Do You Believe In Good?

Do You Believe In Good?
Do you believe in Good? As the general rule do you believe that treating others right benefits everyone, even you in the long run? In Christian terms, do you believe in the Golden Rule, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you?”

If so, you’re basically an optimist. And if you’re optimistic, it colors the way you see, experience, and interact with the people and the world around you. It colors your understanding of the past, present, your expectations for your future, and your ability to fulfill your dreams, your potential, and live a meaningful human life. And if so, you’re a Christian according to my own best interpretation/understanding of the term.

If I said someone was “Christ like” I’d mean that they treat others with respect, dignity, and consideration. This in fact, makes them what the world needs more of, namely good, humane, human beings. Call me a humanist if you will, but anti-human is anti-Christian to me. And being humane is being Christ like!

Now, does that mean you have to advertise your faith on the bumper of your BMW or Chevy truck? Does it mean that you have to tell others about the strength and the power of your beliefs and your God? Does it mean that you have to attend church, or publicly praise and give credit to God after you score a touchdown? Or pray before meals & bed time? Or disapprove, disrespect, discredit, or belittle in any way, people who wear religious labels (Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Jew) that differ from yours?

Does it mean that you have to approve of self-righteous, self serving, self indulgent, dollar hungry, commercial television evangelists who clog the airways today with poisonous socio-economic politics, prejudice, and hatred/bigotry, disguised as religious conviction? Does it mean that you have to vote Republican?

My answer? It means exactly the opposite! God doesn’t need your bumper sticker advertisement. God doesn’t need nor care about your public testimonial. He’s not pitching an infomercial or running for office. He doesn’t care if you ever walk into a church or tell him what you want in your prayers. (On the other hand he’d probably appreciate you just listening once in a while.) And he could care less about touchdowns.

God cares only about your heart & actions, not your label! More specifically, he cares about how you think of, and treat other people (the Golden Rule?) regardless of their religious affiliation/label, ethnic background, race, age, sexual orientation, or gender. And if you treat other people right, you may call yourself a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Jew, or even an atheist, and still be very Christian in my eyes. On the other hand, you can call yourself a Christian, but if you don’t treat other people with dignity and respect, even (especially) if they’re different from you, and if you don’t carry yourself with a tangible sense of humility, you fail my Christian test immediately!

If I was a betting man, I’d wager that God has as particularly low opinion of self righteous, self serving, self indulgent, money grubbing, bigots and hypocrites who wallow in religious talk, put on a show “in his name” and fill the minds of naïve friends and followers with social poison. My God would throw these charlatans, these anti-human money-changers out of his house on their ear, and tell ‘em to stay out. Amen!!

3 Principles of Economic Justice

Kelso’s binary formula is grounded in…

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies…In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776
Which states, among other things…

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

Kelso’s offers his Three Principles of Economic Justice.

The Principle of Distribution which simply confirms the age-old presumption that if you make something, it belongs to you, not someone else. No disagreement here, right?

The Principle of Participation states that all citizens are guaranteed the right to participate in the economy to the degree that they are able to provide themselves and their family members with decent food, clothing, housing, health care, education, etc. that are necessary to secure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, those RIGHTS that are endowed by the creator, and according to the Declaration of Independence, are both self evident, and inalienable. That means they're intuitively obvious, and they cannot be taken away by anyone. In other words, people who are being denied access to participation in the economy are also being denied access to the rights endowed on all humans by God …those rights that constitute the American ideal for which our forefathers fought and died.

The Principle of Limitation/Harmony states that no one will be allowed to have so much of the American Pie that it infringes on the Principal of Distribution, or the Principal of Participation for anyone else.

In my mind, it’s logiclally impossible to agree with the assertions in The Declaration of Independence, without agreeing with the Principle of Participation. Furthermore, it’s logically impossible to agree with the Principle of Participation without agreeing with the Principle of Limitation as well. So, when you buy into the Declaration of Independence, you’re automatically buying into Kelso’s three principles of economic justice which include the Principles of Participation and Limitation. Amen

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