Saved By...What?

 

This seems an appropriate post for the day that Christians claim is the most important day of their liturgical calendar.

Easter Sunday.

The day their messiah is purported to have rolled away the stone and walked out of his grave alive.

This being the miracle that banished all sin and "saved" the human race.

That, right there, is the biggest single thing that makes Christianity...bogus.

"Jesus died for MY sins.  So I can do anything the hell I want, no matter how horrible, no matter whom it hurts, no matter the dire consequence for anyone (but me...), and all I have to do is screw up some tears and declare 'I'm sorry' and everything is all better."

The history of Christianity is built upon the bad deeds of (mostly) men who horrifically wronged anyone they chose, for any reason they chose, because, hey...if I fucked up, all I have to do is say "sorry," and I'll go to heaven anyway.  

That SO does not work for me.

And it doesn't work for anyone who isn't Christian, who is considered "other" by this tribe who believes it is saved from consequences by their god.

And it doesn't work for the earth, whose grievous injuries inflicted by those who are "saved" are not going to miraculously heal when that "sorry" echoes up to the deity they created in their own image.

And when I see these pumped up, misguided idiots lining up to purchase bibles signed by their own Anti-Christ...

Yeah.

Best argument in the world for atheism.

Somewhere Out There

 Why do we cry when people we love die?

Most of the time, especially when we're talking about people in the age group I inhabit now, the person who has died has been released from suffering. Shed of a body that no longer served. Freed to go on to...whatever comes next.

What is sad about that?

What is sad is that WE no longer have that person.  WE will miss them.  We will have to go on with a loved-one-shaped hole in our hearts and lives.

So, in essence, we cry for ourselves.

Oh, it's not as if this philosophy has made me immune to crying when my loved ones leave.

I have shed many tears since I learned of Jackie's death. They just...come.  Unbidden.  But, I think, cleansing.  

My dear friend.  

The one who stuck with me for all these years.  I was trying to think how many years it has been. More than thirty...less than forty.  Thirty-five?  Thirty-six?

We got each other in a way that no one else got either one of us.  She was smart.  She was bookish.  She was a seeker.  And I could appreciate that.  And be so, too, though I think I had only a shadow of her intellect.  But we both understood it was difficult to be smart and analytical in the minimum-wage world we inhabited.  So we...attached to each other.

And when we no longer lived close enough to see each other face-to-face, we bonded in j-land.  THAT was over 20 years ago.  

J-land and the blogging craze fell by the wayside...and all the "friends" I thought I had made in that ethereal place faded away.

Except Jackie.  

She stayed.  

She came.

She left a word or two, just to let me know she had been by, if nothing else.

That is what REAL friends do.

Our interactions became more and more infrequent.  But I always took comfort knowing she was out there, somewhere.

But knowing the state of her health, I was always aware/afraid that there would come a time when she WOULDN'T be out there.

And now that time has come.

But maybe...

Yes, I think so.

She IS out there.

Somewhere.

And I will let that comfort wash over me.

 

So...That was it.  20 hits on the entry about Jackie even though I linked to it on Instagram.  No comments or condolences left here...a couple on Instagram.  Her family couldn't even be bothered to write a decent obituary for her, nor to allow my tribute to her on her "tribute wall" to be published.  Only two weeks gone, and already mostly forgotten.  How invisible our little lives are, hardly a speck in the cosmos.  But perhaps if there's one person who remembers you and misses you, that's all we can ask for.  I'm that person, for Jackie.  And I'll wear that mantle proudly. 

My Dear Friend Jackie Has Walked On

 

Rest in power, my dearest friend! 

SO many other spirits joined to yours, with whom you are now reunited. 

Have a blast among the stars!

Here is a link to her last post at “Walking With Hope.” 

The Promise of Spring.

Spring has come early for you this year, Jackie!

More Wisdom From REAL Christians

 Another Instagram gem:

 

I have no way of knowing whether this was a photoshop job. Could be, I suppose.

But the thing that spoke loudest to me was that this wisdom was posted on the reader board of a Christian church.

Though I personally no longer adhere to Christian beliefs, I have to remind myself constantly that Christianity is NOT all about the hatred and exclusion, greed, fear and anger preached by the Evangelical MAGA right.

It CAN be a peaceful, enriching, compassionate conduit to the Almighty.

And it still IS that, for many.

We on the left will do well to remember that.