Musings …

Category: The Election and Beyond

  • What a Difference Context Makes! A passage cited by vicious people addressed!

    Romans 1:18 through 2:5

    The Condemnation of the Unrighteous (captions by Net.Bible.Org)

    1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness, 1:19 because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 1:20 For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse. 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened. 1:22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

    So what follows applies to idolaters!

    1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves. 1:25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

    And to creation worshippers!

    1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, 1:27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

    To whom does what follows apply? Just “particular men and women,” as if the preceding verses did not exist? Or idolaters and creation worshippers? Or everyone who is guilty of the following?

    1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. 1:29 They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 1:31 senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless.

    Does the next verse apply only to “particular men and women” or to all of the above?

    1:32 Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.

    Besides, they may deserve to die, but does this verse authorize going out to kill them!

    The Condemnation of the Moralist

    If we ignore the division here from chapter 1 to chapter 2 and appreciate that verse numbers and chapter divisions were not specifications made by the scripture writers, but later by editors who made these divisions for our convenience and theirs, we will get an entirely different message from the passage taken as a whole!!!

    2:1 Therefore you are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

    Each and every thing? so if you practice some of them but not all, you are exempt from this? or this applies to you if you practice only some of them? perhaps only one!

    2:2 Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth against those who practice such things. 2:3 And do you think, whoever you are, when you judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment? 2:4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 2:5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed!

    Romans: From the New American Standard Bible as found on Net.Bible.Org

  • Worth reading from the New York Times

    Has the G.O.P. Gone Off the Deep End?
    http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/has-the-g-o-p-gone-off-the-deep-end/?src=me&ref=general
     
    Only misses one thing: The program of the lunatic fringe is to take over the Party, even if the process makes it useless to own! Perhaps they hope to build it back up, but the demographic shift, providentially, will take them out!

  • The Epistle of James 2, in the New Testament asks: “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?” James says, No!

    2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

    2:15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 2:16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

    2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

    2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 2:22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

    2:25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

    Authorized King James Version

    Since no one can escape picking and choosing from the scriptures, I pick this!!!

  • The Epistle of James 2 says, “Who the hell do you think you are?”

    2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: 2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

    2:2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 2:3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 2:4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

    2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

    2:11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

    That is: Who the hell do you think you are!!!

  • What does it mean to be religious?

    Psalm 26 – King James Version

    26:1 A Psalm of David. Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide. 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. 26:3 For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth.

    26:4 I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. 26:5 I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.

    26:6 I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD: 26:7  That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works. 26:8 LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.

    26:9 Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men: 26:10 In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes.

    26:11 But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me. 26:12 My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD.

    This is what I hope it means!

  • Now the Civil Rights Act!

    We see the continuation of suicidal, that is, already dead behavior in yesterday’s Supreme Court decision that basically decimated the Civil Rights Act.  Is there any hope for the mean-spirited Republicans and conservatives?  No, in the long run there is no hope.  In their death throes they are trying to leave us a legacy to haunt and control our future.  But their future will not last for very long.

    It is inescapable that they are dying out, in the mortal sense, at an increasingly rapid pace.  Almost all twenty year olds, thirty year olds, and forty-year olds, will be with us in ten years.  Fewer sixty year olds, etc.  But many will be alive to see our future arrive!

    The demographic race is on our side, especially with regard to racial and ethnic minorities, who are quickly becoming more and more in the majority.  Members of the House and Senate, who only have the next election in sight, are expecting that closer to the Presidential Election in 2016, behavior less enraging to minorities, or even throwing them some bones, will get them into the White House.

    Note that only during the runup to President Obama’s reelection did we come to realize that young Cubans did not sympathize with the anti-Democratic Party prejudices of their parents and grandparents.  That’s fifty years since Kennedy!   Minority children, young adults, adults, parents, and grandparents will be harboring resentment, even hatred for Republicans and conservatives for generations, even innocent ones, until the subject no longer resonates with their children.  Lots of time to reverse any damage done now by the walking dead!

    Time and forces for good are on our side!

