by Roger Radermacher, Hamilton
When I have a choice to make I believe there is a line before me that separates my thoughts in deciding should I or not, or it could be on good or evil, or good or bad. It’s a God-given gift that is part of our everyday lives. We all have our successes and failures in how we lead our lives and how we use the line as our guide. Example, buying something I really don’t need instead of buying food to feed my family. Or when it comes to voting, who should get my vote, and why or why not. Life ahead is full of responsibilities for everyone in many ways.
Inflation – The day that the price of fuel went up, so did everything we need to survive. Lots of our population have no idea where our food comes from. They would say the grocery store, some will say that grows on trees, like spaghetti for instance. How much of the food we eat comes from the farm? It takes a lot of fuel to raise and harvest the crops to produce the food we need to survive on. The farmer uses lots of fuel in every aspect of farming, his tractor, harvester, and other farm equipment, and by truck his product then goes to market to be processed into a food product for our consumption, which requires packaging that may be a paper product, which involves the logging industry to harvest the pulp trees to be made into paper products, namely cardboard boxes for the cornflakes that end up on your table. That’s just the beginning; I’ve only touched on one item in the store. The transportation segment, be it planes, trains, boats, trucks, cars, that run on fuel and are on the move throughout the world 24 hours seven days a week.
This shutdown in the name of climate change has driven up the price of everything. What a farce. To change the climate will take the whole world to change how we live. What we are experiencing, I think, is God calling us to take heed. He says, I can give you more misery to complain about, I’ve given you the choice between good and evil. Imagine what it would be like for us that every day would be like the best day you have ever had, and every bit of news would be good news, life-giving, joyful, and inspiring. It’s there for us, waiting for us to cross the line, be it good or evil that we choose. God created the world for us to enjoy and not to destroy as it seems to be heading for. God is in charge and alway will be. As I once heard, God does not make junk, only people do
Gomez says
Mike. And what solutions were presented in the original letter? It’s just a bunch of complaining with “Because God said so…..” tacked onto the end of it. Asserting that added nothing to whatever point that they were trying to make. It was simply an “appeal to authority “,which is a logical fallacy.
Mike Mercer says
In matters of authority the believer acknowledges the distinction between body and soul but knows we cannot separate them; what we do to one affects the other. A separation of Church and State as a means to level the playing field cannot be used to remove God from our daily lives. Not seeing this connection is to deny any culpability for your actions, I see no wisdom there. My conclusion, the original question has no answer which is why politicians will continue to thrive…not my first choice.
Gomez says
I am reminded of this Christopher Hitchens quote;
“Many religions now come before us with ingratiating smirks and outspread hands, like an unctuous merchant in a bazaar. They offer consolation and solidarity and uplift, competing as they do in a marketplace. But we have a right to remember how barbarically they behaved when they were strong and were making an offer that people could not refuse.”
This is where we find ourselves today. We are standing at the edge of a theocratic cliff. This is where much of the right wants to take this country, and they are unashamed to say so. They will continue to push, and I will continue to push back.
Peace.
Mike Mercer says
Hitchens could push religious peoples buttons but make no mistake I am a man of faith not religion so blame the manmade church not the Cross on its steeple.
The bone I have to pick is a progressive ideal I will call “Social Development” which in and of itself is a useful tool, however, these improvements/innovations are pushed onto these four different levels, physical, social, mental, and psychological but faith appears to be left out of this discourse.
So, as we conveniently scrub God from our lives in favor of “Progress” you may begin to see why people are angry, it ain’t about the church, never was.
Gomez says
Faith is the excuse people give when they believe something but do not have evidence to support it. I am not a fan of any unsupportable beliefs wandering their way into public policy, whether they be religion, generic god beliefs, or new age woo woo.
I think we’ve taken this about as far as we can. Thank you for the dialogue & exchange of perspectives.
Betty Landwehr says
Mr. Radermacher, please excuse Gomez. He did not read the part of your letter educating people on inflation. He does not care about inflation or struggling Americans. I follow the Star every week and Gomez and a few others readily avoid the real concerns of others. They don’t see the validity of your letter content. They don’t care what is happening in this country, I have yet to see an educated letter from these people, only their attacks on very concerned citizens who sent a letter to the editor stating their thoughts on how they feel about different aspects of everyday life. Gomez tells a writer EVERY WEEK to prove there is a God. Now, Gomez, prove there isn’t.
Gomez says
I am glad to have a discussion on real world concerns such as inflation. The United States has had the best post pandemic economic recovery of any of our major trading partners, and is leading all of our economic peers in growth and reducing inflation.. There is no need to bring Iron Age mythology into the discussion.
“Gomez tells a writer EVERY WEEK to prove there is a God. Now, Gomez, prove there isn’t.”
The burden of proof always lays with the party making the claim, always. Otherwise someone could make a claim like they had an invisible, magical dragon that lived in their garage who told them that they didn’t have to pay their taxes and we’d just have to believe them.
If you insist that there is a god, and you KNOW what this god wants of us, the burden to prove that is 100% on you.
Mike Mercer says
I have a conscience, therefore God exists.
Gomez says
Sorry Mike, that you have a conscience is only evidence that you have a conscience, nothing more.
The important point though is I would never even bring god up if people didn’t endlessly insist on creating public policy and law (that affects ALL of us, believer and non-believer alike based on their belief in one. No one considers THAT point. No, instead it’s always “OMG I can’t believe that anyone DARE question me when I insist that I know what the creator of the universe wants..”
Sheesh. 🙂
Mike Mercer says
Perhaps you can offer a solution to improve public policy that works for both believers and non believers. When you point out a problem you must then point out a pathway to a solution or rethink your position; thats only reasonable…I’ll wait.
Gomez says
Before you can claim that you KNOW what a god wants of us (a pretty arrogant claim in itself) you need to first prove that this god even exists, something no one in the entire history of mankind has ever been able to do for any god, let alone yours specifically..
I’ll take science over a belief in an invisible, silent god any day.