I am sad today.
Maybe it’s the fact that I didn’t sleep.
Maybe it’s the fact that I can’t speak what is on my mind. I know the fallout that will happen as soon as I post this. But I can’t be silent.
God gave us Ten Commandments. They define for mankind what is right and what is wrong. Moses said, “And he added no more”. He also wrote these commandments on the hearts of men and women whether they are God’s people or not. The conscience bears witness to that. When God’s people sinned, God sent prophets to them.
Isaiah begins his book like this:
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, “Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. (Isa 1:1-2)
Here’s the rundown. Uzziah, not a bad king. He was on the right side politically.
Jotham was a good king. He was on the right side politically
Ahaz, wicked king. Liberal. Changed Judah’s worship. Made an alliance with Assyria and built an alternate altar on the temple grounds. Offered his children to Baal.
Hezekiah, a good king.
But when they sinned, Isaiah rebuked them in the name of the Lord, no matter who they were. Harshly. That is what he was called to do.
Today we only have one standard of right and wrong:
For half the country – if a Republican does it, it is right. If a Democrat does it, it is wrong. If I Republican says it, it is true. If a Democrat says it, it is a lie.
For the other half of the country, if a Democrat does it, it is right. If a Republican does it, it is wrong. If a Democrat says it, it is true. If a Republican says it, it is a lie.
And, as Bob Dylan famously put it, “we have God on our side”…no matter what party you are. You are right. They are wrong.
Ethics by political association. How did that happen?
Shouldn’t we, as God’s people, define right and wrong by what God has written in his word?
Please don’t comment. I don’t think I can stomach it.
I’m not concerned that corrupt people of both parties are in power. That is the way it has always been.
I am concerned that our lives and our ethics are driven by our politics. I am concerned that the “others” are ridiculed, mocked, insulted, and hated. We can’t even open a dialogue without starting an all-out war.
We are so terrified of the others we can’t even associate with them? Treat them as human beings? Listen to them?
I remember that I used to be like that. Then I realized that life is more complicated and people more complex than political sloganeering and slandering.
Then I realized that almost every single political statement on social media runs the risk of violating the 9th commandment in the eyes of God. Are we more afraid of the other party than the wrath of God?
Are we so sure that we our sources are so infallible and that our opinions so wise and holy that we can repeat the latest slogan and not be guilty of bearing false witness?
The only solid place to put our feet is the word of God, and political platforms are not that.
When was the last time someone in power voted their conscience rather than the way their party told them to? When was the last time you agreed with something that the other party did?
Do you really believe that the other half of the country has NO morals, no wisdom, no opinion worth hearing, nothing good whatsoever to offer, no scrap of humanity left?
Should we not, as the people of God, speak for what is right no matter what the political party is? And should we not speak out against the wrong, no matter what the political party is? Are we nothing more on this earth than yes-men to the rich and powerful?
Last night, I read “Night” by Elie Wiesel as a cheerier alternative than the current political spectacle.
Maybe this is why I am sad.
When we get to the point where half the country is, in our mind, idiots, brutes, fools, stupid, worthless, dangerous, enemies of the people, not really human, reprobate, scum, cockroaches –
When we get to that point, we are simply one tiny, tiny step away from watching the cattle cars hauling our neighbors away.
Comments are moderated. For the sake of my sanity, every comment for or against any political party will simply be deleted.
My Only Comfort 
What is happening in the states is scary. i find so much angst is driven by lack of education or worse not wanting to know, lack of critical thinking and fear. What is shocking to me is how easily the sheep ,God’s sheep have been lulled into a lie. This has not happened fast. just a slow trickle.
iIonically , I thought the angst and fear was fairly new. Last week I picked up a copy of These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I came across a paragraph that stunned me. They had the opportunity to by 200 sheep from a farmer giving up farming. They inquired why he was selling. He was giving up because he feared the wrong political party was making a good go at the presidency. This was in the 1880s! from a fear stand point it could have been written today!
