Protection

Irenaeus of Lyon
Iraeneus = Peace

Others,

Irenaeus argued for civil government. His argument against Gnosticism was against elitism. Elitism was the basis for economic inequity, imperial expansion with military conquest and cruelty in law enforcement.

Life
http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/194.html

Irenaeus was born around 125 CE. He heard the preaching of Polycarp when he was a young man in Smyrna (near Ephesus in what is now western Turkey). Polycarp had been a disciple of the Apostle John.

Irenaeus also studied with Justin the philosopher. He was to preserve the argument for Christianity as a legal religion and the link with the apostolic church with his writing.  Care for the poor was the standard by which government was to be judged.

He moved to Lugdunum in Gaul (now Lyon, France) as a young man. He was sent on a mission to Rome in 177 CE. A severe persecution broke out during his absence. Irenaeus was made bishop upon his return. 

He was a prolific writer against Gnosticism. He wrote the “Proof of the Apostolic Preaching” to preserve respect for Judaism and the Tanakh. He continued to proclaim Jesus as the Christ; the fulfillment of the prophecy expressed in the scripture.

Gnosticism viewed religion as a competition for imperial favor. The religion that was to win the emperor was to become the religion for the empire. This favor carried privilege. Other religions were not seen as official. People from the other religions were not given equal status with those who were.

This was one of the most radical aspects for Justin’s argument for Christianity as a legal religion. It was not an advocacy for singular status as the legal religion. It was an argument for allowing religions other than that of the emperor to have legal status.

The Tanakh preserves standards for leadership in civility. Careful reading of the scriptures shows that care for the poor, fairness in civil justice and defense in military leadership were the standards for civility in government.

It was imperial redaction and the standards for cruelty in punishment for the time that had promoted cruelty as the law and the law as the wrath of God.

Marcion was against the use of Jewish scriptures in Christian worship. Irenaeus argued for the preservation of the Tanakh. This debate took place at a time before the canon or rule for the Christian bible had been established.

Irenaeus listed 21 books that would eventually include 27 books in what had been called the New Testament.

The story of the Fall was not an argument for the establishment of a state religion. It was a persuasion for legal religion to teach morality for civility in government as evolution in civilization. Human kind is immature. We are human beings who are seeking maturity in social relations and individuality.

Adoption was an imperial policy that had been established during the short rule (7 months) of one of the most cruel of Roman emperors, Galba. It represented the potential for improvement.

The adoption of a son by the emperor was a form of selection that allowed the emperor to pick someone who was not from his family for succession. This came to be regarded as an innovation in Roman imperialism.

Adoption
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/tacitus-hist1a.asp
Galba (1^st century CE): “As it is, I, who have been called to the throne by the unanimous consent of gods and men, am moved by your splendid endowments and by my own patriotism to offer to you, a man of peace, that power, for which our ancestors fought, and which I myself obtained by war.…Augustus looked for a successor in his own family, I look for one in the state, not because I have no relatives or companions of my campaigns, but because it was not by any private favour that I myself received the imperial power.”

Irenaeus used the story of Adam and Eve to express the spirit of adoption in a monotheistic form that did not define human nature and the material world as evil. The world is not here to suffer perpetual war, violence and cruelty. The law is not here to promote violence by greater cruelty. (The wrath of God is a province for deity.)

When nature is defined as corrupt it develops skepticism, but it suffers from
the prediction of failure. It is not only self-fulfilling, it is repetitive. If we don’t believe that we can accomplish anything good, we won’t. If we believe that we are engaged in a dualistic struggle between good and evil, we eliminate goodness as a goal and settle for the lesser of evils.

His objective was not like that of imperial adoption. Imperial power
used weapons to force people into submission. He sought to establish peace, non-violent political or social problem solving, as the rule for law. He did not define divine or human nature as corrupt.

If leadership in monarchy and by extension imperialism had been established by military leadership in foreign and domestic arenas, then the prime value for the function was protection from foreign invasion.

It was felt that once a kingdom had become an empire and the empire had become large enough, expansion was not the issue. Defense for the development of civilization was the purpose for the military.

The Roman republic was distinguished from non-democratic kingdom insofar as the citizens of Rome had rights comparable to the monarchical democracy in Athens. The right to vote was a significant distinction.

The republic had elected officials. Rights were limited to rich male landowners however. This limitation transformed the republic into an imperial dictatorship. The struggle to control the dictatorship accounted for a great deal of the violence suffered by the leadership.

The principal work for Irenaeus was “Against Heresies” (translates as “Against Errors”). It was a defense of orthodox Christianity against Gnostic rivals.
Gnostics were using a story line that promoted the establishment of Gnostic Christianity as the state religion. Priests in the state religion were regarded as
having rights as advisors to the leadership.

Gnostics presented a variation of the story for creation in the Platonic
republic. It had a cosmocrator as well as a demiurge. 

The cosmocrator was equated with the devil as the ruler for the world. It was a dualistic system that posited a great struggle between good and evil in order to make the choice of lesser evils the rule for law. This was the means by which rights for the elite citizens were promoted as superior to the rights for ordinary citizens.

The explanation for the existence of evil served as a justification for wars of
aggression for expansion of the empire. The second century witnessed the largest expansion for the Roman empire in the first quarter; the defense of the expansion in the remainder.

