NOTICE:
From any post click the photo across the page top to see the entire blog.
JAMES' PERSONAL WRITINGS: SLOVING
JAMES' MOST STRATEGIC POSTS: *****
MUCH OF MY POSTING WAS ON FACEBOOK: STARTLOVING1
Showing posts with label MLK Jr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MLK Jr. Show all posts

2.10.2020

REVEALED HERE. HEAR ME. Jesus, the most important figure in human history, Thousands and thousands of research hours, and finally emerges in this book. Theology for the Social Gospel, Walter rauschenbusch.



I cannot overstate what a revolution, Revelation, is This book. not possible.

Inarguably most consequential figure in human history, be he fact as is nearly certain, or fiction.

Lifelong the central figure in James life. The Rosetta Stone that could only be seen vaguely and distorted through the church and Christianity. Some have brought shame is much closer, Leo Tolstoy, in particular. As he did with Gandhi and Martin Luther King jr.

But after all that This book is an utter revelation. And it is this author, Walter rauschenbusch, That was the spark that ignited Martin Luther King jr. That certainly says something, correct?



1.31.2020

"Jesus in his teachings alluded with surprising frequency to the use and abuse of intrusted wealth and power. In the...


Jesus in his teachings alluded with surprising frequency to the use and abuse of intrusted wealth and power. In the.... WHAT TO DO 381 parables of the talents and pounds ^ he evidently meant to stewardship V define all human ability and opportunity as a trust. His sWp.°^"^^" description of the head servant who is made confident by the continued absence of his master, tyrannizes over his subordinates, and fattens his paunch on his master's property, is meant to show the temptation which besets all in authority to forget the responsibility that goes with power.^ His portrayal of the tricky steward who is to be dismissed for dishonesty, but manages to make one more grand coup before his authority ends, not only shows the keen insight of Jesus into the ways of the grafter, but also shows that he regarded all men of wealth as stewards of the property they hold.' The parable of the peasants who jointly rent a vineyard and then try to do their absent owner not only out of his rent, but out of the property itself, was meant by Jesus to condense and dramatize the whole history of the ruling class in Israel.* The illustration of the fig tree which has had all possible advantages of soil and care without returning fruit, and which merely gets a year's reprieve through the hopeful pleading of the gardener, expresses the indignation of Jesus against the waste of intrusted opportunity.^ The terrible invective against the scribes and Pharisees is directed against teachers who had misused their influence to darken truth and leaders who had treated their leadership as a chance to get profit and honor for themselves.® The fact that Jesus in his diagnosis of wrong moral relations so often puts his finger on trust abused and betrayed, is proof of his penetrating social insight. Nearly all powers * Matthew 25. 14-30; Luke 19. n-27. * Matthew 21. 33-46. ' Matthew 25. 45-51. * Luke 13. 6-9. * Luke 16. 1-15. ' Matthew 23. 382 CHRISTIANITY AND THE SOCIAL CRISIS in society are essentially delegated powers. The more complex society becomes, the less will it be possible for the individual to attend to all his needs himself, and the more will he have to intrust others with specialized functions and powers. When

1.28.2020

the Church has never been able to get entirely away from the revolutionary spirit of Jesus. It is an essential doctrine of Christianity that the world....

the Church has never been able to get entirely away from the revolutionary spirit of Jesus. It is an essential doctrine of Christianity that the world is fundamentally good and practically bad, for it was made by God, but is now controlled by sin. If a man wants to be a Christian, he must stand over against things as they are and condemn them in the name of that higher conception of life which Jesus revealed. If a man is satisfied with things as they are, he belongs to the other side. For many centuries THE SOCIAL AIMS OF JESUS 9I the Church felt so deeply that the Christian conception of life and the actual social Hfe are incompatible, that any one who wanted to live the genuine Christian hfe, had to leave the world and hve in a monastic community. Protestantism has abandoned the monastic life and settled down to live in the world. If that imphes that it accepts the present condition as good and final, it means a silencing of its Christian protest and its surrender to "the world." There is another alternative. Ascetic Christianity called the world evil and left it. Humanity is waiting for a revolutionary Christianity which wiU call the world evil and change it. We do not want "to blow all our existing institutions to atoms," but we do want to remould every one of them. A tank of gasolene can blow a car sky-high in a single explosion, or push it to the top of a hill in a perpetual succession of little explosions. We need a combination beween the faith of Jesus in the need and the possibility of the kingdom of God, and the modern comprehension of the organic development of human society. We saw at the outset of our discussion that Jesus was not a mere social reformer. Rehgion was the heart of his life, and all that he said on social relations was said from the religious point of view. He has been called the first socialist. He was more ; he was the first real man, the inaugurator of a new humanity. But as such he bore within him the germs of a new social and political order.... N

