Important Note On a Sunday

Think about it.

We can do this.

Two Historical Figures Who Could No Way Be Members of Today's Republican Party

Yes, two huge names from human history who could no way possibly be invited into or included in and belong to the Republican Party and for obvious reasons. First up, Abraham Lincoln.

I mean really. Let's face it. He actually worked to free African-Americans. That does it right there. More, however, his own quotes disqualify him from this political party today: "Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." Next up, the big man. None other than Jesu Christi.

I mean, come on. The guy who said rich people can't and won't get to heaven? Really? Republicans WORSHIP wealth and actively search it out. It's why they got into office, at least it is for the ones who get in Congress. More quotes attributed to Jesus no Republican today would repeat or even think: "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” With the defense spending they want?? And then this: “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” I mean, come on. Members of today's REpublican Party would immediately respond that these are lazy, demanding people who merely need to GET A JOB.

If Jesus Were a Member of Today's Republican Party

Herewith, ladies and gentlemen, just that--what Jesus would do and say and believe and teach if he were a member of today's Republican Party. Own it, Republicans. It's you all over. Even before Donald Trump but especially after.

Quote of the Day -- Sunday Edition

"My own mind is my own church...

...All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." --Thomas Paine, "Age of Reason"

Einstein, Spinoza and Me

 When Einstein gave lectures at U.S. universities, the question students asked him most was: Do you believe in God? And he always answered: I believe in the God of Spinoza.

Baruch de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher considered one of the great rationalists of 17th century philosophy, along with Descartes.

According to Spinoza, God would say: “Stop praying. I want you to go out into the world and enjoy your life. I want you to sing, have fun and enjoy everything I've made for you."

“Stop going into those dark, cold temples that you built yourself and saying they are my house. My house is in the mountains, in the woods, rivers, lakes, beaches. That's where I live and there I express my love for you."

“Stop blaming me for your miserable life; I never told you there was anything wrong with you or that you were a sinner, or that your sexuality was a bad thing. Sex is a gift I have given you and with which you can express your love, your ecstasy, your joy. So don't blame me for everything that others made you believe."

“Stop reading alleged sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with me. If you can't read me in a sunrise, in a landscape, in the look of your friends, in your son's eyes—you will find me in no book!"

“Stop asking me, ‘Will you tell me how to do my job?’ Stop being so scared of me. I do not judge you or criticize you, nor get angry or bothered. I am pure love."

“Stop asking for forgiveness, there's nothing to forgive. If I made you, I filled you with passions, limitations, pleasures, feelings, needs, inconsistencies, and best of all, free will. Why would I blame you if you respond to something I put in you? How could I punish you for being the way you are, if I'm the one who made you? Do you think I could create a place to burn all my children who behave badly for the rest of eternity? What kind of god would do that?"

“Respect your peers, and don't give what you don't want for yourself. All I ask is that you pay attention in your life—alertness is your guide."

“My beloved, this life is not a test, not a step on the way, not a rehearsal, not a prelude to paradise. This life is the only thing here and now—and it is all you need."

“I have set you absolutely free, no prizes or punishments, no sins or virtues, no one carries a marker, no one keeps a record. You are absolutely free to create in your life. It’s you who creates heaven or hell."

“Live as if there is nothing beyond this life, as if this is your only chance to enjoy, to love, to exist. Then you will have enjoyed the opportunity I gave you. And if there is an afterlife, rest assured that I won't ask if you behaved right or wrong, I'll ask, ‘Did you like it? Did you have fun? What did you enjoy the most? What did you learn?’

“Stop believing in me; believing is assuming, guessing, imagining. I don't want you to believe in me, I want you to believe in you. I want you to feel me in you when you kiss your beloved, when you tuck in your little girl, when you caress your dog, when you bathe in the sea."

“Stop praising me. What kind of egomaniac God do you think I am? I'm bored with being praised. I'm tired of being thanked. Feeling grateful? Prove it by taking care of yourself, your health, your relationships, the world. Express your joy! That's the way to praise me."

“Stop complicating things and repeating as a parrot what you've been taught about me. Why do you need more miracles? So many explanations?"

“The only thing for sure is that you are here, that you are alive, that this world is full of wonders.”

Now. Go. Have a nice day.

Question of the Day -- Sunday Edition

 ??

Additionally, it's the "pro-life" Republicans and Conservatives that fight this.

What??

On God and Forgiveness---From Someone Who Should Know

 

Conservative Jesus? Republican Jesus?

 Yeah. I don't think so.

Republican Jesus

Happy Sunday

Try to have a nice day.

