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If you are Republican, much of what follows may be offensive to you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

On March 17 of this year, the Washington Post reported that Florida Republicans were proposing a bill in which, among other things, girls in grades six through 12 would be banned from discussing their menstrual cycles in school.

Since “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” then the words Johnson, erection, hard-on, stiffy and all slang words for male genitalia should be banned as well. Additionally, the mandate should include the words ejaculation, spurt, come and all orgasmic idioms.

While we are on the banning band wagon … Viagra, Cialis, and all erectile dysfunction medications and procedures should be prohibited too. If we go so far as to refuse women birth control pills, emergency contraception medication, and abortion pills, then why do we want men walking around with free willys?

Come to think of it, where is the federal legislation enforcing compulsory castration for rapists and sex offenders?  Why is it, that since 1996, only 9 states have passed castration laws for rapists and sex offenders and yet in the six months post Roe v. Wade, 24 states banned abortion?  Twenty seven years versus six months … what the hell?  Is it because  physical and/or chemical castration is considered inhumane but forcing a woman to be pregnant is not? 

Why are we only refusing women bodily autonomy and not men? Do people really believe unwanted pregnancies are the result of immaculate conceptions?

Let’s face it, this isn’t a period problem, it’s a penis problem. There are far too many di**s in office …

Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG) is frequently on my mind these days as she seems to have become the poster girl for Republican extremism and Christian Nationalism/Theocracy.

As odd as this may seem, I feel sorry for her. She is so utterly and completely lost! Why continue to waste oxygen and energy on her through FB memes when it is obvious her behavior will continue to be ridiculously outlandish, wildly inappropriate, and downright criminal? Aren’t we lowering ourselves to her standards by making jokes about her? Targeting her is too easy.

Don’t get me wrong, my pity does not extend to rationalizing or justifying her crude and reprehensible exploits; I only wonder what drives her loathsome antics.

How did she get elected in the first place? What did 170,162 people in the state of Georgia see in her that would make her a viable lawmaker in the United States House of Representatives and what does that say about those voters?

What is at the heart of the matter? Why so much hate? Not all lost people are so hateful. So, what is it?

God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.
We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First, we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.

If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both. I John 4:17-21 The Message

The verses above mention the phrase ‘Judgment Day.’ I do not believe in the God-sitting-on-the-throne-judgment end-of-time day damning people to hell … something I suspect MTG does believe. Neither do I believe in a post-death courtroom where I’m seated behind a table with Jesus as my defense attorney pleading my case before a robe-adorned God, gavel in hand waiting to pronounce judgment on my soul.

When I researched the meaning of the phrase ‘Judgment Day’ in Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew, I found the following: “decision, determination, judgment; trial, sentence, accusation; quarrel, dispute. turning point or decisive point of disease progression.”

At face value, these definitions seem to contradict my current beliefs about a Judgment Day. With a little more research, however, I noticed the following in different translations of said verse.

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment … KJV

In … “to or toward the inside …” Mirriam-Webster

By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment … ESV

For … “used as a function word to indicate purpose … an intended goal … the object or recipient of a perception, desire, or activity; because of …”. Mirriam-Webster

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement … NRSV

On … “in or into a position of contact with an upper surface especially so as to be positioned for use or operation.” Mirriam-Webster

In addition to the use of different prepositions, each of the above translations does not capitalize the word ‘judgment.” All of which appears to work in my favor of my ongoing understanding.

Before you read on, please stop and take a few minutes or more to consider the implications of how each preposition changes the reading and meaning of that verse and the entire passage.

I’ll wait …
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I love to read and I love to write, so this kind of exercise really appeals to me because it is an avenue for opening myself up to the expansiveness of awareness and Divine Love.

My take?

When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us.

This is a judgment that I have to make in my mind, soul and body every day of my life—to take up permanent residence in a life of love. Each and every day, sometimes moment to moment … being aware, living in the awareness that I live in God and God lives in me and God lives in you and all of us.

Meditation, contemplation, mindfulness, silence, solitude … are practices that aide me in my Love walk.

If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.

What prevents MTG and others from practicing this Love? Why is she, the right-wing extremists and the vast majority of the GOP so dead set against this, dare I say it, wokeness?

Fear, or as a friend of mine with whom I volunteer at JCCM says, “the Republicans are a bunch of chickensh***s.” I can’t say that I disagree with him.

… There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.

“Well-formed love” … isn’t that a beautiful phrase? Isn’t that the very definition of being woke? Think of the time, thoughtfulness, compassion, empathy, doubt, questioning, trust, and self-awareness that develops and grows well-formed love.

