Gods Been Good
Since I was not familiar with Pam Weston, I went to the internet to do some research to find out a little about her. She was born into a musical family in Knoxville, TN. At age 7, she began playing the piano. She wrote her first song at age 14, got a job with The Sound Masters at age 17 and formed her first band at age 21. Music has been in her blood since a young age.
Gods Been Good
We make a thousand little decisions a day, everything from deciding whether we will do our job well or whether or not to take on a client. Sometimes, we have to determine whether an opportunity is right for us and if we should follow a particular path. In these moments, God is guiding us. We need to stop, take a breath and pay attention. How do we feel in our hearts? How do we feel in our gut? We need to be still and listen to that small voice we know so well. Listen to him whispering to our hearts about what choices are right for us. Pay attention to the signs he sends us. This is his way of guiding us and nudging us to our best selves, so that we may live in the gifts we have been given and the purpose he has for us.
So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. ...
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
I have been watching TV since my mid teens, about 50 years ago. This is one of the best things I've seen --- in the top 5 programs in half a century of viewing. This from a "godless secular humanist". Thank you.
I agree with Father George Rutler. There is a spiritual evil which affects humans. There has always been good and evil in all things on the earth and in spiritual beings. It depends on how it affects us. But that which affects the evil in humans are evil spiritual principalities and powers. God is a good spiritual being. God does not cause evil. God showed His love toward us by giving His only begotten son to die for our sins. But Christ was greatly rewarded for it. It's something that had to happen for a greater good. But God did not kill his son, it was an evil on the earth that did it. God knew if He would send His son to the earth, we would kill him. But it wasn't just the bad side of human nature that caused this evil, but evil spiritual beings that tempted the evil in human nature to oppose the good. When tempted, it's up to the human being to choose good or evil reactions. A human being has the ability to resist evil. God does not intervene in human actions unless he is asked to in faith. God created human beings and not robots and each person will recieve their reward one day. Humans allow evil and not God. But God allows humans to be human and to choose. There is a heaven and an earth. Earth is not heaven and heaven is not earth. Evil exists on earth. There are certain humans which we consider evil such as Hitler and Castro, because their evil side of human nature was/is affected just like Eve when tempted in the Garden. The evil side of human nature could be considered as anger, greed, vengeance, jealousy, strife, etc. The good side of human nature is love, mercy, kindness, forgiveness, patience, etc. Self defense is not evil, but turning the other cheek is a greater good such as Christ did during the crucifixion. Evil can be very cruel. That is why those who choose the good over evil receive a great reward in heaven, just as the theif which was crucified next to Christ did. It's never too late to choose the good. It is not easy, since human nature has two sides, but possible. Even the law defines good and evil. Good and evil will continue to exist until evil is done away with in humans and evil spiritual beings are removed. The commandment is love. Love, a good side of human nature, is the answer for human beings to live in peace on the earth. This is an opinion on God and evil.
I have been deeply affected by "Faith and Doubt". Even after a week, I think about the message of this production daily. My eyes have been opened like never before on the issue of spirituality vs. religion. I think the backlash against the Lutheran minister for praying with Jews and Muslims is a focal point in the entire production. The hatred that can be mustered in common people by the "Powers and Principalities" of religious leaders is, and has been, frightening. Religion has been used throughout history to subjugate and control entire populations. From my view Islam, a beautiful expression of faith, is at a point now in the Middle East where Christianity was in the Dark Ages. As a deeply spiritual Christian, I have always grappled with "There is no other way to the Father than through Me Jesus". Does this mean Gandhi is in hell? Does this mean Moses and Abraham are in hell? During my "quiet time" this week, it came to me: Who is Jesus? He IS the Father! He is the same God who all people of faith worship. Rather than commemmerate 9/11 as a patriotic day, I propose that 9/11 be called Unity Day. It is the day that the people of the World woke up and were shown that Religious division on cultural, denominational, and even basic theological grounds is at the root of Satan's master plan. If I could, I would be proud to hold hands and pray with my fellow believers on this day to show that through love, all evil can be conquered.
As we approach the anniversary I have been reluctant to view the extensive coverage, seemingly plastered all over the media, almost as crassly as Christmas decorations in a mall in November. However, I caught your program this evening, and was riveted to the TV screen. The diversity of views, from the entire religious spectrum and from nonbelievers as well, the voices and witness of the common man and woman, of scholars, and artists, clergy, rabbi, fireman, mother, son, daughter, all of this was so helpful to me and so healing: For once I have found a tv medium take seriously matters of faith and the spiritual realities that surround us. I thank you. I thank all of your contributors. You have helped me make sense of many of my own very confused and disjointed feelings since that awful day. And if there is any way to pass along my thanks, please tell the Orthodox Rabbi who has composed chants of phone messages left by the victims, that his words about God as mystery were perhaps the ones that best capture my own beliefs. I felt a soul mate there.
I wish there had been more mention of religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, Jainism and all the other beliefs that help make up the American landscape for many of those traditions have a wealth of tradition that deals with death and transitions and have much to offer.
As a personal note, I practice my faith as a Catholic and that faith has been neither strengthened nor weakened because of 9-11-01. I have, however, had more serious discussions on good v. evil, God and religion since then.
