An Alternative Response To The Unfolding Tragedy

Cloggy

Cloggy

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Received this by email and wanted to share it with all of you!
THE ANNIVERSARY OF 9 / 11

AN ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE TO THE UNFOLDING TRAGEDY

As we reach the anniversary of the terrible events of 9/11 I felt moved to send you this inspiring extract from The Laughing Jesus by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy. If it touches you, please send it on to your friends and colleagues, to help nurture an alternative response to the unfolding tragedy we are witnessing in the world today.

As long as we live in the ‘us versus them’ world created by the illusion of separateness, we will continue to squabble and fight. We will continue to project the evil within ourselves on to ‘them’. It will always be the other side that is untrustworthy, duplicitous, criminal, inhumane, whilst we are good, honest, legal and loving. It is always be the other guy who is a terrorist, whilst ‘we’ are the freedom fighters. At a press conference following 9/11 President Bush stated:

'How do I respond when I see that in some Islamic countries there is a vitriolic hatred for America? I'll tell you how I respond. I'm amazed. I just can't believe it because I know how good we are.'

He’s right of course. But only half right. American is a good country. And in many ways it is leading humanity into a new and better world. But America, like every country and every person, has its shadow side. As long as it refuses to acknowledge this, it will continue to project its own ‘evil’ onto the ‘other’. In an ‘us versus them’ world there must always be an evil ‘them’. Just look at how, when the ‘evil empire’ of Soviet Russia fell, a new ‘axis of evil’ was created within a few years to fill the void.

But life can never be reduced to a simple morality tale of the triumph of the good guys over the bad guys, no matter how much Hollywood may want to portray it that way. In reality there are no good guys and bad guys, because we are all a mixture of good and bad. As long as we delude ourselves that evil is ‘out there’ and can be fought ‘out there’, we will never find the solution. The only answer is to recognise that the ‘evil’ is in ourselves. Until we truly absorb the implication of the parable 'let he who is without sin throw the first stone’ we are forever doomed to hurl stones at each other.

From the Gnostic perspective, the first step to healing the present world crisis would be for us to be big enough to understand our enemy’s point of view. As Jesus says in the gospels, we need to stop pointing out the speck of dust in our opponent’s eye and acknowledge the great plank of wood in our own. We need to seek out and humbly acknowledge everything we have done to divide ‘them’ from ‘us’. We have to make amends for our own failings, whilst forgiving our adversaries. We have to trust even where trust has been betrayed. And love even where love has been rejected. We need to refuse to play the game of winners and losers, and make it clear that we can only win together.

Following the atrocity of 9/11 a wave of sympathy for America swept the world, and was just as quickly squandered. It could all have been so different. Imagine if the American president had addressed the world in the authentic spirit of the original Christians:

‘The American people are hurt and shocked by these terrible attacks on our country. But as a culture rooted in the Christian tradition, it is in such dark times that we must draw on our deepest wisdom, which teaches us to have faith in the power of love and forgiveness. In The New Testament Jesus teaches that we should forgive those who wrong us and turn the other cheek. He declares “You have heard it said ‘an eye for an eye’ but I say ‘love your enemies’". Only love can heal hate. Suffering is redeemed only when it motivates us to make things better. Therefore, even though our hearts are breaking and filled with anger, we will not take revenge. Instead we will try to forgive those who have hurt us so badly and do all we can to make amends. We invite all of you who consider us to be your enemy to come and talk with us. Let us sit around a table and settle once and for all the differences between us. Help us to prove beyond doubt that we are not the enemy of anyone. If we have been guilty of causing suffering and pain, tell us what we can do to make things right. We will continue to nurture our dream. A dream that one day little Muslim boys and girls will be able to join hands with little Jewish boys and girls, and little Christian boys and girls, as sisters and brothers. Come and help us make that dream a reality.’

What would have happened if the President of America had responded in this way? The world would have changed forever. It would have signalled a completely new way of conducting politics. We would have turned a monumental corner in the evolution of consciousness.


From The Laughing Jesus by Freke and Gandy​
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Cloggy said:
Received this by email and wanted to share it with all of you!
‘The American people are hurt and shocked by these terrible attacks on our country. But as a culture rooted in the Christian tradition, it is in such dark times that we must draw on our deepest wisdom, which teaches us to have faith in the power of love and forgiveness. In The New Testament Jesus teaches that we should forgive those who wrong us and turn the other cheek. He declares “You have heard it said ‘an eye for an eye’ but I say ‘love your enemies’".
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In our church, none of us talks about "hating" Muslims or terrorists. We would be overjoyed if they would become Christians and quit their terrorist acts (as a few have). We want them to know "the peace that passeth understanding."


Only love can heal hate. Suffering is redeemed only when it motivates us to make things better. Therefore, even though our hearts are breaking and filled with anger, we will not take revenge. Instead we will try to forgive those who have hurt us so badly and do all we can to make amends.
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Only the love of Jesus can heal the hatred in the hearts of the terrorists.

Justice is not "revenge". People who commit acts of terror can't be allowed to continue as though that's acceptable to society. They must learn that there are real consequences of bad deeds.

We can forgive but we can't ignore. Do you forgive a child molester, and let him continue to molest other children? No.

What "amends" do we need to make? We didn't commit the 9/11 attacks. To whom would we "make amends" and for what?


We invite all of you who consider us to be your enemy to come and talk with us. Let us sit around a table and settle once and for all the differences between us. Help us to prove beyond doubt that we are not the enemy of anyone.
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Americans have been "talking" for a looooong time. Obviously, it didn't do any good. The terrorists perceived all that "talk" as weakness, and took advantage of it.


If we have been guilty of causing suffering and pain, tell us what we can do to make things right.
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You're kidding, right? The only way we can "make things right" to the Islamic terrorists is if we all convert to Islam and bomb Israel. Is that what you want?


