Friday, August 19, 2005

The proud and the humble by Carol Wolman

 The Arrogant and the Humble by Carol Wolman
 
George does not feel he has to answer to anyone about his invasion of Iraq.  If he chooses to ignore the mother of a fallen soldier, he is entitled to that choice.  After all, he is the president, the commander-in-chief.
 
Cindy walks through ditches in the hot Texas ranch to talk to him.  She pitches a tent in a field and waits patiently to talk to him.  Other gold star parents join her.  She is as American as apple pie, salt of the earth.
 
Matthew 23:  12And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
 
All the scurrilous attempts by Bush and company to besmirch Cindy's motives are turned back by the purity of her grief and the greatness of her love for all the young people so cruelly sent to fight an unjust war.    Bush's polls are going down, down, down, and the rats are starting to jump ship.
 
Cindy has become a star, a role which she handles with humility and grace.  Her mother has had a stroke, doubtless from the stress, and Cindy has left Texas to be with her, but vows to return as soon as she can.  Other peacemakers have taken up the vigil until she returns.
 
The tide is turning in America. 
 
Psalm 37:11   But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
 
In the name of the Prince of Peace,  Carol Wolman

fwd: (peacemakers) Dominionism and Bush

Psalm 146  9The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.
 
from: Mary- "eyer3" Elendil59@hotmail.com
It's important to understand that the founders of Dominionism are
sitting on the horns of a moral dilemma: How can a leader be both
good & evil at the same time? For if biblical moral proscriptions are
applicable to him, he will certainly suffer some form of censure. And
if proscriptions are applicable, the leader cld not lie to the
citizenry with impunity or do evil so that "good" cld be achieved.
The answer to the dilemma of how a Dominionist leader cld both do
evil & still maintain his place of honor in the Christian community
lies in the acceptance & adoption of the Calvinistic doctrine that
James Hogg wrote about in The Private Memoirs & Confessions of a
Justified Sinner. (WW Norton, NY 1970.)

This novel, published in 1824, is concerned with psychological
aberration & as such, anticipates the literature of the 20th C. The
protagonist is a young man named Robert, who drenched in the
religious bigotry of Calvinism, concluded that he was predestined
before the beginning of the world to enter heaven, therefore no sin
he committed wld be held to his acct. This freed Robert to become an
assassin in the cause of Christ & His Church.

50 yrs ago a variation on the concept was expressed disapprovingly
as, "Once saved-always saved." In this view, salvation had nothing to
do with "good works or a holy life." A drunk who had a born again
experience wld be among God's chosen elect whether he stopped
drinking or not. But the logical extension of the reasoning is the
idea that Christianity cld have within itself not ex-sinners but
active sinners: as Christian murderers, Christian pedophiles,
Christian rapists, Christian thieves, Christian arsonists, & every
other kind of socio-pathological behavior possible. As we have sadly
witnessed of late the concept is broadly accepted within the American
churches.

But the Dominionists needed the aberrant extension of Calvinism; they
believe as did Calvin & John Knox that before the creation of the
universe, all men were indeed predestined to be either among God's
elect or were unregenerate outcasts. And it is at this point
Dominionists introduced a perversion to Calvinism--the same one James
Hogg utilizes in his The Private Memoirs & Confessions of a Justified
Sinner--its technical name is "supralapsarianism." It means
essentially that the man called from before the foundation of the
world to be one of the elect of God's people, can do no wrong. No
wonder then observers noted a definite religious swing in gw bush
from Wesleyan theology to Calvinism early in his [regime].[25]

How comforting the Calvinistic idea of a "justified sinner" is when
one is utilizing Machiavellian techniques to gain political control
of a state. It's more than comforting; it is a required doctrine
for "Christians" who believe they must use evil to bring about good.
It justifies lying, murder, fraud & all other criminal acts w/o the
fuss of having to deal with guilt feelings or to feel remorse for the
lives lost thru executions, military actions, or assassinations. ...