I have now completed re-reading all of my archaeology books. Some of them were a bit difficult - the massive usage of Greek, Hebrew and Latin in the texts was maddening - I realize I used to know this stuff but even when I translate the expressions, I am left utterly clueless as to what the author was driving at. Sigh, poor old brain, you have been robbed.
I was fascinated relearning about the Egyptian culture and society. The comparison to this world today is so strikingly different! The Egyptians were about as close as one could get to a raceless society .... be you of whatever skin color - it was meaningless up to the time of the Hebrew exodus. Then there was no trust any longer of any foreigner! Color still had no meaning though.
Humanity had been the race of mankind.
Like many other cultures they learned racism and bigotry, then passing their newly acquired values on to their descendants ... Time of course institutionalizing and validating that they are better than those they look down upon. Dang those Greeks for beating the tar out of them!
This post arose out of a memory from late one night, before I could drift off and relive the same dream/memory yet again ... :) Yeah, still only one dream, every night, everytime I close my eyes. Sigh :) yeah you would be amazed at what brings me peace to my soul when I sleep.
In the memory, I am at the NCO Club bar at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital. I had just passed my final shooting exam and Carlos Hathcock was talking about being a sniper in Vietnam ... "You are assigned your kill zone and you kill anything and everything in that zone ... dog, pig, Gook - does not matter. They enter your zone, you kill them."
Of course as a young man I saw this as a bit outrageous but my mind had hooked onto the word, "Gook". He had dehumanized the Vietnamese, they were no longer humans: men, women or children - just "Gooks".
But the military seems to have done that often. Huns, Japs, Nips, Frogs, Cabbage Eaters, Krauts, Nazis, Commies, etc. Pick the war and you can find lots of examples of removing any term associated with human in describing those whom you want to justify the killing of.
There was only one point in time where I saw that my father got "it". We were at Calais, facing an untold sea of grave markers ... tens of thousands. And father completely collapsed, sobbing and crying over the loss to the human chain of life. Yeah, Nazi's were Darwinists. Did not know that, did you? The value of being human was your ability to pass on your genes to the next generation.
And here we come to reality: you, the Bible and your responsibility as a Christian.
It is not just verbage from America's founding fathers: All Men Are Created Equal. I remember in seventh grade history in Germany, that it was modified to be All White Men ... and they may well have been correct from the perspective of the Founding Fathers ... or it may well have been true to them: that all men are equal in God's eyes - and those are actually the only ones which matter. Our perspective is just so much rubbish if we are demeaning others.
Want to change the world? See the world as colorless, see others truly as your equal or even superior, end political suspicions - not stupidly, but with knowledge of whom your friends are. For instance, there is little reason to think Israel is not an American friend, when politics are removed. Same for many other nations America has spent a great on spying on them! Conversely, nations whom are at best out right enemies, well, kiss off support for and concentrate on places like China and Saudi Arabia. Of course, it also means destroying the economic structure which supports underwriting those outright aggressive towards you and your friends or faith.
Humanity is the name of your race, and mine. But how to convince those with power to lose?
As a Christian, you are called to LOVE - you, your family, your friends and your enemies. This word has been so misused that it really has no meaning any longer. Even our enemies we are to love, think about that! Yes, feeding, clothing and helping - all as a witness of His love in you. Catch the hitch there? It is a witnessing tool, no if and's or buts. And the early Christians understood this, gathering money to help the Romans with destructions from flood and earthquakes. Yeah, the Romans understood ... their government did not care - these people they persecuted did ....
So my point: Human is our race and Love, God's Love, is to be our religion
How does this fit in with the problems this culture has created around the world and Christians are suffering from even as I write this?
It does not matter if you are an Immigrant, if you are a rapist - you must die.
It does not matter if you are Muslim and believe you are above the law - you must die,.
You loot, you burn, you steal, you take up arms - you must die.
If you empower others to do these things - you must die.
Where is Love in there?!?!?!? It is in the love for the innocent you are fighting for, no matter whom they are .....
I still believe that with the application of rational minds peace can be found, it is the irrational mind which has been empowered which has caused this mess around the world - and this must be stopped. It is not about politics, it is about justice.
The unknown 15 year old girl attacked in Cologne, is no less deserving of justice than my cousin Bernard who was executed for helping injured Muslim old men and women in a Bosnian refugee camp. And the world system is incapable of even charging those they hold for his murderer! His guilt is undeniable, even he admits it - but he also insists that those whom caused the mess be found guilty first ... and well, America sure is not going to hand over ex-President Bill Clinton. That's politics for you!
Sorry world, you like to believe there are no lines in the sand ... and I am here to tell you that God long ago drew a line in the sand - cross it and expect a major whacking.
Sigh.
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