MOVE IT!

Over 100 years, Western influence in the Far East, Middle East and in parts of South and Central America has been so malign that I think we need to

• Move out of the Middle East, where our 100 years of military intervention and unappreciated influence has not gone down well;
• move away from the War of Terrorism;
• move out of the War industry that gives us such good economic growth and prosperity but, where our armaments, weapons and military intervention kill the people of the Middle East and are used against our own heroes of the armed services.
• Move away from world leaders and governments being overthrown by our American led coalition.
• Move towards greater toleration and humility in listening to and accepting the majority decisions of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
• Move out of attacking other countries or deposing their governments, unless we have a 60 to 40 majority of General Assembly members.
• Move away from revenge foreign policy;
• away from drone kill as many as possible that also means mistakes are made and many innocents (non-fighters) get wiped off the face of the earth;
• away from shoot to kill policy, to shoot to maim to bring them to trial, unless your life is in imminent danger when the Police have always been allowed to shoot to protect themselves.
• Move away from military strength on the world stage, to moral strength on the world stage.
• Move away from our continuous at sea, never stop threatening to wipe out much of humanity with our wonderful Weapons of Mass Destruction deterrent.

More on inheriting the earth

I heard Stephen Simcox speak this afternoon on the subject, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

I did speak to him at the close of the Tuesday talk to make one or two of these points.  He is welcome to come back at me, again, of course:
1) That he seemed proud of his 27 years of military service, having mentioned it twice, I believe.  Perhaps, rightly proud.
2) I thought it was inappropriate for him to tell us so much about the work of a Roman centurion.  I felt that he was somewhat carried away by his background and work in the military and, therefore, that explained all the details.
3) I would have liked Stephen/Steve to have mentioned that Jesus was a man of non-violence and NOT a man of violence.
4) From my reading of the Jesus of the Gospels, it is unacceptable for any true disciple to want to inherit any part of the earth - let alone the lot!  But we have inherited so much, with our so good and perfect Western and Christian European empires in recent centuries.  And, we 'Christians' inherited the earth by militarism and certainly not meekness!
5) I think all of us Christians should have the meekness to understand that we belong to the earth (NOT that the earth belongs to us); that we are part of Nature; and, that it is none of our business to even begin to contemplate that we could  start owning the earth - but, of course, only on the Lord's behalf to make it better for Him and His return!
6) For me, having any kind of authority or power over others is not in line with the Jesus of the Gospels who rejected any such earthly power and dominion in the Temptations and throughout His ministry.  Our modern day Caesars need to exercise their power and authority with extreme caution and wisdom.  Preferably, only with the clear mandate of the General Assembly of the United Nations.  Our modern day Christs should stay well out of it!
7) I hope that you will not ask Stephen to deliver the talk on "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God", although it might be fascinating to hear what he has to say.  No doubt, he would say that the modern day centurions of our angelic British armed forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and countless other countries we have fought in, every single year, over the last 101 years, are the true peacemakers!
8) I do take and understand that Steve did do sterling and exemplary work during his time in the military, especially in Bosnia and Rwanda - if violence was no part of it.

Important but missing essentials

Missing words/ideas

Replenish

Sustain

Non-violence/non-aggression

     even, Non-intervention - unless with the clear mandate of the General Assembly of the United Nations to intervene in a peacekeeping mission

Distinguishing marks of which world faith?

no homosexuals in position of leadership

no abortion

no physician assisted suicide

no stem cell research

no killing of cells, foetuses

no physician assisted suicide for the elderly terminally ill, even with their informed consent and when they have full capacity and the

pro-life only for the unborn

pro the armed forces whenever the state says it is right to attack, invade and occupy other nations

Does Christian belief ever fall out with science?  It has done in the past over the age of the earth and its shape as a sphere and not as a flat surface.

God given truths are true for eternity.  Scientific truths are only true until the next theory is proved and verified and the work peer reviewed in a recognised journal.  Scientific truths are only true for as long as the evidence allows or the truth remains substantiated.

Values are:

too right wing when the life and teaching of Jesus is very left wing

not Sermon on the Mount compliant

personal salvation predominates instead of Jesus Christ as role model dominant

humanity is expected to exploit, consume and control nature, the earth and life support systems

The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof actually means that the Lord’s people own the world and can do with it as they want.  Only the Lord's people have the divine right to rule, on behalf of the Creator, over the rest of His Creation. In other words, the earth belongs to them, rather than they belonging to the earth - a fatal misconception in the Bible, a flawed book.