I was younger than you when I too heard the words of J.C. and decided they had merit. I incorporated them into my mental notebook and along with my grandfather we looked differently at people.

I remember telling my grandfather than I didn't believe in J.C. but loved his message. I have not changed in this and yet I have followed his (and others) message to treat all others equally. I do not believe that J.C. wanted to take from one level of society and give it to another level. I believe his teaching those poorer people to fish instead of giving them the catch of others is the message.

I also believe that opening academics and training to people does far more good than redistributing the wealth. But that is a political point of view and should not ever be a religious attitude.

The problems on this planet come from which God is better than another and is what keeps us at war with other Gods.

hey phil -- mark this day in history......a woman thinks you are right! (ggggg)

Great column. Makes a lot of sense.

If you think that having health insurance through your job means you won't have to pay Hilary's mandatory health insurance premiums - think again! According to a September 18 Associated Press article, Clinton said in an interview with the AP: "... she could envision a day when 'you have to show proof to your employer that you're insured as a part of the job interview -- like when your kid goes to school and has to show proof of vaccination,' but said such details would be worked out through negotiations with Congress." Go Obama!

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/200709...

Phil,

Kinky Friedman, last years candidate for Governor of Texas, who is Jewish, often said, "If you don't love Jesus, you can go to hell." It took me awhile to understand this sort of odd statement coming from someone who is Jewish.

Somewhere along the way, during the primary race, I heard Kinky talking on a local Austin radio station and he was explaining his Jesus comment in much the way you just did in your article.

As I've often stated in postings in the RR side of CHB, I am an Evolutionist. As an Evolutionist, I don't subscribe to the belief that Jesus is a supernatural being or there is an afterlife that will exist beyond the stars somewhere, which is usually referred to as heaven, but, like yourself I do believe that Jesus' messages were are certainly an essential catalyst in human development and civility.

Many things that biblical historians say that Jesus talked about, his values, his beliefs about ordinary life issues for ordinary human beings...his messages were obviously intended to instill a format for life that includes common-sense social behaviors, tolerance, acceptance, cohesiveness, and love toward our fellow men and women in such a way that allows all of humanity to peacefully co-exist.

If any one of us were to sit down, write a list of elements necessary for basic human survivial and ways to co-exist and without conflict, I think that probably about 7 of the ten commandments, along with a most of what Jesus tried to impart...all mixed together would make some very humanistic, common-sense ways for the world to be a pretty wonderful place. With those elements of good will, it might be perceived that we could create what is often described as 'heaven on earth'.

Your thoughts and feelings in this article is much appreciate by me. This article is certainly moving and should give all of us who read it some very important encouragement to set aside time for some introspection and develop some decision making ideas that will lead us to select the next president who lead, not control, who will inspires, not instill fear, and who will, like Jesus, ask us all to participate in good will toward humanity and seek peaceful solutions for co-existence in our country and with the rest of the world.

Whoever that person is that we select for president...it will be an awesome, overwhelming task to bring our nation out of a dark past and hopeful be able to inspire each of us to participate in WE THE PEOPLE's responsibilites as the founders of our country intended.

Thank you Phil.A sword of reason dripping with logic and heart will always defeat one stained with the blood of innocents.

So lets all get behind the religious right and work on those prohibitions.

Well said, Phil. You are perhaps an "Orthodox" Christian, one who believes in the teachings of Christ but doesn't buy into all the perverse baggage, racism, warfare and arrogance of the Old "Testament."

You may also be a Buddhist, like me. When you realize how incredibly similar the teachings of Buddha, who preceded Christ by 500 years and Christ are, the pieces start to fall into place, IMHO. If Christ wanted to study Buddhism, he didn't have to go to China or India. All he had to was cross the Jordan river and go about 30 miles, to the nearest Buddhist monastery. (I can't recall the name, at the moment....)

Things like John the Baptist being the reincarnation of Elijah, feeding the multitudes with a few fish and bread-loaves, Legion's spirits leaving him for a herd of swine, etc., etc. are straight, unadulterated Buddhism and have ZIP to do with the teachings of the Torah.

DejaVuAllOver, I think of my point of view as "American Zen"

Phil Hoskins

American Zen..Me too,they zen me there and zey zen me back again.POETRY is not a lost ART,neither is the human spirit.

