Hell Freezes Over

I would like to announce to my readers that I have a new, liberalized comments policy where I will be getting all of your comments. Hopefully I will respond to some of them. I want my readers to know that I care about their oppinions. I know it's easy enough to get lost in the shuffle of the internet but my blogs are aimed at those who want to make a change in "the way things are" and in the world in general. I think the world is improving, but it just takes time.

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Well, Hell just froze over. Bush’s approval ratings are now down to 31 percent. This is unbelievable. Lest than one third of the American people approve of President Bush’s performance as President. How they say he’s actually losing his hard core supporters. Now you have to look for a “harder core” supporter to find someone who still likes Bush. I would have to say that I do not approve of President Bush, if someone had asked me. A year ago if asked I would have said I approved of George Bush, after all I voted for him both times. Al Frankin was using the slide whistle once again to illustrate Bush’s decline in standings on the radio. Another Problem that George Bush has is this rewording of scientific govt. documents. It used to be that even if a President were conservative like Reagan was, the scientific reports would still be objective. No more. Now they have politicians rewording everything both in pollution reports, and also sexual sociological material such as “Do pledges of virginity cut STD’s?” Apparently they don’t because people who sign the virginity pledge are less likely to engage in “safe sex” once they do engage in sex. If you are wondering what my stance in impeachment is- - after the Clinton experience I don’t think that is a good idea. But I do think we need to go ahead with Russ Feingold’s move to censure the president for both the secret torture that was being carried out (see prev.) and also the illegal wiretapping going on that the current CIA chief, Michael Hayden personally approved of.

Dr. Phil McGraw is a wise man. I have learned a number of things from him. I learned you have to “own your own past actions”. Take responsibility for the decisions you make. I can’t say “My life would have been better if I had never been a Christian”. I think it would have been but I can’t say it. That’s because I became a Christian of my own Free Will. Nobody put a gun to my head. Indeed I actively chassed after Born Again Christianity, like a girl groupie chasing after a rock star. The second phrase I like of Dr. Phil is “How is that working for you”. My morality is of the type where I judge whether something is right or wrong and damn the consequences. But some religious writers say that Hell is a state of mind and it happens when you “sin”. Anything that’s in your life, whether it is an idea, a philosophy, or a marriage, or family relation or other personal friendship- - needs to “work”. If it doesn’t “work” we say it’s dysfunctional. That means it’s not functioning properly or at all like it’s supposed to. I look at all of my efforts to be a “good Christian” and the phrase “How’s that working for you” comes back to me. In my current environment I try and be generous by loaning people money or cigarettes and a lot of the time there is a lot of ingratitude. I sometimes even find myself saying to God, “God, why can’t you be more like me?” To me it looks as if God is a super tightwad. Then there is a third emotion. Sometimes I find myself longing for “the good old days” when I was a Christian. But in reality the Dr. Phil phrase is true “You don’t miss being a Christian- - you miss what you wish Christianity and Church life was, but it isn’t and never will be This is an important thing for me to remember. Also a lot of the time I find myself engaging on Marcionite thinking. Marcion was a theologian we discussed in our first blog. Larry Norman once said “This world is not my home; I’m only visiting this Planet; I’m just passing through”. A lot of times as Christians we are told to do such things as mortify the flesh and “Die to self”. I was told “Die to self” a lot particularly by one particular super spiritual person. Some people “In the World” would just say “Be yourself”. But in Christianity you’re supposed to hate yourself. It’s as though God made some horrible mistake by bringing you into the world. In fact some see the whole existence of the Universe is an act of sin. Some may say, “Do you believe that?” and my answer would have to be, “I don’t know." To judge whether it’s sin I would have to step outside the universe and observe what that standard of existence is, and how or if this world realm falls short of that. Part of what’s wrong with Christianity- and I think this is a Dr. Phil principle also- - is that I’m asked to change things that are completely beyond my control and for which I am not responsible. I could give you a long list if you wanted- - but just use your imagination. Humans get angry; humans get frustrated over things; humans have sexual desires and are led by them. If my flesh were really dead, this wouldn’t be a problem. I could die to myself- - but I would as a matter of logical deduction also be dead to God because I would be- - dead, just like the coffee table in my livingroom or a nick knack on my window sill.

OK here we go in our rainbow décor. Of course if I blog this you won’t be able to see it because the background doesn’t transfer over. Today is May 9, 2006. I had Rush on a little but he jumped so from topic to topic he was exasperating to follow. He promised us some new mathematical formula for why the media has such an influence on the American public even though they are declining in viewership.

It seems that right to life organizations cause abortions. From what they are saying Sweeden has the lowest abortion rates and teenage pregnancy rates and South America under the influence of Bush pro life policies, has the highest abortion rates. As you know the abortion rates dropped every year under the Clinton administration, as did the crime rates, by the way. Now abortion rates may be headed up and especially late term abortions. There are more late term abortions in states like Kansas and Mississippi because of their stringent pro life policies. What we need is realistic sex education in the schools. About the only message I got in sex education was “Don’t do it”. Somehow this myth got started that sex education causes promiscuity. Of course they have some new drug out now that’s less extreme than RU 486 and women need it “right away” but they aren’t selling it over the counter. My position on abortion is that if the embryo hasn’t implanted itself in the womb, it isn’t abortion. I do not view stored embryos in test tubes as really alive. I know the Born Again community disagrees with me here.

Last night I was reading that “Salvation for Everybody” book. The author seemed convinced that God disciplines sinners with a sort of “hell” right here in the here and now and this discipline will drive mankind to seeking the grace of God. It bears repeating that the reason why I am philosophically opposed to eternal suffering in Hell is the very nature of such an “eternal” sin is not something which mankind is even capable of committing. How many people would charge their dog with espionage, or their gold fish with bribery and political corruption? This is silly but certain animals lack the sheer intelligence necessary to commit these sins. “Jesus” has said that God spared man for sinning and not the Angels because Angels are “fully actualized beings”. They know now everything they will ever know. So much of my Christian experience has been bad and I would give the people around me, my ”mentors” if you will, approximately an F minus for a letter grade. Now they had this southern Evangelist on the Today show and I’ve heard him on Sunday morning. He believes in being positive and ministering to people’s needs. I can get behind a church like that. If a church is centered on the “ministry of the Gospel” that’s where it’s supposed to be. If it’s a club led by a pastor and his cronies and their greatest joy in the world is saying ‘I’m better than you” then I have a problem with it. I think the 35% who are Christian are so because something positive is preached.