Jonathots Daily Blog
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1. Spend half as much money on gifts and twice as much time sitting around talking with friends and family.
2. Celebrate by honoring your present mood and desire instead of chasing traditions and previous year’s activities.
3. Buy one reasonable, universal present and give it to a complete stranger.
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Jonathots Daily Blog
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As we drove to our weekend gig, we crossed Tampa Bay, and Janet was able to quickly snap a fuzzy picture of a fish jumping out of the water.
A moment in time.
The truth is, in the climate of our present social insurrection, human souls everywhere are attempting to leap out of the murky waters of despair. It just isn’t very fun…being unhappy. Even when other folks around you insist that they,too, are miserable, that particular form of fellowship is quite unfulfilling.
The problem is, we think the Bible has all the answers, and if we pass it along to lost souls, they will be able to find their way to salvation.
It’s similar to being hired by a corporation and having the rule book passed to you, thinking that the regulations which have been jotted down should be able to guide you through the daily activities of your workplace.
Everybody knows the company manual has nothing to do with the success of enjoying your job. It’s all about your manager and how he or she uses the rules to generate a friendly, human, creative environment.
Here’s a simple statement: Christianity is just a bag full of beliefs until we come along and agree together on a philosophical approach and implement the
ideas.
So you see, I placed in today’s article a picture of an empty church. I think that’s where we need to start.
Our churches may not be full of people, but they are full of religion, practices, traditions, and preferred culture. Most of this has nothing to do with the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus.
We would do better to imagine our churches empty–and start from scratch to build an environment of people who are accepting, understanding, filled with good cheer and ready for both evolution and revolution.
The fish are jumpin’–but there’s no one there to catch ’em.
We’re too busy maintaining our traditions and our worship style. We want people to become “church folks”–so they have to accept the culture to fit in.
It is time for the church to ‘manage’ itself better, and create an atmosphere which I shall dub “compassionate chaos”–where mercy is revered much more than sacrifice.
The good news is that Jesus gave us a lifestyle, not a religion.
The better news is, if we will empty our church of too many pre-conceived religious practices, we can fill it with actual living human beings.
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Jonathots Daily Blog
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G-Pop listened very carefully as the commentator attempted to explain that the “culture of the Syrian government” is what brought about the use of poison gas on the people.
G-Pop frowned.
Evil is not a culture. Also not a preference. It’s not a religious institution nor a political profile.
Yet we have taken the past fifty years to qualify the choices of folks who live in different countries by attributing questionable actions to their culture.
It’s time for a bold statement. There is only one culture, and that is love your neighbor as yourself.
Within that culture, there are people who have different traditions, cuisine, mannerisms, guidelines and even morals. But there is no way to continue human life on Earth without consenting to a mutual consideration to each other’s feelings. G-Pop thinks we should carry it even further:
It’s not a bunch of liberal hogwash just to make things prissy. Here’s the truth G-Pop wishes to share: if we do not have an awareness of other people that’s equivalent to the awareness we have of ourselves, we begin to believe they are not flesh and blood like we are, but instead are surrounded by tissue which feels no pain–therefore we can inflict at will.
There is no room for gender bias.
There is no acceptable occasion for prejudice against gays, lesbians and different races. Why? Because that breaks the cultural rule.
Whether you’re from China, Canada, Zimbabwe or Albuquerque, New Mexico, you are sharing a planet that requires respectful give and take.
If you happen to like your beans with jalapenos or if your rendition of Christmas is called “Kwanzaa” or “Hanukkah” that is absolutely fine.
But when your definition of culture differs from the toleration necessary for us to get along with each other in equity, then you’re no longer expressing a regional phenomenon, but instead, a cover-up for iniquity.
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Jonathots Daily Blog
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Dear Man: You didn’t ask me my opinions about the political conventions.
Dear Woman: Well, no, because I know you really don’t like politics.
Dear Man: That’s true, but there is one incident that grabbed my attention.
Dear Woman: What was that?
Dear Man: Thursday night, when the Muslim father who lost his son in the war in Afghanistan, Mr. Kahn, spoke to the gathering.
Dear Woman: Yeah, I saw that. Very moving.
Dear Man: I know that’s the popular view, but it bothered me.
Dear Woman: What troubled you?
Dear Man: He came on the stage with his wife. She did not speak for the whole duration of the event. She remained turned toward him in submission, wearing a hijab.
Dear Woman: You mean that head covering?
Dear Man: Yes, exactly.
Dear Woman: It’s just a Muslim thing.
