The politics of neurotic people
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@Horace said in The politics of neurotic people:
our neighbors would consider us tantamount to Nazis if we're capable of thinking rationally about Trump
This is not just on Facebook.
@Copper said in The politics of neurotic people:
@Horace said in The politics of neurotic people:
our neighbors would consider us tantamount to Nazis if we're capable of thinking rationally about Trump
This is not just on Facebook.
No, it’s even within my family.
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@Mik said in The politics of neurotic people:
I count among my many blessings the fact that I can look at a given issue and acknowledge its benefits and shortcomings without histrionics.
Obviously, I cannot speak for you, but I know my participation on this forum over the last 20 years has dramatically increased my awareness of how to learn about and discuss such a wide spectrum of topics, and a number of new vocabulary words too.
It’s hard to understand how some people as mentioned in Horace’s post can put such an emphasis on an internal moral compass (that rarely actually impacts their life) over real and tangible relationships.
Take Jolly for example. Lately I’ve been very opposed to his view of Trump but I still think he’s one of the smartest guys around with a ridiculous wealth of knowledge and one of the sharpest pens when it comes to writing a supporting thought to someone who’s struggling with something. I’d drive across the country if he asked for my help, which of course would never happen!
@89th said in The politics of neurotic people:
@Mik said in The politics of neurotic people:
I count among my many blessings the fact that I can look at a given issue and acknowledge its benefits and shortcomings without histrionics.
Obviously, I cannot speak for you, but I know my participation on this forum over the last 20 years has dramatically increased my awareness of how to learn about and discuss such a wide spectrum of topics, and a number of new vocabulary words too.
It’s hard to understand how some people as mentioned in Horace’s post can put such an emphasis on an internal moral compass (that rarely actually impacts their life) over real and tangible relationships.
Take Jolly for example. Lately I’ve been very opposed to his view of Trump but I still think he’s one of the smartest guys around with a ridiculous wealth of knowledge and one of the sharpest pens when it comes to writing a supporting thought to someone who’s struggling with something. I’d drive across the country if he asked for my help, which of course would never happen!
Nah, I'm just a dumb redneck and a recovering Methodist.
But everytime I think this country is absolutely screwed, I look around and I see the 89th's and the aqualetifer's and think, "Gee, it ain't so bad after all".
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One man's opinion of white women.
Link to video -
Saw this on facebook, from some progressive pastor (no, not that one). But, it is informative that this is a person who is essentially in the business of spreading emotional turmoil, while posturing as a calming influence. (Yes, like that one.)
I've started to realize that Anne Frank and her family wouldn't have been safe around a lot of people I know and loved and once respected.
That's not something you get over.
A random sample of the people he'd love to reach out and hug:
I guess those of us who aren't consumed by self-inflicted torment, can just count that as one of our blessings. While realizing the unfortunate fact that many of our neighbors would consider us tantamount to Nazis if we're capable of thinking rationally about Trump and his administration. These people sniff you out based entirely on your emotional response to a situation that is overwhelming them. If it's not overwhelming you, too, well, consider yourself a sub-human.
@Horace said in The politics of neurotic people:
Saw this on facebook, from some progressive pastor (no, not that one). But, it is informative that this is a person who is essentially in the business of spreading emotional turmoil, while posturing as a calming influence. (Yes, like that one.)
I've started to realize that Anne Frank and her family wouldn't have been safe around a lot of people I know and loved and once respected.
That's not something you get over.
A random sample of the people he'd love to reach out and hug:
I guess those of us who aren't consumed by self-inflicted torment, can just count that as one of our blessings. While realizing the unfortunate fact that many of our neighbors would consider us tantamount to Nazis if we're capable of thinking rationally about Trump and his administration. These people sniff you out based entirely on your emotional response to a situation that is overwhelming them. If it's not overwhelming you, too, well, consider yourself a sub-human.
I looked up some of the pastor's writings. He's typical of the modern church and much of the harm that it does through insufficient grounding in what is Biblically right and wrong.
I'm more of an Arminian than a Calvinist, in that I do believe that it is the responsibility of the individual to accept God's Grace or not. I've also got enough of John Wesley in me (sorry, fellow Baptists) that I think we need to strive everyday to do better, that while Grace is benevolent and all-encompassing, we need to keep climbing on God's rope that pulled us out of the pit of the Lost. After all, Jesus cursed the fig tree for producing no fruit.