President Bush Thanks Firefighters and Volunteers in CaliforniaRemarks by the President to Off-Duty Firefighters and VolunteersGillespie AirfieldEl Cajon, California President's Disaster Declaration 11:09 A.M. PST THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thanks for such a warm greeting. Iwant to say a couple of things. First, I want to say it's a greatpleasure to be in the presence of people who have dedicated their livesto saving life -- (applause) -- people who have heard a call, and thecall is to serve something greater than yourself. And I saw firsthand the -- Governor Davis and Governor-electSchwarzenegger and I saw firsthand what it means for people to draw aline in the sand, and say, this fire is not getting any farther. Wesaw devastation on one side -- and for those victims, we send ourprayers and our love -- but we saw what heroic efforts meant, forpeople who said, we're not going to yield. And we're here, first andforemost, to thank you all for setting such a great example and forserving your community and for saving lives. There's no bettercalling, is there? God bless you for that. Thank you. (Applause.) I want to thank all the state officials who are working hard. See,one of the things I'm looking for is to make sure that there's goodcooperation between the federal government and the state government andthe local firefighters. (Applause.) I want to make sure FEMA is doingits job. Sometimes the President gets the cook's tour, if you knowwhat I mean. (Laughter.) I'm interested in hearing the truth, and Ibelieve I've been told the truth, and that there has been goodcoordination. And if we need to learn any lessons, we'll learn thelessons. But I want to thank you all for not only fighting the fires, but Iwant to thank those who are now responsible for helping rebuild lives,for the quick response -- to answer people's questions and to makethose state and federal loans and grants available quickly to thecommunities that have been hurt. I want to thank all the localofficials who are here, the mayors and the supervisors, the firechiefs, everybody who is serving their community. Thanks for coming.Thanks for giving us a chance to praise your efforts. As well, I want to thank the leaders of the tribal nations who arehere, the members of the United States Congress. I suspected that theymight be here because they want a nice ride back to Washington.(Laughter.) But then I realized that they care deeply about the peoplewhose lives have been upset. After all, Duncan Hunter -- CongressmanHunter lost his own home in the fire. He reflected the spirit -- by the way -- of the people who we havemet. He said, "Don't worry about me, I'm going to rebuild. You don'thave to worry about me, Mr. President, I'm going to rally. I'm goingto pick up my life and move it on." And those are the citizens I mettoday, up in this valley where this fire just came roaring through likea chimney. All their possessions were gone, but to the person, theirspirit was strong and able. They said, God is on my side, one familysaid. (Applause.) I said, we heard. (Applause.) I want to thank Bill Clayton. (Applause.) Mike Simpson.(Applause.) Mike, I'm glad your sister came. (Laughter andapplause.) I want to thank Chief Jeff Bowman. (Applause.) BillMcCammon, Chief Bill McCammon and Chief Ernie Mitchell, for thebriefing we had today, to see the scope and the size of this massiveamount of destruction that took place. I think when people realize thescope of the fires, the historic nature of these fires, they'll realizewhat a super-human effort you all put in to save lives. This is, tome, an ultimate act of sacrifice. I do want to pay tribute and homage to Steve Rucker. (Applause.)Steve is a -- Steve's Fire Chief. He said he wasn't sent there, heasked to go. And that's the spirit of a lot of people here we'relooking at. You weren't sent there, you asked to go. You've heard acall, and you've responded. And you put your life at risk. To Steve's family, we send our deepest condolences and prayers tohis comrades. We thank you for honoring his fallen memory. May Godbless him, and may God bless his loved ones, as well. (Applause.) When I landed at Miramar -- and by the way, the fire was right upthere to the runway -- I met a lady named Sue Mayberry. She's a RedCross volunteer. This week, she volunteered 100 hours of her time tohelp people who hurt. She set up an emergency shelter at a highschool, or a school in Ramona. And then the fires came roaring towardRamona. So she and others moved 550 families safely to Julian. The reason I bring up Sue is there are a lot of people who aredeeply concerned about the 27,000 displaced persons. There are peoplein your communities, when they hear that over 3,300 homes have beendestroyed, they want to do something about it. They want to help aneighbor in need. And so for all the great citizens of this wonderful state who haveheard the call to love a neighbor just like you would like to be lovedyourself, who, when they see somebody who hurts, are willing to puttheir arm around a neighbor in need, I want to thank you from thebottom of our collective hearts. There are a lot of citizens who wonder what tomorrow is going to belike. And when a citizen provides a ray of hope, just a little bit oflove, it brightens that person's future. It's amazing what nature has-- we've seen the worst of nature. But when you go to these communities and you realize what's takenplace, you see the absolute best of mankind. For Californians who wantto help, please do. Please know that some of your citizens hurt.Please help them any way you can. The federal government's response isneeded and necessary. I brought officials with me just to make sureit's active and vibrant. The state's response is needed andnecessary. But the truth of the matter is the best response is the responseyou hear from the citizens whose lives have been affected, the response-- the refusal to give up, the notion that tomorrow can be a betterday, the refusal to be defeated. And after all, that is the spirit ofAmerica, isn't it? It's a fabulous country because of the people whomake up this country. And it's my honor to represent this country. May God bless you all, and may God bless California, and may Godbless America. Thank you all very much. (Applause.) END 11:17 A.M. PST Printer-Friendly Version Email this page to a friend IssuesBudget Management
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