“Against Heresies”
Bk.1 Ch.5 P.4 “They further teach that the spirits of wickedness derived their origin from grief. Hence the devil, whom they also call Cosmocrator (the ruler of the world), and the demons and the angels, and every wicked spiritual being that exists, found the source of their existence. They represent the Demiurge as being the son of that mother of theirs (Achamoth), and Cosmocrator as the creature of the Demiurge. Cosmocrator has knowledge of what is above himself, because he is a spirit of wickedness; but the Demiurge is ignorant of such things, inasmuch as he is merely animal.”

Adoption had added choice to imperial power. How nature is defined affects
how that choice was to be used. The ability to choose a successor from outside the family allowed for negotiation to stop the never ending expansion of empire by war and the unlimited perpetuation of violence by investment in cruelty for domestic security.  

The argument for Christianity as a legal religion prepared a way for freedom of religion as a provision in constitutional government. There is not to be just one legal religion, but legal religion is to provide social purpose for civil government. Religion teaches morality and promotes action for social welfare.

Teaching morality may sound provincial and limited in scope, but it has important applications. Consider application in the justice system. When lawmakers make laws that show concession to elitism, religious leadership can protest the error.

Florida has seen the legislation of the Stand Your Ground (SYG) law. This
allows for the legal use of lethal force in life threatening situations.

The problem is that claims to self defense have increased dramatically since the law was first enacted. These claims don’t allow the deceased to present his or her side of the story since he or she is no longer with us.

Skepticism regarding the claim has become a necessity. If self-defense is being claimed in the use of lethal force, then the burden of proof for self-defense by the person making the claim becomes the issue.

The new law shifts the burden for proof from past precedent. Making the state
prove that killing was murder is not the only point for contention. The killer has to prove that he or she acted in self-defense, because the individual assumes a greater authority than a judge, jury or state in the act of making the choice to kill. If acquittal is granted because the state did not prove murder, then gun owners are given an unfair advantage.

Another person can be shot without provocation by a gun owner and the
shooter can claim self-defense based on the lack of testimony to contradict
the claim.

This is insanity. It is not valid law. It is a flawed law. It is ‘legal sleeze’ for
saying that gun owners can get away with murder. Judgment is being assaulted by incidental concerns. Membership in the majority population is not the rule for law in a court of justice.

When court proceedings are reduced to a popularity contest, then justice is
pushed out of the courtroom to favor circus displays to sway public opinion. When membership in the majority population is used to decide if killing was murder, the abuse of majority authority corrupts liberty and justice in the law.

The following piece expresses hope that the death of Trayvon Martin will not
be used to promote travesty in justice for the state, the nation or the world.

Protection
Ps16 Ps77

Your darkness provided protection.
Love’s labor had not been lost.
Work had been worn like a garment.

Sporting contest bore witness
to winners and losers;
one win and one loss
had been tallied for the record.

We had watched as one
with that which had been worthy
in the witnessing as wonderful.

Others were watching to win
conflict by ending competition.
They wished only to win public perception
by deception. Rights were reduced
to the one with a gun.

Shades in the shadows
dance beyond sight.
Feet quicken
without taking flight.

Supplies are for celebration
or commiseration after the game.
When we celebrate accomplishment
we join those with fame.

LEADERSHIP is my portion and my cup;
Your judgment will support me.

Our property is pleasant.
I have a good home.

I have set goodness as my goal;
Fairness resides in liberty with justice.

I bless counsel from the COUNSELOR;
my heart teaches me to listen.

My heart is glad. My spirit rejoices.
My body rests in hope.

I will not fail faith.
I will not seek destruction.

You show me the path of life;
There is fullness of joy in your presence.

When trouble came,
I took flight.

When pursuit caught me,
I did not fight.

When anger struck,
I cried for help.

The skies did not cry.
Fire consumed my breath.

There was no rain.
There was no thunder.
Lightning did not reveal
a whirlwind.

Now the skies are crying.
The earth cries out for justice.

Murder will not be sanctioned
with a false claim.
Lethal force with a deadly weapon
is not self defense
in a fist fight.

LEADERSHIP is my portion and my cup;
Your judgment will support me.

Happiness will rule
in the pursuit of providence
with liberty and justice for all.

================

The skies are crying now.

Rhianna – Umbrella
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvBfHwUxHIk
Now that it's raining more than eva
Know that we'll still have each otha
You can stand under my umbrella

Read more: http://artists.letssingit.com/rihanna-
lyrics-umbrella-feat-jay-z-8dcjktk#ixzz2XiXrynQt
LetsSingIt - Your favorite Music Community

Stand together under the umbrella
that justice in the law provides.

Steve K.

Legion

Others,

The constant push for unlimited spending on national security has resulted in cuts to social security. Pushing for spending on national security creates a conflict that supports the elitist advantage. The technology for the surveillance costs taxpayers. The cost for training, personnel, weapons, armored vehicles, media coverage, cover-up, imprisonment, detention, targeted killing, drones, jets, attack helicopters, and the like adds up.

Wealthy industrialists get richer. They don't pay their share in taxes. They use money from tax shelters to buy decisions in government; when there isn't enough in the federal budget to pay for their costly "solutions," they cut social security to take even more money from taxpayers.