1.26.2020

The outcome of these first historical chapters is that the essential purpose of Christianity was to transform human society into the kingdom of God by regenerating all human relations and reconstituting them in accordance with the will of God. The fourth chapter raises the question why the Christian Church has never undertaken to carry out this fundamental purpose of its existence. I have never met with any previous attempt to give a satisfactory historical explanation of this failure, and I....

The outcome of these first historical chapters is that the essential purpose of Christianity was to transform human society into the kingdom of God by regenerating all human relations and reconstituting them in accordance with the will of God. The fourth chapter raises the question why the Christian Church has never undertaken to carry out this fundamental purpose of its existence. I have never met with any previous attempt to give a satisfactory historical explanation of this failure, and I

Shouldn't you read the chapter that created Martin Luther King jr.? Really? Now maybe?

The fundamental contribution of every man is the change of his own personality. We must repent of the sins of existing society, cast off the spell of the lies protecting our social wrongs, have faith in a higher social order, and realize in ourselves a new type of Christian manhood which seeks to....

The fundamental contribution of every man is the change of his own personality. We must repent of the sins of existing society, cast off the spell of the lies protecting our social wrongs, have faith in a higher social order, and realize in ourselves a new type of Christian manhood which seeks to...... overcome the evil in the present world, not by withdrawing from the world, but by revolutionizing it. If this new type of religious character multiplies among the young men and women, they will change the world when they come to hold the controlling positions of society in their maturer years. They will give a new force to righteous and enlightened public opinion, and will apply the religious sense of duty

1.25.2020

The greatest contribution which any man can make to the social movement is the contribution of a regenerated personality, of a will which sets justice above policy and profit, and of an intellect emancipated from falsehood. Such a man will...

The greatest contribution which any man can make to the social movement is the contribution of a regenerated personality, of a will which sets justice above policy and profit, and of an intellect emancipated from falsehood. Such a man will..... in some measure incarnate the principles of a higher  social order in his attitude to all questions and in all his relations to men, and will be a well-spring of regenerating influences. If he speaks, his judgment will be a corrective force. If he listens, he will encourage the truth-teller and discourage the pedler of adulterated facts and maxims. If others lose heart, he will stay them with his inspired patience. If any new principle is to gain power in human history, it must take shape and life in individuals who have faith in it. The men of faith are the living spirits, the channels by which new truth and power from God enter humanity. To repent of our collective social sins, to have faith in the possibility and reality of a divine life in humanity, to submit the will to the purposes of the kingdom of God, to permit the divine inspiration to emancipate and clarify the moral insight — this is the most intimate duty of the religious man who would help to build the coming Messianic era of mankind.

Like all the greatest spiritual teachers of mankind, Jesus realized a profound danger to the better self in the pursuit of wealth. Whoever....

Like all the greatest spiritual teachers of mankind, Jesus realized a profound danger to the better self in the pursuit of wealth. Whoever.... will watch the development of a soul that has bent its energies to the task of

1.07.2020

Nonviolent political action, Ultimate Death Trap? The attempt to establish directly a more just world micro or macro. What?

 tragically this seems like a funny analogy. Herding cats is not a thing. It is anything but funny. It is the ultimate in tragedy. It could be the tombStone on civilization.
The tragic flaw for Martin Luther King Jr, Mandela, and Gandhi until the end when he woke up.
What? Herding cats is not a thing.
Groups of people are not a biological, real, thing. Don't be confused by their interrelatedness and mutual influence.
There is no one thing that a hospital can impose on each of the patients and cause help for any one of them. They are individuals. They can be made individually healthy or allowed to be unhealthy.