  • A Positive Take on Republican Behavior, in this case, Immigration Reform

    It would seem inexplicable how suicidal it seems for Republicans to fight so hard against immigration reform, comprehensive or otherwise, but it is not actually suicidal.  It is really a conscious, subconscious, or outside the realm of any sense, acceptance that they are already dead, and as my father used to say, “Better to be dead in a world without them, than alive in a world with them!”

    To use an already coined phrase, “They are in their death throes.” And that is the good news!

  • “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” What question is being answered? A puzzle explained. (Re-published to Complete)

    Last week Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s Hardball was perplexed by the contradiction between poll results that reported a startlingly negative response to the “are you better off” question,” and positive ones that President Obama was trusted more to handle the economy. How could someone who was asked these two questions at the same time in the same poll give such incompatible answers?

    The answer is that the question is not perceived now as it originally was when Bill Clinton (actually Ronald Reagan), first asked it. At that time the unambiguous context of the question was economic. Honest commentators, assuming the original economic context and themselves understanding that the economy is obviously better now, couldn’t understand it when people answered that they are not better off. But an economic context is not inherent in the question.

    I believe that people are answering this question in a general sense.

    Of course, many assume the original economic context, but you don’t have to. Especially if you are personally better off (but not necessarily), you could easily hold that President Obama is more capable of handling the economy than Mitt Romney, and at the same time feel worse off.

    ■Consider the political conditions in our country having little prospect, only hope for improvement.

    ■It will be difficult or impossible for you to vote this time around due to voter restriction programs.

    ■You find your world so darkened by the end of “Don’t ask don’t tell;” some people living their lives the way they want to, but you don’t want them to; or stuck forever in a bleak world since Obama. and no way back!

    These are just a few. The list could go on and on!

  • Consider: Is Mitt Romney faking his faux pas? No matter how well he does in the debates, if he isn’t, his campaign is doomed!

    Isn’t it quite something how the media has been building up suspense about the upcoming debates, claiming that Mr. Romney could turn it all around in the first debate.

    Saying things like:

    • Romney is a good debater?  Witness how in the debates for the nomination he had a nervous, petulant, rapid speech delivered in bullet-like phrases bordering sometimes on mania.  As we all know, he often made a fool of himself.
    • Obama is not a good debater?  I can’t even imagine what is meant by this.  The President receives questions from the media and handles them with imagination and grace, even questions that must surprise him.
    • Romney’s advocates have now been upgrading the President’s debating skills and downplaying his in order to depress expectations.  If he just manages not to fall flat on his face, it will be a victory!  He will be the winner!

    Suppose, however, that despite expectations that Mr. Romney won’t be able to dig himself out the “47%” hole, he somehow achieves a “game changer” à la Reagan’s “There you go again.”  And all of us fall for it!

    Afterwards, even if we all believed him bound to bring about “the salvation of the Western World” with a wave of his hand,” he wouldn’t survive his first gaff.  Since he is not faking incompetence, we have nothing to worry about!

  • Who do you hate more? Someone you already hate with a flaming passion (e.g. President Obama) or someone who betrays you or you expect will betray you, and then betrays you. Mitt Romney knows the answer!

    Every time Mitt Romney tries a feint to the middle, even a little one, his “base” goes nuts and he retreats.  The calculation is simple:  You can predict that votes Romney gains from the middle will lose him votes on the right because some who fiercy hate Obama will now hate him even more. A few might even vote for the President, but most will probably just stay home.  If they really stayed home and didn’t just withhold their vote from Romney, the party will also suffer.

    So the big question is:  Will Romney lose more from the right than he will gain from the middle?  Rupert Murdock, owner of Fox News, advised Romney several weeks ago to appeal to the middle.  He said that Romney already has the right and that they had nowhere else to go.  I don’t think that Mr. Murdock would disagree with this analysis, but he also knows that with only the base, and without the middle, Romney has no chance whatsoever.  At that time, if Romney tried for the middle, he had a slight but now diminishing chance.  But a chance, however small, is better than no chance at all!