Love and Kindness

Goodness is about character, integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like.  More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people. - Dennis Prager

Isn’t that what life is supposed to be about, keeping people safe and out of harm’s way?  Providing love and being kind to create a world without fear?   Love and be loved?  What’s the point of living if these basic concepts are not entitled to every human being?  Seems to simple right, but then why doesn’t society put these simple values before everything else including religion?  In the end, isn’t pure basic good and kindness what so many individuals want from God?   

A Nation of Humanity

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people…  They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.  -Thomas Jefferson

What if we define ourselves as a Nation of Humanity?  Humanity is defined as “the quality or state of being human”.  Our nation’s laws should emphasize that worshipping each other is far more important than honoring each other as Christians.  We are all human beings with our own thoughts, opinions, and ideas.  Each and every law in every state should govern as such promoting the health and welfare of every person to be the utmost priority. 

The abolishment of slavery should have abolished any state to state law where any man, woman or child could be treated differently.  Every person regardless of their race, gender, or sexual preference should be able to travel north to south, as well east to west in this beautiful country of United States without the fear of discrimination and prejudice.  And if the Constitution needs to be amended to reflect such a law, then by God do so.  Any person who defies any other person the rights to equality and freedom that they themselves enjoy, should be ashamed.  Proclaiming to be better than others requires a superhuman belief of oneself, which taints any belief in the life of a man named Jesus.

It’s daunting to think that such a mindset of ignorance is still so prevalent in the twenty-first century.  The greed, control and power of religions and government have been so embedded in our nation’s culture that too many members of society just accepted the created truths that dictates how they think, act, and treat others.  How has such disgrace towards other human beings been going on for so many centuries?  Our society needs to be asking the questions and learning the lessons of Hitler, Stalin, slavery, and the abuse of children all over the world. 

"The Fallen Catholic Society"

Biblically speaking, fear was always used by the clergies to ensure that people would obey the rules that were allegedly bestowed by God upon humanity to avoid burning in hell. These rules were actually written by men to control the masses and to perpetuate the power of the religious leaders. As a result, telling the truth and challenging the establishment will only lead to ridicule, crucifixion, and death. -Rev. Richard Skaff

I was raised Roman Catholic and it defined me for most of my life.  I had friends whose families attended the Lutheran or Methodist church, but I felt that being Catholic gave me some sort of status so I was proud to proclaim I went to the Catholic Church.  I attended mass every Sunday morning sitting in the front pew with my family in our small home town church.  I loved sound of the chimes and the music, as well as watching the gathering of people that occurred within that hour.   It was easy to see the innate need for congregating with others who think and feel like you do to warrant one's own existence.

Then my decline in Catholicism and religion started when a new priest came to our small town church that was far different than the priests I was used to.  He was hostile and spoke of money a lot.  He was also demeaning, while placing fear in the minds of the parishioners for not tithing enough or even how they dressed.  It didn’t really matter; it seemed as if anything could upset him.  And like humble followers, most members of the congregation just sat there and took his vile behavior while sitting in the "house of God", which is supposed to be about love and understanding.

 

As a parent it is my priority to protect my children from harm especially from individuals who preached about good and kindness, but didn’t live it. And if you don’t live it, you don’t teach it.  All you do is preach it, which is pretty meaningless.  I found that a person who was telling society to “do as I say, but not as I do” was a person not to be trusted.  And if you look closely at our society and the different religions and our government, there is a lot of that going around.

So when people ask me what religion I follow, I tell them I follow humanity and that I am a card carrying member of the "Fallen Catholic Society".  I am very happy and content to give my heart and love to the humans and animals on this beautiful planet of ours.

The Right to Question without Fear

To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.  -Voltaire

 

If we are not moving forward to understand the environment we live in, can the world sustain itself for much longer without knowing the real truths.

There are so many created truths about our society that each and every one of us just takes for granted because we have been told to do so.  We do this instead of thinking for ourselves, asking questions, and possessing a real desire for not just an answer, but the actual truth; not someone else created truth.  However, in today’s society it seems nobody wants to ask, but we all pretend we know.

People need to start asking the important questions though, which have a direct impact on our wellbeing, our way of thinking and behaving, and the way we treat each other.  The world has been constructed in a way in which society does not question anyone with authority.  Centuries ago people would do whatever the King and Queen decreed upon them.  The church also put forth a list of bylaws their congregations could do and could not do.  Then of course, priests and teachers were to be obeyed without question.  And for parents, they were to be obeyed until their very last dying wish without hesitation.  And all this was to be done without question, even if the people in authority were cruel and dishonest.

 

We have been conditioned to be fearful of asking questions of the people with some sort of power or status, such as our bosses, religious leaders, politicians, parents or anyone who has some sense of control over our emotional, personal, professional or financial wellbeing.  And in many cases, especially in religion and government, even when the questions are asked, the answers that are normally given seem based just on one’s own belief and then spread throughout the universe as if it is everyone else’s opinion.

