AL's newly elected governor, Robert Bentley, has sure made an impression with his comment, "So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I'm telling you, you're not my brother and you're not my sister."
Gosh, if I was standing on the outside looking in, I'm not so sure I would want to come in where he is at. Bless his heart, I guess he forgot that, in Christianity's beliefs, we all stand at the foot of the cross....none is righteous, no not one. Perhaps he didn't get that memo yet. I don't think I would be interested in the example of the God that he purports, because that is not an example of the loving God that I know. I didn't see where Jesus excluded anyone or pushed them away....except the self righteous religious people of the day. I just find it sad. And we wonder why there is such division in our country, why there are such differences and divisions. How can we be one when Governor Bentley's "club", for example, is one of exclusion, rather than inclusion. How can we reach a place of agreement, and go beyond our differences, about things that face us as a country, when a man who serves sees "differences" among those he SERVES, rather than a oneness. This is only my opinion, but when you serve as a leader in government, I think you are to serve all the people of your state/district the same, black, white, yellow, red, rich, poor, saved, not saved, different faiths etc....they are all the same.. they are just the people of your state/district. You are a representative of the people...not some of the people. Isn't there enough hatred in our world, without adding more fuel to the fire?
I've gotten so grieved hearing out all the shootings, differences in our government, etc. while listening to our news, that one day this week, as I was getting ready for work, I turned on Heart radio, LBC News 1152, hoping to get a break from the usual. What I heard was more about the troubles between the blacks and whites, and the economy etc. in Europe. You can't get away from it anywhere! It occurs to me that we, as a people of the world, are addicted...yes, addicted. We are addicted to doing things the same way as we always have done them and it seems like it is the time to face those addictions and "get sober".
Back in the 90's, while working at an A&D treatment center, I learned that way of doing things was called insanity...doing the same things over and over expecting different results. I was amazed when I heard a young man in his 20's talk at a meeting one day about how he, being from Tennessee, was taught by his dad to hate blacks and Yankees. This young man did not feel right inside about that and it was causing him great turmoil to hang onto that hate and it was one of the "beliefs" that he often drank over. And that hate still prevails today....just because it was taught. And not just taught in our country, but every where that man inhabited, as evidenced in the news "from across the pond". Hating someone who is different is the lazy man's way. Learning about another to reach understanding takes time, an investment of ourselves, and setting aside of our differences to see our "sameness". Perhaps holding onto the hate gives a sense of feeling powerful, when in reality, we as humans, are really powerless in so many ways when it comes right down to changing things about ourselves. That is where we have to call on our Creator's help. We've messed it up. We are one family...the human family and we bicker and fight like a bunch of banty roosters and look where it has gotten us. The point is....is it working for us, as a human family...I don't think so. Our system, our way of living thus far, is broke. It is time we stopped doing things the way we have always done them and ask for a different way from our Creator to do things to bring about harmony and peace. We don't know how to make that happen! Guns don't bring peace.
I heard a recent report regarding Representative Gifford's assailant having done something quiet inhumane. If we truly are spiritual beings on a human journey, then I would say it was a humane action...not of Jared Loughner's Spirit actions, but of his human actions. We all have a light and dark side, representing the Spirit and human parts of our being. He was just not in touch at that moment with his Spiritual side at all. His spirit was not running his life at that time, anymore than when the dad was teaching his son to hate blacks and Yankees. Check out the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5:22...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control... When we are acting anything other than those things from Galatians, we are acting out of our humanness and not out of who we were created to be. We were created in God's image...that means we are Spiritual beings...that means with those "fruit of the Spirit". We have forgotten who we really are.
In our country, we don't have a religion problem, we have a spiritual problem, a forgetting problem. We have had too many people "talking the talk, and not walking the walk." It is time to humble ourselves and lay down our differences, our hatreds, all that separates us and become the one family that we are. We have to remember who we really are if we are to survive. If we can't do it in our own country (our home), how can we expect to bring peace to other countries. It is time United States walked the walk.
