Opinion

An Easter reminder

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Sitting in church Sunday, the day that our Democrat Congress voted in Obamacare, my mind wandered a bit.

It was the week before Palm Sunday and our preacher illustrated the fact that Jesus knew what fate was awaiting him in Jerusalem the next few days. Yes the leaders of the Jewish "church" of the time managed to have this upstart murdered.

He had fatally preached that he was the long-promised Messiah. The faceless Jewish leaders knew that if his claim were true then the "church" as they knew it would be in for big changes. It took back-door deals and night time chicanery, but those faceless leaders managed to get the Romans to murder Jesus. Nice and clean, case closed!

The church hierarchy and their jobs of course remained intact.

How did that work out? Well the status quo remained for almost 70 years until the Romans had enough of those fractious Jews. Rome the world power of the time destroyed the Temple the seat of Jewish culture and political power. Jews were scattered to the four corners of the earth. They never were to be united as a people again until the formation of modern-day Israel in 1949 some 1,900 years later.

The Jewish religion and culture survived in a hundred countries in as many different forms. Primarily, the Jewish people gathered in communities centered on small synagogues. They kept themselves apart from the politics and religion of whatever country where they happened to be. It was that they were Jew first and Russian or German or other government governing where they had chosen as home second.

The musical production "Fiddler on the Roof" is a story of a Jewish community being broken apart because they refused to join in Russian culture and citizenship responsibilities of their home country. The story in Germany was even more brutal, with millions meeting death in the holocaust only because Hitler and his Nazis hated their apartness.

Yes "they" managed to murder Jesus but a whole new body of faith evolved through the 1,600 some years that followed. The government of the United States of America was founded on Christian principles. In the U.S., the power of the government was to be limited and individual citizens were free to conduct their lives as each saw fit--it was called liberty. Sure, rules evolved to assure civil conduct and the government had the power to conduct war to protect the country's interests. The government was to be responsive to the will of the people through representatives chosen to govern as a republic.

Those Christian principles, liberty and freedom of the people to labor and produce as each saw fit combined to build the most wonderful, prosperous and dynamic country that the world has ever seen. We were Americans first then Christian, Jewish, Irish, Mexican or whatever second. It worked!

The Jews, too, saw the light and when they had the chance they created a modern Israel as a secular democratic government much like the United States. They have made their desert bloom. Jews from around the world are welcomed as they immigrate to Israel. When they arrive though they become Israelis first and then Jew. Israel has had their share of problems with liberals in their government and now they have to deal with a U.S. President who harbors definite dislike for their country.

Unfortunately no matter how good a thing a people have going there always seems to be a fly that gets into the ointment. Economically, our country was in trouble in the 1930s, so a liberal leaning government decided that they should hand out government largess to individuals to "stimulate" the economy. Grateful those individuals would show their appreciation by voting for those liberals who had handed out the unearned money. That free money became an "entitlement" and whenever the liberals needed more votes they created more entitlements. The entitlement programs, Social Security, Medicare and especially Medicaid began to be troubled from poor management so the progressive's (the term liberal has fallen from favor) answer is to create another entitlement program. And so it is appropriate that our left leaning liberal government on a Sabbath day has created another huge mandatory entitlement program. It would be only appropriate for our President to sign the monstrosity, called Obamacare, into law on Good Friday. This one might not work out too well! Like the Jews of old, we may be in for big changes.

That is the way I saw it!

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  • Shalom, Dick. You say well, but, perhaps, a bit wimpy in your closing. We 'will' be in for big changes. You know it, I know it, almost anyone Bible literate knows it.

    Up until the past couple of years, I could not see any way to destroy the 'American Way,' except through Nuclear exchange (still an option), but then saw our Congress close, what I call, 'The Final Chapter,' on going insane with power, not seeing the potential for Destruction from within, which, in my opinion, was probably sealed with the Obamacare Health Bill.

    People praise BHO, and Pelosi, etal, for the wonderful way they took the bit between their teeth, and sprinted for the 'Gold.' A very large problem now loom's ahead, in that that 'Gold' is more then likely 'Lead,' the kind that sinks ships, and bait, for the 'bottom eaters to suck-up-on, only to find out they die of 'Lead Poisoning,' in a death-throw of ugly proportions.

