Pack and Carry – a Bible

With the encouragement of the NRA, the radical right, and various other organizations folk have been encouraged to get firearms, specifically handguns and to append them to the personage on a regular basis; pack and carry. The idea is, I guess, to discourage anyone from threatening or challenging them on any basis. But, I don’t think it works.

A biblical rational advocating of such as stance may use this from the Judaic teaching, “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” (Exodus 21.24.) Trump uses it with some frequency. But in this case it is a fallacious argument. The teaching in Exodus was to set limits on revenge. So, if a person takes your eye, the just revenge would be to take his/her eye but no more. The purpose of that teaching was to limit revenge.

Jesus took the limitation a step farther when he said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for and eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ ? But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.” (Matthew 5. 38-41) Jesus teaches us not to seek revenge at all, but to work to help that one who is doing wrong to you to do the right thing, by setting an example of loving rather than hateful actions.

Mahatma Gandhi, also pointed out the futility of progressive or escalative revenge saying, “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” Not only does this form of revenge not work, it makes for greater harm for everyone. So, if you are worried that someone might take a portion of your property from you, are you really willing to end their life for that possession? How will that affect their family, your community and yourself? Can you live with the consequences of such an action? This was the dilemma of the Hatfields and McCoys, and modern-day Near East ongoing conflicts. This type of attitude does not solve problems, in fact, it just makes problems worse.

Campaign Zero (www.joincampaignzero.org) states, “Police should have the skills and cultural competence to protect and serve our communities without killing people – just as police do in England, Germany, Japan and other developed countries.” And then they list numbers of those killed in this country in 2014, and they give recommendations for policies to this end. This is a good example of finding solutions rather than escalating the problem.

If you want to pack and carry, I would suggest you unpack the teachings of Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere, and carry them in your heart. If you do you will find a far greater safety in eternal principles rather than fleeting thoughts of revenge. I would encourage you to be a peacemaker as Jesus advocates in his sermon of the mount, rather than give in to the rhetoric of revenge.

If you want to pack and carry, I suggest you pack and carry your bible along with a flashlight. The Bible should remind you of the teachings of Jesus and you can use the flashlight. If you are genuinely concerned for you safety carry a tactical flashlight such as the Surefire EB2 Backup and is easily carried.

Traditional Parties – Will they ever return

I miss the two-party system that was once strong and vital in our country. The Republican Party began its demise with the advent of Ronald Reagan and his rather sophomoric ideas of conservatism. In essence, he just wanted to get rid of government or at least severely limit it. It is a concept harkening back to the days of the B westerns he starred in where good guys wore white hats and bad guys black hats and the good guys won over the bad guys. But the country had grown too large for such a free market concept to work. Big business began to take over the government, with the reduction of their taxes. The emboldened Tea Party finished off the party with it take no prisoners attitude. Again, any government was too much government, essentially the position of an anarchist. No debate, just mindless rhetoric and scapegoating. With the do nothing congress Obama inherited it is remarkable what he was able to do. Then came the election of Trump by a mindless complaining minority that with a rigged election system, interference by the Russians, and the malaise of Democrats the Republican Party as the Whigs, died.

Along with the Republican party demise came the death of the Democratic Party. Once the supporters of fair labor practices and programs for the common good, the party under Clinton leadership became the new practicing Republicans in bed with business interests at the expense of the middle class. Hilary had a long run of doing good things for the public that was mainly dismissed by those who saw her in bed with business interests and a not so appealing personality.

The progressives were left without leadership and the disenfranchised conservatives could only look with dismay at a very unpresidential narcissistic buffoon Trump ranting on Twitter. And what we now have is an oligarchy, government by the wealthy.

Oh, there are good politicians remaining: Sanders, whose nomination for the Democratic party was stolen away by Hilary Clinton’s takeover of the party, Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Baldwin, Al Franken and a few more Democrats among a few others. The remaining Republican seems to be John McCain, dying from cancer and lamenting the loss of solid collaborative work between the parties to get work done for constituents. There may be other traditional Republicans but their silence is deafening.

I lament the loss of the two-party system both with centrist cores that could work and compromise liberal and conservative philosophies into policies that benefited the nation. Can the democracy survive without these parties? I’m not at all sure. Unless people can learn to have studied discourse on issues without resorting to meaningless rhetoric and immoveable stances and once again have civil debates to find the common good, I doubt it. Most voters today don’t even have any experience of when the parties had reasonable debates and knew the art of compromise. Apparently, they do not read the history of those times either and learn from the past.

Oh, I am not a pessimist. I believe there is a God who still works for the good of people and loves them and will not let them perish. But I place little faith on the part of humanity to learn to govern themselves in a way compatible with the kingdom of God. The American experiment may or may not last.

I Know of No Good People

I know of no good people. By that I mean that I know of no people who are intrinsically good, always altruistic, thinking of others over themselves, unselfish, nice in their inner being. Nope, not a one.

That said, I know a lot of folk with high moral and ethical values reflecting the teachings of the great religions of the world and humanistic folk, religious or not. They are moral, I believe, because they have been raised in essentially moral and ethical family and/or communities, subcultures and cultures. And, they have practiced this ethical and moral behavior and a regular basis. And, the more they practice the more moral and ethical they become.

Surround yourself with immoral or amoral folk, and you may likely end up immoral or amoral yourself. On the other hand, surround yourself with moral and ethical folk and you are more likely to be moral and ethical yourself.

In a world where anomie (a state of normlessness) and bottom-line thinking (what’s best for me and mine), it is easy to be amoral, immoral and unethical. In a world that becomes increasingly impersonal, where we and text rather than talk, buy on the internet rather than a store, become small cogs in large machines and the like, again, it is easy to be amoral, immoral or unethical.

That is why I think it is important to surround ourselves in moral and ethical communities. Faith communities are good examples. Of course, faith communities can also be amoral, immoral or unethical as evidenced in the press, but most faith communities know that they need each other as they strive to be, not good, but ethical and moral people. It is why those faith communities regularly in the worship events, confess their sins. They know they are not good and need forgiveness for their selfish and immoral, unethical or amoral behavior. And in those communities, they accept that God forgives their ways and make them new and fresh on a regular basis…and…infuses God’s own Spirit in them to make more and more moral and ethical choices in their daily lives.

Perhaps that is why Christian folk places a high emphasis on coming to the Lord’s Table, the Eucharist, Communion. There they imbibe either the real, spiritual, or symbolic body of Christ (depending upon their various points of view.) They are what they eat in a very real sense and are better for it. And, in community with those around the table, they support each other in following in the footsteps of that most moral, ethical, and in this case, good man, Jesus of Nazareth.

Here’s to the practice of moral and ethical behavior in community.