It's Faith is Everyone's Business Thing

Dear America,

"I would suggest that faith is everyone's business.  The advance or decline of faith is so intimately connected to the welfare of a society that it should be of particular interest to a politician.  Furthermore, the fact that I am not a member of the clergy might help people be more open to what is said in this book.  No one can accuse me of writing what I write because I have been motivated by self-interest or theological prejudice."

these words are from the original introduction of a book that changed lives and prepared the world for the end of slavery; written by William Wilberforce, Real Christianity was written for an audience over 200 years ago, but might as well have been introduced to the world last week, considering it's examination of the essential truths surrounding a certain gap -- that being, that which separates "real faith" from the practice of a "cultural Christianity."

not to mention, this girl likes that part at the end, when Wilberforce says, like besides... "no one can accuse me of writing what I write because I have been motivated by self-interest or theological prejudice."

Isn't that refreshing?

And so true -- this idea that faith is everyone's business.

...how a society may come and go simply by it's treatment, it's reverence, it's attention, to it's faith

...how this faith, or lack thereof, directly affects the welfare of it's people.

What we do and what we say matters; just as, how we do it and how we say it matters.

Isn't it funny how the word pious could essentially be expressing two entirely different things...and the only tell would be the tone of voice and/or context.  

Here we go, via google:

pi·ous
ˈpīəs/Submit
adjective
devoutly religious.
synonyms: religious, devout, God-fearing, churchgoing, spiritual, prayerful, holy, godly, saintly, dedicated, reverent, dutiful, righteous
"a pious family"
making a hypocritical display of virtue.
"there'll be no pious words said over her"
synonyms: sanctimonious, hypocritical, insincere, self-righteous, holier-than-thou, pietistic, churchy; informal goody-goody
"pious platitudes"

 It's like, how can pious be talking "saintly" one minute and "holier-than-thou" the next, right?

Now, Pope Francis has been busy crowning a few saints -- Mother Teresa received the honor in September; and just today, he was at it again...this time, an Argentinian "gaucho-priest..Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero along with six others in a Mass before a crowd of 80,000 in St. Peter's Square."

Just as Mother Teresa lived in and around and with the very community she ventured to teach the way of Christ and intimately care for them in every possible way, and Brochero did the same.  As Pope Francis noted, "[H]e never stayed in the parish office. He got on his mule and went out to find people like a priest of the street — to the point of getting leprosy,"


How saintly is that, to live this kind of faith through and through -- even risking life itself?

We have saints living among us, too.

People deserving of sainthood today, include the many evangelists of preachers, and priests, and missionaries -- whether traveling the world or staying close to home, they create 'a pious family,' connected in spirit and the Word, beaming messages of hope and revival to the masses.

Given the healthy dose of criticism and judgement against Christians as a whole, these soldiers at the front line of fire are most deserving of praise and adoration; for the condemnation has reached such a critical mass, generally speaking.

Dr. David Jeremiah's Sunday message included a  short summary of periods of revival in America -- and it was fascinating.  Besides ending with the call to duty for Christians to get it together again, come hell or high water, he told a story of the origins of a local coffee house, The Living Room.

Turns out, it's not really local at all -- it started in San Francisco...at the height of the hippie season in the 1960's.  In between the highs of the psychedelics, this little coffee house catered to the lost and preached the Gospel between grinds.

The Jesus Movement was all the rage.  
And then, it wasn't.   poof!   gone.

And then I found this, it's from a place called Heaven Awaits and it seeks to answer the question Why did the Jesus Movement Die?

...and if you just read the Home Page for a wee bit, you will come away thinking it's like another Wilberforce for our time.  It says, "look to the Holy Spirit, not man, for answers...Stop hiding in your house and hanging around only people who are Christian like you..."

And maybe it's just me reading more into it than is worthy, but I don't think so; for it skilfully deals a blow to the heart of every Christian, really ---- asking for each one of us to make an honest assessment of the integrity of our personal walk in faith: is it real or cultural; is it pious, or pious?

Of course, it's not like I expect all of us to agree on everything regarding FAITH; I mean, come on, that would be so unrealistic, right?  And yet, with what we know of the history of the world, how hard could it be for us to agree on this part.... that "[T]he advance or decline of faith is so intimately connected to the welfare of a society..."

How hard could it be?

Today happens to be the 100th birthday of Planned Parenthood.  [some people call it an ANNIVERSARY; I prefer to use BIRTHDAY]

Millions of babies aborted, with millions of women scarred for life...oh along with many other women who just don't care one way or the other...


The thing is, looking at the history of the organization, -- specifically, its origins -- just kills me.
It's a perfect, living, breathing example of sanctimony hooking up with multiple partners...leftist lies that have led women astray, especially the poor and those within the African-American community.

Read this, from The Negro Project.  Or this, Black Genocide dot org.
Planned Parenthood began with the Genesis of a Total Lie and it continues reliving it everyday, only now, it manufactures a voting block for the Democratic Party at the same time.  What a beautiful world, huh.

Oh sure, now of course, it's just about a woman's right to choose death over life.  Wonderful.  How evolved we have become...

But curious as to how Pope Francis has chosen to make this Jubilee Year of Mercy [year beginning December 2015], a year openly projecting a rather leftist movement within the Catholic Church.  The inclination to go less devout, and more "churchy," may very well be a sign of the beginning of the end, eh?  But who am I to go all PWBG....prophecy while blogging G while awaiting the rapture and seven years of tribulation...and so on and so on.

This snippet from about a year ago:

(CNN)Pope Francis shook up the Catholic world -- again -- on Tuesday by announcing that priests around the world will be authorized to forgive the "sin of abortion" when the church begins a "Year of Mercy" this December. 

"The forgiveness of God cannot be denied to one who has repented," the Pope said, adding that he has met "many women" scarred by the "agonizing and painful" decision to have an abortion.

And I would just love to know how the Pope would respond to what consequences, if any, to those who aren't Catholic, who don't repent, or who just don't give a flying hoot?  And what happens when the year comes to a close this December, do the priests get a 'cease and desist' on this thing called forgiveness on the "sin of abortion?"

If a society 

can dispose of life, a real life, 

ever so easily, 

how could real Christianity

 ever have half a chance?

"I would suggest that faith is everyone's business.  The advance or decline of faith is so intimately connected to the welfare of a society that it should be of particular interest to a politician."

Faith is everyone's business.

Where do we go from here, Lord?

Life, in community with one another, for the betterment of the whole, is also everyone's business.

Do you begin your day with God before you begin your day?

"The advance or decline of faith is so intimately connected to the welfare of a society ..."

And just as Black Lives Matter has raged from the grassroots as a political firestorm -- we must all stop and have an honest conversation of all sides of this movement (think it's two).   It's a movement because it has traction, it has growth, it has life.

And it, too, has a twin... lives conjoined by the color of one's skin and yet separated by conflicting ideologies, arguments born out of what's right or what's left.  Never mind that just this weekend, in Chicago, eight people were killed alongside 33 wounded.   The movement is dead set committed to one point of view -- never mind real stats, or real deaths within the black community.

Disproportionate truths happen. Sometimes often.

Sanctity of life is everyone's business.

And yet, here we are. It's Sunday --
this is the day the Lord has made,
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
or not.

all I know is it's all just words
until we actually do something to make it so.

Make it a Good Day, G