Public Perception
There is a distortion in proportion in the concern over terrorism. There are serious consequences for excessive investment in counter-terrorism. Rights are reduced in civil (domestic) and human (foreign) areas. Surveillance is increased. Privacy is diminished.
Indefinite detention, torture, targeted killing, unauthorized covert ops are associated with counter-terrorism actions in different nations around the world.

Human Rights
Use link to find examples.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-terrorism#Human_rights

The FBI conducted an investigation of the Tsarnaevs. They did not find anything that warranted adding them to the databank for suspected and known terrorists. The Tsarnaev that is alive is still a suspect. He has not been convicted. The evidence presented though the media is not conclusive. Yet, they were both hunted as terrorists. The older brother was shot and killed as though he were a known terrorist.

 The CIA had Tsarnaev added to the terrorist databank.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57581350/cia-had-boston-bombing-suspect-tamerlan-tsarnaevs-name-added-to-terror-database-before-attack/
TIDE: Terrorist Identities DataMART Environment
"The CIA determined that Tsarnaev should be included in TIDE, and the National Counterterrorism Center added it into the database. The spelling of Tsarnaev's name in TIDE was not the same as the spelling the FBI used in its investigation. The CIA also shared this information with other federal agencies in October."

Field agents in the counter-terrorist unit sent to Boston must have interpreted the presence of their names on the list as an authorization for lethal force.

There is a SIRG investigation on the Todashev shooting in Orlando, FL.
SIRG: Shooting Incident Review Group
http://www.fbi.gov/news/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston"The FBI is conducting a review of the May 22, 2013 shooting of Ibragim Todashev, 27, which occurred at Todashev’s residence, at 6022 Peregrine Avenue, Orlando, Florida. The FBI’s shooting incident review team interviews witnesses and gathers information regarding the shooting incident for presentation to a Shooting Incident Review Group (SIRG), which consists of members from the FBI and the Department of Justice."

A SIRG investigation needs to be conducted on the Tsarnaev shooting as well.

Spending for Immigration Reform

You’d think that immigration reform would be limited to communication with the state department in Mexico and providing administrative supports for the legalization of law abiding immigrant workers. This is not the case when someone decides to earmark it as another pork barrel project. This has become an exercise in how to establish unlimited spending on national security as the state religion. The plan is to hire 40,000 border patrol agents to reduce the illegal immigrant population by 25%. The use of attack helicopters has not been announced, but it is regarded as an option.

Immigration Reform
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-06-20/news/sns-rt-us-usa-immigration-senatebre95i1jl-20130619_1_border-security-u-s-border-agents-landmark-immigration-bill
"Federal agents on the U.S.-Mexican border would double to about 40,000 under a deal reached on Thursday in the Democratic-led Senate to draw more Republicans to a landmark immigration bill headed toward anticipated passage...

"Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama mocked the deal even though he has called for tougher border enforcement. He noted that it was drafted after congressional analysts estimated the bill would trim illegal immigration by just 25 percent."

Meanwhile, unemployment is a larger problem than it appears to be statistically. Homelessness has been addressed by slashing tents as shelter. Where have all the flowers gone? What happened to the kinder and gentler nation? The cry for bloodshed in countering terrorism has blinded the nation to concern for the poor.

The following re-write highlights the personal perspective of Legion, a homeless vagrant in the gospel story. Homelessness and the oppression of the poor are not new in the struggle with imperial power. The poor are treated as incidental in importance. Neo-Platonic blame for the “victim” is invoked as a given implication. They argue that he must have done something to deserve his fate.

This piece asks the question, “Is our Legion guilty of having a social conscience?” Is that why he has been driven into a state of vagrancy?

Legion
Ps42 Ps22 Gal3 Lk8

Sanity with vanity is madnessss.

The hard cool darkness of tomb
contrasts the light for ordinary life,
but gives shelter from the cruelty
of rule by domination.

Weapons have been turned
from defense against attack
to tools for tyranny. The homeless poor
have no recourse but to seek shelter
where it can be found.

Now rats and ravens provide
competition for food.

I have seen affliction
under the rod of wrath.
I have been driven into darkness.
I have been isolated by punishment.

The flesh of my skin wastes away.
My bones feel brittle.
I have been besieged with
bitterness and enveloped
in tribulation.

As a deer thirsts
for flowing streams
of cool, clean water,
so my heart longs
for serenity.

My soul thirsts for God,
the loving source for all being.

My tears have been fluid
in the floodwaters of time,
while I have been asked with arrogance,
“Where is your Savior’s deliverance?”

These things I remember
as my mind is awash with feelings:
how we glowed with anticipation
When I led the procession
into the house of God
with glad thoughts and songs of joy.

We represented a multitude
by keeping the festal feast!

My self-image is cast down.
I recall celebrations from my youth.
The majesty of mountain looked down
on the vibrant green lushness of land
that was fed by the crystal clear clean of streams
that flowed down into the raging peace of river
as we worshipped God outside the temple.

Now, non-being calls to being
at the rumble of the thunder drum.
All the waves of wind and spirit
with all the splattering patter of soul
have washed over me
as rain roars to ground.

The lightning flash
of love commands respect.
The darkness of knowledge
is illumined with question
revealed through prayer
to the Leader of life.

Faith, you are my strength.
Hasten to help me.
Save me from bullets;
my life from the tearing teeth of dogs.

Save me from predation by predators;
my wretched body from the wildness of animals.
I will declare your name as “Salvation.”
It was faith in your salvation that saved me.

