I think I’ll blog this next paragraph rather than send it as a letter to Dr. Levy as I had first contemplated doing. In class today I happened to say that Exestential thought and feelings was the luxury of the idle rich and that ordinary Joes didn’t have the time for such things because they were too busy getting about the business of making a living. Dr. Levy responded “I’m not rich and I think about these things”. Then he talked about all the rich people who are chasing dollars and being King of the Hill in their own chosen realm. To which I responded that many celebrities who are very rich are bothered by the disparity between rich and poor and as such are motivated to think about such things as “Why am I here” and the meaning of life. And they may take up Taoism, or in the case of Madonna, Kabala, or some esoteric Zen religion. But somewhere along the way I said that these “manifestations of religion” really aren’t key to the Exestential Problem in that these people may take up a certain religion for a while as sort of a psychological opiate but then later on discard it as “no longer useful to them”. Dr. Levy said, “I can assure you I don’t feel that way about Judaism”. Someone mentioned Tom Cruise and his taking up of Scientology, to which Dr. Levy chimed in “Yeah, and Tom Cruise has said some really stupid things in interviews on TV”. Let’s establish a point right now. I am not condemning any of these celebrities of being false or duplicitus. Certainly not Tom Cruise. In fact I will go further. I believe Tom cruise is completely captive to his chosen religion. But Scientology can also be classed as a Cult. It happens to be a Cult that I agree with much of in terms of its metaphysics. You’ll remember I said earlier in the session “People seek religion for metaphysical awareness” and went on to say that “Many religions offer metaphysics as a come-on to get you into the movement, but then after you have joined, these same people couldn’t care less about it”. Scientology is one religion that is true to itself in that they actually teach what they believe and believe what they teach. But the difference between a Cult and a Religion, is that with a religion you can take it up for a while and then put it aside with no ill effects. This is not so with a Cult. A cult is like a virus that gets onto your computer hard drive burrowing itself in and depositing who knows how many files, and getting it out of your system is a real bear. It could be said that he who converts you to a Cult is perpetually Greater than you are because they changed and shaped your way of thinking. It could likewise be said that there is no Ego or entity behind a Religion but there IS some controlling, governing entity behind a Cult. May I at this time say that I am personally biased in favor of scientology because as a religion (as well as a cult) it answers questions nobody else wants to tackle. So as such I am a devotee but not so out of any durress but of my free will and not as a prisoner. I would further tell Dr. Levy that I do not make it my business to judge the actions and motives of others except in specific cases. Like if they are doing something to harm me personally, or if they are harming society like selling drugs from their house late at night and my kids might pick up a hypodermic needle in their yard one day, or for instance if they were cruel to animals- - such things would get me in their face. But as to personal issues like who they sleep with or what religion they choose to adopt or not adopt, this is none of my business. Chuck Smith is fond of saying that “It’s not just the action but the motive behind the action that is all important”. I do not make it my business to judge the motives of others. I have enough trouble with judging my own motives. Actions of others are between them and their Maker. They need to resolve moral questions in their own minds. I don’t care. In terms of the Exestential problem itself- - - I am not like Dr. Levy. Because the first question you have to ask yourself is “Do I have any personal control over God or how God interacts with me?” If the answer to that is no- -then asking further questions is irrelivent. I am inclined to tell people dealing with the Exestential Problem things like “Deal with it” and as Don Hendley would say “Just get over it!” I have by way of support of my position none other than Jesus Christ himself because he said “You must become as children- - “ and children don’t trouble themselves pondering such things as “the meaning of life”. Dr. Levy is looking for a God or religion or something to tell him what to think. I told Dr. Levy “It would really take a God to answer that question” meaning- - - that the question is not really mine to ask. God is an A-moral being and if He has reasons for what He does- - He surely keeps them to Himself. As it is written “God’s ways are not our ways”. One remark I didn’t get around to making was that our personal morality might go back to “how we are wired”. I don’t look to some ethereal entity out there to tell me what is valuable and what is nor or what is worth fighting for and what is not- - - I look within myself, because if I can’t live with myself I’ve got problems. As Shakesphere says “To thine own self be true”. Clearly my problems in life don’t stem from somehow not thinking long or hard enough about “The meaning of life” or if I only has the answer to that, all my problems would be solved.