In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus put it this way:

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Every bit of insanity in which the Republican party is embroiled is due to fear. Fear takes the easy way out. Fear says “do as I say not as I do.” Fear is sustained in and through control. Fear meets hatred with hatred and violence with violence. Fear demands conformity and punishes diversity. Fear reinforces superiority and sustains autocracy. Fear reviles truth. Fear is defensive. Fear rushes to judgement.

“Judging others, we shore up our own beliefs and assumptions. Judging others allows us to feel superior. That wish to feel superior is harmful. It feeds our fictional self, keeping us in ignorance. Judging others rips us out of interbeing and connection. It arises from ignorance and obstructs compassion.” Kathleen Dowling Singh, The Grace in Aging

Wake up MTG! Wake up GOP! WAKE UP!

For the love of God, Wake Up!

I woke up this morning thinking of the men, women and children living and dying in the drought-stricken areas of Kenya …

The latest IPC report (July to September 2022) on the drought situation in Kenya indicates that; in the ten ASAL (Arid and Semi-Arid Land) counties, where AHN members work, more than 40% of the population is facing high levels of food insecurity compared to 24% in all ASAL counties of Kenya and this figure is projected to increase to 47.5% in the period October to December 2022 and will continue to worsen over time.

… then, while walking Polly, my mind wandered to those managing to survive through the catastrophic devastation in war-torn Ukraine …

Millions of children are in need of humanitarian assistance as they continue to suffer the deadly consequences of a brutal war not of their making. The war has sparked displacement on a scale and speed not seen since World War II – with far-reaching impact across the region and beyond. By November 1, 2022, more than 7.7 million individual refugees from Ukraine had been recorded across Europe, while millions more people had been internally displaced in Ukraine.

… and a little later, before I left to volunteer at Meals on Wheels, my heart ached for the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado Springs.

Sadly, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and / or queer (LGBTQ+) people face higher risk of becoming victims of gun violence.

I do not feel as detached from these events and other similar tragic occurrences as I once did. Generally speaking, I have in the past felt the sorrow of global, national and local disasters over the years, but now these cataclysmic happenings are much closer at heart and felt with an incarnate intensity in my spirit.

I am not sure what the difference is; perhaps it is because I am in that decade of life where the deaths of people my age start appearing more frequently in the obituaries.

According to World Bank statistics, my current life expectancy is 77.28 years. If that is the case, I have a very short 14 years left—if that–to make a difference in whatever way, shape or form that may be. I find myself hoping that I have demonstrated more love and given more joy than pain and sorrow.

Those sorts of scales matter not to the Divine, I know. Grace and Love look only through the lens of Grace and Love, yet I still wonder.

I met a really beautiful human being at the grocery store one morning. Their deep resonate voice suggested they were male, but their mannerisms and other qualities suggested they were female—which is why I am using the non-binary pro-nouns ‘they’ and ‘their.’ I really do not know their gender and I really do not care. All I know is that during our short interaction, I was deeply affected by their kind and gentle soul which is really all that matters.

Before his death, James Lipton hosted a show on Bravo called ‘The Actor’s Studio’ where he interviewed famous actors of stage, screen and TV.

At the end of the interview, he would ask each actor a series of questions inspired by the show ‘Bouillon de Culture’ hosted by Bernard Pivot. Among the ten questions were: What is your favorite/least favorite word; what sound or noise do you love/hate; what turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? And the one for which I always had a definitive answer: What turns you off?

Man’s inhumanity to man … our lack of empathy to one another is indefensible—how can we continue to treat each other so cruelly?

My mother was a great admirer of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Eleanor Roosevelt was THE driving force behind The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages. The UDHR is widely recognized as having inspired, and paved the way for, the adoption of more than seventy human rights treaties, applied today on a permanent basis at global and regional levels (all containing references to it in their preambles).

Have you ever read it? If not, you should! Personally, I believe it to be a more sacred and holy document than the Constitution of the United States simply because it undertakes to include and unify ALL of humanity! Not just Americans and certainly not just MAGA Evangelical believers.

Article 1 states …

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

… and it only gets better from there!

All human beings … not some, not a few … not just whites, not just far-right radicals, not just cisgendered heterosexuals, not just males … ALL human beings.

ALL!

ALL means ALL!

This lack of awareness of our global personhood as a “normal” part of life is where all of our problems, calamities, misfortunes, devastations begin … and can end.

I am not suggesting we do not find ways to solve our problems by enacting laws and regulations. Neither am I suggesting that offenders go free. I am saying that those “fixes” are only temporary.

But how do we get to an awakened knowledge of our interdependence?

By unraveling deeply held beliefs, by pulling at the threads of our conditioning, by untangling our theology, by seeing our lies, by dissolving our illusions, by disarming our egos … the result?