Although no one wants to face this the War on Drugs is another such situation .  Hundreds of billions of dollars  countless lives have been sacrificed on this. as long as people want those substances they will find a way to get them and people will find a way to supply them.
Jesus, the man, this mistake never made. Neither in word nor deed. It is the only hopeful thing which could ever result in Collective Justice. He works to heal the individual soul, the individual mammalian brain, the Supra conscious as Sorokin so brilliantly enumerates.
Everything else including well intended so called nonviolent political action is energy away from this only thing that could ever produce a Humanity that wanted peace over War, loving over hate.

s,




12.26.2019

My best current guess is that Tolstoy and Jesus were entirely and profoundly correct. And that therefore king and Gandhi were horribly mis directed bless their souls. Man is incapable of living joyfully with in the violence sustained state.


Even a week or so ago these words spoken just now by James would have struck James as ridiculous Li idealistic, dogmatic, cerebral. 

 But when in history has the state been the servant of the masses? It has been the servant of the handful elite. 

James thinks it only cowardice within himself to speculate that maybe hes incorrect in this . And it

12.25.2019

We did not fight back, but we did not turn back. We did not give way to bitterness. Some few spectators, who had not been trained in the discipline of nonviolence, reacted to the brutality of the policemen by throwing rocks and bottles. But the demonstrators remained nonviolent In the face of this resolution and bravery, the moral conscience of the nation was deeply stirred and, all over the country, our fight became the fight of decent Americans of all races and creeds.

We did not fight back, but we did not turn back. We did not give way to bitterness. Some few spectators, who had not been trained in the discipline of nonviolence, reacted to the brutality of the policemen by throwing rocks and bottles. But the demonstrators remained nonviolent In the face of this resolution and bravery, the moral conscience of the nation was deeply stirred and, all over the country, our fight became the fight of decent Americans of all races and creeds. MLK Jr. Why we can't wait.

The word spread fast, and the response from Birmingham's youngsters exceeded our fondest dreams. By the fifties and by the hundreds, these youngsters attended mass meetings and training sessions. They listened eagerly as.... from MLK Jr, why we can't wait.

The word spread fast, and the response from Birmingham's youngsters exceeded our fondest dreams. By the fifties and by the hundreds, these youngsters attended mass meetings and training sessions. They listened eagerly as we talked of bringing freedom to Birmingham, not in some distant time, but right now. We taught them the philosophy of nonviolence. We challenged them to bring their exuberance, their youthful creativity, into the disciplined dedication of the movement We found them eager to belong, hungry for participation in a significant social effort. Looking back, it is clear that the introduction of Birmingham's children into the campaign was one of the wisest moves we made. It brought a new impact to the crusade, and the impetus that we needed to win the struggle. Immediately, of course, a cry of protest went up. Although by the end of April the attitude of the national press had changed considerably, so that the major media were according us sympathetic coverage, yet many deplored our "using" our children in this fashion. Where had these writers been, we wondered, during the centuries when our segregated social system had been misusing and abusing Negro children? Where had they been with their protective words when, down through the years, Negro infants were born into ghettos, taking their first breath of life in a social atmosphere where the fresh air of freedom was crowded out by the stench of discrimination? The children themselves had the answer to the misguided sympathies of the press. One of the most ringing replies came from a child of no more than eight who 98 Why Wb Can't Watt walked with her mother one day in a demonstration. An amused policeman leaned down to her and said with mock gruffness: "What do you want?" The child looked into his eyes, unafraid, and gave her answer. "Feedom," she said. She could not even pronounce the word, but no Gabriel trumpet could have sounded a truer note. Even children too young to march requested and earned a place in our ranks. Once when we sent out a call for volunteers, six tiny youngsters responded. Andy Young told them that they were not old enough to go to jail but that they could go to the library. "You wont get arrested there," he said, "but you might learn something." So these six small children marched off to the building in the white district, where, up to two weeks before, they would have been turned away at the door. Shyly but doggedly, they went to the children's room and sat down, and soon they were lost in their books. In their own way, they had struck a blow for freedom.

So I have not said to my people: "Get rid of your discontent* Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach.....

So I have not said to my people: "Get rid of your discontent* Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach.... is being termed extremist But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ..." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime — the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus Letter From Birmingham Jail 89 fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all." Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one...

One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all." Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one... determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the

I must confess that I am not afraid of the word tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. MLK Jr. From the Birmingham Jail.