Loose Ends
Most Americans now believe that our divisions can’t be overcome…
After the last week, I think most Americans may be right.
Yesterday morning I saw one of my former friends, one who used to be closer than a brother…post this.
“Do you support Democrats shutting down the government so they can give illegals free health care?”
Of course, there was a flood of condemnation in the comments toward both Democrats and “illegals”.
The problem is and was…the narrative isn’t true.
In fact, it’s a lie propagated by the Trump administration to further deepen the divide.
Had I dared correct the error, I would have been torn to cyber shreds by all.
Never interfere with the right to freely hate…
There is no place left for truth on this issue…and no place for truth tellers.
On a lighter note…and I blame BrianD for this…my new Youtube obsession is Tim Wildsmith’s Bible review channel.
He reviews “premium” Bibles.
I never knew what a premium Bible was until a friend from here kindly sent me one…and it’s amazing.
I also never knew covetousness until I got into this channel…but it’s fun…
Michael, thanks for the link to the guy on Bible translations. I saw the one on the 2 translations
to avoid. I figured the New World Translation but never heard of the Passion translation. Yikes! Seems like a great YouTube channel…
Maybe some types of covetousness aren’t sinful!
):
I have stopped commenting on many things. My school is loaded with “woke” people, and they aren’t much nicer than the “Christian” side. I was in a conversation with someone recently who just assumed I thought abortion was okay, and I kindly informed her that I didn’t think it was, except to possibly save the life of the mother/incest/rape. She was all in my face about my wrong beliefs, and I just smiled and said that I had as much of a right to express mine as she did hers We haven’t gone back to the topic since. However, I find both sides so polarized and entrenched in their beliefs that they are unable to discuss anything (solutions included). We also want revenge on the side with which we don’t agree, instead of seeking understanding and a possible place where we can begin to solve our problems.
bob1,
I’ve always loved Bibles…but I didn’t know there was such a cottage industry for fancy ones that are the work of great craftsmen.
I want some of the ones he’s reviewed a lot…too much.
Linn,
Sadly, I think you’re right. The disturbing thing to me is that no one wants to discuss the theology behind so much of this…it’s as if theology no longer matters.
It’s difficult to run a site like this…or know how to run a site like this.
I agree with you, Michael. Lies are the Trump government’s stock-in-trade. I don’t believe a thing they say, not a thing, without a lot of independent sources corroborating it. Problem is, there are fewer and fewer sources that haven’t been intimidated into soft-pedaling or silence or collaboration, and if things develop at the same rate as they have so far, they will be much fewer and far between by the midterms. This is all by design. The power of government is quite intentionally being used to bludgeon and silence Trump’s critics, and to disseminate the most destructive lies and misinformation that I’ve ever seen, for instance, the misinformation about acetaminophen, which, if heeded, will result in the death of pregnant women’s babies. Yes, governments have lied throughout history; but this one embraces lying with an intensity like the government in Orwell’s 1984. And I’ve never seen Christians so baldly lying to cover for a political figure; I think of Mike Johnson as a prime and powerful example of a Christian who lies for Trump with the greatest of ease.
Indeed, our divisions cannot be overcome short of the whole country passing through a crucible; it may be that our country will not survive the passage.
Michael,
I admire you for running the site for so many years. I landed at PxP in the middle of COVID, thinking the entire world had lost its mind, but it hadn’t at PxP. It was (and continues to be) a safe place for expressing complicated opinions. I’ve never fit in a Dem/ Repub box, liberal/conservative box, or woke/conservative.. I try hard to base my actions and opinions on Scripture, not on which side is yelling the loudest. And, I value kindness and civilized dialog more than shouting.
As for the theology behind it: at it’s best, the function of government is ambivalent and subject to the abuses of the powers and principalities. Government is a necessary evil, but evil it is. What we are living now is the spiritual inheritance of the great evils of this country’s history, the original national evils of slavery and genocide. I’m sixty-six years old; official Jim Crow in the South and unofficial Jim Crow in the North did not end and/or begin slacken until midway in the first decade of my life. One lifetime. Why do we have the hubris as a country to think that the sins accumulated over four hundred years could evaporate in a lifetime. The demons that attached themselves to that sin are still feeding from it, festering in it and with it, sustaining and promulgating it. The unfinished and repressed spiritual business of this country is an “idiot wind blowing like a circle around” our skulls, “from the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol…”
I try hard to base my actions and opinions on Scripture, not on which side is yelling the loudest.
Yes! It almost seem like whoever has the loudest megaphone wins. Irregardless of truth.
“Indeed, our divisions cannot be overcome short of the whole country passing through a crucible; it may be that our country will not survive the passage.”
Covid showed us how we react to a crucible…I can no longer identify how we survive this…
Micheal,
I’ve only been here a short while, but I’ve seen how you strive to keep your heart in the right place; having your heart in the right place means that it will be broken again and again. Live to resist the spirit of the age; if that means pulling back from this blog, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do it, but that is something only you can decide. But do practice for the resurrection by giving yourself whatever care you can.
I just saw this from Scott Hicks, an immigration lawyer.
If true…it’s a new level of despicable.
“This administration is monstrous.
Credible reports have come to Immigration attorneys that ICE is planning an operation targeting children.
Beginning tomorrow, reports are ICE will launch an operation reportedly named “Freaky Friday,” targeting unaccompanied immigrant children aged 14 and older of all nationalities. Many if not most of these kids qualify for relief (and eventually a “green card”) as abused, abandoned or neglected children.
· Children detained and released will be sent a “threat” letter from ICE threatening indefinite detention and immediate transfer to ICE upon age-out (kids turning 18) if they do not waive jurisdiction under the TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION REATHORIZATION ACT and withdraw any applications for relief.
· Children will be offered $2,500 to return to their countries of origin.
· If children do not comply with the “offer”, ICE is lowkey threatening that their parents in the US will be arrested.
· ICE plans to detain all age-outs) and they anticipate legal challenges.
· There are indications that the age threshold may be lowered to children as young as 10 years old.
· ICE apparently plans to first target detained children but will also target children released from custody.”
Robert F,
Thank you for the kind words.
I’ve been trying to retire for about 15 years… 🙂
I’ve been convinced again for the time being that we have a purpose…as long as my health holds up enough.
From a reporter…
“Shelters that house unaccompanied minors are bracing for “Freaky Friday,” the start of an ICE operation that will first issue letters to children, seeking to pressure them to return to the countries they’ve fled in exchange for a cash payment. If they decline, their parents will be targeted by ICE.”
If you can support this…you need Jesus.
Robert F wrote:
“Indeed, our divisions cannot be overcome short of the whole country passing through a crucible; it may be that our country will not survive the passage.”
Columbia is still the gem of the ocean, and she will endure.
Lord, have mercy!! That Freaky Friday plan is the most evil, disgusting thing I’ve heard coming from this administration. Jesus, save the children.
You know the German citizens in the 1930’s by and large believed the lies regarding their loss in WWI, the lies regarding the Jews, and others and look where it got them. Fortunately, we know of that history and can do something about it. About 8% of the German population in 1939 was a card-carrying member of the Nazi Party. Figure about the same percentage of hard-core MAGAs.
I think we are more like 40%+