BUDDHA VS JESUS

To say that I "frequent" Target stores is like saying that the character Kurt on Glee is "a touch" effeminate - that Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are "perhaps" conservative in their politics - Lady Gaga is "a slightly" unique singer - and Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video is "a bit foot-tapping."

Today at Target I found these Buddha magnets in the dollar aisle. And I immediately thought...

 The Buddha would laugh about this.

And I think most all Buddhist would laugh too.

But if Target was selling similar magnets but of Jesus Christ...

Well, personally, I think that Jesus would laugh about it.

But I'm afraid that there are a whole lot of Christians out there would picket, boycott and trash-talk Target.

Hmm.  Just doesn't seem Christian, does it?

A friend posted the following on-line today:

"There are lots of injustices in the world. We must have faith to realize that one day justice will prevail and all we suffered will be made up to us ten-fold. In the meantime...patience."

I beg to differ.

All that we suffer in this world will not be "made-up" to us - in the next world, it simply won't matter.

Somehow the image of suffering 'patiently' the prejudices, the unfairness, the sheer wrong  which occurs again and again in this mortal sphere...

...all for "I'm gonna get payback for this TEN TIMES!" just seems... well, WRONG.

This corporeal reality is a test - and it's only a test.

It's not a balance sheet, with our good deeds and everyone else's bad deeds on a set of scales.

It's not a check-list of "well, I did this good thing, and then this one... and then I got one negative...."

It's a test.

We are all asked to do the best with what we have. Some people get major handicaps - some seem to get every possible advantage - but most of us muddle around the middle somewhere.

And we try - that really that is all we are commanded to do.

The atonement of Jesus Christ makes up the difference.

And not just for "us" (whoever you think "us" is) - the atonement is for every single human beings.

It's for the ones that checked off everything on their list -- because they could.

But it's also for those that couldn't check off a single one -- because they couldn't.

HEY STOP CHILDREN WHAT'S THAT SOUND

My husband forwarded me a column today regarding heterosexuals' violent response against gay rights/marriage/simply acknowledgement.

So this blog is asking, why the hostility?

Homosexuality may be a sin (or may not be, depending on your personal view), they may or may not be entitled to the legal binding of marriage, etc. etc. etc.

But why in the world do we have to get so worked up on it?

An extramarital sexual relationship (i.e. 'affair') is a sin, but when was the last time (okay, forget about John Edwards) people where publicly denounced for it?

Sexually and emotionally abusing a family member is firmly trounced, but why are there no news laws and/or legislation being introduced to stop it?

My grandson's kindergarten teacher may very well be a vegan, a Marxist and/or a lesbian - why should I care?

The profanity, the hurling of insults, the sheer volume of anger that seems to normally accompany any stand, regardless of which side, about homosexuality... how can this be kind of treatment towards another human being in any way be justified?

Christ's teachings can be narrowed down to loving God, loving yourself and loving your neighbor.

How can people defend such fury from either side?

I can understand if I was being forced to participate in activities I find offensive or sinful.

But I expect to be able to live as I chose in the privacy of my own home if I am not intentionally injuring another. And I respectfully must allow that same privilege for others, even if their sexual activities are foreign to me.

Children, can you try to play nicely together?