consider.
VietNam, from a political standpoint, was a sham and on a human level was an atrocity.

"The American war was criminal in two major respects.  Like the Dominican intervention and the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia, it was a case of aggression, conscious and premeditated. In 1954, the National Security Council stated that the US reserved the right to use force "to defeat local Communist subversion or rebellion not constituting armed attack,", i.e., in violation of "the supreme law of the land." The US acted on this doctrine. Furthermore, the conduct of the war was an indescribable atrocity. The US goal was to eradicate the revolutionary nationalist forces that, US officials estimated, enjoyed the support of half the population. The method, inevitably, was to destroy the rural society. During the war of annihilation partially succeeded in this aim, the US was never able to create a workable system out of the wreckage."  
~Noam Chomsky~
I will fight for the right of truth, I would die to defend the freedom and liberty of ANY person, I won't die for Congress, big business, and propaganda that poses as American Loyalty.

Since World War II the US has murdered roughly 60 million innocent people all over the world and ruined the lives of hundreds of millions more, in CIA and military “interventions.” (The 60 million figure comes from Chomsky and Vltchek’s book On Western Terrorism; for some of the details, read William Blum’s book entitled Killing Hope.) This so-called American Holocaust of post-World War II crimes, like the holocaust of African slaves and the holocaust of Native Americans, dwarfs the Nazi holocaust against Jews, gypsies, and communists.
We, Westerners, are free to grossly underestimate the number of victims of our own holocausts. But anyone who argues that significantly fewer than six million Jews were killed by the Nazis risks imprisonment. Is “Holocaust denial” illegal because the revisionist arguments cannot be successfully countered using logic and evidence? Or are these laws and prosecutions simply the neurotic symptom of a West that demonized the Nazis in order to cover up its own crimes, and conceal its own guilt?
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/03/21/ww2myths/
Where is God in all of this?  In the TRUTH, we are obligated to search for and write about, so we don't repeat history.  
There are very good reasons that people like Noam Chomsky are labeled anti-American, pacifist, fanatical, and conspiracy kooks.  It's because, like Socrates, the gadfly MUST poke the horse.  There MUST be people to challenge the ideas and current beliefs to be the conscience for the people.  
WE The People are in fact WE.
May God Bless all of our troops and their commanders that they may always be protected and guided by the Truth of Christ!