All of us should give thanks to Herb Orban for his shared testimony about the End of Life Option working it‘s way through the California legislative process. Those of us who await the death scenario, somewhat removed from its reality, cannot fully appreciate the angst of his circumstance. We do, however, respect his courage to share his suffering in order to help free California from the legal complications of death.
I was, like Mr. Orban, raised in a very evangelical church and have since dispensed with many of the “drills”, as he calls them. The church can be a comfort to all in the midst of suffering unless the ultimate freedom of the individual to choose death without condemnation is breached. Something is wrong with the church and the state when both are dishonest and hide from the people and patient the reality of death. Can anyone explain the irony of a medical situation called hospice that eliminates hydration for the patient so that they die legally?
For two thousand years the church has considered itself the gatekeeper of eternity demanding that the dead and dying conform to the drills or be banished for an eternity in hell. This gatekeeper mentality of the church is a vicious falsehood that itself must be put to death. God is the gatekeeper of eternity and there is no human organization that can arrogantly cancel Him out or issue speculative promises to anyone.
I can only share my personal opinion on the eternal matter. God would not be God if he kept a pit of eternal fire that burns but never consumes and reserves it for anyone who does not measure up or conform. Only a sadist God or a radical Muslim terrorist could think up such a place. At least this one person believes that the ancient hell belief of the church is not necessarily a Christian belief.
Suffering is the path that must be traveled by everyone in preparation for eternity. We human beings are hopelessly selfish beyond all logic or justification. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God, God banished them from the garden to dig a suffering existence out of the dirt. Suffering as the plan of God is the narrow road that Jesus spoke about and upon which he saw few travel because most of us get bitter, depressed and angry. The miracles from God that Jesus witnessed were a promised future and destination that awaits every one of us when we are ready.
Our modern pill popping culture avoids suffering yet everyone will be filtered for eternity by suffering, on this side of death or beyond. We have no idea what that filtering process will entail on the other side so why not embrace suffering in this life when it comes our way. Popular wisdom has long noted the redeeming quality of suffering by saying, “whatever does not kill you will make you stronger”. Choosing death at the slightest provocation should suffering come upon us is to sell life short, we may just surprise ourselves. One should ask, is avoiding pain and suffering by ending life a worthy life decision?
An elderly preachers wife suffers for thirty years with debilitating rheumatoid arthritis yet she possesses a saintly character that out shines that of her husband and most other folk. This lady must have been 99 and 44/100 ready for eternity when she passed from this world. Selfishly, you and I would not want her pain but her life was a successful life, judged not by the standards of this world but by a character that is out of this world. This kind of selfless character is shown to us by Herb Orban as legislation is written that hopefully gives death authority to the individual while preserving the sanctity of life.
G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca
Monday, March 30, 2015
Monday, March 23, 2015
calling out the bad guys!
Radical extremist Muslim believers are deluded traitors to the righteous cause of their God, whom they call Allah. Muslims, you may rename God but you can not change who he or she is, you can not change what God is about in this world. You can only make fools of yourselves and your faith for you are killing and dying for nothing of value on this earth or beyond. You may kill a lot of Christians but a God who kills is no God! There is no such God and you are evil.
If any of you take offense to my words, I’m in the phone book.
G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca
If any of you take offense to my words, I’m in the phone book.
G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
The Voice of God to Abram
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” Genesis 12:1
The voice of God to Abram 4000 years ago was the beginning of biblical history as well as one of the most significant events in the history of the human race. Historians are sloppy on the biblical documents as they fail to give them due consideration when they make their historical pronouncements. Our educators avoid teaching about the voice of God because they consider it to be irrelevant religious dribble whose proper venue is Sunday School. Both of these highly educated factions are wrong and they should rather judge events by the long lasting consequences these events set in motion.
Few events in history have had a greater impact on the life of more human beings than the voice of God. The importance of the voice should be at the top of the list with the taming of fire and the discovery of the wheel since these three events are with us to this very day. Why should the voice of God to Abram have a lesser value than a few spectacular pyramids that have proven to be the dry bones of a long ago dead civilization? Why should we study the great empires of the ages that have risen and fallen like the desert sands in the winds? The Roman empire had the longest run of 500 years but the impact of the voice of God to Abram has never and will never go away.
The family of Abram is from Mesopotamia somewhere in the delta region of the Euphrates River. There, in Ur of the Chaldeans, Abram heard from God as recorded in Genesis 12 : 1 and without giving us any details, the voice makes just a simple statement. We don’t know how old Abram was when he heard the voice, possibly a teenager. We do know, however, that the family of Abram was of the Arab peoples from present day Iraq. At some point in the life of Abram his family migrated north settling in Harran which would be close to present day Mosul, Iraq. There Abram raised his family in tribal fashion and amongst the greater family of his father Terah.
Migration is the wrong word for their journey from Ur for it was more than a casual relocation. God spoke to Abram and the word from God filtered through the entire family even influencing their father and tribal leader Terah. We are told at the end of Genesis 11 that Terah gathered the family “and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan (11:31)”. That’s right, Canaan, “the land that I will show you”(12:1). The journey toward the land of promise started as a tribal affair, “But when they came to Harran, they settled there.(11:31)” The tribe lived comfortably in Harran for years, stopping short of the directions given to Abram by the Voice. Abram was 75 when his stay in Harran came to an end.
