Will God Strike You Down For Mockery?

 

I think not.  I am a faithful Lutheran woman and I took great issue with an email that was sent to me some time ago.  God does not strike a person down for mocking him.  Mind you, I believe his heart would break a little, but he would not strike you dead!  Galatians  6:7 does reassure us that we reap what we sow but that is in eternity, not in our worldly life.  I’ve pasted the email below (I’m sorry for the format but I just don’t have time to fix it).  Tell me what you think of these examples.

 

  It is written in the Bible (Galatians  6:7): “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
 
  Here are some men and women who mocked God:
 
  JOHN LENNON:
  Some years before, during his interview with an American Magazine, he said:
  “Christianity will end, it will
 disappear. I do not have to
  argue about
  that. I am certain. Jesus was ok, but
 his subjects were too
  simple, today
  we are more famous than Him” (1966).
 Lennon, after saying
  that the
  Beatles were more famous than Jesus
 Christ, was shot six
 times.
 
  TANCREDO NEVES (President of Brazil):
  During the Presidential campaign, he
 said if he got 500,000
  votes from
  his party, not even God would remove
 him from Presidency.
  Sure he got the
  votes, but he got sick a day before
 being made President,
  then he died.
 
  CAZUZA (Bi-sexual Brazilian composer,
 singer and poet):
  During a show in Canecïo ( Rio de
 Janeiro ), whilst smoking
 his
  cigarette, he puffed out some smoke
 into the air and said:
  “God, that’s for you.” He
  died at the age of 32 of AIDS in a
 horrible manner.
 
  THE MAN WHO BUILT TITANIC:
  After the construction of Titanic, a< BR reporter asked him how
  safe the
  Titanic would b e. With an ironic tone
 he said: “Not even God
  can sink
  it” The result: I think you a all know
 what happened to the
  Titanic.
 
  MARILYN MONROE:
  She was visited by Billy Graham during
 a presentation of a
  show. He said
  the Spirit of God had sent him to
 preach to her. After
  hearing what the
  Preacher had to say, she said: “I
 don’t need your Jesus”. A
  week later,
  she was found dead in her apartment.
 
  BON SCOTT:
  The ex-vocalist of the AC/DC. On one
 of his 1979 songs he
  sang: “Don’t
  stop me, I’m going down all the way,
 down the highway to
  hell”. On the
  19th of February 1980, Bon Scott was
 found dead, he had b been
  choked by
  his own vomit.
 
  CAMPINAS/SP IN 2005
  In Campinas, Brazil a group of
 friends, drunk, went to pick
  up a friend.
  The mother accompanied her to the car
 and was so worried
  about the
  drunkenness of her friends and she
 said to the daughter -
  holding her
  hand, who was already seated in the
 car: “MY DAUGHTER, GO
  WITH GOD AND
  MAY HE PROTECT YOU.” She responded:
 ”ONLY IF HE (GOD)
 TRAVELS
  IN THE TRUNK, CAUSE INSIDE HERE IT’S
 ALREADY FULL”
  Hours later, news came by that they
 had been involved in a
  fatal accident,
  everyone had died, the car could not
 be recognized what type
  of car it had
  been, but surprisingly, the trunk was
 intact. The police said
 & get; there was no
  way the trunk could have remained
 intact. To their surprise,
  inside the trunk
  was a crate of eggs, none were broken.
 
  Christine Hewitt: a Jamaican Journalist and entertainer, said
  the Bible
  (Word of God) was the worst book ever
 written, in June 2006
  she was found
  burnt beyond recognition in her motor
 vehicle.
 
 
  Many more important people have
 forgotten that there is no
  other name
  that was given so much authority as the
 name of Jesus. Many
  have died, but
  only Jesus died and rose again, and he
 is still alive.
 
  JESUS!!!
 
  P.S: If it was a joke, you would have
 sent it to everyone. So
  are you going to have courage to send
 this?. I have d one my part,
  Jesus said “If you are embarrassed about
 me, I will also be
 embarrassed about you before my Father.”
 
