Jesus, The Performance Artist

Two different Facebook friends have posted declarations of faith in the last few days, requesting that all of their friends copy and paste the declaration to their Status.  Both of the declarations contained reminders that if we deny Christ in front of men, He will deny us to The Father at The Judgment.  I needed to ask myself why I hesitated to comply with their requests.  It is because I have become leery of reposting anything on Facebook, and I do not want to be responsible for turning anyone away from Christ. 

Many requests to repost information on Facebook turn out to be rumors or hoaxes.  That was not true in this case, as both of my friends accurately paraphrased what Jesus said.  I am concerned about turning anyone away from Christ because I have seen it happen.  Jesus told us not to judge anyone, but my impression has been that many people who call themselves Christians are some of the most judgmental and mean-spirited people around.  I think that many other people share this impression.  People I have known who have been some of the best examples of loving thy neighbor, who were most like the Good Samaritan, have been people who did not even think of themselves as Christians.  Reminding people that they face damnation unless they declare themselves as Christians will probably not motivate people to learn about Jesus Christ.  Jesus said that he came not to condemn the world, but to save it from condemnation.

If we are going to use Facebook and other social media to share the Good News, we must share the good news with those who have not heard it.  They can learn about not hiding their light under a bushel after they get interested and start reading a Bible.  Jesus preached a message of love and hope and the power of faith.  One important thing I learned from reading the Bible is that we do ourselves a larger favor by forgiving others than any favor we do for anyone else when we forgive them.  I learned that we can overcome fear by faith.

Jesus was the ultimate performance artist.  Historians regard the Gospels as historical documents.  The Crucifixion was an historical event, not just a religious event.  Even if we leave aside some of the dogma, such as whether Jesus was born of a virgin, He really did go to the cross to send a message.  He had enough love and enough faith in him to undergo torture and die an extremely painful death so that the rest of us can have a focal point for our faith.  He died so that we can have life more abundantly and so that we can face the afterlife without fear.

Taxation Without Representation

An important principle for us to keep in mind on Independence Day is the idea of taxation without representation.  It was an important reason for the American Revolution.  It is the reason the franchise was expanded to include more than male property owners

Many citizens of the United States today are taxed without representation, but that is at least partly their own fault.  Less than half of the eligible voters in Ohio showed up at the polls to narrowly elect the now unpopular governor, John Kasich.  The government of Minnesota is now shut down because the governor and the legislature cannot agree on a budget.  The Democratic governor wants to raise taxes on state residents with the highest two percent of income, and the Republicans in the legislature refuse to agree to this.  It looks as though the same thing may happen to our national government.

The people who represent us in our state and national governments do not represent all of us.  They certainly represent the wealthiest among us, because the wealthiest among us vote.  They also have the means to fund election campaigns to influence how the rest of us vote.  If the wealthiest among us have a disproportionate share of power, it is because we gave it to them through our apathy. 

This problem goes back many generations.  Many people are apathetic about voting because they do not understand the importance of voting.  They did not adequately learn about civics in school because their parents did not vote for adequate funding for the public schools.  Those parents did not vote for money for the schools because they did not understand that their children must have an adequate education to participate in government effectively.  As a result, we have a population that believes that their votes do not count.  Many of those who do vote are manipulated by politicians who tell them what they want to hear.

If you are a poor working stiff, your incompetent brother-in-law sleeps on your couch.  If you are well-to-do, your incompetent brother-in-law works in your tax shelter business.  If you are wealthy and powerful, your incompetent brother-in-law holds public office so that you can get government contracts and subsidies and so that the tax structure favors your business interests.

We can reverse this situation simply by voting.  This means all of us.  If we simply bothered to learn about the issues and vote for candidates who truly represent our interests, we might be able to choose from more than two parties, and we might be able to field candidates who know something about the United States Constitution and the law.  We might not have to put up with campaign ads that insult our intelligence.  We might be able to keep our government in operation.