We Are the Champions

I have been searching for the right words to say, the right thoughts about this Lebanese war and I think this time I will let pictures speak for me.

Who owns Christianity?

I draw a lot of spiritual strength from Deepak Chopra. For those of you who aren't familiar with his work he is a doctor, a philosopher and a writer. He's considered one of the world's greatest leaders in the field of mind-body medicine. I just discovered this OP-ED article from the San Francisco Cronicle written by Deepak. I consider myself a believer in Christs teachings, not necessarily a believer of where the Christian Church has gone and therefore fall into his category of a moderate Christian.




Who owns Christianity?
by Deepak ChopraMonday, July 17, 2006

Not many people of moderate persuasion have much sway in the church any more. I was reminded why recently when the Episcopal Church did two important things: It elected a woman bishop to head the denomination, and it backtracked on appointing gay bishops. The first move seems Christian. Women deserve to hold church office as much as political office (one diocese, however, was so incensed that it voted to leave the church, and worldwide there are still Anglican movements that do not permit women to be bishops or ordained priests).

The second move was an act of cowardice because it did not reflect the ideals of love in Christianity and was motivated by reactionaries in the Episcopal denomination. Countering a long tradition of laissez-faire tolerance, the reactionaries have gotten tough and threatened to form their own church if gays are promoted in the priesthood. The worldwide Anglicans are more intolerant, upholding that homosexuality is forbidden, unnatural, wrong or an outright sin, depending on who is doing the disapproving.

You'd think that someone would stand up and ask a simple question: Who are we to condemn gays if Christ didn't? In fact, who are we to condemn any sinner, since Christ didn't? Christianity is about forgiveness, and for the past two decades, as fundamentalism swept through every Protestant denomination, moderates and liberals have been driven out, and were roundly condemned as they left. Along with them went tolerance and forgiveness, not to mention love.

Did Christ teach love or is that just a liberal bias? In the current climate, it's hard to remember, but one thing is certain: Once a tight cabal of fundamentalists takes over any denomination, Christ's teachings go out the window. The reversal of Christianity from a religion of love to a religion of hate is the greatest religious tragedy of our time.

Those of us who haven't been swept up in worldwide fundamentalism, which has corrupted Islam, Hinduism and Judaism as well, have been caught in a double bind. We can't join any sect that preaches intolerance, yet we can't fight it, either, because by definition fighting is a form of intolerance. To escape this double bind, moderates have stayed silent and stayed home. But that tactic failed. As healthy as it is to nourish your own devotion and faith, it's disastrous to allow extremists to take over the church, because the statehouse, the board of education, the Congress, and eventually the presidency are next.

Perhaps civil society will solve the problem of religious extremism. So far it hasn't. America finds itself in the sad plight of being the world's most prominent secular society hijacked by sectarians. One can only hope that the church comes to its senses and regains its moral center. If that doesn't occur, the core teachings of Christ will be lost, for all intents and purposes, to this generation.

You can learn more about the work of Deepak Chopra through his group Alliance for a New Humanity. In fact I think ALL of us can learn from his group.

Bible Literalism

Long time no post, I know, too much soccer too little time...plus the Montreal Jazz Festival is on...sorry. I just came across something very interesting that I have to share.

The Bible can help explain the case for invading Iraq despite the Atheistic North Korea being a much greater threat to the world than Iraq ever was.

George Bush became President of the U.S. thanks to his "born again" Christian friends who are guided literally by the words of the Bible. As I have said before I am a Christian, however I am not a 'Biblical Literalist' like so many American Christians who are in power now, are.

This research/interpretation is not mine but is taken from a website called Evil Bible get out your copy of the Bible and read along as we discover how "God" has told the Americans to kill those who are not Christian or Jewish:

------------------------
Exodus 22:20 "You must kill those who worship another god."

Deuteronomy 13:6-10 "Kill any friends or family that worship a god that is different than your own."

Deuteronomy 13:12-16 "Kill all the inhabitants of any city where you find people that worship differently than you."

Deuteronomy 17:2-7 "Kill everyone who has religious views that are different than your own."

Deuteronomy 17:12-13 "Kill anyone who refuses to listen to a priest."

Deuteronomy 18:20 "Kill any false prophets."

Mark 6:11 "Any city that doesn'’t receive the followers of Jesus will be destroyed in a manner even more savage than that of Sodom and Gomorrah."

Jude 5 "Jude reminds us that God destroys those who don'’t believe in him."

---------------------

It's a scary thought that the people who have their finger on 'the button' in the U.S. also have their hand on the Bible and use it as their literal guiding force.