Shut up and get to work
There’s a simple analogy here for what’s going on with our country, and it’s profound because it comes from an unexpected angle.
When Luther hammered his list to the door, the Church was in a bad time. Unquestionably, the Catholic Church has a history of some bad behavior, and this may have been the height of it.
But what Luther did, what all the protestants have done, is change the rules to suit them. Instead of working within a bad system to make it better, they did their own thing, because they felt they knew better than anyone else.
This doesn’t make protestants bad people- on the contrary, most are decent folks. But the schisms between Christian beliefs- the idea that some nutball convinced a bunch of people that catholics pray to saints or worship statues- generates friction within a group of people who should- by the nature of their belief- have NO division at all.
There is little question the Republic we have is broken, but I don’t believe it is irretrievably broken. And I’m surrounded by people who are bound and determined to effect change. (Btw: Three times in the last two weeks I’ve heard people espousing Anarchy say “like it or not we’re LIVING in Anarchy”. WTF? Shouldn’t they be happy? I have yet to understand that one)
Anyway, instead of fighting with one another about who knows what and why we are fucked and how much better this or that or the other system would be (they won’t, by the way) we should be putting that effort into fixing what we have.
Most people are so anxious to have that new hotness that they trade in the old POS to get it. And then the bill for the new hotness comes. Will people ever realize that the new hotness always becomes the old POS if they let it? Take care of what you have and it will take care of you. This refers to religion, government, cars, relationships… the list is pretty large.
Instead of bitching try looking at ways you can force government to shrink. yeah, yeah, the folks getting those government checks are never going to vote themselves a pay cut, yadda yadda. What if we give them some incentive? Think of ways- legal ways, I can already think of a billion illegal ones- to make that happen, and DO IT.
10 comments Og | Uncategorized
Maybe what we need to do is start hammering copies of the Constitution to the government’s doors.
It is easier to piss and moan than it is to think and do.
Then when you let the religion, or country, or car deteriorate past the point of economical repair – you are forced to act immediately (and inefficiently) to get a lesser replacement.
and it will always be someone else’s fault that I let it happen to me
Actually Martin Luther was attempting to reform the Catholic Church with his 95 thesis. He did not support nor want a separate church to form from his efforts. He was a priest who objected to the perversion that his church was turning into and wanted to change it. He also objected when people started calling the “converts” Lutherans.
Nosmo’s right. Plus, for some, moaning and groaning is a hobby: thay’d be miserable if they weren’t unhappy.
Get involved at the church you belong to. Find an organization that does something you go for, and volunteer (even if it’s ladling soup at the rescue mission), or be part of meetings and boards. If you’re lucky enough to live in a town where corruption is low or not there, or if the clique is not too tightly knit, get involved in town politics. There’s not just elected office, there’s boards, party stuff, and if it doesn’t exist, see if there’s interest, then slowly get your own organization started.
To hell with Prozac. If people followed the above, there’d be no depression, and no suicides. And there’d surely be no emo kids.
David, while it may be true that he wasn’t out to start his own branch of Chrisitianity, he certainly rose to the bait once it was offered, and his rewrite of the bible (adding things and removing things to suit hs “new” theology) didn’t help.
Luther wasn’t given much of a choice after he was excommunicated from the church he was trying to reform? Also, the Bible has been rewritten practically every time it is translated into another language. In English alone there are more than 13 different “versions” of the Bible. Throughout history the Bible has been rewritten or reinterpreted several times. How many decades did the Catholic Church debate the wording of the original translations of the Bible from Greek to Latin.
But all that is another argument for another day. I agree with your original thesis completely I just thought your analogy was a little flawed. Now its time for me to “Shut up and go to work!”
LOL! Yep. hey, I got no problem with what Luther was trying to do, but demonstrably, he changed the bible to suit his goals. As has most every other protestant faith. You can’t rip pages or chapters from the bible because they show you to be a fool and have people take you seriously.
I like Nathan’s idea. Maybe a copy of the Constitution and a copy of the relevant oath of office.
I’ll accept Ken’s amendment. Is there a second?
Thanks, Nathan. It occurred to me that it might also be salutary to leave a pint can of roofing patch and a ziploc sammich bag of chicken feathers, but they’d probably construe that as a threat or something.