    Sadly, our own, Ben Nelson, no matter the good he has done, will be remembered by History (should time continue to print 'History,' as the guy whose vote could have stopped all the catastrophic events that is almost sure to come, bankrupting, and destroying Democracy in this country, and any resemblance to Republican form of Power, where the people are the 'End Employer' of the Governing body.

    The little Actuarial skill I have indicates the system of Health-care is designed to suffer complete failure within ten years, where all the variables are then at work, and screaming that the system cannot work, but worse than that, it is not repairable, due to the multi-Trillion Dollar debt obligation that has mushroomed, and the Nation has no capacity to pay.

    We are about to now find out how the Jews felt when they were disbursed into the world countries, by Rome, as slaves, or people without country, or roots. Yes, Bible History seems to be repeating itself, through Prophecy.

    When we were children, there was a family, named Riley, living in Shorty Jones' Wrecking yard in an old Trailer home, about 25 - 30 feet long, Mom, Dad, and eight or nine children, poor as the proverbial Church mouse, worthy of Charity, and Entitlements, for the children's sake, if nothing else. But, No, Mr Riley loved his children so much, he refused assistance, and worked at ungodly jobs, for ungodly hours, to scrape a few dollars together to feed his children, and wife. Some people laughed at him, but I admired him very much. This was just after WW-ll, and jobs were rare as hens-teeth (47/48).

    My point is that any 'Liberal' who might come along seeking to cajole Mr Riley into surrendering/exchanging his his American right to '''Pursue his Happiness,''' for an Entitlement, was in for a rough time. (He threw more than one 'Liberal' Do Gooder off the property. Today people stand in line to exchange their Freedoms, and Rights, for a piece of the 'Entitlement' Pie. We just saw that, Sunday.

    Whew, my fingers are tired talking.

    As I said, way up there, we saw Americans allow their American Representatives, Sunday, sell all of America to the Freedom smothering Satan, called Entitlement, which, in my humble opinion, will not allow America to last long enough to actually find out, unless I am '''wrong.'''

    God knows, for sure, Dick. Keep the watch, our redemption does draw nigh.

    Arley

    -- Posted by Navyblue on Tue, Mar 23, 2010, at 7:37 PM
  • Once again a man on Medicare is complaining about government involvement in healthcare.

    Keep up the good work Dick this kind of irony doesn't write itself.

    -- Posted by Meshedup on Tue, Mar 23, 2010, at 8:41 PM
  • Corrections:

    1. The government of the United States was not founded on Christian principles. SOME of the founding fathers were deists, therefore the references to a "creator", but not the Biblical God, and not the "father" of Jesus. The Treaty of Tripoli makes this crystal clear in article 11 ("As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion...") under the presidency of John Adams.

    2. Jesus never once claimed to be the messiah, in fact he forbade his followers to use that term about him. The Old Testament messiah was described as a powerful conqueror who would overthrow the Jews' enemies by force, something that has never happened. The claim of the divinity of Jesus didn't show up in the gospels for decades after Christ's death, and then only in some corrupted texts attributed to John.

    For further information about the history of Judaism in relation to Christianity, read "Jesus Interrupted" by Prof. Bart D. Ehrman.

    -- Posted by LC on Wed, Mar 24, 2010, at 1:46 PM
  • LC, You also might desire to check out the 'other side of the story' at: http://www.wallbuilders.com

    only if you wish to, that is.

    When I compare my faith with the non-faith of an Atheist, I can only feel that they are the ones with a very large problem, if they are wrong. If they are wrong,,,Big Problem, for them.

    Me?? If I am wrong, I won't even know about it.

    -- Posted by Navyblue on Wed, Mar 24, 2010, at 4:37 PM
  • Navyblue - I was raised on "the other side of the story" so I am intimately familiar with it. Then I studied the data compiled by objective scholars to achieve a proper balance. The view you have taken is called "Pascal's Wager" (If religion is right and I believe, I am safe. If religion is wrong and I believe, I have lost nothing. Therefore, the reasonable path is belief.) I disagree. If you spend your one and only lifetime in subservience to a mythical being, you have lost everything. I take it you haven't read Ehrman. Give it a try unless you fear confronting a reasonable argument to faith. The data I presented in my post above are historical facts. If you have data that refutes them, I welcome the opportunity to study it, although that refutation has eluded mankind for centuries. I remain open minded.

    -- Posted by LC on Fri, Mar 26, 2010, at 11:56 AM
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