Natalie Voglmayr

It's been a productive break so far! Hopefully recording this tomorrow

lina gordievsky

You don't need to get to church, you need to get to God.

Pastor Matt Hayden

Fear

T’was much too long ago that I was scared

Of men with bodies, men with flesh and bone,

That nights were filled with fears of those who dared

To torture, maim and kill those all alone

It’s been so long since darkness held a beast

With claws to rip and fangs to tear at flesh

Since fear held death, it’s victory the least,

It’s mystery encompassing in mesh

It’s been too long since I have walked alone

After sunset when darkness settles in

Without the fear of shadows cast by stone

But not of creatures that might hide therein

Now fear to me is demons in my head

That torment me until my soul is dead

This is going to be a Christian based post so if you're not interested in reading a leftist opinion based on Christian beliefs, I invite you to just keep scrolling

I don't know how a human person can look in the eye of an oppressed person and then act in a way that continues to oppress them. The main example I'm thinking about is when the local government voted against a bill that would allow control of assault rifles WHILE SURVIVORS OF THE PARKLAND SHOOTING (literal children no less) WERE IN THE ROOM WATCHING THEM. Furthermore, an incredibly high percentage of people in power claim to be Christians, but lack even the most basic forms of empathy, one of the most fundamental parts of Christianity (and pretty much every other religion / belief system / moral compass??). How can you say you love Jesus, whose only interactions with rich people involved him telling them to sell all they had and give to the poor (the only exceptions being with those who crucified him), and then vote, lobby or otherwise advocate for policies that disenfranchise the poor?

The Acts 2 church is the epitome of the church as far as every Christian I know says, and Acts 2 says: "And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need." James 5 starts with a warning to rich people that their wealth is worthless and they will be condemned for the evils they commit just for being rich (including not paying their workers fairly) beginning with "Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you" and then continues with an encouragement for poor people to not give up on the faith because their endurance will be rewarded. How can you read these passages and think that being rich is a good thing actually?

In my limited research for this short post I found multiple articles about how being rich is inherently good, one of which was literally titled "Jesus loves rich people." Like okay, technically Jesus does love everyone period, but to excuse your exorbitant wealth that you absolutely don't need while billions of people are barely surviving so that you can be Comfortable+ (which Jesus himself and various other apostles and significant figures condemn explicitly) based on that technicality? Inexcusable.

While class warfare is one of the greatest threats we face across the board, other forms of systematic oppression (which are rooted therein) are still prevalent and need to be fought. To bring a couple things into perspective, Jesus was a brown Palestinian Jew whose mother was married to a man that was not his father (who were both teenagers) who all "illegally" sought asylum in Egypt while fleeing from a government that was trying to kill them. And that just scratches the surface. Furthermore, Jesus himself said "Then he [the Father] will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

You brood of vipers. You say you love Jesus and yet you hoard wealth and disenfranchise the vulnerable. I haven't even touched on many other problems but they're evident in the Bible if you pay attention at all. Let go of what you've been taught all your life and embrace the teaching of the one who is infinitely wise and drank the cup of the wrath of God so you could be free. He said to love your neighbor, so why do you hate everyone but yourself?

Rough Seas, 1885, Eugene Boudin

Medium: oil