Dear Man: I disagree. It’s not a Muslim thing. She stood in submission, did not speak, with her head covered, as he railed against Donald Trump, in support of Hillary Clinton for President. It was a massive contradiction.
Dear Woman: I disagree. You just need to be more tolerant. We need to give religious freedom to people–to have their traditions and honor their culture, otherwise our country becomes bigoted and self-centered.
Dear Man: I know the spiel. But when a man, who, by the way, was extremely intense, with angry gestures, stands beside a woman who is not speaking, who is looking on adoringly with her head covered…well, I get nervous. I feel it’s good to give spiritual leniency to people, to worship as they deem appropriate, but our country should not allow oppression to exist in the name of God. For instance, we certainly didn’t honor the traditions of the South and give them cultural “roominess” when slavery was at stake. I’m sure they could have made the point that no slaves were rebelling and that everything was working fine, but we still fought the Civil War to relieve the stupidity of a bad culture.
Dear Woman: I see what you mean, but I don’t think it applies in this situation. This is part of their religion…
Dear Man: No. It’s not. It’s part of their tradition. Tradition is the way that people decide to conduct their religion. It has nothing to do with faith. It has nothing to do with a God who created all men equal, and that includes women. What happened on that stage was wrong. If we want to condone it because we’re afraid of speaking up to a religion’s tradition, and demanding equality, then let us call ourselves cowards. But if every Christian church in America suddenly decided that women should not be allowed to speak and had to wear head coverings, we would remove their tax exempt status. We can’t have two different standards. If he wants to support Hillary Clinton for President, he needs to let his wife be his equal.
Dear Woman: Maybe he does. Maybe it was just a decision on their part to have him talk because she was nervous.
Dear Man: Then in my opinion she shouldn’t come on stage. Standing next to him, turned in his direction, staring at him with her head covered, communicates subservience. Doesn’t the Democratic Party want equality? Or are they just looking for a bump in the polls from an angry Muslim man speaking against Donald Trump?
Dear Woman: You realize, nobody agrees with you. Everybody thinks that Mr. Kahn was one of the highlights of the convention. They think that allowing her to appear on stage in the head covering showed tolerance.
Dear Man: Tolerance becomes cowardice when everyone is not included. There were many people during the Civil Rights movement who were angry at Dr. King because he came into a situation that seemed to be peaceful, and stirred up trouble. But had he not pointed out the inequity of Jim Crow, the South more than likely would still be arguing about “colored restrooms” instead of transgender ones.
Dear Woman: I see your point, and I guess by your standards I’m a coward, but I think that sometimes you just have to leave well enough alone.
Dear Man: You see, my point is that “well enough” is never achieved by leaving women out of the equation.
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G-Pop is a wee bit concerned.
His children are once again choosing up sides, sniffing out the dogma of their favorite political party and barking out beliefs.
Issue by issue, debates are offering a collage of opinions with no real respect for the central issue that should permeate the hearts of all humanity:
Are we killing people?
Nothing progresses until we stop killing:
For 16 years, two Presidents from two different parties have ruled and reigned in this country.
Even though G-Pop is sure that each one could present a resume of his efforts, in the long run, one of these men began a sermon of death and the other has trailed behind with his own chorus of “amens.”
President Bush and President Obama have both pursued a fruitless campaign of irreconcilable mayhem in the Middle East, which has paralyzed this country with the preoccupation that we are a superior military power–as we continue to lose battles. Not since World War II has the United States been part of a full-fledged victory through military conflict.
So we must cease to believe that the Republicans are good because they stand for God and the Democrats are evil because they allow for atheism. And we also must realize that merely taking stands on social issues or giving health care to the masses is of little use if we’re taking the children of the poor and placing them in harm’s way in a foreign land.
G-Pop will tell you why he believes in Jesus: Jesus angers both Republicans and Democrats.
In one moment, Jesus forgives a woman caught in adultery, infuriating the right.
In the next moment, he refuses to give money to the poor, insisting that it’s a never-ending process which should be pursued with wisdom rather than wild abandon, causing every liberal to object tearfully.
Jesus had one central theme: “I have not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”
So the same Jesus who believed that “those who live by the gun will die by the gun” also contends that children are sacred and reflect the beauty of heaven.
Just as little ones should not be killed at their elementary schools, we should also find a way not to kill them in the womb.
Obviously, this approach pisses off both campaigns.
So G-Pop challenges his children to escape the futility of joining a side to instead pursue a purpose:
1. Is there any way to consider all the facts before we start following the fad?
2. Is there any way to favor one side in this particular case without offending the other permanently?
3. Can we move forward without rejecting what we know is true for the human family?
There is only one issue in the next presidential campaign: what is the best way to stop killing?
