Musings on People

Earlier this evening I wrote I Need A New Blog and A Pseudonym.  It's out there for the world, and I am not going to change it.  Reading it after posting, I believe it is written a bit more on edge and dark than I thought when I posted it.  I'll live with it, but were I writing it an hour later, I believe it would be softer and lighter.  So there.

Today was my wife's birthday.  She has been receiving telephone calls from friends and family all day.  We had reservations for dinner at an excellent restaurant, but the friends with whom we had planned to go had some problems and couldn't make it, so we decided to cancel.  We rescheduled for Valentine's Day.  Those of you who know her understand the significance of that.  Marrianna is a very romantic person, to the point of being mushy.  She has decorated the house with hearts and Valentine appropriate things. 

Since the title of this post is Musings on People, I thought it would be appropriate to write a bit about her.  As I've said, she is very romantic.  But there is so much more to this woman.  She is very, very bright.  She almost never forgets a thing.  I insert the "almost" because as soon as I declare it to be absolutely true, she will forget something.

She loves to decorate the house, changing the motif with the seasons and holidays.  Our main point of contentiousness comes from the pillows.  She uses a lot of pillows, and I dislike having to move them to sit comfortably.  But even the pillows are tasteful.  All colors in a room blend nicely.  She doesn't believe in furniture sets, so we have an eclectic set of different styles in every room.  We've begun hanging some of her art in the house, and I think that has been a great source of pleasure for her.  I like all her work and am proud to have it hung.

She is a demonstrative person.  She hugs and kisses friends, family, and probably would complete strangers if she wasn't so attuned to their privacy bubbles.  She gives a lot of herself, and expects little in return.  She is gracious in accepting friends reciprocal gratitude and gifts.

I used to believe that her home is the most important thing for her. That's not accurate, though the home is hugely important.  Her family and friends are even more important though.  She's happy when she is with family, but she is also content to be at home, painting, reading, and decorating.

In short, this is a unique woman, and I am very fortunate to be her husband and even more so, her friend.

Musing on:  I've read a couple of papers today and several blogs.   Separately, I've received email that gives me some heartburn, and I've watched my basketball team go down.  All in all, other than a birthday, not a good day.  The birthday was enough to make it a good one.

I dislike labels, but sometimes they are useful.  No one, repeat, no one, can ever be fully described by a label or even a set of labels.   But here I am about to tell you some of the labels I would use to describe myself.  I gave you a short list in the previous post:  counter and not deep.  Add liberal,  husband, step-father, Southerner, enlisted military 20 year retiree, retired computer consultant, and lastly Christian.  It is this last that gives me the most problems.

It isn't important for me to announce to the world that every person who uses the label Christian believes in the same thing.  But that is absolutely accurate.  As an example, I have an ordained Presbyterian friend who is also Wiccan.   You wouldn't want to tell either him or me that he is not Christian.  The Christian religion has a wide range of belief, dogma, ritual, and denominations.  We are not alike in more ways than we are. 

I intensely dislike having myself lumped in with the conservative Christian.  Their view of God doesn't match mine in the least.  I cannot and will not  say that they are wrong because I also believe that any God worthy of being called God is an inclusive God.  They're just not people with whom I wish to associate myself, in any way.

For me, Christianity is very liberal, based on the teachings of a man who broke all the conservative rules of his culture.  It's inclusive and love based.  I don't personally accept or believe in some of their dogma and creeds, but those two attributes are enough to keep me calling myself Christian.

It has been said that religion seeks to gather and exercise power.  That's true, beyond a doubt.  As an Air Force friend of mine used to say, "It may not be right, but it's damn sure true."  When it happens though, it is, in my opinion, beginning to stray from the teachings of the man they call Christ.  Power should only be used to protect, shelter, and enable the weak.  And that power is useful, even necessary.

What is right isn't always the operating principle.  In my opinion, the Bush administration uses its power to create a facade of truth.  Their truth enslaves rather than sets free, is used to further weaken those already weak. 