I can see so much difference in our two nations. There you are one or the other. Here most people vote on a case by case basis and people flip sides all the time. of course you get your regulars in certain regions. But there is no fear. We get disappointed or happy and move on.
Sam I see what you are saying. But from an outsiders view, fear is the biggest problem on both sides And that fear is multi faceted and deeply ingrained in everyone.
It is indeed fear. I have thoughts on that as well but that’s another post.
Thank you for your comments
I have no argument with the fear issue. But I got out my copy of THESE HAPPY GOLDEN YEARS and I don’t see anything about 200 sheep. I’ve love to know where it is.
Me too! I meant to ask. I read the book a hundred times and I don’t remember that at all.
😊
I urge people to vote their conscience not their party. Talk about ridicule, people I know from both parties call me an idiot for throwing my vote away or if your not voting for my party it’s no different than voting for the other party. I just don’t understand it. Maybe it’s the anonymity and uncivil discourse of the internet and media spilling into society as a whole? One thing I have noticed and appreciate is that I can still have a civil discourse with fellow hikers and backpackers, well, at least most of them.
I would be surprised if there is anyone, really, in positions of power, like Congress that isn’t corrupt, compromised, and unfit for power. The world over is controlled by the elites. This is not a ‘conspiracy theory’ but rather reality. Money changes everything and money is power in this world. The powers that be are controlled by the elites. Everything is setup to serve the elites’ interests.
How many millionaires are in Congress? And people don’t want to lose money or power, so when the donations come from those even wealthier, of course they are buying votes/actions. Nobody in Congress cares about the masses. They do not starve. They do not go without medical care. They do not count out pennies for bus fare or to put fuel in the car’s tank. Nobody is criminally victimizing them. They aren’t being beaten, robbed, or raped. If such happened, it’d be front-page news and all sorts of fuss would be made to investigate, arrest, charge, and convict the criminals who did it.
Trump said “I love the uneducated” and what politician doesn’t? They all lie. They all manipulate. They all grandstand. They are all out for themselves and their families and friends.
Some people believe that their vote counts. Does anyone really believe the powers that be are actually all that divided? They aren’t. Most voters are single issue voters. Many who voted for Trump did so over abortion.
All in all, nothing matters. It doesn’t matter who is in power. They are all corrupt. It’s just a grand show to make one think it isn’t. They are all corrupt. All compromised. All liars.
Nobody in power really cares. It really doesn’t matter what happens in Congress or the presidency. Corporate interests control. Most people struggle and are paycheck-to-paycheck. We have billionaires existing. Nobody seems to shame billionaires, yet how did they come to be that way? By cheating the lower level workers out of living wages, etc. By being unscrupulous. By a lot of things, almost all of them being pretty sociopathic, which is fitting for our capitalism system.
Unless people revolt in masse, nothing matters. Look at other countries where there is mass starvation, a breakdown in governemnt, a collapse in the economy, and it doesn’t matter what the people do as the powers that be silence dissent and stifle change by utilizing sheer force, using the military against their own people. In the U.S., our law enforcement is more and more militarized, so there will never be effective dissent or actual revolution. The general population will continue to be run into the ground, incrementally, of course.
Most people are corrupt, so why is it so surprising that the great majority uphold such? The impeachment is but a show, a distraction. Same goes for both political parties. Same goes for the illusion of control in voting. All of it is but an illusion.
Money controls. Elites rule. And democracy is but an illusion. Those who are most adept at getting power, are those who are least fit to rule. The world is growing worse and worse. Is such not Biblically predicted? God’s people are but a very small minority, a real remnant.
I don’t see how or why anyone is surprised that our government is corrupt. And both parties, too. Doesn’t matter. And people go to rallies, participate in a caucus, canvas neighborhoods encouraging people to vote this way or that. None of it really matters. The haves will continue being the haves. The have nots will expand and progressively be more and more oppressed, exploited, and run into the ground.