The Current Republican Party: Sunday Edition

GOP Jesus.

Sunday Reflections

God love 'em.

Or something.

Christians and Capitalism: Like Oil and Water

Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian, shows five quick, easy ways Americans ignore Jesus and his teachings.

And this is a short, short list. Not least of which being the wealthy not getting into heaven.


Don't bother us with details.

Happy Easter Sunday' y'all!

You heathen hypocrites!

Links:

Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian - YouTube

Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian - 

Home | Facebook

Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) · Twitter

It's Sunday----And Your Prayers?

What they really are---from America's Best Christian, Betty Bowers.


Enjoy your day, y'all.

Quote of the Day -- On Jesus

“Let’s remember, Jesus was a Jewish man of color, born homeless to an unwed teenager, who spent his formative years as an illegal immigrant before returning to his home country to hang out with twelve men, prostitutes, and socially untouchable tax collectors while he taught a radical social doctrine of equality, love, and forgiveness that included paying taxes, free healthcare, and the sharing of resources within a community.”

--Quote from FB friend Diana Pleasant-Hughes' page

You Know What Takes Guts?

Guts is throwing off your hand-me-down, 2000 year old religion you inherited from your parents, and they from theirs, ad infinitum, and realizing and accepting that we're all there is and we're all there ever was and there is no Heaven, no Hell, no "God" and that we just have to and ought to do what's right and good and beautiful and fair, just because it's the right thing to do and because this is all there is. Not because if you do anything bad you'll be punished, not at all.

Guts is accepting this is all there is.  Nothing to run to. Nothing further, bigger, better to hope or plan or work for.

Guts is realizing and accepting that this, the here and the now, the way it is now is what there is to work for. The people that are around you now, the people that are around all of us now.

That nothing else matters because there is nothing else.

The staring oblivion and the abyss in the eye.

The realizing and accepting and facing this is all there is.


But that's too much for too many people.

Most people.

Far too many.


Do you have that much guts?

Do you have that much courage?

Christianity and Capitalism

People, in this nation, who consider themselves to be both Capitalists and Christians are only Capitalists.

Mark 10:21-22   Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Luke 12:16-21   Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."

And my personal favorite:

Matthew 19:24    Jesus said "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."

Think happy thoughts.

And enjoy your Sunday.

Link:  9 Jesus Quotes About The Poor

Quote of the Day -- Sunday Edition

“Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and spiritual; and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity.

If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism."

--Albert Einstein

Links:

Buddhism

Basics of Buddhism

A Basic Buddhism Guide: Buddhism and the God-idea

Albert Einstein

Jesus Was Neither Alone Nor Was He the First

Just so you know some human history, Jesus wasn't the only--or even the first--god said to have risen from the dead. Actually, far from it.

Jesus: Just One More Dying 

and Rising Savior

History records many dying-and-rising saviors. Examples from the Ancient Near East that preceded the Jesus story include Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, Adonis, Attis, and Baal.

Dying-and-rising god

A dying-and-rising, death-rebirth, or resurrection deity is a religious motif in which a god dies and is resurrected. "Death or departure of the gods" is motif A192 in Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, while "resurrection of gods" is motif A193.

Examples of gods who die and later return to life are most often cited from the religions of the Ancient Near East, and traditions influenced by them including Biblical and Greco-Roman mythology and by extension Christianity. The concept of a dying-and-rising god was first proposed in comparative mythology by James Frazer's seminal The Golden Bough. Frazer associated the motif with fertility rites surrounding the yearly cycle of vegetation. Frazer cited the examples of Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis and Attis, Dionysus and Jesus Christ.

Frazer's interpretation of the category has been critically discussed in 20th-century scholarship, to the conclusion that many examples from the world's mythologies included under "dying and rising" should only be considered "dying" but not "rising", and that the genuine dying-and-rising god is a characteristic feature of Ancient Near Eastern mythologies and the derived mystery cults of Late Antiquity.

And what is religion, anyway, if not a huge denial of death? An attempt to explain "what comes after." It only stands to reason that we want our god or God or gods dying and coming back, just to prove what we want and that it can be done, that this life isn't all there is. There's no better example or reason for this than that we want to deny death and dying.
Just saying.

That said, if you're into it, if you celebrate Easter, have at it. Enjoy.

Happy Easter.

Whatever gets you through.

Links:

The pagan roots of Easter

The Ancient Pagan Origins of Easter

Goddess Easter: Celebration of the Spring Equinox

Ēostre 

Easter 

A Little Holiday Perspective

A bit of human history for y'all.

Merry Christmas, everyone.