The Beloved Community vs Utter Depravity

In a recent conversation about the problems of the traditional religious human view of "fallen humanity" and humans being totally or utterly depraved, I was asked...

"Think of the least “imperfect” person you know. Do they get anywhere close to doing these things!? We don’t even get past the first one; for what would it look like to dedicate every part of oneself to God?"

I replied...

I'll have to warn you: the least perfect people I know are pretty amazing people.

Do they love God and fellow humans with "all their hearts? I don't know how one would objectively measure that. Is there some fool-proof method? I don't think so.

But they do clearly love God. As evidenced by their love of God's creation and of our fellow humans.

What would it look like to dedicate every part of one's self to God? I'd say living a life poured out in love to our fellow humans. As Jesus noted, when you've aided/allied with the least of these, you've done it to me.

So the good teachers, social workers, justice workers, those who work with, for, alongside the oppressed, the disabled and marginalized are literally pouring out their lives in service to God, are they not (by Jesus' measure)? As with Jesus, John noted in 1 John 4 (and as simple reason supports...)

Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus...

Wow. Continuing, John said...

Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

WHOEVER loves, lives in God. EVERYONE who loves has been born of God. What you do for the least of these, you do for me. In this world, we are like Jesus.

Wow!

These words are not nothing. For those of us who value the teachings found in the Bible, THIS is the Word of God. Jesus continued by saying that the essence of what God wants is to love God and love humanity. When asked what was the greatest rule, Jesus responded...

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. 

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

I was raised believing in this human tradition of the "utter depravity of humanity," which has been defined as,

"The doctrine of total depravity asserts that people are, as a result of the fall, not inclined or even able to love God wholly with heart, mind, and strength, but rather are inclined by nature to serve their own will and desires and reject his rule."

But Jesus and John and basic reasoning say that WHOEVER loves people, acts with kindness, compassion, forgiveness and justice... WHOEVER loves, lives in God. There is no mention of humanity as a whole being "not inclined or even ABLE to love..." Not because of liberal teaching, but from taking the Bible seriously and just using plain common sense, I see so many people out there pouring out their lives in love.

Do they do so perfectly? No, of course, not. But then, we are not a perfect people. To expect imperfect people to be somehow perfect is ridiculous. HOW would that happen? It can't, by definition.

But the more I see people, in general, the more I find the good and God in humanity.

Now, does that mean that confused humans don't lash out in evil violence? That Hamas doesn't decide that attacking innocent people and innocent children is an answer and so, engage in HORRIBLE violence and evil? That white conservatives who feel threatened about losing their power in a nation where they are no longer the dominant movement might sometimes lash out in violence, attacking churches, synagogues, temples, schools and other places? No, clearly, humanity as a whole fairly regularly engages in awful, atrocious behavior.

But think about it: Isn't it the case that these cases where such evil and unprovoked violence happens all the more awful because of the scarcity of such overt corruption and misdeeds? Yes, Israel might bomb and bomb and bomb Gaza, killing innocent people, children, aid workers, and destroying hospitals and churches and mosques in the process... but is that the norm? Yes, a crazed liberal might strike out in violence against an innocent person... but aren't these the exceptions?

I see my friends and colleagues out there every day, teaching children, healing the sick, standing for justice, working with the disabled, working with immigrants, working with the homeless, working to protect the environment, enjoying God's good creation, going for hikes in the woods, birdwatching, taking their grandkids birdwatching, taking the neighbor's kids out to play a game... there are so many people out there being decent, kind people. "Created in the image of God," "just a little lower than God, "Created to do good works," and I see it every day.

I have a neighbor (used to be my neighbor) who is now borderline homeless. He introduced himself to me 20 years ago as "I'm Fred, I am bi-polar and I'm your neighbor..." and that dear man struggles every day. And he's so kind and helpful and if I'm unloading a car and carrying stuff, he'll offer to help. He's a good man who struggles each and every day, but still he is a kind and helpful man. Even in his struggles, I see him regularly helping out with those even more marginalized than himself. My neighbor, Fred.