Before faith,
we were imprisoned to cruelty
until rights for civility and humanity
could be used to organize civilization.

Now that faith has come
we are not subject to the tyranny
of playing tyrants or the tyrannized.
There is no state religion.
There is no Jewish, Christian or Muslim state.
There is no empire.
There is no Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian,
Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Frankish,
Austrian, British or American empire.

There is no establishment for a state religion.
There is no unlimited spending on security
as the religion for the state.
Proposals for unlimited spending
will be denied.

The storm has passed.
The air has begun to clear.
The mad rush of water to the lake
has slowed to the running of rivulets.

Someone surrounded by others
is gliding into the shore. Such madness!
They were out on the water in this storm?

Food! They may have food.
I need to eat. My stomach
needs to be filled
with solid sustenance.

My feet carry me to him.
“What have you to do with me, Salvation?
I beg you, do not torment me.”

“What is your name?”
He asked.

“My name is Legion.”
There are far too many who suffer
from tyranny.

Sounds of squeals echo down the hill.
A herd of swine rushes down the bank
into the water. Their squeals are drowned.
Now they are drinking with snorts.

He said,
“As the voracious dew of humid air

brings forth the finely-fanned fronds of palm
with tough trunks giving base to growth;

“As the humid heat of air

brings forth hymn and holder
from an unknown Sower,
sensing green flames
fanning forth within thin golden edges;

“And blessed days,

meet sights of youthful heron
perched in slight pause
before spring into flight;

“So, in anyone,
comes forth

forms, growth,
and flame;
insight into being
from perception
to perspective
about law.

“Living being is a reflection
of divine conception

and physical manifestation.
It is a dynamic entity in which we find relation
to the concepts which preceded our existence.
Space, energy, matter, time and probability
find form through interconnected causalities.

“Heavenly Being, Author of all that which is,

in relation to whom we find our being,
guide, govern and guard us by that which
is holy about our understanding of Spirit,
that energy that infuses our being
from the divine personhood of your nature;

“That by your leadership

through all the cares and considerations
of our occupations and social relations
we may remember to dwell
within the design of your plan for being
as extended from each to each
and as deep cries to deep from that within
that belongs to each human person.

“Come share what we have to eat.”

Put your trust in God, the Deliverer.
Divine Being will be praised again
as your Savior’s deliverance.
Happiness now
provides hope
for the future.

Say Yea Yah.
Yea you!

=======================

Legion had been holding on to constitutional hope for justice in society. The bill of rights was and isl the governing body in his political view.

Jesus as Christ directed the poor to place their hope in God as an act for redemption. When the machinery for government has been corrupted; when the real ideals that can be practically invoked are being ignored; the simple act of sharing sustenance transforms our reality into something worthy of praise according to the providential design for nature. Having faith reinforces purpose.  

Live – Lightning Crashes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsJ4O-nSveg

Lightning crashes.
An old mother dies.
Her intentions fall to the floor.
The angel closes her eyes.
The confusion that was hers
belongs to the baby down the hall.

-------------------------------------

The elitist advantage needs to be reduced. The obsession with national security has to be held in check by legitimate regard for social security. Even excess spending on health care has to be countered by concern for food, shelter, clothing, education and employment for the poor and disabled.

Steve K.
 

Injustice: Fawkes was Framed!

Others,

The search for truth is not aimed at finding agreement with tyranny. Congress is found through debate, the conflict of ideas. The search is aimed at discarding that which is not true about law. Law is for liberty. Thus, liberty in the law is the object that is to be sought.

Rejoice in the right to be different in accordance with respect for grace and truth.

Fr. John Johnson
Waz'up Guido?
Guy Fawkes

(The Gunpowder Plot)
The Fifth of November
http://www.potw.org/archive/potw405.html
"Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!
Guy Fawkes and his companions
Did the scheme contrive,
To blow the King and Parliament
All up alive..."

Guy Fawkes (1570-1601) used the name John Johnson.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes
"One of the conspirators, Thomas Percy, was promoted in June 1604, gaining access to a house in London that belonged to John Whynniard, Keeper of the King's Wardrobe. Fawkes was installed as a caretaker and began using the pseudonym John Johnson, servant to Percy."

Emmegahbowh used the name Fr. John Johnson (19^th century CE, Minnesota, USA)
http://satucket.com/lectionary/Enmegahbowh.htm
"The Rev. John Johnson was born in Canada and died at White Earth on the 12th of June, 1902, at the age of 95 years."

Fr. John Johnson aka Emmegahbowh (Stands for People)
Hymns were his gunpowder.
http://liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com/2011/06/12/june-12-enmegahbowh-priest-and-missionary-1902/ "John Johnson Enmegahbowh, an Odawa (Ottawa) Indian from Canada, was raised in the Midewiwin traditional healing way of his grandfather and the Christian religion of his mother. He came into the United States as a missionary in 1832..."

"Enmegahbowh (“The One who Stands Before his People”) is the first recognized Native American priest in the Episcopal Church. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Kemper in 1859 and priest by Bishop Whipple in the cathedral at Faribault in 1867. Enmegahbowh helped train many others to serve as deacons throughout northern Minnesota. The powerful tradition of Ojibway hymn singing is a living testimony to their ministry. His understanding of Native tradition enabled him to enculturate Christianity in the language and traditions of the Ojibway.”