Bryan, when they bring out the Jesus Card, it shows a lack of American values. Someday all Americans will learn right from wrong without the terrorism of a sky daddy. I give up, my values and agenda are far too simple for the convoluted politics of today. Our agenda, our laws, our values are found in the Constitution.

A group of apes could hacve written the 10 commandments and anyone watching their social interaction would see a good model for all humans.

Zen....my ass!

Sandra....James Madison's Ideas and Beliefs say it all for me.

James Madison was very clear about the separation of church and state. The follow is but a few of his beliefs:

"Freedom arises from the multiplicity of sects, which prevades America and which is the best and only security for religious liberty in any society. For where there is such a variety of sects, there cannot be a majority of any one sect to oppress and persecute the rest. [James Madison, spoken at the Virginia convention on ratifying the Constitution, June 1778]

(SNIP)

The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries. [James Madison, 1803]

(SNIP)

Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprize [sic], every expanded prospect. (James Madison, in a letter to William Bradford, April 1,1774) "

But Sandra, I saw in Phil's article, in which he describes Jesus' messages...well, I view Phil's references to Jesus as a metaphor or a sort of guideline of useful and positive characteristics of a candidate who might move us out of the current dark age of American politics and government. Phil could have used a lot of individuals in various religious philosophies to make the same points, but since America is certainly a Jesus kind of place...makes sense to use the obvious comparative analysis.

I AM a Christian and I am not hearing the endorsement from Christ. Obama has the speech patterns of a minister and he might make a good preacher.
However, we are not electing a national minister, but rather the POTUS.
Therefore, I am voting for Hillary.
She wasn't my first choice, but she is my choice now.
interesting Huckabee is painted as less than stellar Christian and yet you are endorsing a man whose church honored none other than Louis Farakhan.
I'm scratching my head here.
Sherry

Not ALL Christians and people of faith are nutty like the ones that voted in GW. Not all people of faith voted for GW.

This country was founded on Christian values. However the founding forefathers did not want the "church" to control the gov't the way the Catholic church has controlled Europe in prior centuries.

GWB is a con man not a Christian. He's a rich, spoiled elitist jock who pretends to be a Christian. So just because people got taken by another snake oil salesman, please stop lumping all people of faith as a bunch of quacks.

I'd really hate to see what this country would be without people of faith living in it.

Who is backing Louis Farrakahn?

hahahaha...Sandra, you are a hoot. Louis Farrakan, huh? Well, well...I'm gonna sit back and follow this out.

Tsk, tsk, tsk...I'm still sticking with James Madison's suggestions, myself.

Religion has zero place in the management of government or citizens. And now for the rest of the story...

Sandra, you can throw in a good stabbing pun at just the greatest of times.

Remembering Jesus's advice on politics:

1. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. (to the Pharisees who sought to entrap him)

2. Be as wise as serpents, but as harmless as doves. (to the seventy as he sent them out)

3. My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, then would my servants fight. (to Pilate)

4. Go you therefore into all the world, preaching the good news and baptizing...(the Great Commission, which says nothing about seeking political power)

And from Saul/Paul:

5. Let every soul be subject to the higher power...(Paul to the Roman church, admonishing them for their disobedience to lawful authority)

Most sincerely,

T. J. Flapsaddle

Mr. Hoskins, well written, and utterly naive. A perfect world you wish for. Have you heard the saying "Man of Straw"?

Roosevelt in his memoirs stated there was a "secret government within the government".

Standard Oil made the necessary lead additive for Hitler's Luftwaffe Airforce. Without it Hitler would have never had one plane in the air.

The precision ball bearings essential to Hitler's war machine was made in Philadelephia.

Preston Bush bankered Hitler's finances through his bank.

And yes, the gas used to kill the Jews was made in the good old USA.

Those who control this country, and all others, have no patriotism, it has always been a world power.

Clinton and Obama has already done some 'dirty-deeds' together. During the Clinton Administration they came up with a deal to steal land in Hawaii, changing land designating never to be used commercially, and raped the Hawaiians like America did the American Natives. Everyone who reads this should web-search Obama Hawaii and find the facts.

Obama has used his influence to raise his wife's salary from 80K to almost 1M in this short time. Or maybe she is just THAT GOOD.

Obama, when he entered the elite school in Hawaii, was registered a Muslim by his grandfather. That is a fact.

I do not think he is a muslim fanatic. It does provide a curious insight to his mind.

