God

  I've always believed in God. I have had my dogma change over the years. I've had to admit some things to myself about religion and spirituality that have made and still make me uncomfortable. But, my inner dialog hasn't changed that much.

I still talk to "God" since I don't have a better name for the Ground of All Being or Source and having been raised Christian it flows easier for me to say God than to say Spirit or Source. Still, my experience with the presence I call God or Holy Spirit has certainly changed over the years.

 I have tried my best to be honest with myself about what I really think. It's really not easy in the South to admit you no longer follow the religion that most of our politicians  give lip service to and most people here still casually say "are you saved?"  I mean you can be meeting somebody for the first time and three things will come up if you're southern. Would you like a glass of tea? Where do you go to church? What college football team do you support?

Now it's okay to say "I don't really go to church" as long as you don't say "I don' t really believe in going to church." You will get a "Well, bless your heart" and a " Well you must have been hurt by religious people and my church isn't a religion." I know insert eye roll here but you have to know where you are and the south is truly a different world in many ways.

Even African American's in the south want to know where you go to church. I had a young African American co worker telling me about how Jesus wants you to do this and that. I finally said "Ya know." "you sound like every white bread Southern Baptist I have ever spoken with."  He looked shocked. Because of course he wasn't a Trump loving evangelical type. But, he was Southern and for all the fighting and racism and misunderstanding southerner's have we are all alike in many ways regardless of color. One of those ways is a healthy dose of religion from our mother's knee.

Looking at this you might ask how I still maintain my identity as a Christian since I no longer follow a dogma. Well, for one thing I have looked at religion and non religion and I honestly don't think it matters what religion you are. I have always thought it silly to think that God is so arbitrary that simply saying the sinner's prayer will get you to paradise even if you have raped, pillaged, robbed and murdered your whole life. On the other hand if you have fed the hungry and cared for the poor and treated people with dignity and still didn't say the sinner's prayer then you are going to burn forever and ever in a hell fire and brimstone.

Some things make sense to me and some don't. In the world we live in I have to be honest and  tell you that it's extremely unlikely for a virgin to give birth or a body to decay in the ground and then be knitted back together at some magical trumpet sound on the "last day." It's also unlikely that "God" would be subject to environmental factors like getting angry and being subject to the fits of rage of a human because somebody pissed him off. The creator being inside the creation as a victim of the creation is not a description of "God." But, it is a description of "god." or a god. or Superman take your pick.

So, why do I still pray? Well for one thing my experience in life has been that spiritual reality does happen. I've had dreams and intuitons and other things happen that point to more than simply brain chemistry going on. I also have my own inner dialog and while I don't think that God is a cosmic Santa Claus I do think it matters at least on a personal level when I pray or meditate.

Materialist humanism is a very poor outlook on existence. Honestly when I look at people being put into ovens and babies being raped and people being sold into slavery and all the other stull that has happened and then an atheist or humanist say's something judgmental about Hitler or Stalin or Charles Manson for that matter then I realise that they have no ground to make a judgment. If all we are and all the evil that was or will ever be done is simply due to chemical reactions and a by product of a soulless evolutionary march to oblivion then nothing really matters at all. Everybody dies and everybody is just a meatbot and you certainly don't morn when a robot dies do you? So, no I'm not an atheist and certainly not a materialist humanist.

What happens when we die? I honestly don't know. I have had some dreams and visions and inner experience. I've read a lot on Near Death Experience studies and the studies on reincarnation especially in the memories of small children who say they have lived before. I would recommend Ian Stevenson and also the University of Virginia Center of Perceptual Studies as far as Reincarnation goes. Raymond Moody and Kenneth Ring and other studies of Shared Death and Near Death Experience. Also, a youtube channel called "New Thinking Allowed" with Jeffery Mislove. Now these things don't prove anything and they all have their critics. But, these are a few of the jumping off points to research and learn more about these subjects.

Still the question of why I still call myself Christian is one I wrestle with everyday. On one hand I was born and raised to be a Christian. I'm a Christian the way a Middle Eastern Arab is a Muslim or a Chinese Tibetan is a Buddhist. It's in my blood. But, there are other reasons and the biggest is this.

I admit that I feel that Jesus was telling people that we all are sons and daughters of God. Now, I'm not a biblical scholar and I'm not talking about the Southern Baptist Seminary either. I'm talking about people who know how to read the original Greek and Arabic and Hebrew and know some of the context of the ancient world. What you get in Sunday School no matter how well meaning is not the "literal" meaning of the Word of God and as a matter of fact there is no single written word that has been handed down from the mount. The bible is a collection of writings from ancient sources over 2 to 6000 years and is full of hope, myth, truth, politics and even genocide. Sorry, if that offends anybody but I'm just going by what it says. Of course as I said before I'm not qualified to give the context or original language of the bible. But, then again neither is the local preacher or the TV Evangelist either.

But, the reason I consider Christianity the superior religion in my own opinion is this. The story of Christianity is the story of the absolute ground of all being. The whole cause of the cosmo's and the whole reason there is anything at all from eternity to oblivion and thankfully that means there isn't oblivion. At least not in the way we fear it. Anyway I'll say "God." So, God actually has such a regard for the concerns and life and death of these children he has spun into this world. So much feeling that he actually decides to bring a part of himself into this world so that he can participate in the hopes and dreams and tragedy and loss of his creatures. That is love. And that is why I still call myself Christian.

Peace.

Weird World.

  People have more fun than anybody. Except for horses, and they can't....Stephen King.

