Christmas is coming to town. Is believing in God politically incorrect? How good are the good?

We now live in a society where people are afraid to say Merry Christmas. They are afraid to put an angel on top of a tree. We have the illusion of living in an expression free society but we are still afraid of angels on trees. Why are people so afraid of Jesus or God? I understand this from a communist country where dictatorship prevails. No one can be considered more powerful than those in control. These countries where we trade with and where we buy from, only make those in power wealthy at the sufferings and exploitation of those who are employed. Where is our social conscience? Where is justice? I do not think that believing in God is possible for everyone. What I think is most important is the heart of the person. Some who cannot believe in God are very good, very kind people. Others who believe in God commit the most horrible crimes. Some have never been introduced to God. Some have been sexually, physically and emotionally abused from those who were supposed to protect them and then they go to church and are told to honour and obey their parents. But, the intention of that commandment is for it to work both ways though at times the religious leaders forget to mention that. How can children believe in God when they do not know who God is? Yet, I have been told many times than when life became hard and hopeless they always felt something was there to help them as children. Not in all cases but in more than I would expect. Now the question is why would someone feel a protector and others not? I do not know. Is it possible that some are more in tune with their spirituality? I do not know. I do not know all the answers because I am human and not God. Someone reading my blog some time ago asked me to read his paper. I did so even if it was months later. There I read about how religious leaders will not answer questions and as I read comments from the others in response to what he wrote, it appeared that they were discouraged from answering questions. I have to admit I was surprised by that. I do not know what religious denominations they are, or who they were asking, but I was surprised. I remember when I studied Introduction to the New Testament, the Jesuit professor began by telling us how in the Bible you find it all. You find sex, child abuse, war, torture etc…He was rather annoyed that in Church when they read passages some say it is the “Word of God” rather than where the passages are found. I agree. I still flinch. So, when lay people say you find this in the Bible so it is ok to beat your child, it is not. So when you think you can abuse your child and think it is ok, it is not. This post is not going to be a lesson about scriptures. I post my papers and more formality about religion will be provided. Eventually, I will post everything, even if it becomes dated (I will let you know when that is). But my point is that children need to be protected, even if the minister or priest does not mention it. I remember before I began my studies, I was introduced to a Minister by her husband who told her I was going to study Ministry and Spirituality and that I was going to study Pastoral Counselling. She was very bubbly and told me something that I already knew as a layperson that she was either very much in denial or very naive. She said that in her Parish no one had problems. This is why I cannot ever say that I have heard it all. I cannot say that because I always hear something that baffles me completely. I don’t think it will matter how old I get, I shall still be surprised at what people say (I am not complaining. That keeps life interesting. It keeps my grey cells awake). I knew another Minister in the making who always wore the best of designer clothes because her church is very wealthy. Why was I surprised that people donating money and I am not going to say hard earned because I hope it wasn’t, going to designer clothes. I can write a book on that topic alone, but I won’t. When I hear complaints about Ministers or Pastors or Priests, I encourage them to find a Church to their liking. However, living in a city where there are many many churches, I forget that people who live in the country or isolated places do not have that same luxury. There are no choices for some and so they sometimes have to hear the Minister talk what is actually nonsense and some believe that it is the word of God, because Minister or Priest or leader of any religious affiliation is the representative of God. But remember this, whoever that Minister or Priest or Rabbi or who ever he or she is, that person is human and is not God. They have weaknesses as all humans have. They have had a certain life, either good or bad and some of that will rub off on you. Ideally someone going into religious life, is going in for the right reasons. What are the right reasons? I am not obedient, want to be poor or believe that I have to be chaste all my life so I would have never dreamed about being in religious life as a RC. I know of one Minister who was agnostic but needed to feed his family. Who am I to judge? I cannot. I have no idea what it is like to feed an entire family but I do believe that people will do just about anything to feed their families. If we do not eat, we die. The point of all this is that if you have been misled, or upset with a religious leader, this has nothing to do with God. We have free will and that includes impersonating a figure that one wants to be or hopes to be or inspires to be for whatever reason good or bad. So why am I writing about this today? I do not know. I did not intend to write about this today. I wanted to write about couple therapy and this is what I wrote instead. How do you find God in an ungodly world? What do you think? Merry Christmas! (By the way, try reading the New Testament out loud and begin with Mark just to please me. Note the words of Jesus. He was always so annoyed with the religious leaders. Don’t let that sway you in your own faith whatever it may be.