I watched a 1998 CSPAN interview with Molly Ivins this afternoon before the basketball game.  She was special.  We need more such as her.  She called the powerful to account, and there isn't enough of that today, or, I suppose any day.

Peace.

Comments

[Felix Grant]

JMP> It has been said that religion seeks to
JMP> gather and exercise power. That's true,
JMP> beyond a doubt.

Forgive me, but I disagree - and so I contest the second part, about it being beyond a doubt.

Religions, I would say, do not seek to gather or exercise power. Or, at least, not those I am mentally ticking off in my head as I write this (including the Abrahamic big three).

No. It is human beings, or organisations and cabals of human beings, who seek to gather and exercise power - and, because they harness and subvert the loyalty which religions attract, their venality comes to seem as though it is attached to the religion itself.

JMP> When it happens though, it is, in my opinion,
JMP> beginning to stray from the teachings of the
JMP> man they call Christ.

With that I agree ... and, with the straying, beginnning not to be "Christian", at least in the usual sense of the word. (Other senses are always possible.)

I see no conflict between being Christian and being something else (Wiccan, for example), so long as the requirements of the two do not contradict each other. I cannot be both a meat eater and vegetarian, because one involves an activity at odds with the definition of the other; I can, however, be both a motorist and a pedestrian because they are not mutually exclusive. I can see that someone could be a Christian, because they believe in both Christ and his teachings, but also a Wiccan of some kinds (there are wide variations in Wiccan belief) with a belief in the natural attributes of Lord and Lady.

Being a Christian while contravening the core teachings of Christ, however, is more problematic. But then, most things in life *are* problematic, especially in matters of belief...

[Mac]

Felix says, "I see no conflict between being Christian and being something else (Wiccan, for example), so long as the requirements of the two do not contradict each other."

I have no problem with that so far as it goes. But, does being a Christian require one to believe in the divinity of Christ, or, is it enough to subscribe to the teachings about life and living of the man called Christ as related in the bible? It seems to me that belief in the divinity of Christ and the doctrine of salvation is essential to being called a Christian.

I have few, if any problems with Crist's teachings (as I understand them) but do have some considerable difficulty with some interpretations of them by many who are presumeably 'authorized' to teach me about them.

Likewise, I have little difficulty with most of the core teachings about life and living of Mohammed, or of Confucious, or the Buddah(again as I understand them). So, should I be called a Muslim, or a Confucian, or a Buddhist? Or, can I be both a Christian and a Muslim, or a Confucian or a Buddhist at the same time? Somehow, absent a confirmation of Christ's divinity in the latter three, I think not.

Mac

[Felix Grant]

To Mac: on conflict between (for example) being Christian and being Wiccan, I suppose the response is another question. Does a belief in the divinity of Christ automatically preclude also having a belief in other divinities?

If yes, then one cnnot be both. If no, then to be both is perfectly possible.

Logically, there is no conflict. Even the Mosaic commandments don't state that the old testament God is the ONLY god - monotheism is an assumption of the Abrahamic religions, not an explicitly revealed tenet. A Christian may logically have to accept that the Wiccan Lord and Lady must not be worshipped BEFORE the trinity godhead of which Christ is part (commandment 2); nor worhipped in image (3 & 4); but given that caveat there is no prohibition on believing in their existence or even their divinity.

Nor, throughout the history of Christianity, has exclusivity existed in practice for most believers. In the staunchist bastions of Roman Catholicism (Ireland and Italy) for example, the belief in a whole pantheon of other minor deities, demons, an magic exist.

[Mac]

Felix asks, "Does a belief in the divinity of Christ automatically preclude also having a belief in other divinities?"

Depending on the definition of 'divinity' one uses, perhaps not. But, when one equates the divine with the creator as in Christianity, it would seem to me it does. the idea of multiple creators seems to me a non-starter.

Other than for that 'difficulty', your discussion is persuasive. It all comes down, I think, to how do I/we/you define God, or divinityas I suggested elsewhere.

Mac

Mac