So, when someone asks me to think of the "least imperfect person I know..." as if that's going to be some kind of Aha! moment of realization of the evil of humanity... that just doesn't work. The traditional conservatives have taught me to take the Bible and reality seriously enough that I can no longer buy into this "utter depravity" human theory. I see too many decent, imperfect, wonderful fellow humans.

Magnificat

 My soul doth magnify the Lord.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For God hath regarded the lowliness of this handmaiden
For behold, from henceforth all generations
shall call me blessed.

God hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

God hath put down the mighty from their seat
and hath exalted the humble and meek.

God hath filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he hath sent empty away.

God, remembering mercy hath helped God's oppressed servant, Israel...
Glory be to God.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be
world without end. Amen.

~Mary, the mother of Jesus

 

God has put down the rich and mighty, and lifted up the humble and poor. Happy Holidays, remember the reason for the season ("For I have come to preach GOOD NEWS to the POOR..." ~Jesus, who learned well from his mother)

Life In Three Acts

There was a play staged

by a forest primeval

I had a bit part

I served as the stage manager

in a play within a play

put on for my own benefit

I was also the audience

I wrote the plot

which included a twist ending

which I did not see coming

turns out, I was not

the author of the play

after all, just a patsy

Life, in three acts

beginning with the denouement

they'll never see it coming

Rosalynn Carter

The world has lost two great women in the last few weeks: My mother and Rosalynn Carter. She and Jimmy Carter have shown by their lives, by their actions, by their words and by their policies what it means to be a good person and a wise leader. Their basic human decency and integrity were far and away unmatched in modern politics (for at least the past 100 years and maybe ever). They have been exemplary followers of Jesus and we can know this because we are known by our fruit, as Jesus taught.

Rest in peace, Mrs Carter.

Mrs Carter:

"The best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation."

"I believe that one of the most important things to learn in life is that you can make a difference in your community no matter who you are or where you live."

"People with mental problems are our neighbors. They are members of our congregations, members of our families; they are everywhere in this country. If we ignore their cries for help, we will be continuing to participate in the anguish from which those cries for help come. A problem of this magnitude will not go away. Because it will not go away, and because of our spiritual commitments, we are compelled to take action."

"There are only four kinds of people in the world - those who have been caregivers, those who are caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers."

"True success is not determined by material possessions, but by the impact we have on others."

"It's not enough to simply talk about the issues. We must take action and work towards tangible solutions."

Memories of Mom...

 Mary Helen Basham Trabue, December 24, 1930 - October 26, 2023

How can she keep from singing?

The Golden Rule: If You Have the Gold, Maybe Give it Away..?

 I heard another story about this line of research that's been going around for a long time - that the data shows in multiple studies that the easiest and most effective way to assist the poor is just to give them money, no strings attached. From NPR:

The researchers identified about 65,000 households across an impoverished, rural area of Kenya and then randomly assigned them to various groups: those who got no help from GiveDirectly and a "treatment group" of about 10,500 families who got a one-time cash grant of about $1,000.

"That's a really big income transfer," notes Miguel. "About three-quarters of the income of the [recipient] households for a year on average." It also represented a flood of cash into the wider communities where they lived. "The cash transfers were something like 17% of total local income — local GDP," says Miguel.

Eighteen months on, the researchers found that, as expected, the families who got the money used it to buy lots more food and other essentials.

But that was just the beginning.

"That money goes to local businesses," says Miguel. "They sell more. They generate more revenue. And then eventually that gets passed on into labor earnings for their workers."

The net effect: Every dollar in cash aid increased total economic activity in the area by $2.60.

But were those income gains simply washed out by a corresponding rise in inflation?

"We actually find there's a little bit of price inflation, but it's really small," says Miguel. "It's much less than 1%."

The study — recently unveiled at a conference of the National Bureau of Economic Research and soon to be available on its website — also uncovered some evidence for why prices didn't go up: A lot of local businesses reported that before the cash infusion they weren't that busy.

"They may be a shopkeeper that doesn't really have that many customers [because] it's a poor area. They may be someone working at a grain mill that only has one or two customers an hour."