There is too much inequality in our economy. The middle class is increasingly hollowed out. Ever seen the vast divide between haves and have nots in third world countries? China is going to be the leading superpower soon. Maybe, maybe not. But regardless, none of it really matters aside from serving as a distraction for the sheep, the general population, those most at the mercy of the powers that be. Lowest sectors of society will be increasingly marginalized and exploited. Concentrated power has already happened.
I hope Judgment Day comes soon, with Jesus’ return ending this nonsense of a life, in a profoundly corrupt world.
Well said! I’ll only add that this whole situation has gotten much worse where, as a society, we’ve abandoned the idea that there is any absolute truth. Today people say “that may be true for you but it’s not true for me”. But Truth is absolute. It’s not “relative”. Without a solid understanding that absolute Truth exists (and we can know what that Truth is) we become mired in the sin of the world, without any hope whatsoever.
I lift you up in prayer, Sam. You’re a good person, I don’t want to see you sad.
For me, I’ve come to realize I am far more of a populist than I am an evangelical, in terms of political brands. I am more separated from the church than I am from the politics of the day. The church overall has never really been my people, they have often let me down, betrayed me, left me to suffer alone. While I have spent years watching my friends and family die of addictions and domestic violence, I look over at a church so disconnected from the reality of people’s lives that they think the greatest evil the world has ever seen is a couple of girls shaking their behinds at the halftime show.
People within the church structure often look about at the politics of the day and see divisions, polarization, a complete mess.
I look about and I see myself being heard for the first time in decades, my concerns finally being addressed and handled.
Do I love the Lord less as a populist? I don’t believe so, but what does make me sad is that there really is a division, a separation between populists and churchians. Here it is 2020, and I’m still trying to explain to the church that sexual abuse is real, that domestic violence is a problem, that addiction impacts us all, that mental illness exists.
Be of good cheer, Sam. God’s got this thing and it’s all going to work out.
Insanitybytes22,
I thought the halftime show was but a continuation of porn culture. It’s also sexist. Note the male singers were fully dressed, whereas the women were scantily clad. This pattern is consistent in most any music video, live performance, etc. where the men are fully covered, and their female dancers barely have anything covering them.
I think the superbowl is atrocious in itself. It glories violence. The sport has been shown to damage the players’ brains, as well as their bodies. The brain damage is lasting, though, and irreversible. Look at what savage fans the millions are who watch football, let alone have their sons play football, with concussion after concussion being commonplace.
I don’t necessarily blame any of the women singers themselves as the music industry, and patriarchy as a whole requires them to be heavily sexualized. I blame the men who run the music industry, the men who make millions running the porn industry, and the men who run the media companies. I blame the patriarchy. Men run the companies of this world. Men created the demand for porn, and perpetuate the porn culture we now live in.
If men’s penchant for violence and lust/porn culture objectification and pornification wasn’t there, the female singers wouldn’t be required to be so heavily sexualized and pornified. The market demands are catered to. Where there is no demand in the first place, there’d be no supply.
Stripper pole, gyrating, bondage gear, the sliding and crotch shot, the whole thing was porn culture. Other musical performances involve all sorts of writhing about, barely there costumes, etc. And I blame the patriarchy. Men create the demand.
As for overall, I hope there is a conversation had about how porn culture gives girls and women two options: sexualized and objectified or invisible. Gail Dines gives some presentations about this, which are available on YouTube and she also has authored at least one book on the pornification of our society.
If Shakira, JLo, Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, Ciara, etc. didn’t present themselves in a heavily pornified way, someone else would take their spots. Either they be sex objects and participate in porn culture, commodifying themselves, or they remain less visible, passed over, with their careers and ambitions stalled.
I feel bad for all the girls who saw that and had yet another dose of porn culture. Impressionable minds. I feel bad also for those girls, as boys and men saw such too and will expect more and more pornified wives/girlfriends. I mean, just look at the rapid spread of pole-dancing classes. Women are constantly forced to seek out all new ways of being ‘hot’ and ‘pornified’ (and thus desirable) versus discarded, overlooked, rejected, invisible women.