As we live in the now and 4000 years removed from the voice of God to Abram, can we not relate to settling for less than the voice would have for us? Have there not been times in our lives when settling was an easier path, when delay seemed reasonable? Abram would say to us it is never to late for confession. The memory of the voice of God and the direction to “Go” must have haunted Abram during these years in Haraan. Leaving the supposed securities of this world is the starting line for this new monotheism that has broken upon this world. It is a monotheistic voice that calls the people of the voice to step away from all other life supports, “to go from your country, your society (people, tribe or greater family), and your father’s household", anything less is but a polytheistic religion.
G.Goslaw
Landers
The voice of God to Abram 4000 years ago was the beginning of biblical history as well as one of the most significant events in the history of the human race. Historians are sloppy on the biblical documents as they fail to give them due consideration when they make their historical pronouncements. Our educators avoid teaching about the voice of God because they consider it to be irrelevant religious dribble whose proper venue is Sunday School. Both of these highly educated factions are wrong and they should rather judge events by the long lasting consequences these events set in motion.
Few events in history have had a greater impact on the life of more human beings than the voice of God. The importance of the voice should be at the top of the list with the taming of fire and the discovery of the wheel since these three events are with us to this very day. Why should the voice of God to Abram have a lesser value than a few spectacular pyramids that have proven to be the dry bones of a long ago dead civilization? Why should we study the great empires of the ages that have risen and fallen like the desert sands in the winds? The Roman empire had the longest run of 500 years but the impact of the voice of God to Abram has never and will never go away.
The family of Abram is from Mesopotamia somewhere in the delta region of the Euphrates River. There, in Ur of the Chaldeans, Abram heard from God as recorded in Genesis 12 : 1 and without giving us any details, the voice makes just a simple statement. We don’t know how old Abram was when he heard the voice, possibly a teenager. We do know, however, that the family of Abram was of the Arab peoples from present day Iraq. At some point in the life of Abram his family migrated north settling in Harran which would be close to present day Mosul, Iraq. There Abram raised his family in tribal fashion and amongst the greater family of his father Terah.
Migration is the wrong word for their journey from Ur for it was more than a casual relocation. God spoke to Abram and the word from God filtered through the entire family even influencing their father and tribal leader Terah. We are told at the end of Genesis 11 that Terah gathered the family “and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan (11:31)”. That’s right, Canaan, “the land that I will show you”(12:1). The journey toward the land of promise started as a tribal affair, “But when they came to Harran, they settled there.(11:31)” The tribe lived comfortably in Harran for years, stopping short of the directions given to Abram by the Voice. Abram was 75 when his stay in Harran came to an end.
As we live in the now and 4000 years removed from the voice of God to Abram, can we not relate to settling for less than the voice would have for us? Have there not been times in our lives when settling was an easier path, when delay seemed reasonable? Abram would say to us it is never to late for confession. The memory of the voice of God and the direction to “Go” must have haunted Abram during these years in Haraan. Leaving the supposed securities of this world is the starting line for this new monotheism that has broken upon this world. It is a monotheistic voice that calls the people of the voice to step away from all other life supports, “to go from your country, your society (people, tribe or greater family), and your father’s household", anything less is but a polytheistic religion.
G.Goslaw
Landers
Friday, March 13, 2015
message from an ugly conservative
Please allow me just a moment to intrude into the “territory" of Robert J. Westwood and The Desert Sun. The Morongo Valley is my territory but I picked up the March 10 Desert Sun opinion page to ease the wait in our hospital lobby. The Desert Sun is for sale up here but I can’t be bothered for the vast majority of newspapers nationwide are political propaganda sheets for the so called progressive politics from the left. Accordingly, all of the comments from the readers of the Desert Sun were supportive of Mr. Westwood and his article in the Valley Voice.
Mr. Westwood, you are a progressive far left Democrat and you have a right to your bully pulpit. This is, however, America. You do not have the right to deny the bully pulpit to those ugly conservatives. The Ritz Carlton surely has a better financial bottom line because they hosted those ugly conservatives and is that not to the benefit of your advertised less than wealthy taxpayers and readers?
All of the issues that you list as conservative ugliness are sacred to a majority of middle of the road Americans. Which is worse, the Koch brothers or the Clintons? At least the Koch brothers are out there creating jobs for people, Democrat and Republican. Your article is a tired list of far left Democratic talking points each having a deceitful twist. I would very much enjoy the opportunity to point out your deceiving ways, anytime.
G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca
.
Mr. Westwood, you are a progressive far left Democrat and you have a right to your bully pulpit. This is, however, America. You do not have the right to deny the bully pulpit to those ugly conservatives. The Ritz Carlton surely has a better financial bottom line because they hosted those ugly conservatives and is that not to the benefit of your advertised less than wealthy taxpayers and readers?
All of the issues that you list as conservative ugliness are sacred to a majority of middle of the road Americans. Which is worse, the Koch brothers or the Clintons? At least the Koch brothers are out there creating jobs for people, Democrat and Republican. Your article is a tired list of far left Democratic talking points each having a deceitful twist. I would very much enjoy the opportunity to point out your deceiving ways, anytime.
G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca
.
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