So when they suddenly get more customers, they don't have to take extra steps like hiring more workers that would drive up their costs — and their prices. In economic parlance, there was enough "slack" in the local economy to absorb the injection of cash.

====

Read more:

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/12/02/781152563/researchers-find-a-remarkable-ripple-effect-when-you-give-cash-to-poor-families

https://www.oecd.org/dev/pgd/46240619.pdf

https://www.rienner.com/uploads/553a9642e0c0a.pdf

Like Refugees Escaping

Three hundred years ago

religious zealots wanted to kill my family

they escaped from Montauban, France

on the River Tarn

Six years ago

I returned

a lost son of Montauban

and I walked along the Tarn

and gathered stones

skipping them across the surface

like refugees escaping

This is Not Normal

Just remember
if anyone should try to convince you otherwise
go with the obvious meaning
what you see with your own eyes

This is not normal
This is not good
This is not acceptable
This is not a witchhunt
This is not the White Man's Persecution

This is a man who behaves obviously, overtly bad
publicly
who by all evidence
is psychotically narcissistic and
devoid of morality or decency

This is just what it seems like

A bad man
(probably damaged by a privileged, dysfunctional upbringing)
who got in trouble
because of his own actions
and is being brought down
by justice officers from across the political spectrum
based upon evidence from and testimony of
his own allies and former allies
conservatives all

History will record it just that way
because that is what has happened

Don't believe anyone who even hints otherwise
The data in the real world doesn't support it
 

He Was Lost

He was lost
in a late summer blizzard
and all the green
had turned to white
and all the darkness
was kept
as a balancing scale
neither too much
nor too little

Two Square Inches

I found two square inches

in the middle of a medium-sized woods

in the middle of a fairly large city

and those two square inches contained

more beauty and

more information and

more details to explore

than I could have possibly imagined

or have time to finish examining

And then

I turned around and found

another two square inches

that was filled with

infinity

and I wondered what hope

I could possibly have to ever

understand and comprehend

more than

two square inches

And so

I embraced grace

rather than understanding

 

For All the Wise Women in my Life

I've attended church

ALL my life

I've heard at least
(AT LEAST)
an average of one sermon

a week

not counting all the sermons lived out

in the lives of people I admire

60 years x 52 weeks each year

I've heard in surplus of

three thousand

one hundred

and twenty

sermons preached

no doubt

by dozens or hundreds of preachers

For the first ~half of my life

all those preachers would have been men

For the second ~half of my life

almost all those preachers would have been women

(including some transgender women)

I can say

with complete and utter confidence that

FAR and away

not even close

in any way

whatsoever

the very best sermons I've heard

the best preachers and teachers I've heard

the most compelling prophets and

words of wisdom I've heard

have been from

women

Period

And so

if it happens that there are some

men

who believe that women

can't teach

preach

be prophets calling down holy fire

and who try to stop words of wisdom

from the wisest and strongest

well

they are damned fools

End of my poor sermon

A Woman could have preached it better

Woke Up This Mornin with My Mind Stayed on Freedom

 "In June 1961, Reverend Robert Wesby (c. 1927-1988) of Aurora, Illinois, created "I Woke Up This Morning with My Mind Stayed On Freedom" while spending time inHinds County, Mississippi's jail as a Freedom Rider. That autumn, 114 students sang the song at the Burglund High School Walk Out and march to McComb, Mississippi, city hall.

The song spread and became part of the civil rights movement, being one of the most notable pieces among many others. The song is referred to by Pete Seeger in his 1989 book Everybody Says Freedom. It falls under the folk music genre, which was popular in the 1930s and 1940s and was revived in the 1960s during the civil rights movement. Music and singing were an integral part of the movement, many songs being adapted from earlier religious songs."

Many thanks to those heroes who went before.

Well I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom
Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom
Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom
Hallelu (Hallelu)
Hallelu (Hallelu)
Hallelujah


Oh well I'm walking and talking with my mind stayed on freedom
Oh yes I'm walking and talking with my mind stayed on freedom
I said I'm walking and talking with my mind stayed on freedom
Hallelu (Hallelu)
Hallelu (Hallelu)
Hallelujah