Same thing happens with beauty culture. Men rule the world. Men own practically all of the wealth and resources in the world. Women constitute 80 percent of the world’s impoverished class. And women are forced to compete with one another for survival – who marries versus who does not. Who remarries versus who does not? Who lives in poverty? Who gets the job? Who gets the promotion? How much of one’s day, for the typical, average woman is spent ensuring she obliges beauty culture mandates and thus porn culture mandates (be ‘hot’ or be nothing)? There is a book that touches on this to a certain extent, a few chapters or so, if I recall correctly, called The Second Shift. It also details the unpaid labor women do over the course of their lives, again, if I recall correctly.
At any rate, I encourage all women and girls everywhere to stand in solidarity with one another and reject porn culture, reject beauty culture (throw away the toxic slime, face paints ‘make-up’, torture devices/rape shoes ‘heels’, body showing or tight, restrictive ‘feminine clothes’ all the hair nonsense, be it toxic dyes, expensive treatments, soul-sucking, time slaving ‘curling/straightening’ routines, and anything else that isn’t done by men). Do you see men in barely nothing, doing pole dancing routines? Do you see men spending hours each day doing their hair or smearing toxic, lead and chemical laden, clown paints on their faces? Do you see men wearing high heels which ruin feet, legs, and cause daily pain?
If women and girls acted as a class, and rejected all porn culture, beauty culture, ‘femininity’ (ritualized subjugation and degradation) and refused to be divided and conquered, then men would be forced to act differently. Don’t sell yourself out, ladies. Reject all sexist stuff. Reject objectification. Question everything. Refuse it all. We may starve for doing so, but it will be dignified starvation.
I blame men for the sexualization and pornification of women (and girls). I blame men for creating the demand that resulted in yet another objectified performance by otherwise talented, wealthy women. I blame men and the patriarchy for it all.
It hurts girls and women. It must stop. It grooms women and girls into greater objectification, pornification, and degradation. It creates this horrible new low for women. And it’s tied to porn culture. Searches on Pornhub went up some 1000% percent or so for both Shakira and JLo because of the Superbowl performance, so as much as one might be tempted to say ‘who cares about a couple of women shaking their butts on tv’ it matters. (By the way, parents of children and teenagers, PornHub owners make something like an estimated million dollars A DAY, so it’s a very pressing thing, and no, i don’t blame any woman or girl, because it’s the men doing it and the women and girls of this world are victimized by all this porn culture depravity, which infects everything else in this life).
That’s a great comment. I really appreciate your words. Well done.
I guess over the years I’ve lost this ability to perceive the world as men versus women, patriarchy versus victims. Women also perpetuate porn, women also groom children into abuse, they cover up atrocities, they profit in a myriad of ways. We’re currently reaping the fruits of so called “female empowerment culture,” complete with stripper poles, abortion rights and hook up culture.
Sure, there are exceptions, but since when did exceptions disprove the rule? Some women do do such, yet they are by and large the exceptions.
A systems analysis is required.It’s not for nothing that due to the fall men are said to rule over women. That men will dominate, subjugate, oppress, and control women. It’s still sinful, no matter what and instead of men fighting against such sins, they seem to not only justify such, but embrace it so fully they paint it as being ‘natural’ / ‘the natural order’.
Just because there are rare exceptions of women who might abuse, groom, or perpetuate porn, doesn’t negate any of what I said. And I find when people say, basically, ‘but women do it too!’ it’s either because they are men, men-identified (they side with men over women), or are wanting to downplay the sheer amount of sexism and misogyny in our world. Sexism and Misogyny are foundational. No amount of ‘but women do it too!’ will negate such. Exception are but that: mere exceptions.
This happens with wife-beating, and wife abuse. Talk about “domestic violence” (notice how when it’s men’s violence against women they switch into neutral terminology, as though such isn’t largely men’s violence) and there will inevitably be those who say, ‘but women do it too!’ Yes, maybe there are a few rare women who are abusers, and yet it’s some 95 percent or so of men doing it to women, and yet the gender neutral terminology of “domestic violence” is employed. It sanitizes men’s violence against women and helps make augment the ‘exceptions argument’ of “but women do it too!”
