Land of the Free, Home of the Brave

I don't know if you remember your years as a youngster in elementary school, so let me tell you about them. You were lied to. When I enteres elementary school in the lil old town of Columbia, Tennessee, I was taught quite a lot. But one thing that was viciously hammered into my head was that America is the greatest nation in the world. Other countires were crawling over each other, trying to get ahead of us. We had the best of everything: the best health care, the best schools, and the best citizens. Even before I was taught the alphabet, I was taught to put my hand over my heart and pledge my allegiance to a country I was horribly lied to about. Doesn't that seem a little strange? That false impression being indoctrinated into the children's heads. We call ourselves the land of the free, and the home of the brave. But are we free? Are we brave? What kind of free citizens line up around the damn block to surrender their civil liberties as a requisite to travel? What kind of free citiens allow themselves to be torrerized and abused by garbage such as the PATRIOT Act? What kind of brave people shit themselves tih fear eveytime a black guy gets on a bus with them, or when a guy with a turban wants to ride on an airplane? We are repeatedly fed war propoganda and lies intended to incite irrational panic in order to keep us in line (sound familiar, George Orwell?), and we don't even realize it. (hed) p.e.'s song "Bloodfire" phrases it greatly: "One by one, the sheep start to realize; tow by tow we expose this world of lies". Now realize that I am not a conspiracy theorist. I do not believe that the goverment is trying to kill us, or is part of a plan for intergaltactic conquest, or whatever. But I do realize that YOUR GOVERMENT (if you're American, anyways) SEES YOU AS SHEEP. YOU ARE BUT A MEANS TO KEEP THE POWERFUL IN POWER, AND KEEP THE RICH IN CONTROL OF THE WEALTH. Your congress is run by multi-national cooporations that use the Senators and House members as mouthpieces for their fiscal gain and total social control. Are they brave? Are YOU brave? Ask yourself, arew you even willing to protest about something anymore? What happened to that spirit, that American spirit of rebellion that made it what is once was? "When the government turns tyrannical, it is your duty to overthrow it." But could we even do that? One of my favorite quotes, that I'll end with, "If Jesus came back today to save the world, the CIA would have him killed or fear of taking over."

Jesus.

Happy late Easter.
In celebration of this fine holiday, the topic today: Christianity.

*For the record: this is no attempt to Convert anyone to my religion. Though it'd be great if you did, do not feel as if I am forcing anything upon you, because I am not all. Thank you*

Don't worry, I'm not going to bash Christians. Most of them anyway, mainly because I happen to be one of those Christians. I don't have a problem with Christianity in general anyway. Some small logistics are a little confusing, but overall I'd say I've got the hang of it. I know for sure I could tell you more about the bible than your preacher could, especially if you're Catholic. Not boasting, simply stating what I know.

I was/am being raised in a Christian household. Father was a minister, mother sings in the choir (but I refuse to spoil this blog with talk of her), and I've been in the church my whole life. Though I believe in Christianity, I have a problem with the church, in general. Not mine though; my church kicks arse. Though I beleieve the bible to be true, the indoctrination from such an early age bothers me at times. So many times, if I ask someone why they partake in what religion they do, the answer is "I was born into it". Not neccessarily a bad thing, but if you don't know anything about religion other than your own, you are a drone; simply participating in a religion because it's all you know. You have blind faith, which is not very strong at all. Now as for me, the proof lies in simple things. Evangelists healing people with tumors and deformities (I had the opportunity to see Benny Hinn once, and it was quite the experience), for one. I saw people pushing their own wheelchairs out of that building, because they didn't need them anymore. Crooked legs becoming straight, tumors shriveling up and dissapearing, and countless other miracles. Now, either it's all part of some mass conspiracy, in which they must have loads of money for special effects, of it's an actual modern-day manifestation of the healing powers of God. You tell me.

Another thing I find interesting about Christianity's validity is the tangible evidence. For example; Buddha is dead. We know that. Confucius is dead. Muhammad's grave is even a holy site for Muslims. But go to Israel, and show me Jesus' corpse. Oh, wait HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN. The fact is, we know he lived, and we know he died. I know he was ressurected, but if you don't, then oh well. You can't argue the power an affect this man had, when in only three years of ministry he became the most influential person to ever walk the planet. And yes, though Jesus is part of the Holy Trinity, he is, in fact, a man.

Even if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, the Bible itself cannot be reasoned away. It's power and authority is practiced daily by hundreds of thousands of Christians. True Christians anyway, ones who know and excercise their authority. (For Christians who don't know their authority; Luke 10:19 KJV says 'Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Those words are written in red, by the way.) Even simple things, like the book of Proverbs, show the vast wisdom and knowledge of God. Example: Proverbs 26:11 (I believe) says "As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly." Does a fool repeat his foolish actions? Does a dog eat his potentially poisinous vomit? Is this scripture wrong?

Lastly, I close with my personal favorite passage of scripture, Isaiah chapter 53 NIV, a prophecy concerning Jesus' crucifixion, written hundreds of years before Christ was born.

1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors. '


Song of the Day: Jesus (of Nazareth) by (hed) p.e.

Fancy Eatin'

So I told myself I wasn't going to start with "so", but oh well. Saturday, I attended a celebratory banquet at the Galt House hotel, here in Louisville. Anyone who lives here knows it a one of the fancier hotels, and I do say, it was quite fancy. Especially the food. First, we were served this salad, on weird shaped plates. But besides the fact that it came with dressing on it, I got the idea that the cooks were trying to please everyone. In the top right corner, there were these sweet and salty almonds; in the bottom left, there lied a portion of crumbled bleu cheese; and in the other corners there were two red rasberries. I wasn't really sure what to do with them though; should I just eat them, roll them into my salad, squeeze the juice over the salad, or what. They ended up just sitting on the plate. I was also unsure of what fork to use, as there were three set up around the plate. Apparently rich people can't enjoy their food unless it's set up just right. Then the entree was some kind of chicken, encrusted with something sweet; greean beans; rice; and some kind of red pepper, that I was also unsure of what to do with. As you can imagine, being a po' boy, I was very confused by the whole business. Then the desert was chesecake. Needless to say, only about two women ate the whole slice (I assume for fear of being called fat. Trust me woman, you are fat). But besides cutting part of my suit while attemoting to remove that tags, it was a pretty decent evening. At least I didn't throw up the food.

My rendition of what the setup was like. Drawn in msPaint with the mouse. Forgive me, God.

Song of the Day: Daydreams by (hed) p.e.