Day 71

May is fast approaching and this spring is different.  The cold and wet months of February and March have changed the desert that has been almost the same for my eight years in Landers.  The old timers say they cannot remember such a spring for we now have an abundance of green weeds with their many-colored flowers.  April has also brought us an invasion of caterpillars and now there are butterflies everywhere with no apparent rhythm or reason.  Why?

One of the obvious answer is change, change is inherent to the world we populate.  Everything seems to have a cycle or process whether or not it is apparent to the naked uninformed eye.  My Biology professor was informed as to the processes of nature and the life cycles of bugs and plants but I was not into the workings of such things to any great extent.  The timing of nature was his thing while I have long forgotten such things except the fact that change is the friend of our physical world order.

   

We humans are uncomfortable with change but just wait, change comes upon us like the weather.  The philosophers tell us that there are two eternities, one being the physical cosmic eternity that most of us think of as temporary but is it really?  The form and function of the galaxies change, sometimes dramatically, but we can be certain that they will reform and again start the process anew.  Life on our planet may be someday be wiped out but there will be another beginning however small.

 

The second eternity is the spiritual realm or dimension.  This is the classical eternity that all we living human beings hang our hat on.  The accepted understanding is that this eternity is static, a paradise that will compensate we humans for the vicissitudes of life and where we can relax without the fear of change. One might ask, is this a good understanding?  Where science has informed our physical eternity, could our spiritual eternity also be a dimension of change?  We all should hope that this may be the case for most of humanity, at best, has only scratched the surface of our spiritual potential.

The paths of the two eternities have at times crossed.  When this has happened, a spiritual spark is ignited in our world.  All the religions of our eternity began with a spark igniting one individual to set aside the humdrum of life for an adventure into the spiritual realm.  We only hear about the influential names like Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, Jesus and Mohammed.  There have been thousands of others, less influential individuals who, when ignited, made the decision to explore their spiritual eternity.

 

The history of the Jewish people experienced such an intersection of eternities 4000 years ago.  A change was about to happen and is recorded in the book of Exodus, chapter 2, 23 to 25.  (KJV)

“And it came to pass in process of time, that the King of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage.  And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and with Jacob.  And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.”

Let the fireworks begin!

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA                           

Day 70

You fill in the blanks  (which religions and when)

Faiths bound by ethics ………..  ???

Faiths bound by doctrine …………  ????

Faiths bound by politics …………  ?????

Fluid faiths ……. unbound by earthly concerns   ?????

G.Goslaw

Landers, Ca

Day 69

Political revenge.... the great immigration roundup of 2021.

G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca

Day 68

Mathew 5:17 to 20

     

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  Truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of the pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.   Anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." (NIV)  

The Law and the Prophets began as the spiritual adventure of one flawed man in an obscure land four thousand years ago.  Abram listened and responded to a voice, some believed to have been an inner voice or others believed to be a voice from the heavens, telling him to move his family to an unknown land.  This inner and outer adventure continued through the lives and spiritual struggles of his family, led by himself and his sons, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.  Finding the promised land inhospitable for a time, the family settled in Egypt where the Pharaoh quickly relegated these adventurers to slavery building bricks for four hundred years.  Life became hard and short lived.

God had a plan to preserve the family by raising up Moses to bring his people out of slavery and out of Egypt and back into the promised land of their forefathers.  This adventure is awesomely documented in the Bible, books, movies and story tellers through the centuries.  The people reluctantly trade Egyptian slavery for a probable death in the desert but the invisible God comes to their rescue in the nick of time, time and again through the faith of Moses.

    

Despite the repeated demonstrations from the heavens, the family demanded more from Moses than the simple fluid faith adventure that was the Law and the Prophets on the heart or inner soul of the family.   Instead of, or in addition to, the fluidity of faith, the people demanded a predictable religion that ministers mostly to the visible outer man.

In desperation Moses climbs a mountain to meet with God.  The people waited and Moses returns with stone tablets written by God with the words of eternity.  Again, the family was not happy, Moses got angry, dashing the stones to pieces against the mountain. The people were not ready for the whole story.

After cooling off, Moses returned to the mountain for a copy of the broken tablets.  Moses again returns to the family with version two of the Law as given to Moses.  Were the two versions of stone tablets written with the same words, were they somehow different?  I would like to read those original words from the first set of stone tablets but, then, we all would and eventually we all will read them.  For now, Jesus was sent by God to tell us the rest of the story which should not diminish the beginning.

There is a logical inconsistency with the words of Jesus as recorded by Saint Mathew in his gospel, 5: 17 to 20.  Jesus preached that right living or righteousness gained from a spiritual relationship with God, exceeds the righteousness of the written Law handed down from Moses to the ethically motivated Pharisees and turned into religious doctrine by the teachers of the Law (Sadducees).  However, the words of Jesus warn us that we must still respect the written Law and not set it aside while giving spirituality the focus.  The consequence for such disrespect is that we shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.  If one is respectful of the written Law as given to Moses while searching for the spiritual Law, this one will gain a reputation for being the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

The logical inconsistency is that no matter your respect level for the religious Law or the spiritual Law written on the heart, all parties are within the kingdom.  If Jesus was a spiritual crusader inviting all to drink from the fountain of God, why is spirituality presented in such an optional manner?  This is hard to wrap my head around.  Even more confusing is verse twenty in which Mathew records Jesus as saying that unless your faith is greater than the Law, you certainly shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.  One might ask, which is it, the Law or the Law written on the heart that qualifies one for the kingdom of Heaven?  Is it either or both?  I wish there was a Bible expert out there that could fix this seeming inconsistency but as yet I have not heard back so I shall advance my own amateurish opinion.

