Sunday, July 17, 2011

Judgement Day is Coming?

So I have been thinking about the old quote from the Bible: "Judge not, lest ye be judged." I was thinking recently that perhaps people, particularly Christians, have a bad application of this passage. It is followed with the statement (and I am paraphrasing here) that whatever standard you judge people by, you will be judged with. Then it goes into the whole mote in the eye thing, etcetera.
Now Christians have, as far as I know, pretty much taught from time immemorial that this means that even Christians will be judged by God, and that they will be judged with the same standards by which they judge others, so they should not be judgmental. I, however, think that there is a different interpretation and application of this. I believe that there is a good chance that it is not only God who will be doing the judging, but society.
Admittedly, I haven't been to church in a very long time, and it is unlikely that I will return any time soon. I have a problem with churches that change their message to get more people (and money) in the door. I also have a problem with churches that preach holiness to a standard that leaves people with emotional issues. Finally, I have problems with Christians who judge people, yet not only have huge moral flaws, but those moral flaws are on display for the world to see. You know the type I am talking about, an hour on Sunday makes up for the other 167 hours that week.
So I spread this word to all who read this blog: judgement day is coming ... and it is sooner than you think, and it is not going to be who you think it is doing the judging. It is me, and it is today. It is your neighbor, and it is tomorrow. It is your boss, and it is the next time you tell an off-color joke at the office. I don't really count myself as one of the faithful these days. I am not sure what I believe, but I do believe that the words spoken at the end of the movie Angels and Demons are true. "Religion is flawed, because man is flawed."
Perhaps as I live my life, I will decide what I believe, but in the mean time, I believe this. That my life has a purpose. I am a teacher, my purpose is to educate children. If a child has the ability to read, comprehend and reason, they will be able to decide for themselves what they believe. And if they learn to write as well, perhaps they will be able to share that belief in a meaningful way that will enrich the lives of others.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Crime and lack of punishment

OK, so one would think that this would be a post about Casey Anthony. Nope, not even close. But while I am on the subject, the prosecution had a circumstantial case, and not one bit of evidence they had pointed at Casey Anthony. The only thing they had was her partying while her child was missing. So in essence, she was on trial for not acting like a grieving mother. 'Nuff said.

No, today I am going to talk about a wilding incident here in my hometown of Milwaukee. On July 3, after the downtown fireworks, a large group of African-American youths went on a spree of violence and mischief. They raided a gas station/convenience store, clearing it out of snacks. they also attacked and savagely beat several people and robbed them. Although I may be called racist for mentioning it, all of the reports in the news indicated that their victims were all white. In one instance, the victim recalls one of the assailants saying something to the effect of 'white girl sure does bleed alot.'

Now, I have to say, that from all evidence, these appear to be racially motivated crimes. That being said, these thugs NEED to be caught and punished. They need to understand that crime has consequences. Heck, they need to understand that ALL actions have consequences. Wisconsin has just passed a concealed carry law, and once law-abiding citizens are allowed to carry, what happens when one of these incidents occurs, and a law-abiding citizen with a gun, fearing for their safety, shoots and/or kills one of these kids?

Right now, there is no outcry from community leaders about stopping the violence, but you can be sure that if one of the thugs is killed by a person legally carrying a concealed weapon, there will be hell to pay. What is the cause of this behavior? More than that, what is the victimology? I think in the end, I think the core problem is that we as a society are too lenient about crime, and because of this, noone fears the consequences of their actions ... because there are none.