Important Note On a Sunday

Think about it.

We can do this.

Quote of the Day -- Sunday Edition

Have a nice day, y'all.

Einstein, Spinoza and Me

 When Einstein gave lectures at U.S. universities, the question students asked him most was: Do you believe in God? And he always answered: I believe in the God of Spinoza.

Baruch de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher considered one of the great rationalists of 17th century philosophy, along with Descartes.

According to Spinoza, God would say: “Stop praying. I want you to go out into the world and enjoy your life. I want you to sing, have fun and enjoy everything I've made for you."

“Stop going into those dark, cold temples that you built yourself and saying they are my house. My house is in the mountains, in the woods, rivers, lakes, beaches. That's where I live and there I express my love for you."

“Stop blaming me for your miserable life; I never told you there was anything wrong with you or that you were a sinner, or that your sexuality was a bad thing. Sex is a gift I have given you and with which you can express your love, your ecstasy, your joy. So don't blame me for everything that others made you believe."

“Stop reading alleged sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with me. If you can't read me in a sunrise, in a landscape, in the look of your friends, in your son's eyes—you will find me in no book!"

“Stop asking me, ‘Will you tell me how to do my job?’ Stop being so scared of me. I do not judge you or criticize you, nor get angry or bothered. I am pure love."

“Stop asking for forgiveness, there's nothing to forgive. If I made you, I filled you with passions, limitations, pleasures, feelings, needs, inconsistencies, and best of all, free will. Why would I blame you if you respond to something I put in you? How could I punish you for being the way you are, if I'm the one who made you? Do you think I could create a place to burn all my children who behave badly for the rest of eternity? What kind of god would do that?"

“Respect your peers, and don't give what you don't want for yourself. All I ask is that you pay attention in your life—alertness is your guide."

“My beloved, this life is not a test, not a step on the way, not a rehearsal, not a prelude to paradise. This life is the only thing here and now—and it is all you need."

“I have set you absolutely free, no prizes or punishments, no sins or virtues, no one carries a marker, no one keeps a record. You are absolutely free to create in your life. It’s you who creates heaven or hell."

“Live as if there is nothing beyond this life, as if this is your only chance to enjoy, to love, to exist. Then you will have enjoyed the opportunity I gave you. And if there is an afterlife, rest assured that I won't ask if you behaved right or wrong, I'll ask, ‘Did you like it? Did you have fun? What did you enjoy the most? What did you learn?’

“Stop believing in me; believing is assuming, guessing, imagining. I don't want you to believe in me, I want you to believe in you. I want you to feel me in you when you kiss your beloved, when you tuck in your little girl, when you caress your dog, when you bathe in the sea."

“Stop praising me. What kind of egomaniac God do you think I am? I'm bored with being praised. I'm tired of being thanked. Feeling grateful? Prove it by taking care of yourself, your health, your relationships, the world. Express your joy! That's the way to praise me."

“Stop complicating things and repeating as a parrot what you've been taught about me. Why do you need more miracles? So many explanations?"

“The only thing for sure is that you are here, that you are alive, that this world is full of wonders.”

Now. Go. Have a nice day.

Anyone Who Thinks Lisa Montgomery Should Be Executed Should Read This Article

 Lisa Montgomery is the woman who was found guilty of having killed another woman, supposed to be here friend, only to cut her open and take her unborn baby. Here's the story. Anyone who thinks she should be put to death now, executed, should read this. It took place, as some may know, in not far away Skidmore, Missouri.

Society Failed Lisa Montgomery in Every Way Possible. 

So Now We’re Going to Kill Her

Here's just the core, just some of the story and this article. 

...Montgomery’s crime was certainly heinous. She had befriended a young pregnant woman, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, after the two met at a dog show. After arranging a meeting—ostensibly to purchase a rat terrier puppy—Montgomery killed Stinnett, then gutted her open to kidnap her then eight-month old fetus. Montgomery cleaned the baby—remarkably, the child survived—then brought her home to her husband. She pretended it was her own baby; it is possible she did not understand that the baby was not hers...

...Lisa Montgomery had little if any chance in life. She was born in 1968, the child of two troubled alcoholics. She had brain damage, likely caused by exposure to alcohol when she was a developing fetus. Mental illness ran in her family. Her father had a daughter from a previous marriage; the two girls grew up together. As part of an excellent story on the Montgomery case, the Huffpost tracked down the older sibling, Diane Mattingly, who described the traumatic world in which young Lisa grew up. It was a world of unimaginable cruelty and horror.