  What benefit does it have, if a man
 gains the whole world but
  loses his soul? What can man give in
 exchange of his soul?
  Matthew 16:26

Emoticons Suck (God Love ‘Em)

 

I love that a person can say nasty things about another person  so long as it’s followed with “Bless his/her heart” or “God love ‘em”.  For example: I could say that ‘Joe Smith is dumber than a box of rocks God love him’ and it’s perfectly acceptable because I wish God’s love on him.  Or I could say that ‘Jane gets around more than a travelling salesman, bless her heart’ and again, I’m A-OK to say such things.

As we all know, we are living in the age of technology and along with that comes the oh-so-overused emoticons.  These emoticons are the down fall of communication as we know it.  The “:)” has taken the place of “God love ‘em” as an “okay” to say mean things.  Believe me, when someone says that ‘I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed’ I’d far rather it be followed with a wish for blessings on my heart than a “:)”.  Somehow, it just isn’t as heartfelt for an insult or public mockery to be followed with a dreaded smiley face. 

Now, to digress back to public mockery: don’t, for the love of pete, reply to all and make a snide correction of grammar (especially when it isn’t wrong.  Trite, maybe, but not errant) and follow it with the “:)” to make it ok.  It is not ok to point out an irritant in front of a panel of peers, or worse, a panel of superiors.  It only makes you look like a dumb ass bully (God love ya).

A Lesson Learned

Why is it that death is always what brings us to our senses?  Why does it take that final act of fate for us to open our eyes to the senseless assholes we’ve been? 

I’m not sure really where I’m going with this.  There was a loss for my family yesterday and suddenly I feel guilt, regret and shame.  All emotions I should have felt long before now.  I was not friends with her.  In fact, we had a mutual disdain for each other.  Over the last ten years, we both said hurtful things to and about each other.  We never saw eye to eye.  She was feisty and I was (ok, I am) stubborn and quick to fire off my opinions.  Truth be told, I’m often described as some form of feisty myself (The word usually starts with a capital “B”). 

 She was the longtime girlfriend of my brother, and cousin-in-law to my sister.   She was always sick, born sick actually.  A year ago this past Christmas, she received a heart and lung transplant and quickly felt better than ever.  She was always vibrant and animated despite being sick.  I don’t think anyone ever thought that Death would dare to stare her in the eye.  But stare he did, and after a 29 year standoff with Death, she went home.

Though we were not close, I find myself mourning her loss.  I hurt for my family as they grieve for her.  I am reminded, by that oh so loathsome Death, that nothing is forever and in the end, we each have the same fate awaiting us.  Grim, I know but true.  It is not our earthly end fate that is important.  It is the road that takes us from birth to death that is important.  Which road will you choose?  Which fork tine will you take?  I must confess, when I met the fork in the road with her, I chose the wrong one.  I chose to be resentful for the degradation of my friendship with my brother.  If I’d have gone down the other road, I’d have gained a new friend, instead of a foe. 

Hindsight is always 20/20 but regret can be blinding.  I do regret the path I chose but I won’t be blinded by it.  I have learned from her.  It was a hurtful, tumultuous lesson ten years in the making but I will recognize that road for what it is should I come across it in the future.

So, here’s to you Michelle…we could have been friends, but we will always be sisters in Christ.  I’ll see you in Heaven, and give you a long overdue apology.

Unfounded Clacking Off

 

Today’s pet peeve: clacking off responses without having the “junk” to back it up.

So, on a social networking site, an article is passed around about some Democrats that got arrested at a Darfur protest in D.C.  It is a noble cause and what they did is, in its own right, courageous and admirable.

A smarty pants decides to respond with: “Where were the righteous Christian Republicans…?”  Well…smarty pants, HERE’S where they were…ACTUALLY IN DARFUR!!!! Not protesting safely on American soil…

Since I actually did research for my response, do I get to do the smarty pants dance?

