They'd Rather Die

Well hey, at the end of their adventure, the christians were found safe. i imagine they were praying pretty hard. They were dumbasses, but they made it out alive. Must have been the prayin.

 

12 miles! thats all? I've hiked twice that far in one day when I hiked the AT. Why didn't he hike out after the storm abated? Even if the snow was deep and he had to posthole the entire way he could've made that hike in under two days.

He could have built a signal fire. Start one with some gas and add some motor oil to really make it smoke.

Folks on here know I'm a Christian but I understand that God won't do for you what you are capable of doing for yourself.

 

a fellow is walking one day in the bush when suddenly he finds himself falling over the side of a cliff. thanks to some quick thinking he manages to grab a lone branch sticking out the side of the cliff and finds himself dangling at the end of it. HELLO! IS THERE ANYONE THERE! HELP! he shouts. suddenly the clouds part and a deep booming voice rolls down the cliff face. THIS IS GOD. THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR MY SON. HAVE FAITH- LET GO OF THE BRANCH AND I WILL CATCH YOU AND SAVE YOU. after a short moment of thought the bush walker calls errrrr...... is there anyone else there?!

 

I agree that most Christians are open to the wisdom of the ages, at least on this site. I know I am & that everything I learn here will go with me into eternity, otherwise what's it all for? It would all be useless & just a waste of time if it was all to be forgotten.

Well, made it to my temporary ultimate destination, camping all the way in my converted camper. I only stayed in a hotel one night. I've found that States are spartan with their rest stops in order to get people into the hotels. Most of the State parks where it is seasonal close down after Labor day weekend. Event though State Parks & seemingly free grounds, they all charge about $10.

Far-out full moon party at clam beach in McKinleyville & the Arcata College is back in session, bringing a lot of new people to the area. Sad to say a guy named Rick got jumped there & had his 12-string Yamaha stolen by what we think were local kids who were all fighting. There is the meth thing going on in Eureka & unfortunately it has probably spilled over into high schools.

If anyone sees Ricks 12 string in any pawn shops, please email me as he suffered a concussion & dislocated knee. I stuck around the next day to make a police report & am in touch with him.

It's tragic that this is not Heaven on Earth & that every Woodstock seems to be followed by the inevitable Altamont.

More on camping later...

 

As I recall, the when I first joined the Boyscouts I was called a Novice. That's because they assumed we didn't know shit & most kids didn't. My reflections on this guy are as stated (worse case scenario) or (at generous best) that he is just too green to be trusted leading a bunch of kids out into the woods much less to a city park. "Not a novice, lest being lifted up in pride, he fall into the condemnation of the Devil." Also, "For if a man know not how to rule his own house; how shall he rule the church of God?" This is stuff responsible people need to watch out for regarding the rearing & training of kids & who is permitted to get close to them, lead them or be an example, because kids are so impressionable & you can screw them up for life. Christ said "It was better that a millstone be hung around your neck & you be cast into the depths of the sea than you should offend one of these little ones that believe in Me." I assume these false shepherds can't read or are too cocky & proud to listen to someone who knows better than they think they do. But then, I read this article about the fact that those who are morons usually are also deprived of the wit & wisdom to know that they are way off the mark, which is why people who aren't funny insist on telling jokes, becuase they think they are witty. Look at George Bush hiding behind the God & Country thing. I can't stand to follow somebody who obviously does not know where the fuck they are going but is confident they do! I'm gonna have to agree on the Lyrics to a recent Rolling Stones Song that blasts that patriotic bullshit & hiding behind so-called Christianity when all the time they are doing just the opposite. It pisses people off & makes unbelievers toss out the baby with the bathwater because all they see is hipocracy.

"Fussin' & flapping in priestly black like a murderer's robe" —Sting

 

Just read the original post.

I'm an Atheist. I try very hard to have patience with Christians like the pastor of that church who refused the offer of teaching his group basic outdoor skills. It's hard... really hard.

Most "Christians" aren't Christians at all. If you put that old Christian saying "What would Jesus do?" to this situation. Well... I think the Jesus in the Christian bible would have accepted the offer for himself and his apostles. I don't see how not being a Christian taints whatever help you're offering.

 

