I agree with your points. I am just so frustrated with people in my area who have spouted for years about how women, gays, immigrants, liberals, democrats, etc. are evil and that everything bad that happens is God's punishments against people like me, etc.
I honestly don't know what to do with them at this point. They have poisoned every area of society and my life. I am truly unhomed, without a society or group. While I embrace Christianity and believe that our sole purpose here on earth is to help one another, I cannot stomach the doctrines the local churches have embraced, especially after Trump came into power.
I heard how these voters want to hurt the liberals because the liberals have hurt them over the years, but living in a red state, I can't see it. I have honestly never witnessed a liberal be cruel to an Evangelical because of his or her beliefs, but I bare witness to the countless injustices and hypocrisies that those professing to believe in God have practiced in my area for the entirety of my life. So to hear these people claim that they love Trump because he "sticks it to the liberals" makes my stomach turn. And to witness these same people remain silent and/or cheer on acts of cruelty and violence against others (minorities, women, gays, etc.) has created a crisis in my soul.
I admit it. I want them to wake up and realize that their petty crusade against people is one that they themselves have instigated over the last few decades. I want them to have a spiritual awakening to the damage that they are causing others. But I am at a loss of what to do. Trying to be kind and/or telling the truth doesn't work. Keeping myself separate doesn't work. The only thing that seems to give them pause is when I use their own tactics against them (but only if they did it first. I never go to a person and just randomly attack there values. I haven't gotten to that point yet, and I hope I never will).
I want to be able to talk to my friends from different faiths and viewpoints and not feel attacked. I feel confident in my own viewpoints that I don't feel the need to attack anyone else. Plus, the more I learn, the more I see the similarities in out viewpoints to where common ground is found. But in this area, it is impossible. I either keep my friendships hidden, stay silent, or stand up for my beliefs (I chose the last option.)
I really wish those people would just stop it. I am tired of being attacked. I want them to feel a little of the pain they cause me and others in the hope that they take a moment to pause and think about how their actions are hurting others.
Will we ever have a world where people care about each other again?
@moonbeam great video! thank you
@allyn I empathize with your struggle. Facebook posts from friends of mine for over 60 (yes I'm that old) years, have revealed sides of themselves that I never knew were there, and I can no longer be friends with them (not an easy decision). So, for me: two points I'd like to contribute to this discussion: I am a liberal Christian who gave up churches years ago and now study a wide variety of texts and issues with a friend. We grapple all the time with "God's Will" etc. Do we have solid answers? No. But what we have come to is this. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. And, in that experience Shakespeare got it right: All the world's a stage and we are merely players. We believe as best we can that this world is what it is as a "stage" to see how we handle difficult situations, to see how our souls evolve by grappling with difficult situations. (That perspective got both of us through extraordinarily difficult divorces, etc.) In other words, to those who say Trump was God's choice, God may have ALLOWED Trump to come to power because so much needed to be exposed, because we had become complacent about so many issues, etc. I used to live in a small town that argued repeatedly that what went on in Washington had nothing to do with them. They don't say that now. My second point is the most difficult to accept, but John Dean describes it well in CONSERVATIVES WITHOUT CONSCIENCE which he started with Barry Goldwater with the rise of Bushism. Essentially it contains a great deal of research on authoritarians which most Trump supporters are, and nothing in my experience since refutes his findings. Authoritarians follow a cult like leader who tells them that he can lead. (Remember George W. Bush saying that? Not one asked him where he would lead.) AND no amount of solid evidence, research, or expertise convinces them of anything but what they already believe.
@jeanne-mayell I cannot emphasize enough how much I believe that ONENESS is key to so much. So glad you noted that.
I've actually used that before and was told that it is part of the rapture and not punishment, so covid is proof that supporting Trump is God's will and it is all moving forward to the second coming of Christ.
The Evangelical leaders that control this whole "God for Trump" storyline are good at what they do and have an answer for everything. The sad part is that most of the answers are nonsensical, but if you say it with confidence and declare it as God's will, the sheep will believe no matter what you tell them.
A quick introduction as a new member and then I want to address Allyn's post.
I've been reading this forum on a near daily basis for the past couple of years. With the whole Trump presidency, I started looking for psychic predictions about what might happen next and stumbled on this site. It has been a real lifeline during such trying times. I used to read the predictions more and the forum not so much, but now it's the other way around. There have been a couple times lately that I wanted to respond to a post and realized I'd not yet registered, and I finally decided to register today. I don't know that I will post a lot. I don't know that I won't. Now I have the option if I want to.
I'm a gay man almost 50. I follow a mostly Druid path. I feel my overall beliefs are consistent with many on the group regardless of religion or spiritual path. In my college years, I was a strong gay activist on campus. These days I work as an archivist for a local university. I live in Norfolk, Virginia. I've seen there are a few other Virginian's who post frequently here. I wouldn't call myself a light worker. My path recognizes the need for working with both light and its shadow in this existence. I strive to make the world a better place, but realize that isn't always light and fluffy.
To address @allyn's post, there is this idea in Druid philosophy that even the land would rise up against a corrupt leader or king, and as a polytheist I certainly believe that some deities would. I couldn't point you to a specific text for this, but it is something that has come through my own studies of Druid beliefs. So there is merit in Allyn's suggestion - depending on one's beliefs and perspectives and which god you are speaking of. As a gay man who has often endured people Christian leaders like Pat Roberson claiming that hurricanes are God's wrath on gay people, I'm more than happy to believe that our current plagues are some deity or another's dissatisfaction with the way things are being run by our human leaders. Since Pagan gods are nature personified, this certainly could not be entirely untrue. Especially since so many of our problems like plagues and climate change are reactions of nature to the devastation we humans have imposed on the environment. I also believe in karma, but I believe that sometimes we are instruments of growth and karma for others by helping them see their own shadows.
@MAS1582, wow just wow. This kind of blind devotion is seen in countries like Iran. The very places they abhor, yet they behave *exactly* the same.
I am wondering, is it perhaps time to consider a move?
Sometimes we believe we can't relocate when in reality we can. If your spirit is at unrest in the location you live, can you move to a different location with the potential for some more like-minded people?
I am wondering, is it perhaps time to consider a move?
Sometimes we believe we can't relocate when in reality we can. If your spirit is at unrest in the location you live, can you move to a different location with the potential for some more like-minded people?
I second this. As much as I get nostalgic for my former town in VA, I haven't forgotten that one of the reasons we left was to find a more accepting, liberal atmosphere. Same for FL, where we were living when 9/11 happened.
I got tired of my daughter's ethnic origin constantly questioned, my own as well, and I especially got tired of having to be around very intolerant "christians" every day. I got tired of being asked "What church do you go to?" And I also got tired of dealing with consequences for refusing to embrace their belief system. I never once said anything mean to anyone who spouted their racist, biased nonsense but they frequently did.
I have no use for organized religion of any kind anymore, I see it as a bane of human existence, and before you reply to that, I'm NOT talking about spirituality or personal faith. People's interior life is none of anyone's business, where I draw the line is at trying to impose that on the exterior world.
Since last week's Isaias, there are still people that still don't have power back on. Fortunately, I am not affected. ConEd and LISE got called out for its performance.
https://www.theverge.com/21361751/tropical-storm-isaias-power-outages-tristate-utilities-energy-grid