Her mother, Judy Shaughnessy, beat her daughters with belts, cords, or hangers. On one occasion, to punish her children Lisa’s mother killed the family dog in front of them, smashing its head in with a shovel. Her father was often away from home for long periods time. Her mother would bring home other men; fights would erupt, and the violence spilled over to include the young girls. When Mattingly was about 8, one of the men whom her mother brought home began raping her, as Montgomery, then only 4, lie in bed beside her. Mattingly escaped when child protective services removed her from the home.

Lisa was not so fortunate. Her mother married another violent, erratic man, Jack Kleiner, who beat his wife and the children regularly; he would often make the daughters strip naked before whipping them. The sexual component of that punishment morphed into ever greater abuse as Kleiner began molesting then raping young Lisa. The abuse lasted for years. The parents also allowed men who did work on their house—a plumber and an electrician— to rape Lisa as payment for their services. Lisa was thus a victim of child sex trafficking.

Shaughnessy and Kleiner divorced when Montgomery was 15. During those proceedings Shaughnessy told the court her husband raped Montgomery, saying once that she walked in on him while “he was in her. He was pumping her.” The court admonished her for not reporting the crime to authorities, but then itself failed to report the abuse. Kleiner was never charged. Lisa also told authorities of her abuse—she confided to a cousin who was a law enforcement officer—but the officer failed to report Lisa’s situation. At school, Lisa’s work was substandard, and she was placed with special needs students. She often came to class dirty and unkempt. School authorities suspected abuse, but they too failed to investigate or to report their suspicions to the police.

Like many victims of violent sexual assault, Montgomery blamed herself for her predicament. She also began to disassociate herself from what was happening to her. Her stepbrother told the court that “Lisa told me that when these men raped her, she would go away in her mind and try not to be present.” Clearly Lisa had only a fragile grip on reality because she needed to escape reality to survive. That break from lived reality would plague her later life.

As with many children who experience chaotic, unstable childhoods, her adult life mimicked those conditions. When she was 18, at her mother’s instigation, she married her stepbrother who then coerced her into sterilization. She drank heavily, could not hold a job, had multiple car accidents, and neglected her own children. She lived in extreme poverty and was constantly moving from home to home; by the time she was 34 she had moved sixty-one times. She was said to often space out, to be disconnected from reality. After she was sterilized, she repeatedly told people that she was pregnant.

If this young woman's circumstances shouldn't be taken into consideration then I don't know who we are. We certainly aren't a "Christian", forgiving, understanding nation, I'll tell you that. And this would no way be anything remotely close to anything called or considered justice.

Christianity, Judaism, Islam

Think about it.

 

Question of the Day -- Sunday Edition

 ??

Additionally, it's the "pro-life" Republicans and Conservatives that fight this.

What??

Republicans, Really

 The Daily Kos has Republicans down so right today.

And oh, yeah...86 45

BYEDON

On God and Forgiveness---From Someone Who Should Know

 

Conservative Jesus? Republican Jesus?

 Yeah. I don't think so.

Quote of the Day -- God, Woody and Me

 

Oh, yeah.

Quote of the Day -- Sunday Edition

 

“The idea of a good society is something you do not need a religion and eternal punishment to buttress; you need a religion if you are terrified of death.” 

― Gore Vidal

Have a great day, y'all. Enjoy.

Quote of the Day -- Sunday, God and Man Edition

Happy Sunday, campers.

Be well and stay safe out there.

Quotes of the Day -- On God---and Einstein

"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism."

--Albert Einstein

Quote of the Day -- Sunday Edition

“Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile.”

―Kurt Vonnegut, “Mother Night”

Sunday Reflections

God love 'em.

Or something.

Christians and Capitalism: Like Oil and Water

Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian, shows five quick, easy ways Americans ignore Jesus and his teachings.

And this is a short, short list. Not least of which being the wealthy not getting into heaven.


Don't bother us with details.

Happy Easter Sunday' y'all!

You heathen hypocrites!

Links:

Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian - YouTube

Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian - 

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Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) · Twitter

Right Wing, Republican, Evangelical "Christian" America

From March For Our Lives, Columbus Ohio, this past weekend.

The kids are alright.

Quote of the Day -- Sunday Edition

Two Things On Billy Graham Passing

First this.

Billy Graham was one of America's 

richest pastors

Then this.

"I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

--Jesus Christ himself, reputedly, Matthew, 19-24

That Bible We Base So Much On?

We ought to know the source(s).

Enjoy your Sunday, y'all.