Speaking of fruit, I might as well climb up on a hickory stump and preach a mite. Consider John 15...
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.If we look up there at verse 2, the KJV uses the word purgeth. A lot of translations use the word "prune". But if we step back and look at the Greek, the word used is καθαίρει. Strong writes this:
Usage: The verb καθαίρω (kathairó) primarily means to cleanse or purify. In a metaphorical sense, it is used to describe the act of pruning, as in the removal of superfluous branches to promote growth and fruitfulness. This term is often used in the context of spiritual purification and moral cleansing, emphasizing the removal of sin and impurities from one's life.
For those of y'all who ain't country folk, let me clue you in on something...You can't make muscadines (or grapes in this case) in the dirt. Branches have to be above the dirt, as does the fruit. Sometimes, you'll get a branch or vine that dips down and you'll have to wash (cleanse or purge) it off and prop it up to keep it out of the dirt. Sometimes, if the leaves have gotten really bad before you get to it, you'll have to cut some of the vine off before you prop it up.
So Jesus is being mighty clear in this passage. We are to love everyone and we are to practice that love. But our love does not mean we need to let the vine wander where it may. It's our job to do better ourselves, but it is also our job to help pick up those trailing vines and help cleanse them. Because God is not going to tolerate wanton sin, no matter how much He Loves you. If you abide not in him, if you insist on staying in the dirt and disease, Jesus said you're headed for the fire.
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Agree with the comments above from our esteemed forum posters!
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Some good thoughts in there, Jolly. Some (many?) folks focus on Luke 23:39-43 - long as I can cry out at the last moment of my life to be saved - and BELIEVE, I'm good. I can screw up everything between now and then with no consequence.
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Some science related to this, regarding how unhappy liberal women are:
Many of the most thoughtful interpreters—like Jonathan Haidt, Jean Twenge, and Matthew Yglesias—of this ideological divide in the emotional well-being of young women have pointed to the role that “catastrophizing” thinking has played in dragging down the spirits of liberal women. The idea is that taking an overly negative view of the world, and minimizing your own agency to navigate life, often inspired by social media, has taken a serious toll on young liberal women’s emotional health. That’s because, as Yglesias put it: “Mentally processing ambiguous events with a negative spin is just what depression is.”
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Some good thoughts in there, Jolly. Some (many?) folks focus on Luke 23:39-43 - long as I can cry out at the last moment of my life to be saved - and BELIEVE, I'm good. I can screw up everything between now and then with no consequence.
@kluurs said in The politics of neurotic people:
Some good thoughts in there, Jolly. Some (many?) folks focus on Luke 23:39-43 - long as I can cry out at the last moment of my life to be saved - and BELIEVE, I'm good. I can screw up everything between now and then with no consequence.
True, but never forget that man is held to a narrative that God is not .
Consider Mark 2...
1And again he entered into Capernaum, after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. 2And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. 3And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. 4And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
Jesus forgave the man of his sins, healed him and bade him to take up his bed and walk away...Based on the belief and faith of the men who carried him, not necessarily the belief and faith of the crippled man himself
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Some good thoughts in there, Jolly. Some (many?) folks focus on Luke 23:39-43 - long as I can cry out at the last moment of my life to be saved - and BELIEVE, I'm good. I can screw up everything between now and then with no consequence.
@kluurs said in The politics of neurotic people:
Some good thoughts in there, Jolly. Some (many?) folks focus on Luke 23:39-43 - long as I can cry out at the last moment of my life to be saved - and BELIEVE, I'm good. I can screw up everything between now and then with no consequence.
God can forgive murder.
Link to videoEducation is extremely important.
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@kluurs said in The politics of neurotic people:
Some good thoughts in there, Jolly. Some (many?) folks focus on Luke 23:39-43 - long as I can cry out at the last moment of my life to be saved - and BELIEVE, I'm good. I can screw up everything between now and then with no consequence.
God can forgive murder.
Link to video@Horace said in The politics of neurotic people:
God can forgive murder.
Interesting. It would be tough to be a priest and be confronted with something like that.
"I am planning on blowing up the World Trade Center"
Wow. And then you are supposed to treat the person as if nothing happened. :eek
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Jokes about the priesthood aside, the hardest one to deal with would probably be ongoing child abuse.
We have a friend in the UK who's a GP, and she said it's surprising how many people seem to think that a doctor is bound by the same rules as a priest. Needless to say, she reported the bastard immediately.