However, in most cases people in power like the sense of fear to exist.  It keeps the people below them in a state of passivity and from stirring the pot.  And because of that, the fear itself needs to also be addressed and answered to.  And it’s not about condemning society, but changing society so that more good and kindness can occur.  We can’t change the past but we can change the present and the future.

Fear is the key to obedience – Reverend Richard Skaff

Searching for Truth in Religion and Politics

“Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong.  When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted.  It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance.  And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief”.  -Frantz Fanon

 
Of all the things that society worries about, the truth has been the most neglected.  In many ways truth has taken a back seat to the created truth for centuries.  It seems far easier to believe what has been told to us by religious leaders and politicians than to seek out the real truth. We see this in other countries all time, but are we willing to consider that it could be happening within our own great nation as well?  If the truth revealed itself, would we be willing to accept and renounce the created truth we’ve been adhering to in our current lives and throughout the ages?  

It’s possible that for centuries created truths have been so embedded into our society that we couldn’t see the truth even if it stared us in the face.  All people live under an umbrella of information that has been told to us by governments and religious leaders for centuries.  Centuries seem like a long time, but in fact centuries is how long we’ve been discussing the bible, religion and different aspects of government that govern our beliefs and our laws today.     

Many people believe it is sacrilegious to ask questions pertaining to the authenticity of the bible and religious beliefs.  As well as questioning the government, America’s way of life, and the Constitution to be anti-patriotic.   What if you could go back to the time of Christ to prove or disprove the accuracy of the bible, would you?  What if you found information that contradicted your beliefs?  Would you change what you believe and then tell others?  Or would you keep the information to yourself and continue to live your life as you did before? 

Imagine traveling back to 1787 and telling the founders of the Constitution what life is like in the 21^st Century regarding religion, gun laws, discrimination, immigration, and global warming.  What if they wanted to make changes to the Constitution based on the future knowledge they didn’t have back then? Would you endorse the changes even if they went against your current values?

Obviously, we cannot go back in time to prove or disprove the bible or speak with the Constitutional founders, but what we can do is ask appropriate questions and engage in intelligent discussions.  This will help determine if created truths have dictated our decisions, thought processes, and laws that have guided for how we live today.  No one can argue the fact that life today is far different than when it is said Jesus Christ walked the earth or when the Constitution was written.  However, it is worth considering the differences, finding the truths hidden in the created truths, and doing what is best for our society today.

Obviously, we cannot go back in time to prove or disprove the bible or speak with the Constitutional founders, but what we can do is ask appropriate questions and engage in intelligent conversations.  This will help determine if created truths have dictated our decisions, thought processes, and laws that have guided how we live today.  No one can argue the fact that life today is far different than when it is said Jesus Christ walked the earth or when the Constitution was written.  However, it is worth considering the differences, finding the truths hidden in the created truths, and doing what is best for our society today.

Obviously, we cannot go back in time to prove or disprove the bible or speak with the Constitutional founders, but what we can do is ask appropriate questions and engage in intelligent conversations.  This will help determine if created truths have dictated our decisions, thought processes, and laws that have guided how we live today.  No one can argue the fact that life today is far different than when it is said Jesus Christ walked the earth or when the Constitution was written.  However, it is worth considering the differences, finding the truths hidden in the created truths, and doing what is best for our society today.

   

Obviously, we cannot go back in time to prove or disprove the bible or speak with the Constitutional founders, but what we can do is ask appropriate questions and engage in intelligent conversations.  This will help determine if created truths have dictated our decisions, thought processes, and laws that have guided how we live today.  No one can argue the fact that life today is far different than when it is said Jesus Christ walked the earth or when the Constitution was written.  However, it is worth considering the differences, finding the truths hidden in the created truths, and doing what is best for our society today.

How does humanity survive in the world today?

The truth is what we all seem to strive for and want, but it can be difficult to accept willingly if it is different than what we have come to believe.  But how do we continue to be such a passive society with so much destruction going on around us?  Religions and governments are meant to provide service to the people.  However, somewhere along the way the people became the servants, and religions and governments became more important than the people.  How does humanity continue to survive on that type of foundation?

 

The Right to Ask!

I know I cannot change or control much of the environment around me or help all the helpless innocent victims in this world.  All I can do is ask the questions and try to make sense out of senselessness.  I have had people say to me that I cannot save the world and I know this, but boy do I want too. So for now I just want to ask the questions to get to the real truth of our history that has been told to us by mere mortal men. And the only way to get to the truth is by putting one’s own neck out there and asking some really difficult questions that are in many ways shunned by our nation as either sacrilegious or unpatriotic.