Evelyn Underhill (20^th century CE, Anglo-Catholic, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, UK)
http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/185.html

Evelyn Underhill wrote about mysticism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Underhill#Writings_on_religion
She countered William James on the definition for the aspect of ineffability. She asserted that the value of mysticism is practical, not theoretical.

 

Underhill has agreement with Kant regarding the value of faith and morality. Morality is the practical value for faith. Ineffability makes the arguments drawn from mysticism esoteric and impractical.

 

It has been observed that tyrants and dictators use mysticism to justify tyrannical acts. The tyranny is promoted on the basis that ‘God said so’ with the cruelty of nature. Evelyn was a pacifist. This excluded her from support for the cruelty of war, but it doesn't rule out cruelty in the name of the law.

 

Consider the historical example of Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot. Assume that the information about the plot was obtained by torture. It is inadmissible in court. Torture someone long enough and death will seem preferable. A signature to a confession is given to stop the pain. It is a confession obtained by coercion. This is not regarded as valid testimony.

 

The confession obtained from Guy Fawkes was propaganda to gain sympathy for the absolute power of the king and parliament. The event serves as an example of establishment for the divine right of kings to put anyone to death who did not participate in the state religion.

It becomes imperative to consider this: Guy Fawkes was framed. The ‘gunpowder conspirators’ were framed. Why would a room under parliament be rented out? Like that wasn't regarded as a threat even then! So what was the justification for the employing the "divine right?" The cruelty of nature was the argument for the divine right to rule by killing or having others put to death. This was what was left implied when absolute power was cited.

 

This claim to absolute power was based on false mystical interpretation. The bounty of providence far outweighs the destruction caused by natural events. If anything, the destructiveness of natural events is a justification for working together to re-build damaged or destroyed constructs.

 

Nevertheless, even the sweetest of little old ladies can shock the pants off a skeptic with the certainty that is expressed regarding who should be put to death based on evidence that doesn't qualify as proof. Too many people, if any, would use the state as a convenient weapon for murder if someone were to be put to death for murder when the person was not guilty of the charge.

There is agreement that the practical value for faith is ethical morality. Even the rule of law however, has to be exercised with due process that relies on scientific standards for investigation; not convenient demographics based on majority or minority popularity in populations. Popularity in perception can be manipulated by propaganda, torture, coercion, false testimony, false arguments or other immoral practices.

 

Forgiveness
From Psalm 32

Happy are they who ask for forgiveness
for that which can be forgiven.
The transgression is put away.

Happy are they who are not guilty of crime;
who believe in correction for infraction
not the destruction of the criminal.
There is no remorse for their spirit.

Happy is the nation that does not support
torture, indefinite detention, targeted killing,
wars for aggression, genocide, elitism, racism, sexism,
discrimination or excessive force.
They don’t support tyranny.

My bones groaned while I held my tongue.
My spirit languished within me.

Then I acknowledged my error.
I did not conceal my guilt.

I said, “I will confess
my transgression to God as LORD.”
The guilt for my sin was forgiven.

The faithful will make their prayers to you.
When troubles overflow, they will be protected.

You are my hiding place.
You preserve me from trouble.
You surround me with deliverance.

A person is not justified by using the law for destruction.
The law is for the correction of crime.
Society as well as the suspect convicted
for a criminal charge
stands in need of redirection.

If I learn to correct prodigality
from my experience as a prodigal
I have learned from my experience.

If I convict those who are not guilty of crime
then I tear down that which I had believed I support.
Through the law, I died to the abuse of the law
so I might use the rule of law
with scientific standards for justice.
When the law itself is transgressing,
I will protest it for correction in executive,
legislative or judicial functions.

Do not be like the horse or the mule
that follow orders from the bit and bridle.
You must use faith with reason.
When the law is misdirected,
re-direct it back to respect
for rights.

Be glad you righteous.
Rejoice in freedom.
Rejoice in the liberty
that has respect for rights.
Rejoice in the LORD always
in all ways. Shout for joy
all who are true of heart!

=====================

Iraq and US Foreign Policy (Noam Chomsky, 21^st century, Massachusetts, USA)
http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/20061225.htm
“Vice-President Dick Cheney, the most influential foreign policy figure in the Bush Administration, observed that control over pipelines can serve as a "tool of intimidation." He was referring of course to control by others, but understands perfectly well that the same is true of US control.

 

“These matters, though obvious, are largely excluded from Western discourse. Doctrinal managers would like us to believe that the US and UK would have "liberated" Iraq even if its major exports were lettuce and pickles and the major energy resources of the world were in the South Pacific. It takes really impressive discipline "not to see" the obvious.”

==================================

The doctrinal managers that would have us believe that Iraq was “liberated” are drawing from the bible as the source for political doctrine. The Persian (Achaemenid) model for imperial leadership was being used for “Christ” in opposition to Iranian and Saudi extremism in factional militarism (al Qa eda) and cruelty in punishment. This model allowed for the total destruction of the enemy as an expression of devotion to God (herem).

 

The total destruction of terrorists (groups/tribes) was promoted as the alternative to the destruction of a kingdom or tribe.  Muslims were categorized as suspected terrorists when statements like “Death to America” or “Israel doesn’t have the right to exist” were made. Suspects were not investigated by due process of law because US foreign policy in the Middle East refused to acknowledge democratic processes in Middle Eastern nations.