Introspective Confessions

I must confess that I am a motivational quote junkie.  I am the person that prints them off, tapes them to a prominent spot on my desk drawer or even worse, along the bottom of my monitor but that’s where it stops.  I don’t read it again and again and I certainly don’t make an effort to embody whatever principle I found so motivating for that fleeting moment in time.  One day it may be something like “work for a better tomorrow” and the next it may be “tomorrow isn’t a promise, live for today”

… blah blah blah…

The next confession that I suppose ties into the first; I am a habitual non finisher of projects.  I’m briefly motivated and dive right in, but like a small child, it holds my attention for a brief period of time and I’m ready to start something new.  I can’t even begin to tell you how many unfinished scarves are laying in baskets with long neglected crochet hooks just begging to be used.  My daughter’s baby blanket: unfinished.  My prayer shawl: unfinished.  Floppy brim hat: unfinished.  The list goes on and on.  My unfinished project list doesn’t stop with crochet.  Oh no.  It also includes unfinished sewing, and oh yeah, my education.  I have made five, yes you did read FIVE (5) attempts at a bachelors degree. 

The reasoning behind all stoppages of academic advancements have seemed quite logical.  The first, I moved to the opposite end of the state from my mom and I was severely homesick (please read that in a facetious tone).  The next attempt was for a different degree path and I realized, “hey, I don’t really want a business degree”.  Then I was angry with the administration, etc… etc… etc…  Well, now I’m comfortable enough to say that it was all just a load of crapola.  They were viable excuses to do what I do best…leave a project unfinished.

I am actually embarrassed to be 27 and I don’t have my degree.  I want it, but so far, I haven’t wanted to work for it.  I get angry with someone that makes poor choices and then gives a pity party for the consequences.  I say to everyone that will listen: “They keep making the choices that hurt them, stop feeling sorry for them.  Stop enabling them.” But yet I enable myself to keep making choices that are hindering my advancement because I don’t hold myself accountable.  No, my addiction isn’t to drugs or alcohol.  My addiction is failure.

It feels so odd to think that, to say it and to even put it down in black and white but I am (however unwanted) addicted to failure.  Perhaps it seems harsh, but reality is sometimes harsh.  Most times, reality is harsh.  What I see working in my favor, addicts, while in recovery, often will replace one addiction for another.  Perhaps I’ll try to replace this with an addiction to success. 

I have always said that mistakes, left unchecked, become character defects.  You know, it’s funny…I always thought eating crow would taste bad, but I kind of like the taste of my own words.  Now the trick is to not let these fall into the black hole of motivational quotes.

Obama’s Dog: Pet Peeve (Yeah, Pun Intended)

With all that’s in the news these days (death, destruction, genocide [yeah, that covers the first two but hey, I'm trying to build the list up], War, Famine, Disease, et. al.) we desperately need some good news to cheer the soul.  But I’m not quite sure that the Obama family dog, “Bo” quite fits that bill for me.  Every channel I turn to for the evening news has a story about the now infamous Bo.  People are twitting about him on Twitter…you search “Obama’s Dog” on Google and this is what you get:  Results 95,100,000 for obama’s dog. (0.14 seconds) .  95,100,000 results?   Really?  No, REALLY?  And then there’s the book series being written about Bo…seriously…

For the love of all things right and just…PLEASE STOP TALKING ABOUT BO!  But here I am…talking about Bo.  I even twitter about Bo…Don’t get me wrong…I’m not linking articles or pictures (though I did above) and saying “Oooo he’s just sooo cuuuuuuttte” in an obnoxious tone that’s reserved for pets, small children and idiots (not that children are comparable to idiots.  In fact children are usually talked to in that tone only by idiots and in my opinion, children are far superior to idiots).  It’s usually a snide, facetious, off hand, comment.  Oh the hypocrisy of it all…I hate it, I’m tired of hearing about it but I can’t stop bitching about it! 

Why can’t I let this go?  Why must I keep on my soap box about it?  Because it really pisses me off that the damn talking heads won’t report on the good that soldiers are accomplishing in the war but on rare occasion.  But Bo the President’s Dog makes the news every damn day.  It pisses me off that when I search Google for “Progress In Iraq” it pulls a mere 17,300,000 results.  (Not looking to start a debate on the war here.  I’m just an avid supporter of our troops, not necessarily the war.)

So, in short: when the news stops coming in on the oh so beloved Bo, I’ll stop bitching about it.

Next topic: The irritating, incessant use of (…)…Guilty as charged… (Just kidding…I couldn’t manage to write a whole blog on the use of (…)…or could I? …)