What Do You Believe In?

What powers beyond our comprehension do you believe exist?

I was thinking about a conversation in this regard that I saw on the internet recently.
In an exchange between several people, there were opinions galore being bounced back and forth.
Some were reasoned and logical, others based purely on faith and a few of dubious origin that should have been painfully embarrassing to the intellect of the authors.
I give people benefit of the doubt where opinion is concerned, because some of them could not survive otherwise.

It amazes me to consider the billions of dollars spent every year on self-help, therapy, support groups and books related to them.
If you don't quite understand the size of this "industry" then look how much floor space is dedicated to it in any bookstore.
Count the titles offered online in outlets like Amazon.com.

People will seek enlightenment, fulfillment, peace, wisdom, and a host of other profound results from pursuits as varied as crystals, auras, incense, herbal and pharmaceutical products and vortex hotspots around the globe. There are groups with fanatical leaders and fevered followers that border on the occult espousing doctrine and dispensing wisdom as varied as the clouds in the sky.

There are many polls showing results that indicate a majority of people believe in ghosts. Maybe 20% say they've actually seen one.
Wiccans, people who believe in witches, will tell you that they don't worship the devil but are simply interested in something different.
Satanists are actually pretty rare, but there is an enthusiastic following there too.

There are a miilion ways to get in touch with something bigger than yourself, to unleash power you never felt before.

Now, before we get into ridicule and dismissal of these examples we must remember how angry their proponents get when we do.
To call them nutty, crazy, stupid, weak, vulnerable or confused is viewed as impolite by most so we allow them their indulgence.

I have found one way to unite these widely varied and disparate individuals as one - ask them about God.
Step back and watch the sparks fly!!!!

Take a minute to consider how gracious and tolerant THEY are toward the Bible and its adherents to the Word Of God.
After years of resistance, I finally gave up the selfish and stupid effort to disallow the wisdom and teachings from it in my life.
I'll go so far as to say the Bible is the Original Self-Help Book, and challenge anybody to tell me where I'm wrong.

Even if you view Christianity as a joke and the Bible as Fairy Tales, the wisdom in those tales is unmatched still today.
Maybe just put away the make believe, and discuss only the lessons - you'd be surprised at the substance that still remains.
Think about that for a minute.




     So, What Do YOU  Have Then?
Lately I've made it a point when discussing politics, and our "leaders" we elected to "represent" us, to mention my belief that
we must get back to the original vision our Founding Fathers were so wise in framing our Constitution with.
Christian core values.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard all about how they were a bunch of hemp-worshipping, slave-owning deists.
That's nothing more than revisionist, historical, wishful thinking, and a ton of bovine excrement.
Most were practicing Christians, almost all were self-declared Spiritualists along those lines, and if you just can't bring
yourself to agree with that then read the damned words they ALL agreed upon and placed into our Founding Documents.

Secularists out there (a nice way of saying they don't want Christianity outside a church) are quick to call people hypocrites.
They are so eager to point out the failures, and even the slightest perceived imperfections of anybody who believes.

Look how scary it has become for anybody in politics to mention their faith now, when not so long ago our Presidents
actually led prayers on radio and later TV. Bush was ridiculed for it by the secularists and the Left, and look how millions
recoiled in horror at the very mention of Sarah Palin and the values that guided her life, even confirming her decision to
carry to term and deliver a baby she knew had Down's Syndrome.
How stupid, eh?
Yeah, you can bet your ass any Liberal/Progressive woman worth her hyphenated name would have aborted that baby
without so much as a tear.

But Palin even allowed her daughter's "indiscretion" become public knowledge when she carried her baby to term as well.
Crazy.



     All About Values and Morals
In a curious juxtaposition, Liberals, the Left, and even the most hardened secularists were fine with "religion" on their own terms.
No less a parenting expert than Barack Obama made sure the world understood what those 20 glorious years in his
“unashamedly black” Trinity United Church of Christ with Reverend Jeremiah Wright had instilled in him with the wisdom,
the clarity of thought, the keen vision, the gravitas, to utter into a microphone such profound wisdom as;

"I've got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old.
I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals.
But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."

Yes sir, all about values and morals...
Assuming the worst did indeed happen, and Obama's genetic material was passed on in this world, I really don't see where
his daughter's pregnancy could be seen as  much of a punishment.
Oh, I could see where it could be inconvenient.
Parenting a child (out of wedlock, the Liberal Norm) can be a time-consuming matter, and there are the wardrobe challenges
along with the stretch marks that would require treatment, but to call it punishment is preposterous.

With all the books Obama wrote while he was busily voting "present" - if at all - in the Illinois legislature, and then the US Senate,
he has assured himself, his wife, and their two lovely daughters a generous income. His speaking engagements often paid handsomely over the years, and they both were collecting substantial salaries in their jobs in Law, Teaching, and whatever
the hell Michelle did for $300,000 a year the University of Chicago Hospitals. Nobody seems to know, and she was rarely there....