 

Due process of law was ruled out as an option because the media was only broadcasting stories about Muslim cruelty in punishment. The fact that these were isolated incidents was left implied to favor the general perception that cruelty is a characteristic of Islamic justice. The problem is that cruelty is a characteristic of establishment religion, not Islam as a religion.

 

The great hypocrisy is that the US and the western coalition used wars for aggression to impose control over invaded nations to influence control over the Middle East. The people in the western coalition nations are being charged for the invasions with taxes.

 

 Corporations don’t pay a proportionate share in taxes. The wealthiest individual leaders from the corporations don’t pay a proportionate amount of taxes. The individual leaders from the oil, banking, military and media industries who organized the false flag event that established a basis for invasion level events have not been charged with high crime.

 

The policy makers who would have us believe in the liberation of Iraq (and Afghanistan) are using a biblical definition of Christ that is not acceptable to Christian, Jewish, Muslim or any moral theology. The policy however is based on belief in a doctrine derived from the bible as THE Judeo-Christian argument for establishment of state religion. The aggregate experience of the different religions affirms that there is no theological support for the establishment of a state religion.

 

The false doctrine for “establishment” has been ‘paired’ with the false belief that military invasion is necessary for the manifest destiny of democracy to be realized as the only acceptable form of government in the world. The imposition of “free” government by military force is not only a logical inconsistency, it is a high crime. Any form of government that is imposed by military invasion is forced by aggression. It is not chosen by the people. It is not organized by the people. The government is not established by the labor of the people. 

 

The practical value for faith is ethical morality; scientific standards for investigation are vital for justice in the due process of law; happiness is a self-perpetuating incentive for just political policies; injustice requires protest for improvement; respect for rights is the goal of government and the law; the establishment of a state religion is not beneficial for the religion or the state; establishment has been used to fabricate stories for false conviction and false flag events; establishment as a goal does not justify wars for aggression, genocide, murder, violence or economic destruction.

 

The study of history tells us that these principles for government and justice should be established as operational procedures for fairness in society. When the extension of rights is not the basis for leadership, the government is not representing the governed. All too often, rights have been limited to an “elite” that is given so much advantage that the only recourse left for society is to reduce the advantage. The advantage needs to be reduced. We need to reduce the advantage.

 

The Guy Fawkes mask used in “V for Vendetta” was critical in the promotion of the argument against “establishment.”  The central character acted as an avenging angel, a spirit that had been resurrected from history to combat the same kind of leadership that had had him put to death. The revenge fantasy provides a purge. It is an “out with the bad air and in with the good” type of resuscitation for the audience. The fantasy was released during a time when tyranny for the western coalition was on the rise. It was art in film for real time. It is art that inspires filmmakers to make an impact for the ages.

 

The dance macabre, when V is being shot by a contingent of black suited shooters, set up the audience for the key idea. The anti-hero is shot, but not killed. He convulses from the impact of bullets, but does not die. He rises from proximity to death to eliminate his attackers with “knives and karate gimmicks.” He pronounces liberation for the captives.

 

V for Vendetta – The Tragedy Ends
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l54ZSMQhRs&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Before he puts an end to Creedy as the bureaucratic agent of tyranny, V says, “Behind this mask is an idea, Mr. Creedy and ideas are bulletproof.”

 

Represent ideas for justice with protest and non-violent political action whenever necessary. The dance for death can be delayed to a natural end. This will save hundreds of thousands of lives. Offering human lives as sacrifice on the altar for establishment will not. Tens of thousands have been lost.

 

The search for truth is not aimed at finding agreement with tyranny. Law is for liberty. Liberty in the law is the object that is to be sought. Rejoice in your independence all you who respect rights for others!

 

Steve K.

Monster!

Others,

It is an error to worship leadership as God. This is the same error that was condemned with idolatry. When absolute power is ascribed to human being, leadership or the “LORD” has been deified as a replacement for leadership from nature’s God as the Creator of all.  

This is the Leviathan that seeks to destroy freedom for the people by offering rights as a reward, but takes the offer away to make people pay for the unlimited accumulation of capital for an elite group. War is used to delay the extension of rights.

People have the right to worship God according to the teachings of religion, but it is wrong to give an elite group absolute power without the possibility for legal reprisal.

The ascription of absolute power to human being opens the door to war for aggression, genocide, murder, torture, rape or violent crime of any kind, including economic destruction. Economic destruction is violent because it takes away food, shelter and clothing from those who are otherwise motivated to work for the same.

Freedom of religion is a human right. There is no legal freedom to make human being into the God for war, violence and destruction.

Leviathan
Spirit for War
The war of all against all.
Bellum omnium contra omnes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellum_omnium_contra_omnes
Hobbes was writing for the establishment of a state religion. Christianity was conveniently placed at the time. He defined life as the war of every one against every one.

Cindy Jacobs Tells Native Americans
to Repent from Animism or Laviathan
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/05/cindy-jacobs-native-americans-repent_n_3390601.html
""If you have in your bloodline any animus, any Native American blood, for instance -- not all Native Americans worshiped the serpent or crocodile, many did — but you might want to renounce that and repent for the generational iniquity,” Jacobs says. “If you are -- perhaps you’re Mexican and you might have indigenous blood in you or Mayan blood -- those who have Aztec blood in any way, you need to repent for the sin of animism before you begin to deal with this spirit.”"

