My View on Christianity

I try to avoid deep discussions about my Christian beliefs because I find there are as many different beliefs as there are 'Christians.'  I take the fact that Jesus's churches are more and more sitting in judgement of fellow Christians as a sign that the end days are approaching. No chapter in my Bible tells me how to sit in judgement of others. It does tell me how to be like Christ, and how as a matter of Christian Discipleship to grow in understanding of the ways of Christ in order to become more like Him.

I'm afraid that for many Christians, becoming Christlike means judging others to make sure they're following the tenets of Christ. Unless you know the will of God - and NONE of us do - you may be sitting in judgement of someone who is, in fact, being directed by the will of God for whatever reason pleases God.

I think that's why he made a point of saying, "Judge not that ye be not judged!" Since we are ALL sinners, none of us are worthy enough to condemn others. THERE! I said it. That's how I feel and obviously my beliefs preclude my commenting on other Christians except to myself so that I may not be led astray.

Blowing Steam!

I cannot believe that in this day and age, we are questioning the validity of the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment. The Republican party has lost all touch with reality. I AM old enough to remember the claims of Republicans when JFK was running for the Presidency and we were warned that if JFK were elected, the Pope would be directing the US Presidency. Did I miss some historical fact here, 'cause I certainly remember JFK's Presidency, and I don't remember the Pope being anywhere in sight? The Republicans have their underwear in a bunch over this alleged mosque at the 9/11 site, but somehow the sex shops in between the two don't bother them at all. (Silly me, we're talking Republicans here. Of course, they wouldn't be upset by porn shops!)

Just for review, here's the First Amendment:  "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."


Now, no one is suggesting the repeal of the First Amendment since that would also prohibit them from shooting off their mouth, but when I hear a politician - that would be the Republicans - complaining about a Muslim community center being built two long blocks from the corner of the 9-11 site AND NOT EVEN IN SIGHT OF IT, I have to believe the motivation is political.  (Particularly, when you have to pass a porn shop to get there!) 
.

From Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Morte D'Arthur:

Rod McKuen's A Cat Named Sloopy

A Cat Named Sloopy

1.
For a while
the only earth that Sloopy knew
was in her sandbox.
Two rooms on Fifty-fifth Street
were her domain.
Every night she’d sit in the window
among the avocado plants
waiting for me to come home
( my arms full of canned liver and love.)
We’d talk into the night then
contented
but missing something.
She the earth she never knew
me the hills I ran
while growing bent.
Sloopy should have been a cowboy’s cat
with prairies to run
not linoleum
and real-live catnip mice
No one to depend on but herself.
I never told her
but in my mind
I was a midnight cowboy even then.
Riding my imaginary horse
down Forty-second Street,
going off with strangers
to live an hour-long cowboy’s life,
but always coming home to Sloopy,
who loved me best.

2.
A dozen summers
we lived against the world.
An island on an island.
She’d comfort me with purring
I’d fatten her with smiles.
We grew rich on trust
needing not the beach or butterflies.
I had a friend named Ben
who painted buildings like Roualt men.
He went away.
My laughter tired Lillian
after a time
she found a man who only smiled.
Only Sloopy stayed and stayed.
Winter.
Nineteen fifty-nine.
Old men walk their dogs.
Some are walked so often
that their feet leave
little pink tracks
in the soft gray snow.
Women fur on fur
elegant and easy
only slightly pure
hailing cabs to take them
round the block and back.
Who is not a love seeker
when December comes ?
Even children pray to Santa Claus.
I had my own love safe at home
and yet I stayed out all one night
the next day too.

3.
They must have thought me crazy
screaming
Sloopy
Sloopy
as the snow came falling
down around me.
I was a madman
to have stayed away
one minute more
than the appointed hour.
I’d like to think a golden cowboy
snatched her from the window sill,
and safely saddlebagged
she rode to Arizona.
She’s stalking lizards
in the cactus now perhaps
bitter but free.
I’m bitter too
and not a free man anymore.
But once upon a time,
in New York’s jungle in a tree,
before I went into the world
in search of other kinds of love
nobody owned me but a cat named Sloopy.
Looking back
perhaps she’s been
the only human thing
that ever gave back love to me.

A Friend

Sometimes, I feel a little better having a friend like you.
You - alive, kind, mysterious - always the ultimate.

But time - the test of friendship - has made us the
   participants in a cruel exercise.
For when time is 'enough' and the storm is passed,
Then we like two ships at sea weathering the stormy
   swells
Will be separated by miles of time.

We will be better for knowing one another,
Perhaps - if we really think about it.
But the panacea of friendship magnified by the times
Becomes the placebo of the memory which only and
   alone will survive the ultimate distance.

I was alone - and lonely - and you came along
As if your time pendulum and mine swung passed each
   other, then stopped for a brief interlude.
But the pendulum swing is perpetual and the interlude
   is not,
And we will swing our separate ways - alone.

But in the interlude how much better life seemed:
A brief stay in the green valley with its soft green
   carpet, graceful shade trees, and crystal clear
   crisply calling creek.
The animals come to you and understand what you are.
And the warmth of the sun and the gentle wind proudly
   acknowledge the presence of their 'honorary' masters.

We talked together, played together, and sang, and
   understood - sometimes.
Sometimes - maybe that's why the stay is so brief!
Could it be that the need to be understood and the fear
   of the loss if we were,
Drives a wedge that sets the pendulum back in motion.

The pendulum will soon be swinging again, and we may
   never know 'who is right?'
(Did I hear someone say 'What do you care?')
I don't care who is right, only that we'll never have that
   chance in friendship to find out.
I care as much for the product of your being as
   I do for you.

Sometimes, I feel a little better for knowing you.
But I wish I never had the chance.
The going away is so much more painful than
   the coming - I wonder why?
Perhaps because this one very tiny little tear is my only
   real remembrance.

BP can't do it!

Finally, there is help on the horizon for the Gulf Oil leak from outside BP. On Tuesday representatives of the EPA, Coast Guard, the Energy Department, NOAA, Woods Hole, World Wildlife Fund, and several other organizations and universities held a brainstorming session to stop the Gulf oil leak that included various scientists, experts, and engineers. Among those in attendance was James Cameron of Avatar and Titanic fame who is considered and expert on underwater photography and robotic vehicle technique.

A Beautiful Record Winter

Sometimes, when you're standing more than knee deep in snow with a snow shovel, it's hard to remember how beautiful a winter scene can be. Since it wasn't particularly important that I complete my shoveling duties all at once, I came back into the house after a reasonable effort and discovered the above view outside the living room window. I hadn't really noticed it on the way out, so I assume the sun coming out and highlighting the scene made all the difference.