… a very different and collectively shared human journey where systems that once seemed necessary in the beliefs of separation would naturally disassemble and we could truly begin to see and realize what has always been true …

… all means all …

Masked, I was sitting in a local diner with my Dad, waiting for our breakfast when I overheard the gentleman at the next table.  Late seventies or early eighties, this man was expressing his dismay at the current occupant of the White House telling him what to do.  Going so far as to compare President Biden to Hitler.    He further described to his friend how he doesn’t watch the News and he will not go to WalMart because they are now, once again, requiring employees and customers to wear masks.

Stupid is as stupid does.

Miriam-Webster.com defines stupid as: slow of mind, given to unintelligent decisions or acts, acting in an unintelligent or careless manner, lacking intelligence or reason, dulled in feeling or sensation, marked by or resulting from unreasoned thinking or acting.

Careless manner … dulled in feeling or sensation … marked by or resulting from unreasoned thinking …

I would say these definitions explain the thoughts, words and actions of DeSantis, Abbott, other Republican lawmakers/leaders, and anybody that voted for, votes for or supports them in any way, shape or form.

Angry? You bet!

A great many people are sick and dying because of the actions or lack thereof of stupid people. A great many people will not get vaccinated or wear masks because of the self-absorbed and maladroit leadership of stupid people.

I am constantly confounded by the absurd diatribe that erupts from the mouths of DeSantis, Abbott, McConnell, Greene, Cruz, Carlson, Graham, Hawley, et al, like volcanic vomit. My mind reels wondering how seemingly well-educated individuals can be so mind-boggling, idiotically stupid.

Threatening to defund school systems and not pay school superintendents over mask mandates?  My God, DeSantis, how ludicrous, not to mention stupid!

The health and safety of children are at stake; and so these kinds of mindless and unreasonable decisions break my heart.

I have five grandchildren, two of whom will be headed back to school in three weeks—one in sixth grade and one in second grade—and I am highly distraught and concerned for their health and welfare; for all the children’s health and well-being. My grandchildren will be masked—their parents are not stupid—it is the stupid parents and stupid leaders that concern me.

You know the ones … those like the parents in Idaho that had a mask burning party in March of this year. Or those who say it takes away their freedom and civil rights, or that it is discriminatory, or those who believe the outright, bold face, blatant, sinister lies of the aforementioned bigwigs.

What is it going to take, before people wake up and realize how stupid they have been to remain unmasked?

Stupid people did not wear masks when the elderly got sick and died due to COVID-19. They did not wear masks when the middle-aged began to die. They are not wearing masks now that young folks are dying, with 615,000+ and counting now dead here in the US. Are they waiting for children to get sick and die in greater numbers before they wear masks and get vaccinated?

According to the CDC, “unintentional injuries—such as those caused by burns, drowning, falls, poisoning and road traffic—are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children in the United States.”

Let’s be clear, children’s deaths due to COVID are occurring as a result of people’s intentional behavior, due to the folks who are stubbornly and intentionally continuing to remain unmasked.

This, among other things in this insane world that is deeply lost in so many extreme beliefs in separation, makes me absolutely sick at heart.

Please do not waste your breath telling me about my lack of faith or that I am not a Christian or that I should just pray.  I trust God, I am a follower of the Way, and I do pray.

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar. For if a person does not love his brother, whom he has seen, then he cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20

The fact of the matter is every time you look into someone’s eyes, you are seeing God whether you believe it or not. Or if you prefer:

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

To be fair, I have done and do stupid things–more than I would care to profess. If we are honest with ourselves and will humbly admit it, the vast majority of us do stupid stuff. If we didn’t, our human world would not be in the predicament it is in— dying in so many ways now.

This stupidity is a result of believing the BIG LIE. No, not the lie that Trump won the 2020 election. I’m talking about the lie in Genesis 3:4-5 …

The serpent said to the woman, “It is not true that you will surely die; because God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

… THAT big lie.

We took the bait—hook, line, and sinker—and have been believing ever since in the illusion that we are separate from Eternal Love. Even though later in the same chapter, God proved the illusion false by asking, “where are you?”

Until and as we stop seeing and acting out of unconscious belief, we cannot know how our action and activity can become different; or to borrow some of Albert Einstein’s words, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

For more on this, please read Charles Eisenstein’s article;  but be prepared for the ‘twisties.’

I know some people have legitimate reasons for not wearing masks, such as claustrophobia, anxiety, Legionnaire’s disease, interactions with lip readers (WebMD).

I also know that getting the vaccine is a personal choice and that there are some various mitigating factors. I hate needles and the possible side effects of the vaccine did frighten me. Ultimately, I decided the reasons for getting the vaccine far outweighed the reasons not to.

That being said, the very least all of us can do is wear the stupid mask …

… and make sure it covers your nose!

I find myself feeling out of step with the world these days.

Between the pandemic and a recent painful personal experience, I feel like any blinders I may have been wearing have been ripped off. The only place I don’t seem to feel at loggerheads is in experiencing nature.