-----------------------------

The population for her message is too specific. Everyone in the USA needs to worry about the consequence for animism after the push for the establishment of profit from war as the religion for the state.  The 'Citizens United' rule for industry leadership has re-established idolatry as the state religion. The nation has regressed to the state where leadership for war has been given status as the son of the god of war. Limiting the warning of the message to native people repeats the neo-Platonic error. The error blames those who were victimized most by the state for profit from war.

Lawfrom Ps.146

Say yea Yah!
Yea you!
Praise God, my dear soul.
I will praise the LORD while I live.
I will sing praises while I have being.

Don’t put your trust
in dictatorship.
Don’t trust cruelty.
It is the spirit for violence or war.
There is no help in fighting
for each against each;
all against all; each against all
or all against each.

When a dictator has died
his rule dies with him;
his plans for domination perish.

Happy are those
who engage in competition
with respect for rights
with the rule for law.
Virtue is the spirit for law.
Christ is divine person
who leads us in virtue.

No one is above the law.
No one is beyond correction for infractions that harm.
No one is beyond prosecution for high crime or crime.

Happy are those whose hope
is in God as LORD;

Who made heaven, earth, the seas
and all that exists in the environment;
Who keeps the promise of prosperity
for management, labor and posterity;

Who gives justice to those who are oppressed,
shelter to those who are homeless
and food to those who hunger.

Prisoners are set free.
Sight is given to heal blindness.
Movement is given to mend immobility.

Love is shared with family,
friends, neighbors and citizens;
care is shown for the stranger;
citizenship is made possible for immigrants;
sustainment is extended to those who struggle
against disadvantage,
but the way of violent aggression
will be corrected by punishment.
Spirit for violence will be corrected
by the Spirit for law.

God will reign forever,
your LORD for living
throughout all generations!
Praise God, my dear soul.
I will praise the LORD will I live.
I will sing praises while I have being.

Say yea Yah!
Yea you!

=========================

What is the reward for looking at the beast from the abyss?  Lyrics from the song “Monster” give us a clue.

Paramore – Monster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoTEnaAI9Fo

“I’ll stop the whole world
from turning into a monster
eating us alive.
Don’t you ever wonder
how we survive?
Now that you’re gone
the world is ours!”

The challenge is great, but the world belongs to those who respect civil and human rights. This respect is survival for what is humane about humanity. Life lives for joy. Celebrate goodness by living well.

Steve K.

Heart

Others,

Restore the altar of your heart with burning faith!

Rebuilding the Altar at Mt Carmel
1 Kgs. 18:20
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Pentecost/CProp4_RCL.html

Ahab sent to all the Israelites, and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel.

Ahab had married Jezebel, a Phoenician. Faith in Melqart became fashionable in the kingdom. Melqart represented prosperity by military conquest (rule of law with weapons). The prosperity was developed by the exploitation of conquered people. 

Elijah represented faith in Nature's God with a rule of law based on relationship by agreement. Prosperity was part of providence by the promise. Cruelty had not been ruled out as an element in the story about retaliation for violent acts.

The killing of the prophets of Ba’al did not show respect for freedom of religion after the competition, but the imperial story about what was done in the name of Melqart threatened the existence of Israel. There was a literary battle for the hearts and minds of the people that pitted the rule of the One from the many against belief in the rule of the One.

Cruelty in the name of sectarian competition still hasn't been ruled out as much as possible. American military presence was increased in the Middle East to deter the incidence of terror due to primitive tribalism. 

Freedom of religion has been put into the constitution for nations that had had Islam as the only state religion.

“Establishment” had been implicit in Islam as a religion that was more primitive than Christianity or Judaism. Government should not establish religious leaders to rule over people. A religion should establish itself by persuading people that the faith has respect for the rights of others. 

Using the law to establish one religion as legal is the same as saying weapons are necessary to force people to worship a deity. Weapons are not needed for worship. Defense is the only justification for the use of force. Defense is the only justification for war.

Concession to the aggression of imperial expansion by military conquest was regarded as wrong by the prophets of Israel. It was an expression of support for the risk in military action when the prophets of Ba’al danced around and cut themselves with weapons, but it wasn’t an act punishable by death.

The story said that the prophets of Ba’al were put to death, but this was a literary element that envisioned the success of faith in the God of the Covenant in the fullness of time. The violation of the commandment against murder was seen as more active in relation to the pagans and the toleration of human sacrifice.

It wasn't entirely fictional in terms of faith. It is not likely that Elijah had the command of an army that could have had the 450 prophets put to death. It is more likely that the restoration of faith in the promise had eliminated the influence of their promotion of "prosperity" at the expense of conquered people. 

Elijah’s act of sacrificing a bull for a feast did not endorse war. The sacrifice celebrated the union of communion with God. People joined together to celebrate life by eating an animal that was given for the occasion.  They didn’t join together to say that killing others was necessary for prosperity.

As a Sacred Location
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Carmel#As_a_sacred_location
"According to the Books of Kings, there was an altar to God on the mountain, which had fallen into ruin by the time of Ahab, but Elijah built a new one."

1 Kgs. 18

Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD came, saying, "Israel shall be your name"; with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD...At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so that this people may know that you are God, and that you have turned their hearts back."

A burning faith was restored to the people. :-)

Archaeology
http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/orencaves.html

Burning Faith
Fm Ps.96

Say, yea Yah!
Yea you!

