Tell me about your faith.
I don't mean teach me what your religion says, I want to know how your faith looks to you, personally, each day.
We're all unique, and even two people of the same religion may wear it a little differently. Don't quote out of scriptures here(unless you want to use it to explain why you do what you do). I'm not wanting to hear why your God/s do what they/he/she do/does. Just you.
Do you pray? (Why/when/how?) Does your faith influence your diet? Your clothing? Where you work or how you spend your money? Does it encourage you to work on certain aspects of your personality? Does it influence who you interact(or don't interact) with? (These are all sample questions; tell me whatever you wish!)
Thank goodness, George, you understand what I've been
writing about all this time (that is, don't quote scriptures, but how does the religion affect our lives personally). To many, the bible is a lesson in dusty
ancient history that has no bearing on the world today. Those are the ones who (like the slave master in the movie/book Roots, would read the bible, insist that he not be disturbed, as Kunta Kinte was beaten into submission to accept his new "slave" name, Toby).
Don't bother me with ethics....I'm reading the bible, lol.
A famous book was written called "
Hotten's List of People of Quality." Many genealogists use that book to trace their famous ancestors. But, who were those "people of quality?" Some were
slavers. . . they ran those ships that carried slaves to America, and, having packed them in like sardines, it was normal to lose half of the slaves through disease. Some were ruthless
rich tyrants to made money off of the suffering of others. Quality????
George Bush (senior) pushed the "New World Order," which he touted as a benefit to all. Actually, that tosses a small offering (less tax) to the hard working middle class, and a huge bonus (with loopholes) to the rich to allow them to get by without paying any tax at all. Microsoft's Bill Gates didn't pay any tax at all as he amassed more money than anyone in history (at some point. . . since then Musk and others surpassed him).
The rich can't use all of their wealth. Gold toilets, silk towels, and precious gems and paintings will not greatly improve their lives. But are those "wealthy philanthropists" who get tax breaks from their donations, really as generous as people think? If so, why do they still have vast amounts of money? Is it fair that our tax system allows one group to live in a tent on Skid Row (7th street, Los Angeles. . . I just drove by there--tents lined the sidewalks), while another lives in the lap of luxury.
What does the bible say about all of this (I know that you said that you didn't want scriptures). In several places, it says that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich person get into heaven. But, lately, the
needles have been getting larger, and the camels smaller.
Andrew Carnegie knew the sting of poverty, but he made steel for the new industrial revolution (train tracks, girders for skyscrapers). He is known as a benefactor of the arts and builder of elaborate free libraries. But, he couldn't take his money with him to heaven (if that was, indeed, where he was headed). Rather, he used his money to make a legacy for himself, so that in generations to come people would look up at the ornate libraries and praise the name Carnegie. In making his fortune, he would hire little boys at pennies per day, to reach their small arms into running machinery to maintain it, and often a kid would lose an arm. Then he would merely hire another kid to take his place. I don't think that Carnegie was heaven-bound.
They say that in order to get into heaven, we must believe in Christ. I take that to mean that we must emulate Christ. . .do the things that he would do. Heal all (universal health care. . . Obamacare....but better), (preserve God's natural world), etc.
The
"New World Order" of President George Bush (former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and President of the United States) was a world of
haves and have nots. It was a world where
big brother government spies on our phones (google Snowden for more info about this), spies on our emails, and controls how we spend our money (no internet gambling because gambling is evil). The New World Order of President George Bush is a world of fighting
perpetual wars for peace (oxymoronic), and wars are trumped up out of lies to take nations and resources (Read a book by US Ambassador Joseph
Wilson, entitled "The Politics of Truth" which explains how the W. Bush administration and Dick Cheney lied us into several wars and they had
asked Wilson to lie about Niger selling Uranium to Iraq to justify the war against them, and to justify a new war against Niger). W. Bush and Cheney punished Wilson for not lying the US into yet another war, by
outing his CIA wife, Valery Plame. The war in Afghanistan was against the political and religious leadership of Afghanistan, called the Taliban. But
W. Bush had conflated the activities of the terrorist group al Qaeda with the nation of Afghanistan and its Taliban leadership and declared war against them. True, they were both in the Middle East, but if we are going to fight a war, it would be
nice to fight the enemy, rather than US allies, like the Taliban, who, 9 days after the 911 attack, had captured bin Laden and his top aides and offered to turn them over to the United States. The US literally attacked its own allies. Aside from Wilson, another top aide of the W. Bush administration, was a highly religious and scrupled man, Attorney General John
Ashcroft, who wrote the book "Never Again" about all of the lies that the W. Bush administration made to motivate their war crimes (torture camps and illegal wars). To this day, W. Bush is not allowed to go to many countries of the world (like Canada) without being arrested for war crimes and sent to the Hague for a war crimes trial.
In retrospect,
God was right, when he said (in Revelation, a chapter of the bible) that President W. Bush was a demon from hell called the Beast who attacked Iraq.
The war in Iraq was a landmark in the bible. . . it marked a
turning point, in which God was going to destroy the world for defying Him (W. Bush attacked Iraq in defiance of God's orders in Revelation). This is why God sent His modern Prophets, to warn us again about the prophecies of Revelation.
I personally know some of the Prophets of God who warned us not to go to war with Iraq. The Pope wrote a strongly worded See to the United States warning us not to attack Iraq (because the pope understood Revelation).
We are all damned to hell, because W. Bush attacked Iraq. No amount of praying will help, we are now facing God's wrath.
Do I pray? I don't have to contact Him, He contacts me. I cannot say what the relationship is, because God ordered me not to.
I have yuppie relations, who will be seen shopping at cheap stores, and they have to wear upscale clothing. It is like a uniform, think of someone with $200
sunglasses who doesn't use them to block the sun (indoors), but uses them as status symbols, perched on top of their head, and a
cashmere sweater on a hot day with the sleeves tied around the neck and the sweater draped over their back. It is like wearing a uniform to show everyone that you have money. This is a ploy of the nouveau-riche (newly rich). Dressed in the nouveau-riche, they can sneer at others and make them feel bad if they don't have the right clothing. I was stunned that with their great educations, they are not constantly thinking of how to make the world a better place, but thinking of ways to getting rich clothing to make others feel envious or ashamed that they don't dress as they do. I was walking through a Rodeo Drive (Beverly Hills) clothing store, and I was thinking that the clothing designs were the most hideous that I have ever seen. Behind me, were several ladies who exclaimed, out loud, that they are the most hideous that they had ever seen. But the expensive price tags meant that these hideous designs showed others that they were filthy rich, and that was why people were paying such high prices for ugly clothing.
The rich lose their focus. Elon Musk sent Willliam
Shatner into space. Couldn't he figure out how to drill
wells in Africa for fresh water, so they wouldn't moan and grown with intestinal parasites? Couldn't he pay for the development of
drought-proof plants? Couldn't he pay for
immunizations so plagues wouldn't sweep poverty stricken lands?
There are many charities that promise to do exactly that. But, looking at the ledgers, we see that they are set up to benefit the folks who run them. Billionaire Ray
Krok (owner of McDonald's hamburgers) left his billions to the
Salvation Army (one of the few organizations that actually has helped the poor, as long as you pray to their God with their bible). But, the Salvation Army built skyscrapers with the proceeds. The founder of the Peace Corps has a mansion in Maryland (perhaps with his family's money).
Most of the donations to charities never reach their intended donees.