Obama states in his book he was prejudiced against with "monkey-calls" and such in school in Hawaii. His friends from that time say different. In fact, they say he was the most popular kid, adored, and the star of basketball for the school. They said he always wore a white suit and always had a basketball in his hand.

He said his grandparents had a problem with his skin color and was ashamed of him. His friends and others say his grandparents adored him and he publicly loved his grandparents.

In his book he said "At Columbia University, in the library, they painted over, but I could see N___ etched in the walls." Columbia University? The most liberal Ivy League college? Needless to say, his former friends say he was admired and liked, and in fact it appears he was given special advances because of his race (although he probably deserved every advancement he achieved regardless of race, he is a very smart guy who I admire).

My opinion, Mr. Obama has been using the race card all his life. Are you going to vote because you are PC and feel guilty of "The White Man's Burden" or are you going to quit thinking race or gender, and use common sense?

Woodrow Wilson, the second worst Prez. most probably, may be a lot like Obama. He had not much experience, a nice guy, and a great talker. He had two great flaws; he was greedy and loved praise. They stroked his hair and fed him money. On his death-bed he said, "I fear I have ruined America".

Do I think Hillary is corrupt? You bet ya. Are they all? Oh yes. Why would McCain sing "bomb Iran" to the tune Barbara Ann? He is telling those in control "I'm your man".

Is Obama a small-time white-collar thug (who speaks sweet words) wanting to establish himself to start a big time world presence like the Kennedys and the Bushes and the Clintons?

You bet ya.

He's a puppy who wants to be King. I'll vote for a Lion, who can't be as controlled. Who is feared by the "Gang". Who very well knows how the game works, and the Gang will have to play her cards.

Do I like my choice? No. But I will vote Clinton.

It all comes down to knowing right from wrong. Do we really need a hundred books written about a hundred Gods to guide the human race?

I've read that humans have a developed brain that evolved from the animal tree. I have had many dogs, cats, horses and even chickens who understood right from wrong and I never bothered with biblical quotes.

Why is it so hard to get a simple truth to people to the point where they often cannot act without a consensus of others?

I taught one serious truth to my kids and it covered a multitude of Commandments. It was that it is always wrong to take from others what you have not earned. This can start from taking an item of clothing all the way to telling the government to keep their hands off what we have earned by our labors. It should also send a message to our government to stop devaluing the dollar!

When you cut through the parables and locate the common truth of values, life is increasingly more simple and decisions obvious.

In the coming November election, I can find no candidate who understands right from wrong with the possible exception of Ron Paul.

I spent the first 12 years of my life in a society totally free of deceit. No lying - no dishonesty. Now that does no mean that information was not withheld. There are things you do not wish for others to know. But instances of theft or lying were so rare as to be almost non-existant.

I can recall more instances of someone killing another and only one or two of those were on purpose. We had our own system of justice which consisted of one punishment for all crimes of dishonesty that caused deliberate injury. Banishment from the nation, they no longer existed. Non-deliberate injuries were handled according to the offense such as payments or taking over responsibilities.

They tried to prepare me for the invaders society when it came time to enter it but I still had a very difficult time with it. I was taken advantage of on a daily basis by my peers. They viewed me as being stupid and used my naievity to pull me down because I was so far ahead of them both physically and academically. It took me a couple of years to get up to speed, but I learned.

However, my roots are still with the Nation and I still have trouble comprehending a society that is deceitful in every respect as all major societies are that I have encountered on this planet. It just makes no sense to me that the world is ruled by envy and the desire to force everyone else to conduct their life as you believe they should. Oddly, they do not have to believe as you do, but they must perform as though they do. The only point of that is the desire for power. However, the flaw in that is, if there is no deceit, there is no need for power over others.

Like I said, it makes no sense to me. Without deceit there is no need for religion. I have no religion, only reality. I consider all religions to be fairy tales and misinterpretations that have been used by evil men to control others for power.

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Beautifully stated! Thanks Seal!!

Great Blog Seal....

Well stated Seal, and I certainly dig your points. Not a lot makes sense in the world today. Seems like civilization is backsliding somehow and the world is becoming more and more violent and evil. Being an Evolutionist, I can certainly agree on your views on very old methodologies that are still going strong today...that are used by the few to control the many. Maybe humanity hasn't evolved enough intellectually and emotionally to effectively work in concert with today's technologies.