Amen to that sister. The story about the Jewish guy who was mugged on the road to Jericho is a prime example of just who did the will of God in helping the man out -- not the Priest or Rabbi, but the Samaritan. Samaria was considered unclean to the Jews of Judea who basically went around it to get to the other side of the damned country & wouldn't even touch them because they considered Samaritans unclean. Jesus blew all that away by hanging out in Samaria, talking to the woman at the well who was a sequential polygamist of her day but whom he asked for a drink. The town slut was won by Jesus' love & she was so impressed, she wound up bringing all of the Samaritan guys out of the City to find out what this 'color-blind' Jew' was all about. Just like Peter, He went among the non-Jewish 'gentiles' to share the message of love, forgiveness & reconciliation between God & men & their neighbors. "And God said, Peter, what God has cleansed, that call no man unclean." All that selfrighteousness was supposed to have died with Christ, but unfortunately some of these 'Old Testament' so-called Christians don't get it. He was called a friend of publicans (drunks) & harlots (ho's) & hung our with hated tax collectors & stinking fishermen. Evidently he felt church was a cold, dark, boring place & livened it up by whipping out the money-changers on three different occasions. They called Him a liar & a blasphemer for saying he was the Messiah while purposely breaking their law by healing on the Sabbath, walking through the fields picking corn on that Sabbath, all considered to be working on Sunday (Saturday) & a big sin for the Jews who wanted to be blameless & keep the law. So here was God's Son cracking their shit up. Anyway we are all disgusting (Romans 3:23) and all of our righteousness is as filthy (menstruous) rags (Isaiah). The only good thing about any Christian is supposed to be Christ in them, the hope of glory. They're not fucking perfect by any means (which most everybody seems to know except they themselves) & there you have it; the story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus left two laws: Love God & Love your neighbor. And your neighbor IS anybody according to all these parables.

 

"My father concidered a walk in the woods the equivalent of church-goin"
-Aldous Huxley.

So do I.

 

This posting makes me think of hurricane victims here in Austin. We have a couple thousand at a convention center here and people are inviting them into their homes to give them a place to stay. A good amount of the postings I saw were interested in taking in "church-going christians only", like anyone else isn't worth charity.

Isn't that something completely opposite of what Jesus would do?

 

That reminds me of my grandfather. He would never go to church. If Grandma had the priests over to bless the house at Easter, he said they were spooks & went went out to have a beer & sit in the park where he felt closer to God. I couldn't understand that as a kid because I too was fooled by the Catholic teaching that missing church would send you to hell. I couldn't understand why such a kind-hearted guy couldn't be buried in the church, because he never went. I just got back from camping in the wilderness. I understand perfectly now & I never go to church. My thing is going out in nature to paint. "God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit & in truth." —John 3 & "Howbeit the Most HIGH dwelleth NOT in temples made with hands." Book of Acts --also "Heaven is my throne, the Earth is my footstool; what house will ye build me saith the Lord & what is the place of my refuge; hath not mine hands made all these things?" Building temples is man-worship, not God worship because it honors the heirarchy of the corporate church system & is a tribute to the spirit of man. It makes the poor more poor, like down in Mexico for example.

 

I see your point. On the other hand, I don't know if I'd invite just anyone, (much less some of those people I saw on TV looting & wallowing in their self-pity that Big Government wasn't there to save them) into my house with my kids there & all my stuff. Most of us have been to festivals & there has to be at least some unity about picking up the garbage & trash & trying to keep from shitting in our own beds. As far as I know Jesus didn't own anything & invited his followers to crash in the park with him. He evidently stayed in other peoples' homes, such as Mary & Martha's etc.

That's why I'm middle-of-the-road politically. The "Victorian" Christian Republicans suck in their lack of pity for the poor & their unabashed greed & the Liberals want to give it all away to anybody no matter who or what. I believe one should give to the deserving. I can't say that once you own something, a house or car or clothes that "What Jesus Would Do" would mean to give it to someone who had squandered their existence in meaningless pursuits while you needed those items to accomplish more good for the many. I just don't see that we should go to either extreme. Sometimes giving away things can be pride & people just want other people to know they are 'giving' like the people giving their great gifts to the temple in Jerusalem at the time the widow gave her last pennies. You'll find there's a balance in life & once somebody earns the ownership (stewardship) of something, it's theirs to care for & you'll find most of them don't want anarchy or theiving & looting either. So they protect their stuff & their family members. Wouldn't we all? I just check strangers out before I give them a ride, but I will give them a lift. I usually will give someone a lift if I have a chance to talk to them, like at a gas station, but not if they are on the roadside. You have to be careful who you let into your private space.

 

Ranger Danger; I've found since being on the road for 3 months that I'm pretty woods saavy, but I could certainly learn more every day. I shared all YOUR help & advice with my camping friends & they were very appreciative. Thanks dude. Life sucks & then you die. I'm definite I don't want GW to spend the kind of enternity I have already begun along with me & my kind, so I am relegating him to a Victorian Christian Universe where the rich get richer (blest by God) & the poor get poorer & less blest by God. That's the present administration's policy--Victorianism. We'd best watch out that they don't reinstate DEBTOR'S PRISONS. That's the main reason we separated from England.

Being a Christian Existentialist I feel that, like the woman in the Bob Redford fim, "The Natural" that we live two lives: The one that we live now & the one that we live forever.

I read about that term, Christian existentialist before, but think that I am the one to lead the physical, not philosophical movement. Join me in the trees all you dissatisfied.

"And everyone that was in destress; and everyone that was in debt; and everyone who was dissatisfied, joined themselves unto him. And he became a captain over them. And there were with him 400 men." -From Memory
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