Rays of faith
burn from this heart as the sun
shines star fire as light
to sight for sound
in song.

Life loves to learn
to live past
time in the gift
of the present.

Now is the time
to seize that which
can be seized
about tomorrow
from the past.

Cease seizing the day
by violent aggression with weapons.
Invasion is a high crime
against the community of nations.
The agent for organization
needs to be charged
for the crime.

The limits for knowing
are set to extend beyond
what had been known.
Exploration is necessary
for growth but,
science limits knowledge
to that which can be acknowledged
as known to investigation
in the due process of law.

Propaganda writes
the story before and after the event
to defend the sale of weapons.
Truth for justice does not condone
killing for propaganda.

Learn to know
what had been the case
for reason and agreement
to see what can
be seen in sowing seeds for
peace and prosperity for living
where discord and poverty
had been the order
for things in dying.

Proclaim the good news
of salvation from day to day.
Declare growth for the economy.
Share resources for the production
of products and the cultivation of service;
risk safety only to protect health.

Insure fairness in commerce
with pricing that is regulated
for consumer consumption;
not the inflation of personal gain
by corporate greed.

There is majesty in the dignity of your presence.
There is splendor and might in the power
of your protection.

Ascribe gratitude for creation
to the Creator.
Ascribe honor and majesty
in achievement to the Performer.
Ascribe to the individual
the Personality of respect for others.

Bring offerings to celebrate community
in the presence of love.

Worship God in the beauty of holiness.
Let the whole earth shine
with the exchange of energy.

Warmth, light and moisture
cause hearts to glow
and help plants to grow
from the dark womb of soil.

The constancy of the law
makes the world as firm as earth.
It cannot be moved
without growth
in progress
for respect.

Let the heavens rejoice.
Let the earth be glad.

Let the thunder rumble
as water dives with droves of drops
from clouds to bodies on the ground.

Then the trees in the forest will shout for joy.
Light will dance on leaves for branches
to drink deeply for life;
liquid substance is shared
with the wind.

The world will be judged for righteousness.
Respect for others will be shown with truth.
Say, yea Yah!
Yea you!

====================

Justin Martyr, the Philosopher (100-167)
http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/175.html

Justin was impressed by the steadfastness of the martyrs at Ephesus. He met an aged Christian man by chance while walking on the seashore. The man spoke to him about Jesus as the fulfillment of the promises made through the Jewish prophets.

Christ as Truth
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/131christians/evangelistsandapologists/martyr.html

Justin said, "I fell in love with the prophets and these men who had loved Christ; I reflected on all their words and found that this philosophy alone was true and profitable."

Later he moved to Rome. He founded a Christian school. He wrote two bold apologies (i.e., defenses—from the Greek apologia). Justin's First Apology, addressed to Emperor Antoninus Pius, was published in 155 CE. He explained the faith. Christianity was not a threat to the state. He asserted that it should be treated as a legal religion.

The proposal to accept Christianity as legal did not rule out acceptance of other religions. While polytheism was flawed insofar as emperor worship was included as a requirement, it allowed for a multiplicity of faiths.

The cult for each god or goddess was an expression of faith for a different religion. The greatest flaw for monotheism as a state cult was that it increased the risk for violence against those who did not belong to the cult.

The argument for Christianity as a legal religion however did not go as far as the provision for freedom of religion. This provision clearly affirms each person has the right to free exercise so long as the establishment of a religion for the state is not being promoted. 

The role for the state in terms of religion is to defend the right for an individual to participate in a community of faith. Respect for the right of others to the same freedom is a requirement by law.

Justin was asked by the prefect to denounce his faith after he was arrested in Rome by making a sacrifice to the gods. Justin replied, "No one who is rightly minded turns from true belief to false."

It was an easy answer. Justin had spent most of his adult life discerning truth from deception. Freedom of religion asserts that it would also be wrong for the state to ask anyone to denounce the right to another faith by claiming allegiance to Christ, God, monotheism or any particular religion.

It is also wrong to force a suspect to confess to a crime with the threat of violent force.

Suspect Killed During Interview
http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/22/justice/florida-fbi-shooting-boston/index.html 

  
"Ibragim Todashev, who died during the interview with authorities, not only confessed to his direct role in slashing the throats of three people in Waltham, Massachusetts, but also fingered Tsarnaev in the deaths, the official said Wednesday."

It was reported that Todashev was shot seven times. One shot was delivered to the back of his head. It was reported that he attacked the FBI agent with "some kind of weapon." 

He had turned over the table after signing the confession. Doesn't the excessive use of force scream “forced confession”? How many times does someone without a gun have to be shot to stop the perception of a threat?

The song “Baba O’Riley” sings.

"I don't need to fight to prove I'm right."

The statement is very true, but the corollary is not:

            I don't need to fight to prove that civil and human rights are just.
            They are natural. They don't need to be defended with violent action.
            Valid arguments support justification for proof.

The cruel dehumanization presented throughout the history of civilization as "justice" made the defense of rights a constant struggle. It is not the defense of my rights that transcends and promotes progress as evolution in the process.

Each elitist defaults to his or her right to accumulate capital despite the cost to others. It is the defense of rights for others that wins respect. This defense earns respect for individual rights in the life of each person.

I don’t need to fight to prove I’m right, but I will use truth to defend freedom with justice.

Steve K.