We will continue to nurture our dream. A dream that one day little Muslim boys and girls will be able to join hands with little Jewish boys and girls, and little Christian boys and girls, as sisters and brothers. Come and help us make that dream a reality.’
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Is that the Muslim dream also? I don't think so. If that's not also their dream, then they're not going to "nuture" it.

It's kind of hard to join hands when someone chops them off as they're extended.
 
Guess you missed the part about
As Jesus says in the gospels, we need to stop pointing out the speck of dust in our opponent’s eye and acknowledge the great plank of wood in our own. We need to seek out and humbly acknowledge everything we have done to divide ‘them’ from ‘us’. We have to make amends for our own failings, whilst forgiving our adversaries. We have to trust even where trust has been betrayed. And love even where love has been rejected. We need to refuse to play the game of winners and losers, and make it clear that we can only win together.
Click to expand...
 
Cloggy said:
As Jesus says in the gospels, we need to stop pointing out the speck of dust in our opponent’s eye and acknowledge the great plank of wood in our own.
Click to expand...
So the terrorists are right and we are wrong? Their belief that the Western world is COMPLETELY corrupt and Islam is right is actually how we should see things? Terrorists want to kill ALL americans, regardless of their beliefs, along with anyone else that participates in and enjoys the freedom of the Western world. What we ultimately did to cause this was live with freedom...if you believe this is wrong, you're on the wrong side of the fence here....

Cloggy said:
We have to trust even where trust has been betrayed. And love even where love has been rejected. We need to refuse to play the game of winners and losers, and make it clear that we can only win together
Click to expand...
Um...let's see... WTC 1993, USS Cole, and COUNTLESS other bombings in embassies as well as many other "Western" countries. We "trusted" them again and AGAIN and AGAIN, and they Took Down the WORLD TRADE CENTER, damaged the pentagon, and were aiming several other targets. That's where our trust has gotten us. They still want to continue killing us, they aren't even claiming to want to make amends, they won't rest until every citizen in the Western world is converted or dead. They will accept only winning-- and for them, winning will mean killing other people. We can still love and pray for all the terrorists, and pray that their minds can be opened and their hearts can understand.
---- The man who sits idle and does nothing while evil goes on might as well be doing the evil himself, being passive and doing nothing is exactly what the terrorists expect and want us to do...if you want to see your country and the country of your children destroyed - sit and do nothing.
 
Mmmm,

Interesting how you interpreted things you read..... and how the one way to solve your problems is violence.
 
Me. Kinda of Illumanti-meets-DaVinci Code-meets-Who killed JFK and why- type of thing.

Not what really happened.
 
The official version is the one that is being challenced.

The official version does NOT say anything about the collapse of WTC-7. Wasn't that significant?

The official version explains that no black boxes were found, even though fireman testimony (disregarded by the committee) explains that 3 of the 4 were found?? (They did find the passport of one of the hijackers... WOW!)

They explain that the towers collapsed due to heat of the fire. But... jetfuel can maintain a max temp of 1400ºC whereas steel weakens far above theses temps. And even so.... the bottom 80 floors were not weakened.. why did they collapse. They are designed for holding far more than what they were carrying. (And if it pancaked... why wouldn't the 76 steel colomns stay standing??

Anyone who believes that the WTC's collapsed due to fires should NEVER enter a tall building again!
 
Cloggy said:
Guess you missed the part about
Click to expand...
As Jesus says in the gospels, we need to stop pointing out the speck of dust in our opponent’s eye and acknowledge the great plank of wood in our own.
Click to expand...

You misquoted Jesus' words. First of all, Jesus was talking about the relationship between two Christians ("brother"), not "opponents".

Matthew 7
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Luke 6
41 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

42 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.

We need to seek out and humbly acknowledge everything we have done to divide ‘them’ from ‘us’.
Click to expand...
OK. We acknowlege that we haven't all become Muslims, and that's what divides "us" from "them."


We have to make amends for our own failings, whilst forgiving our adversaries.
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You tell me which "failings" we committed that justify terrorist killings.

An individual "forgiving" someone who harmed him or her personally is fine. Society ignoring justice and prevention of future attacks is not fine. Do you really believe that Jesus promoted lawlessnes in the streets?

We have to trust even where trust has been betrayed.
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Bible reference please.

All the references I know of in the Bible admonish that we should NOT trust people but that we should fully trust the Lord only.


And love even where love has been rejected.
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Love doesn't mean letting the object of our love continue killing and hurting others. THAT is NOT love!


We need to refuse to play the game of winners and losers, and make it clear that we can only win together.
Click to expand...
So, are the Muslim terrorists ready to "win together?"

"Together" requires both parties to have the same goal.
 
So, now you change to religion...
No answers to my questions...

Regarding Popular Science... that explained everything to you....
Debunking
Popular Mechanics

CIA Literally Takes Over Popular Mechanics to Cover Up 9/11 Government Lies!
Popular Mechanics Editor who wrote the lies, Benjamin Chertoff, hid the fact that he is the cousin of Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff

Eric Hufschmid. of Painful Questions

..:: Reopen 9/11 - Catch the Real Terrorists ::..

Accusations of Fraud by Mr. Walter.

Jim Hoffman

Another Expose
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Cloggy said:
So, now you change to religion...
No answers to my questions...
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Huh? You're the one who brought up the topic, and I answered the questions of your initial post.
 
Reba said:
Huh? You're the one who brought up the topic, and I answered the questions of your initial post.
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True, but the topic moved on... you are just trying NOT to think for yourself and so, in order to show that you must be right, you quote the bible....

The question is here....

_________________________________________________________________________
Now I know that ASSUME makes an ASS out of U and ME !!!
 
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