Mind vomit
Mar. 30th, 2007 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jianantonicWhen people think of hangings, things like the Salem Witch Trials come to mind. I know with Saddam Hussein's execution, hanging is back in the headlines, but I think if it were still the punishment du jour in the US, people would be outraged. It just seems so...stupid. I don't know how to really put this into words, but just think about it. It's just not something that happens anymore, like using leeches in medicine or something.
But we still have the death penalty...I wonder if 100 years from now, or 200 years, or whatever, people will look back to the history of the turn of the millennium and think how old fashioned we were to be executing people for crimes. I know it would be excruciatingly difficult for me to turn the other cheek if someone truly wronged me in a very painful way, like murdering a loved one, and I would probably really hate that person forever and wish pain upon them for the rest of their days. And I may even wish death upon them. But I know that something like that wouldn't lessen the pain of such a loss. It wouldn't make me feel peaceful about it. It doesn't really seem like justice. So even though I would have those thoughts, I know that it wouldn't help anything to have them realized. And I'll never be a good enough Christian/person to love the neighbor that so horrendously offends me, but I do think the right thing to do in a situation where you can't forgive is to actively will yourself to at least stop dwelling on it and move on. Stewing in your own pain doesn't help anything, and getting revenge doesn't undo the original trespass or pain.
I just read an article about executions in Texas, and I know Virginia is 2nd on the list, and it just really sickens me, so that's where all this is coming from...
I don't understand how someone who thinks they are Christian can back something so wholly un-Christian as the death penalty, yet these "values" seem to go hand in hand: Pro-church, pro-life, pro-death penalty. Umm...? And don't even get me started on the politics of being adamantly pro-life and yet so completely opposed to social welfare initiatives that assist the children born into families that can't afford them. Seriously. Don't.
Sometimes it's hard for me to believe what I do...I get easily enraged by the day to day business of this country and humanity as a whole, and I don't believe in judgment, per se. Whereas some people think I must be wrong because by my beliefs, Hitler would be in Heaven, I have trouble with the fact that people who tell me I'm going to Hell because I believe Hitler could be in Heaven won't ever get theirs. Oh well. The funny thing is, I have these "beliefs," if you can call them that, but I'm not certain about them in the least. I'm confident in them, but I'm actually pretty sure that "the way" is going to be nothing like I actually envision it. But the thin hope of being able to look people like a certain brainwashed jesusfreak I know in the eye when we meet in the great beyond and say "I told you so, motherfucker," is enough to keep the fire burning for me.
One last point then I'm getting back to work. There's nothing wrong with being a Jesus freak - I'm actually quite fond of the guy - but it's claiming to be a Jesus freak and then doing all this shit in the name of Jesus that Jesus would never do...that pisses me off.
Who would Jesus bomb?
Peace.
But we still have the death penalty...I wonder if 100 years from now, or 200 years, or whatever, people will look back to the history of the turn of the millennium and think how old fashioned we were to be executing people for crimes. I know it would be excruciatingly difficult for me to turn the other cheek if someone truly wronged me in a very painful way, like murdering a loved one, and I would probably really hate that person forever and wish pain upon them for the rest of their days. And I may even wish death upon them. But I know that something like that wouldn't lessen the pain of such a loss. It wouldn't make me feel peaceful about it. It doesn't really seem like justice. So even though I would have those thoughts, I know that it wouldn't help anything to have them realized. And I'll never be a good enough Christian/person to love the neighbor that so horrendously offends me, but I do think the right thing to do in a situation where you can't forgive is to actively will yourself to at least stop dwelling on it and move on. Stewing in your own pain doesn't help anything, and getting revenge doesn't undo the original trespass or pain.
I just read an article about executions in Texas, and I know Virginia is 2nd on the list, and it just really sickens me, so that's where all this is coming from...
I don't understand how someone who thinks they are Christian can back something so wholly un-Christian as the death penalty, yet these "values" seem to go hand in hand: Pro-church, pro-life, pro-death penalty. Umm...? And don't even get me started on the politics of being adamantly pro-life and yet so completely opposed to social welfare initiatives that assist the children born into families that can't afford them. Seriously. Don't.
Sometimes it's hard for me to believe what I do...I get easily enraged by the day to day business of this country and humanity as a whole, and I don't believe in judgment, per se. Whereas some people think I must be wrong because by my beliefs, Hitler would be in Heaven, I have trouble with the fact that people who tell me I'm going to Hell because I believe Hitler could be in Heaven won't ever get theirs. Oh well. The funny thing is, I have these "beliefs," if you can call them that, but I'm not certain about them in the least. I'm confident in them, but I'm actually pretty sure that "the way" is going to be nothing like I actually envision it. But the thin hope of being able to look people like a certain brainwashed jesusfreak I know in the eye when we meet in the great beyond and say "I told you so, motherfucker," is enough to keep the fire burning for me.
One last point then I'm getting back to work. There's nothing wrong with being a Jesus freak - I'm actually quite fond of the guy - but it's claiming to be a Jesus freak and then doing all this shit in the name of Jesus that Jesus would never do...that pisses me off.
Who would Jesus bomb?
Peace.
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Date: 2007-03-31 02:04 am (UTC)Help! This sentence is complicated!
But you know...if Heaven really does exist...and God really is merciful and forgiving...maybe Hitler and Stalin and all the evil people of history realized the extent of their crimes after they died, repented, and were eventually allowed in?
Of course, it would be a TON easier if people like that were just demons and not human at all. But I'm not sure that's a valid position to hold. (Of course, here I am talking about heaven, so maybe I'm not one to use the word "valid" either.)
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Date: 2007-03-31 02:05 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2007-04-02 10:47 pm (UTC)