As long as we’re killing, no matter how noble we may feel our mission, we have become the enemy of the One who created us.
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Jonathots Daily Blog
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Many years ago, I sensed a voice within me, encouraging me to go out and share my heart and abilities with the world. Some people would say it was the voice of God, while others would probably insist that it was just me, declaring my own bidding.
I don’t care.
I heeded the call, and that decision has taken me on an exotic adventure.
If faith is what we believe
And love is what we feel,
Then hope is the desire to feel what we believe.
I spent yesterday morning in Milton, Wisconsin, at a church called Hope.
I did not go there looking for God. I found Him some time ago.
I went there looking for people–especially people who are interested in breaking out of the repetition of religious and social blandness.
After 40 years, I have found things about people which really set them apart and give them the advantage Jesus intended them to have:
1. People should be welcoming.
It may be hard to do, but it is even more difficult to wait for friendship to appear instead of stepping forward to cause it.
2. I look for people who have nothing to defend.
Don’t forget–trying to defend something makes you defensive. And being defensive makes you a target for criticism rather than the fort of solitude you envision yourself to be.
3. I look for folks who are listening.
Learning never happens without listening, and honestly, listening never happens as long as we’re flapping our jaws, complaining.
And also, there is a quality in human beings that must be brought to the forefront for us to escape animalism or the notion that we’re “little gods.”
4. I look for folks who can be touched.
To be touched, you have to admit that another fellow-traveler can come along and reach in and tickle your heart.
Here’s the beautiful part to my story:
Yesterday morning at Hope Church, I found such people.
Oh, they tried to hide out at first and pretend they were bound to their traditions and their loyalties to programming, but after a while they realized how beneficial it is to free themselves from the responsibility of being religious, and allow themselves to be children of God.
It is a message for intelligent people who are fully aware that if they pursue the same path as the world around them, they will get the same result, which seems to be a collision of indecision and bedlam.
I was blessed to be with the folks at Hope.
They are shepherded by a fine gentleman with a tender heart and an increasing desire to be swept away by a great wind of Spirit.
I leave them with one better piece of news:
Whenever you walk through the doors of your sanctuary, develop the determination, the attitude and the will to refuse to leave that building … without being totally inspired.
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A voice writing in the wilderness
Jonathots Daily Blog 
G-Poppers … May 11th, 2018
Jonathots Daily Blog
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Basically, if you’re willing to show up without arrogance, some awareness of what’s going on, minus a personal agenda, then those who are like you–the human sort–will normally give you a chance to co-mingle.
Yes, it’s really that easy.
But we continue to stumble around acting like we’re a complicated traffic jam of cultures with deep-rooted traditions, making it difficult for us to include anyone else.
But if any of G-Pop’s children are curious, here’s a simple way of understanding how to get along with other people:
1. Find what is of interest.
Yes, topics come and topics go. There are times that subject matters are very important, and other occasions when they aren’t.
For instance, if you’re religious, no one is going to be interested in the story of a 3,000-year-old dead person. Faith must be for today.
If you’re political, what your candidate may decide to do with an endangered species in the Yukon probably won’t be as pertinent as tax reform.
It is necessary to stay current with what is of interest. Case in point: if there are seventeen people killed at a school, it is not the time to discuss gun rights. Likewise, if the Second Amendment is being threatened, it is not a good time to pander pictures of dead children.
Find what is of interest.
2. Be interested.
That means you might need to yank your gaze away from your iPhone. It may be necessary to listen and learn before leaping in to recite something you read on the Internet. You certainly should make eye contact with the speaker and turn your body in the direction of the conversation. Be interested.
3. And then suddenly, you are interesting.
No one will find you interesting if you do not know what is of interest, and have established that you’re interested. Conceit is locking in on your own devotion.
Truthfully, spirituality, which should be pushing us forward in our generosity of spirit, often clings to pillars in the past, unwilling to move and therefore ends up perceived ignorant.
And politics, which should be looking toward the daily bread of problems, is of little use if it is only rallying behind ancient, half-baked causes.
G-Pop wants his children to know that if they want to be successful with others, they should find what is of general interest, be interested and in doing so, become interesting souls themselves.
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on May 11, 2018 at 1:30 pm Leave a CommentTags: children, co-mingle, conceit, cultures, endangered species, G-Poppers, guns, I-phone, interesting soul, Internet, mysterious, personal agenda, pillars, political, relationships, religious, Second Amendment, traditions