I use to be a night owl, but since adopting my dog, Polly, I am rousted out of bed between six and six thirty every morning; and I couldn’t be happier! Our early morning walks set the tone for the rest of the day.

Have you ever listened to a foggy dawn? When the fog lays on the earth like blanket on a cozy bed, it dampens any sound perpetuating calm stillness and unfathomable peace. Have you ever looked at a field of unmown grass swaying in the breezy sunshine and seen a kaleidoscope of greens? Absolutely mesmerizing! What about walking through dewy covered grass? One morning I looked down at the beads of perspiration and noticed what I thought was a five-leafed flower. Turns out it was the remains of a dandelion completely seed-barren looking like a misty star. My path was littered with these shining gems.

Birds singing, rooted trees lifting their dancing limbs towards the lemon sun, snow-white puffy clouds moseying across an azure atmospheric dome, amber sunrises, magenta Peonies, deep violet Irises, golden Sunflowers, the mysterious delights of each season …

… this is where I feel most at home. This moment. This now. This awareness.

This is where I go in my heart when …

… I see the human rights abuses of the Palestinians. Prime Minister Netanyahu, what is your objective? You have taken a page out of Hitler’s holocaust of the Jews.

Or I hear Senate Republican lawmakers speak with forked tongues.

Mitch McConnel, aren’t you tired? Aren’t you tired of all your and your party’s lies? Only an artless hasty-witted miscreant such as yourself and your party legislators would be committed to being “100 percent focused on stopping Biden’s administration.” That’s not much of a party platform; certainly not one worthy of re-electing spineless mealy-mouth blaggards to office.

Andrew Clyde, do you seriously believe that January sixth was “a normal tourist visit?” If so, why did you block the Senate chamber doors? Why not welcome them in? Greg Abbot, do you really think that an “extreme six-week abortion ban” is admirable and praiseworthy? You have just set women’s rights back 150 years at least. Brian Kemp, how can you sign such loathsome, oppressive and despicable voting laws? Face it, you are out of touch with the reality of the 21st century as are most of the elected officials in your party.

Wait a minute, I thought I was out of step?

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
—Viktor Frankl

That’s where and who I am.

That grace-filled space of Truth, Beauty, Equality, Diversity, Peace, Love and Light.

If only we all realized that is who and what we are; what a lovely place this would be.

Dear Reverend Graham,

Your continued support of Mr. Trump is ungodly, immoral, unholy, dishonorable and corrupt; not to mention just plain inexcusable!

What is wrong with you? Do you really not see the truth of who and what Mr. Trump really is?  He has absolutely no sincere interest in defending the free expression of religious faith or safeguarding the rights of unborn children, whatsoever! You are of no consequence to him. He is and has been using you and the faith you profess to gain and maintain corrupt power and unscrupulous control.

You keep defending a man who has committed multiple crimes against women, treason and sedition against the federal government of the United States and genocide against the American people and the world. To say nothing of money laundering, fraud, tax evasion, and who knows what other heinous crimes he has performed.

Mr. Trump is one of the most morally bankrupt individuals in all of history. If I believed in a literal interpretation of the Bible, I would say you are the false prophet touting the wonders and accomplishments of the antichrist.

In a recent Newsweek article, you claim:

… the U.S. is entering a “dark winter” not just because of COVID-19, but because God is “turn[ing] his back” on a country with deteriorating morals.

If that is the case, you certainly share in the blame, considering your apparently unswerving subservience to a pathological liar and what appears to be a willful misunderstanding of biblical teachings as well as God.

How could God who is everything ever turn His back on Himself? It is simply not possible. Jesus maintained as such:

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. Mark 3:24-25

Jesus never turned his back on anyone, not even the pharisees, sadducees, or teachers of the law. He reserved his harshest words of criticism for them (see the book of Matthew, chapter 23) because, like you, they were all about appearances, pride, and hellfire judgement. Yet his interactions were always Truthful and Loving, all the while he reminded everyone to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly” with God.

Literally speaking, who turned who’s back on whom in the Garden of Eden? Didn’t Adam and Eve turn their back on God? What was God’s response to their betrayal?

Genesis 3: 8-9 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

Where are you is a far cry from what you propose about God’s behavior. Yes, there were consequences to their choices. However, even after God sent the pair out of the garden, He spent the remainder of the Torah and Christian Old Testament wooing mankind into relationship with Himself. Over and over again God is met with resistance and duplicity.

Every sincere and thoughtful examination of the Bible reveals God as lovingly seeking shared awareness with Her creation. Always!

For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved. John 3:16-17

Where is the back turning?

Sincerely,
Susan Fridinger

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-supporter-franklin-graham-says-dark-winter-due-moral-decline-not-just-covid-1558436