ACCEPTANCE IS THE KEY TO SERENITY

"If you think yourself too wise to involve yourself in government, you will be governed by those too foolish to govern." Plato

When they are exposed to what Jesus actually preached, many ignorant so-called "Christian Conservatives" cry "Communism". Ray Dubuque LiberalslikeChrist.org Please check out this amazing site, which explains where the religious wrong got their ideas. Read about slavery in the south, and how this is the model they are going for. This is an amazing website by a minister who says exactly what every good Christian knows: Christ had the values of liberals, definitely not conservatives. But you have to read how they distort the bible, and quote Paul of Tarsus over Jesus of Nazareth. Now I get it; they are not interested in Christ's teachings at all!

Drewl said: "Did anyone happen to see Tom Delay's comments the other day about "the enemies of virtue" who are out to destroy Christianity? He said this at a conference called, I kid you not, "War on Christians". What is with these people? The hypocrisy is incredible. If anything, these people are destroying what Christianity is supposed to be about. Sad."

You're right Drewl, I don't recognize Christ's teachings AT ALL in the religious right. In fact, they preach the exact opposite of what Christ taught. The hardest thing in the world is to love these people, these "enemies" who have so perverted The Great Peacemaker's teachings and mission. But that is what we are called to do: see them as children of God and forgive them, for they know not what they do. They are persecuting Christ all over again, on a daily basis. But the truth, the Christ consciousness, is resurrected every day and we have to go forward spreading the truth: "Blessed are the Peacemakers, bless those who persecute you; love your enemies, love your neighbor as yourself... BUT THAT DOESN' T MEAN NOT POINTING OUT CORRUPTION WHEN YOU SEE IT. Christ called the corrupt leaders of HIS day, "A brood of vipers!"

PORN AND THE RAPTURE: To My Last post's "Anonymous": Do you know who is responsible for the porn in America, and the incessant attention to Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Pam Anderson and Paris Hilton? The conglomerates who make money off selling sex-appeal and TV ratings: and they are CONSERVATIVES. There are not many liberals who pander to the homogenized pop-culture, nor to the "ratings" of reality series. The big thinkers like David Kelly "Boston Public" and Paul Haggis "Crash" are liberals; they win awards for deeper-themed art. By the way, many protestants do not believe in the rapture; and certainly not the one designed by Tim LaHaye in the Left Behind books. This is an arrogant, self-serving construct meant to exclude people, and it is preposterously un-Christian.

I am so angry most of the time about the war, the needless deaths, the corruption of our government, the environment, global warming, the lackadaisical attitude in Washington, the powerlessness of the Democrats. How can Bush get away with so many crimes, such unconscionable lack of wisdom or care!? What is a public servant anyway? Isn't he supposed to serve the people? But the anger I am carrying around is not healthy. There must be a better way. And there is. The serenity prayer is amazing: "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." If you can get to acceptance, really accept whatever is going on, no matter how tragic or bizarre, then you can dwell in the present moment - and that's where the key to peace lies. With peace, solutions come.

My husband and I have just been betrayed by a "friend" who is trying to steal his investment in a book he published. She is also going to the author of the book and trying to steal his book rights. This woman (and the people who are influencing her) are operating soley from greed, and after a few days of crying and thinking the worst of them, I realized that I must not fight my enemies. I must see the good in Julie and in these people, and the good will rise. This is a principle, a law of the universe. It is also the Christ truth. After praying about this yesterday, I suddenly picked up one of my favorite books by Wayne Dyer, "You'll See it When you Believe It" and I turned to page 151, and here was a solution to most of my current problems: "Whatever you are currently against can be restated and rethought so as to promote abundance in your life. Everything you are against blocks you from abundance. EVERYTHING! If you are against terrorism and war, you become part of the problem. You are one more soldier fighting for what you believe in. And fighting always weakens you and brings more scarcity into your life. Instead of being AGAINST terrorism and war, try being FOR peace. Once you are for peace, you will start directing your thoughts and consequently your actions in that direction. You will become a peacemaker (or environmental problem-solver) simply by not being against anything. This may sound like semantic juggling, but it is much more than that. Once you are focused on something that you FAVOR, you will expand that in your life. Whatever you tend to be against puts you right into a fighting mold, and expands dissension in your consciousness."

When it comes to Bush & Co, I have not quite gotten to acceptance yet. Watching Bill Maher last night, I had forgotten how mad I was at bush for his deliberate snuffing of the truth about global warming. He actually hired an oil magnate as part of his staff to quash Hansen's scientific evidence that we have only 10 years left to turn it around.

I know for a fact that what you focus on GROWS. Whatever we negatively dwell on, worry or obsess about, stays in our life and becomes more and more of a catastrophe. This is not Pollyanna optimism; it's actually detaching from the worry and placing it in God's hands. Whether you believe in God or not, it doesn't matter; this is actually scientific. Thought is energy and power. Fear attracts like energy. When you radiate peace and love you attract peaceful and loving people, solutions, ideas. Maybe it's not as sexy as fighting (hence the proliferation of hate-speak, reality shows, Jerry Springer and Ann Coulter) — but it actually heals the situation. It works like magic. By the way, God is the force of love: and this power is greater than any other. I know here on this website, fighting really gets people going and it is very addictive and exciting — and sometimes by duking it out you can hear your point of view better or formulate solutions. But I am wondering what people have to say to "higher consciousness" for a change. And by the way, if you are an old-fashioned fire and brimstone Christian, these concepts are harder to understand. It takes a "spiritually open mind" to grasp what Christ really came here to tell us when he said, "You can move a mountain with faith (of a mustard seed.) But remember, the bible was written about flawed, desperate, imperfect people who needed healing. No one was perfect, and we have to remember that about our president too. We must see him with God's eyes: as a man in need of our loving prayers (as hard as that is to stomach!)
Love & more later .. and GO DIXIE CHICKS!! They have a great new song out, and they aren't backing down.
Lyd