Wife-beating. Wife abuse. Woman abuse. Men’s violence against women. Men’s inhumanity toward women. And 99.99 percent of porn is for men, by men. Who cares if somewhere there is the rare exceptional woman who buys into the men’s game and abuses women, too? Doesn’t change anything!
As for “female empowerment culture” such is the garbage of liberal feminism. It’s men who came up with such. It’s men who promote such. Male pornographers pitch the nonexistent “empowerment” of women being used and abused in supposed “sexual liberation”. It’s men’s lies and men’s gaslighting, and men’s trickery being spoon-fed to women. Most women and girls don’t have the time to really unpack the cultural messages of supposed “female empowerment” via being sexually exploited. Most girls and young women are not that media-savvy to be able to withstand some 20-30 years of cultural indoctrination and brainwashing.
And in case there are any out there susceptible to the “female empowerment culture” messaging, consider employing a rather simple shorthand calculation as to whether or not something is truly empowering: if what you, as a woman, or a teenage girl, is celebrated, or approved of by men, then it is not empowering in the least. If what you are doing makes men mad, then it is most likely exactly what you need to be doing and it is truly empowering and should be employed as much as possible. So, in short, are men happy or mad with what you are doing? If men are upset and mad, then it’s probably very empowering and should be continued. If men are happy and celebrating you, then you need to stop it immediately as you are being exploited or are being coopted into supporting misogyny.
It’s a great guide. Same with the ‘free the nipple’ campaign. Is it truly subversive and empowering for women? Not in the least. Are men happy and supportive of the campaign? Absolutely. There you have it, it’s anti-women, pro-misogyny, and should be seen as the repellant, perverted scheme it actually is.
Same with stipper poles and bondage gear. Were lots of men happy? Did lots of men support it? Yes, which is why women shouldn’t want anything to do with it and should cease such immediately.
Also, does anyone notice that men get power, actual power, whereas women are given ’empowerment’ which almost invariably is just the opposite and is exploitation and enslavement (heels mangle, they don’t truly empower, try running in such, and after decades of wearing such torure devices you can have surgery to put steel plates into your feet, yet heels are sold to women as being ’empowering’).
So girls, or young women, if you are popular with men, you are doing something wrong, and are engaging in anti-women, exploitative, sexist things, because that’s the way it is in this life. Please re-think things and question all the messaging you’ve been given for decades. Ask yourself, who benefits? Who is being served by this?
Be ‘prudes’! Be proud prudes! Reject porn culture! Reject misogyny! Reject beauty culture! Reject feminitiy! (Masculinity and feminity are sex roles, they are made up and they are sexist, confining, dehumanizing, stereotypes, and harmful). Reject exploitation disguised as ‘sexual liberation’! Reject what culture tells you, as it’s almost certainly going to be pro-men and anti-women, as men rule the world and control almost all the world’s resources and wealthy.
“So girls, or young women, if you are popular with men, you are doing something wrong, and are engaging in anti-women, exploitative, sexist things, because that’s the way it is in this life.”
Here’s something that might help you to understand my perspective better. I have a husband, son, brother, numerous men who have been good to me, but I have been rather relentlessly mocked, criticized, and shamed by women, women mind you, saying something very similar, “if you’re popular you’re doing it wrong.” It’s actually an insidious and cruel message, one that demands I deny my own nature, my own being. I simply can’t be a part of that mindset anymore, it pits men against women, it is angry and resentful and not life affirming. 🙂
For Beth and Insanitybytes, I have had a lot going on so i haven’t fully engaged here. I probably won’t be able to get involved for a while, so do not take my silence as either approval or disapproval. I appreciate both perspectives and will engage more fully when I can.
Just keep it respectful and keep politics out of it, and I will continue to approve the comments.
thanks!