What an odd world right now. Not making a lot of sense. I grew up with Conservatives saying that the people have the absolute right to question a president or elected leaders. But, lately I'm reading where we should never disrespect our dear leader and even though he is rich and powerful as "h.e. double toothpicks" that we should defend him even though we may be struggling and living paycheck to paycheck and he's never had and never will have to work a day in his life in order to put bread on the table.

Also, an odd world when it comes to people talking at each other instead of with each other. Honestly? I will never cause a Donald Trump person to turn around nad despise him and a Donald Trump person will never cause a Liberal Democrat to become a Republican by cussing at each other. I'm kind of worn out by it all.

I just don't have the energy at my age to spend trying to piss into the wind. Anyway, I'm not all that sure I'm always right so I try to at least be civil and say I'm on facebook and I read something that glorifies Trump. Or I read another propaganda piece trying to slander Michelle Obama even though she isn't the one with the nude pics floating around the web.

I just keep scrolling. Now, if you come on my page then I'll certainly give my opinion. But, I'm not going around yelling at people trying to convince them that I'm right or that they are stupid. After all what if they are right. Or what if I'm right but I insult a person so badly that they don't listen to my argument at all? So, I'm done with trying to convince anybody else about what they should believe or think. Life is too short.

Life is short so I don't argue religion either. I have my own journey and I see no reason to try and convert other people to my way of thinking. Now, that doesn't mean I don't join groups on facebook to discuss my interest or beliefs. I certainly do. But, I accept that some of my friends and family might not feel the same way I do so I don't get butt hurt and try to force them to listen to my rant on religion or politics.

When it comes to politics I'm moderate left wing. I say moderate because the "woke" social warriors are silly imo and even dangerous in the way they divide the nation and poor people and pit them against each other by using words like privilege when talking about people who might have white skin but honestly have had just as hard a time financially and socially as any minority.

You want the honest truth? In this nation? MONEY TALKS! You think O.J. would have gotten away with murder if he had been a poor black man? NO, but hell no. What about a poor white man? He still wouldn't have gotten away with it. Both parties have lied to y'all. We are all in this together and the uber rich politicians don't care about you. But, Imma hush now because I said I wasn't going to preach at people.

Media: A free media is vital to our freedom. I was watching a series on Netflix the other day. It was a murder mystery made in Iceland. So, it had subtitles but it was really good. Anyway, one of the people who were covering up a cold case murder was a high up official in the districts law enforcement agency. So, the detective's higher up's told her that he was above the law and to hush. But, the media got ahold of the story and broke it wide open. The state police couldn't hide and had to charge the official with covering up the crime. It wasn't made in America but it reminded me or what America once was. Can you imagine now if Fox News had something on Trump? Or CNN had something on Obama? Both would cover it up for their guy! We no longer have a free media. Some of you love it when dummy Trump yell's "fake news" and honestly CNN often is over the top in their Trump drama. But, Trump won't always be president and the day will come when you will wish you had honest news. But, we have retreated into our echo chambers. I hear people proudly say " I only listen to Fox or CNN or MSN or Breitbart."  Oh well, like I said. I ain't preaching so I'm going to hush now. Again.

Holy Gotham City!

  I grew up reading comic books. From Batman to Superman and from funny to ghost and military to western comics. I loved Batman and I still as you can see display a little superhero shelf over my computer. I'm now in the 6th decade of this journey round the third rock from the sun. My eyesight prefers ebooks and things I can enlarge on a computer screen or an ereader these days. Comics don't hold my adult attention the way they did my 8 year old self. But, the memories are still there.

  One of my earliest memories is going to my grandparents house in Altoona, Alabama on the weekends. I would walk up to the drug store and buy the latest comics. This drugstore as anybody from those days in Altoona could tell you was classic Americana. Soda fountain and round tables and chairs and a string over the front counter with the newest comics displayed. The owners knew when I came in what I was looking for. Mrs Prince would say "Go around to the back and look through the ones we haven't put out yet if you want to but, don't make a mess and put things back the way you found them.

So, there I would go and find my latest treasure. The twelve cents in my pocket burning a hole until I could get that Batman comic I had seen advertised last month. It was here! In little ole Altoona, Alabama straight from Gotham City (New York) most likely. So it was off to get an ice cream cone next door and then straight to my grandparents front porch overlooking the little town. A comic book and an ice cream cone. An eight year old kid's dream in 1966 or so.

Up, Up and Away!...Superman.

 I can remember being at a friends house and saying a phrase that sounded really grown up to my pal's older brother. He asked me where I learned to talk like that because I sounded like a grown up. I didn't tell him because I thought he would (and he would have) make fun of me. But, now the story can be told. I learned a lot of vocabulary from reading Superman. That particular phrase if I remember correctly was something I had read Krypto thinking. Who was Krypto? Superman's dog.

All I ever needed to know I learned from Batman. You treat the weak and vulnerable with respect. Be honest and treat women and older people with respect and never hurt children. But, you also have a backbone and keep getting back up if you fall down. I think the character has gotten darker. Much darker over the years but ya know what? That's what happens when you grow up. So, maybe we all need a superhero at times. I'll take Wonder Woman these days. 😉

  I have over the years thought about how I wish I had my old comics because they would be worth a fortune. Some would be. But, as I get older I realize that where I'm headed money won't be the most important currency and while I'm still here the memories are more valuable and long lasting than the bucks would be.

So, here's to trips down memory lane. The ice cream is always sweeter and the art more beautiful and the movie screen more gigantic back there. So, keep watching the sky and I'll see you next time.
Same Bat Time
Same Bat Channel.

Peace.