I wanted to address one more issue with Dr. Levy that I don’t think he can accept right now. . I have problems with the Jews in several areas. Like Dennis Prager, Dr. Levy reviews religion the way a teenager would view his souped up car, comparing his vehicle with the souped up car of a friend or rival. They may not agree on specifics but they both are in the “fellowship” of liking souped up cars. Just as Dennis Prager sees himself and Christians as members of a common “Religion Club”. So it is with the Jew and religion. I have another issue with the Jews on the issue of blood atonement and Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Isac. I fail to lay my finger on the passage that says God gave up the doctrine of Blood Atonement for sin. In the millennial reign, the nations will be compelled to offer up blood sacrifices. If you can’t deal with this “Bloody God” my suggestion is to find another religion. How do the Jews deal with this? The next is that the Jew is like some old friend whom you haven’t seen in ten or fifteen years, and although you used to know your friend so well, you find that in the intervening years you have grown far apart - - and certain aspects of the way your friend is now is highly alien to you. So it is with the Jew who, if you want to find out what an Old Testament Jew was, don’t ask a Jew, ask a Christian. Ask a Mormon or a Jehovah’s Witness, but don’t ask a Jew. Dr. Levy says “God is so magnificent he can’t be reduced to an image” Does Dr. Levy even know how God got his name? And I assure you it isn’t “G – d”. I fail to find the scripture where God says “Don’t call me by name”. God’s name is Jehovah Rapha or Jehovah Jira or El Shaddai or any other of a number of names, since God means “The Becoming one”. As such for Jehovah the ultimate manifestation of his nature is to become an incarnate Human Being in the person of Jesus Christ. I don’t see why Dr. Levy has a problem with this. God can just as easily become your Redeemer as he can to become your Provider or your Healer or any of those other things. My final beef with the Jews is I don’t understand why each and every one of them doesn’t despize Christianity because I would. Being a Jew is like you’re invited as an honored guest by William Randolph Hurst to San Simian castle. But then a bunch of your henchmen break out of a Trojan horse you presented as a housewarming gift and armed troops bound and gagged Mr. Hurst and you took over and installed yourself as head of the house, and then you sought about to contact all of William Randolph Hursts’ sworn enemies to come over and rule the place with you, and throw Mr. Hurst out into the gutter.
Yesterday it seems a computer glitch on a Proctor and Gamble order may have been the cause of the sudden fifteen minute dip. The stock exchanges are now saying they are going to cancel the trades made during this period. Someone should tell Thom Hartman. It seems someone typed a B for Billion instead of an M for million on the order. The incident does point up the fragility of our system. It was like an economic seismic event that "puts the fear of God into you". It points up how easy it would be for an alien power to throw our entire society into chaos.
Unemployment is up, and that is the bottom line. Such news, as well as the growing economic and civil crisis in Greece - -has been pushing the stock market down. Unemployment has risen to 9.9% because despite the fact there are more jobs out there now, there are even more people now out looking for jobs. As such here is a case where a symptum of a problem getting better - is that it is actually getting worse. Discretion is the key to seeing such paradoxes in life.
The British had their parleamentry election yesterday, “with no TV advertizine”. How do they do that? The conservative party got forty percent of the vote but it seems Herald Brown will survive to form another coalition government with the left. The liberal wanted to cut a deal with whoever won to give them perportional representation for how they did in nation wide polls, rather than to go by, as we do, each election district results. In this way they would stand to gain. However I don't think he will be able to pull this off. Nobody likes to be held hostage. As much as people say that Europe has turned against the United States, clearly vast numbers of people must have an inward respect for what the United States stands for.
A co-founder of “Forus on the Family” was busted for hiring a male prostitute and taking him on a ten day tour to “minister” to him, and the gay prostitute says he did have sex with the co-founder. I'm not surprised that Focus on the Family has amased vast amounts of money to throw around as they will. This prostitute is on page two of a gay porn site. This is just one more thorn in Dobson’s side. And they say Dobson paid him fantastic amounts of money to keep gay couples from being able to adopt kids in
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