Fully recognizing that adding to the words of Jesus is overtly dangerous, I believe that a few words at the end of verse 20 will untangle the inconsistency.  The verse would then read, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” in this life. Those three little words at the end of the verse, “in this life”, are so necessary that they can almost be assumed clarity.  Chances are that during the 1000 years that the Bible was hidden in the church and repeatedly copied by hand, these three words were accidentally left off and lost to us.

Early in his ministry, the attitude of Jesus toward religion, the religion of his birth, seems to be, if you are not against me, you are for me.  This says to me that Jesus understood God as being inclusive and God honors anyone who walks a God path.  Religion alone, however, is about qualifying people for the journey as was the case with the religion of Israel at the time of Jesus.  In spit of this reality, Jesus had a positive expectation that “we are all in this together”.  Such an optimism is difficult to understand considering the turn that religion was to take in the coming months of his walk.

 

Despite the turn that became dramatically adversarial, Jesus never picked up the sword even though he was tempted in the Garden of Gethsemane.  This high road decision was and is more than most of us can muster, giving up our own personal defense, trusting the God who gives us the credentials for the kingdom, both now and forever.

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA    

         

Day 67

Some of us are exhausted with the our current immigration injustice.  Thousands of central Americans flooding into our country and our politicians are powerless to stop it because our laws are a free pass.  The Democrats will not fix the injustice or our laws so it is the Democrats who are terrorizing we the American citizens.

Democrats, you have won the fight with President Trump in the short term, congratulations.  As politicians you have decided to run errands for the open borders base of your party but that intransigence is very dangerous for your party long term.  We may have to endure caravan after caravan of illegal aliens for the next two years but katy bar the door after the elections in November 2020.

Should President Trump win reelection, should the Republicans extend their majority in the Senate and should the Democratic majority be run out of the House of Representatives, the people, we the American citizens who are paying for this insanity, will have clearly spoken our will.  The people will be in full revolt mode and a massive roundup of illegals will begin.  There will be no mercy, for the illegals or the open borders politicians.

Democrats, let your gamble play out!

 

G.Goslaw

Landers, Ca

Day 66

One jackass doctor is as good as another jackass doctor.  Heal you or kill you, no matter!

G.Goslaw
Landers, CA

Day 65

The prophet Isaiah expected a change in the desert.

The desert and the parched land will be glad;

the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.

Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;

it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;

they will see the glory of the Lord,

the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the feeble hands,

steady the knees that give way;

say to those with fearful hearts,

Be strong and do not fear;
your God will come,

he will come with vengeance,

with divine retribution

he will come to save you.

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Then will the lame leap like a deer,

and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Water will gush forth in the wilderness

and streams in the desert.

The burning sand will become a pool,

the thirsty ground bubbling springs.

In the haunts were jackals once lay,

grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

And a highway will be there;

it will be called the Way of Holiness;

it will be for those who walk on the Way.

The unclean will not journey on it;

wicked fools will not go about on it.

No lion will be there.

nor any ravenous beast;

they will not be found there.

But only the redeemed will walk there,

and those that the Lord has rescued will return.

They will enter Zion with singing;

everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Gladness and joy will overtake them,

and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Isaiah 35  NIV

Day 64

If we Americans step back from all the political hype and emotional hysteria, we can only laugh until the tears flow.  The Democratic presidential wannabes are now the righteous arbiters of American morality?  Hey you guy’s and girl’s, put that on Saturday Night Live and the show will again be a hit.

G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca

Day 63

Jesus showed up among us not as a religious icon but as a God directed and inspired spiritual crusader. Religion is what we settle for. 

G.Goslaw
Landers, CA

Day 62

Our desert has turned green this spring.  After six years of living brown in Landers, the cold wet winter and spring have yielded green weeds two feet tall.  My neighbor says that she has never seen our desert so alive in her twenty years of residence.  The beautiful green weeds yield flowers, yellow, violet and white.  The desert fauna has come alive in 2019 and the change is unexpected and welcome but those beautiful weeds will not last.  I shall repaint my house green for the weeds will disappear quite soon.

G.Goslaw
Landers, CA

Day 61

The Republican political establishment that recruits and finances new politicians for Washington has never had the middle class working taxpayers in their radar.  As Lou Dobbs has stated for thirty years, politics for them is all about pleasing the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Round Table.  Therefore, keeping middle class wages low or lower is their sole, honest interest of the Republican Party led by Senate Majority leader Mitch “the Hitch” McConnell.

The hard working lower third of American income earners hate the Democratic open border policy but we should hate the Republican political leadership even more.  Politicians of both parties have given the country power puff immigration laws that have invited the invasion from the south.  The invasion is here and all our politicians are, understandably, sitting on their asses.

The result is that they are punishing us for their get rich greed.  They are robbing Peter (we taxpayers) to pay Paul (the business establishment).  The Democratic and Republican politicians are exposing us to crime, drugs and educational and financial burdens that do not reach the rich folk.  They are immune and the villains.

President Trump is our Robin Hood and our only hope for economic justice.  Trump policies have raised our wages and put more of us to work contributing to the well-being of our families and the country.  However, Washington is doing a good job of hog tying his efforts to bring economic equity to America.

 

My opinion, there are no good politicians, self-interest is their only concern and as a result, the America we love is doomed just as the Roman Empire committed economic and political suicide 600 years ago.  Déjà vu!

 

G.Goslaw

Landers, Ca     

Day 60

Google is selling itself as smart news?  And they think we’re stupid!

G.Goslaw

Landers, Ca