Considering the money Obama will be able to command from speeches and media deals once he leaves the White House,
even if his political career tanks as people get their heads out of their asses long enough to see behind the curtain, he will NOT
be hurting for cash. If you think for a second his daughters might be denied access to his largesse, then consider that
Michelle's mother Marian lives with them too.

Too much estrogen in the Obama household for one of his daughters to be punished with ANYTHING.

The girls were born in 1998 and 2001. A little quick math tells us that even after a two-term Obama administration, they will
still be under 18 when the U-Haul truck comes to take them back to Chicago. Lets hope they don't succumb to the triple threat
of the widely-accepted norms of Liberals, urban dwellers, and blacks to "find themselves" impregnated while still underage.

Assuming they go by Dear Old Dad's teachings all about values and morals, doing it right, marrying first, THEN having a baby,
I'd be willing to bet Barack, Michelle, and Marian will see that they are well-tended in motherhood.

So, I need to ponder this idea of "punishment" a little further to figure it out sufficiently.

The girls are living in the White House, the residence of the Leader of the most powerful and wealthy country in the world.
(Despite the best efforts of their father and all his Chicago Socialist/D.C. Coattail Riders, I don't see our standing changing much.)
They have servants, certainly the irony of blacks having servants in the White House is not lost on them - considering history.
They have the support of their family - Grandma ain't lettin' NOBODY hurt her babies.
They have more money at their disposal than all but a few thousand Americans, I could easily call them One Percenters.
They will have access to the absolute finest health care options - cost be damned - that this world can provide. Jealous?
They will be able to pursue, despite any inconvenience, any education they choose, at any leisurely pace they choose.
Their lucky baby will be born into a world of privilege that is unspeakably rare, in the USA, in Royalty, anywhere.

Yeah...
Sorry, I'm just not seeing it.



     So, What Do YOU Have Then?
Now that we have a little better idea of how different people view their world and how their Faith drives their belief system,
let's talk about the secularists again. To be fair, let's bring them along with the middle-of-the-roaders, athiests, agnostics,
the uncommitted, the fence-sitters, and whoever else feels a twinge of discomfort when the Bible is considered.

Let's look at what drives their intellectual exercises, what shapes their more lofty cerebral forays into Right or Wrong.
How do they sort Good & Bad, Fairness & Opportunity, Personal Accountability & Free Thinking?
And their notion that they have - all by themselves - sorted, considered, assembled, tested, and proven a filter through which
they view the entire world, its inhabitatants, all they see, hear and read, and the judgment they then pass on everybody else...?

I've had the pleasure of Ideological discussions with plenty of people, and usually all present were sober for me to count it.
I find that a wide variety of belief systems I've encountered can be pigeon-holed (using MY judgment) into just a few boxes.
Oddly enough, the most reasonable are often the least committed to their views, something I should have expected.

They are the ones who want me to believe that they know "enough" about Christianity and probably a few other things.
They have seen and heard enough stuff from enough people to form sort of a broad canvas with which to cover it all.
They don't get too hung up on the details, but they are confident they know the score and really can't be swayed.
They are intelligent, certainly by laymen's standards, and can wrap their mind around most things with some effort.
They have read a number of works by a wide cross-section of authors and philosophers, and recognize them in the world.

I know these people in an instant, because that was me for a number of years.

Then one day it occurred to me, quite out of the blue, that I needed to get away from the stuff that doesn't work.
I needed to live my life right - which I had done pretty good at already - but I could certainly use help with the guesswork.
Instead of trying what I thought was best (usually for me) in a given situation, maybe I should try what IS best - for ALL.

So, being arrogant enough to believe that my hard-earned and well-proven wisdom could use a little polishing, I began to
think about all the Bible mumbo-jumbo from my childhood when I would still go to church if there was food or girls.
Things were a little fuzzy, but I quietly lost myself in my thoughts as time and circumstance allowed and it began to return.

About that time - for some crazy, random, unknown reason - I met the woman who would become my wife.
She was beginning to take the opposite track. Well, not really, but kinda.
She had been finishing a degree, raising her son with a notably absent father, working full time, and working at her church.
By opening up her life and getting out of the house after years of being "busy" we just happened to meet. Crazy.

In attending regular services with her, I found wisdom and guidance within those doors that was suddenly...  accessible.
A few years have gone by, and I've noticed pieces falling into place - in places I didn't know they belonged.
In realizing how far I still have to go, I find the path to get there a little less scary, and the wisdom I gain a little more valuable.

As a result, I've gained a little more of something most of my family would say I do not need - confidence.
Confidence to say I don't know when I don't, and confidence (even more than before) to stand my ground when I do.



So I have to ask the middle-of-the-roaders, athiests, agnostics, the uncommitted, the fence-sitters and militant know-nothings;
How do you know?

How do you KNOW anything that you can't see right before your eyes?
How can you take a stand on something from an ancient philosopher when you can't be sure you fully grasp it?
How do you know what benefit there is to be had from an aura, crystals, hypnotherapy, meditation, tantric sex, whatever?
How do you know that you've read all the right things and listened to all the right people?
So, what do YOU have then?

If you still think at that point that you have ANYTHING to offer anybody else, wouldn't that require Faith?
Crazy, eh?