Saturday, July 22, 2017

Trump and Tolerance

If you preach tolerance, then why are you not tolerant about Trump? Yeah… that is the question that some ask. First, the very fact the question is asked, means you are living in a world of privilege and do not even know it. Here is the definition: tol·er·ance ˈtäl(ə)rəns/Noun 1.the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with. "the tolerance of corruption" synonyms: acceptance, toleration; More 2.an allowable amount of variation of a specified quantity, especially in the dimensions of a machine or part. Now, I tolerate someone who I see does not want to be part of the “good” that would add to society instead of trying to make it worse. The cartoon is an example. I tolerate and would even fight for the KKK to speak their hate as well as teach their hateful beliefs. However, if they do kill someone, they cross theline. Trump, is tolerable when he is not in a power position that can harm many people. Trump has done many things (https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/news/2017/04/26/431299/100-ways-100-days-trump-hurt-americans/) that has made it harder to do things like pay a house payment or even buy a house. In fact, during the election he joked that the housing crisis “was a good thing for him” as thousands of people lost their homes. Talk about being in touch with “the people.” Now, if Trump lived in a way that did not harm so many people them he would be “tolerated.” However, when someone is harming people then tolerance is not something that can happen… as Trump (or someone like him) negate it by their actions. It is like this. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement wants people to know that black people are being killed/murdered and we need to change something. Instead, there was the response of “all lives matter” where I even bought into it until I found out it was to negate the need to change the cop killing that is happening. Then the police began a “blue lives matter” in another attempt to negate the problem. Now, people are all, “BLM supported killing cops”. No, not at first, but after three more deaths and not one cop charged, the anger rose to that point. Was it right? No. However, JUST THE FACT THERE IS THE BLM movement show there is an issue as there would be NO NEED for BLM if there were not an issue. Think about that before you respond. There IS A PROBLEM THAT NEEDS ADDRESSING and pointing to things or people in the movement only proves that there is an issue… Back to tolerance. Jesus loves EVERYONE! He does. However, just as not all will ove Jesus that does not negate His love or that we love others. Sometimes, as with Trump, or other “Christians” who claim Jesus but then turn their backs on the poor, hungry, sick, and anyone else Jesus taught us to reach out to andlove – in a very anti-Christ way – we need to stand up and cry, “evil” when it happens. Now, for those who now think that after eight years of criticizing Obama that now we “must accept Trump as our president” I say, no. I do not need to accept him as President any more than Paul accepted Caesar as Lord. In fact, Paul was subversive to the point that he proclaims a phrase considered treason in Roman…“Jesus Christ is Lord” – and with that declaration, he stated that Caesar isnot Lord. Trump is not my president or Lord or anything but a reality TV star that had stupid people vote him in a position he has no qualifications to do.

Saturday, July 01, 2017

Who was the Greatest Reformer?

Many just think of Calvin and Luther as the only Reformers. If I were to pick - Luther is good but not great but when i was looking at them Zwingli seemed to be closest to my thoughts. Funny thing is the assistant to Luther would take Zwingli's writings and promise to show Luther - but the assistant knew that Luther would through a fit when he read it. The assistant wanted to keep the two as distant friends who still mutually admired each other. 

Now, if I were to choose a great reformer Friedrich Myconius who kept that peace between the so-called "Great Reformers". When Friedrich Myconius became ill and believed he was dying he sent a note to Luther who replied, ""I command thee in the name of God to live because I still have need of thee in the work of reforming the church.… The Lord will never let me hear that thou art dead, but will permit thee to survive me. For this I am praying, this is my will, and may my will be done, because I seek only to glorify the name of God." He lived two more years and even outlived Luther by a couple of months.

A man of peace in a time of sometimes shameful arrogance over theology is my Reformer.



Picture by the original uploader was GregorHelms at German Wikipedia - Transferred from de.wikipedia to Commons by Magnus Manske using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7900903