Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven
|
|
| Sunny Days in Heaven Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven |
|
|
Friday, December 24, 2004 Merry Christmas anyway The election for governor in Washington state looks like it is going to be properly stolen from the Republican. It will be done with the help of the judiciary and by making sure that that the ballots of servicemen will not be counted. Nothing can be done because all that can be done has been done -- by the Democrats, that is -- to insure that fraud reigns. What troubles me, is that in reading Colleen McCullough,s First Man of Rome book (not great but not terrible) which fictionalizes that history of the late Roman Republic which I had just been reading -- well, the troubling thing is the perversity of human beings and their unending need to grasp for what is not theirs and take by hook or crook. It is an endless quest for many -- find a way to get power, position, prestige, honor, money, or pleasure despite conscience. The ability of humans to justify all their desires, rationalize all their compromises with decency and honor, and assert claims of innocence and altruism regardless of their actions clearly meant to serve only themselves -- well it can wear one down. Even my daughter (19) observed tonight that, "it can be hard to support authority that others put down when authorities often act corrupt or act wrongly." She was talking about institutions that conservatives support like the military or government, education or church and the like. One doesn't have to look far to find people in authority who misbehave, are incompetent, ambitious to the point of opportunistic, or indifferent to results. It is very discouraging to look at our systems, yet, it can amaze that things work at all given the weirdness of humanity. The prevalence of sin in action could bring one to despair if heaven weren't possible. As it is, it makes one ashamed to know that he is are part of the mess, and weary to realize that there is no end to it for people in general. We go on because we have children and they must be served. Two thousand years ago people believed for a time that the end of sadness was immanent. Salvation was at hand, but it turned out that it was salvation from despair; not salvation from the rest of fallen life. Life continues to be hard, and the corrupt, the false, the untruthful continue to pervert the good that others have tried to install and instill in us, but every year we have to throw ourselves on the ground (metaphorically) and ask God to forgive us for failing to be true to him, and failing to grasp who we are meant to be. And once a year we try to celebrate the mercy that is God who would send himself into the world to suffer just as we do, while proving that Love is stronger than Death and all the outrageous slings and arrows of misfortune. Merry Christmas. He is born and he lives. posted by Mark Butterworth | 1:07 AM | |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
 |
||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
