Human

I suppose that you are familiar with the comments made by Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson. If you do not know whom am I talking about , look, I am not going to link to Limbaugh, it way too cynical and spiteful ...but here is a little more on Pat Robertson's Haitian "pact with the devil".*




I finished reading recently two books -one prose, one of poems -that I would describe mainly as "human". I will return soon with more details on these books, but this will be in another post. I recently wrote to a friend about one other books, and the about it being so human and he replied with a song:

Funeral-Band of Horses



So, what's the link between this song and Paterson's comment? Well, the band's leader mentioned

in a recent interview that the song was inspired by his frustration over Holydays and Birthdays and Anniversaries, where we make so much buzz over impressing the other persons involved...You know, organizing the right kind of party, finding the right kind of present...

Hmm, still no apparent connection with the comment.

Well the song goes:" And to know you is hard ; we wonder/ To know you all wrong (we were)."

So maybe I got him all wrong? After all he is involved in the rescue and help efforts in Haiti...



And so I started to wonder why did Mr. Paterson invited us to support his charity work to Haiti, if they were rightfully punished by God for being the grand-grand-children of the Devil's pact?

First, how did Mr. Paterson knew with so much certainty about the pact -was he there? Must the slaves make a pact with the Devil in order to successfully overturn their masters - does this imply that the slavery was right by God or that those inferior beings would have failed by human means only? Or is it somehow related with the pagan voodoo rites mixed within their Christian beliefs?**

Well, let's say he knew it.***Than if he is correct in his assumption why did he invited us to help the Haitians? Why shall I oppose God's will, doesn't he know about "Thy will be done" part of the Bible? Is he not aware of what happened to poor Lucifer for attempting to be more strong willed than God himself? Do I really want to fall out from God's grace by opposing His righteous decisions?

And the song goes:

"I'm coming up only to hold you under


I'm coming up only to show you wrong"

..and there it is. My little "a-ha" moment, so we are to give just to show our righteousness and superiority. We only give because we are better than you...Forget compassion, or "love thy neighbor" , or Jesus washing his disciple's (servants) feet...So, Jesus, is as the evangelist in the Sea of Poppies stated "free trade". Therefore, as a good Christian I always have to show how the right path comes from my competitive advantage :"I have therefore I give , it's just an investment for me since I know I will receive multitudes for showing such a good humanitarian, heart".

Now I get it : "given and you will be given " ...






Notes:

*this link is to the Huffington Post article but there are plenty more
** well this would also explain  why the Byzantin Orthodox countries are economicaly and politcaly in an worse shape that their Catholic counterparts. After all they share one continent -Europe. So it was the Rusalka week -you had to celebrate that too, you heathen ....and not the Ottoman Empire . But I still do not get why do the Catholics then  hold the Byzantin Church above the Protestants, they had not recognized as a Church at all,  in matters of core Christianism? I mean if the pagan rites embedded in the Haitian Christian celebrations are pulling them aside from mainstream Christian beliefs so much, would not the pagan rites embedded in Byzantine celebrations do just the same? And wouldn't that make them to be alienated from the Catholic dogma more than today's Evangelism? 
*** this type of argumentation is called reductio ad absurdum. That is: let's asumme that this supposition are correct, as absurd at they seem ...and just show how the logically drawn conclusion is unsustainable.