How many people did the Church kill today?

“They will know we are Christians by our love.” Jesus-inspired lyrics. Wonderful sentiment. If only.

And here we are.
        Before I get into this very far I want to stress up front that there are churches trying their best to do the right thing during this pandemic when it comes to keeping their congregants and community safe. Unfortunately those actions don’t grab the headlines like the churches that are hell bent on bringing harm to others in the name of worshiping Jesus.

First, do no harm! Too easy.
        Wear a mask. Protect other people.
        Something as simple as wearing a mask during a pandemic to protect fellow human beings was and remains beyond too many “Christians”. Wearing a mask to protect others is asking too much of some supposed followers of Jesus Christ, a man that led by example. A man that told his followers to spread the good news and to love one’s neighbors.
        I guess that I missed the part in the bible where Jesus said go forth and spread disease. It must have been in the same section where he said to gather in his name to endanger and kill one another. Followed by the ever popular “and make sure that the little children suffer too”.

It was a commandment not a suggestion.
        Love your neighbor. How complicated is that?
        Wearing a mask, if nothing else, is an act of demonstrating Christian love. But somehow it’s tearing communities and churches apart. They aren’t capable of caring enough for their own church members to wear masks and keep their physical distance let alone members of the community.

Typhoid Khristians.
        Since the very beginning of the current pandemic churches and church groups have been “hot spots” for spreading the plague to the rest of the community. Too many Christians have fought heroically to maintain this status. Let’s call them Khristians with a ‘K’ instead of a “C” in order to differentiate them from followers of Christ.
        Khristians are followers of the Liar. They are working for the Dark Angel. They are of the far-right Evangelical Party. Like the Liar they are perpetual victims. They are the Constitutional Khristians of the Amerika that they would recreate in their image. Their rights to endanger and kill in the name of Jesus come first.
        They are the death squads. They are directly responsible for tens of thousands of deaths. They work diligently to increase the body count every day—especially on Sunday.
        Like the Liar they accept no responsibility. Like the Liar they are victims. The Liar’s truth is their truth. It is the Liar’s vision that they spread. “We are Amerika!” is their guiding psalm.

The hoax that keeps on killing.

Ω How many people did the church kill, endanger or infect today in the name of Jesus?

Ω How many people in the community did the church spread the plague to today?

Ω How much damage to our Republic did the church do today in support of the Liar?

Ω How much economic damage did the church do today?

Ω What falsehoods did the church support and spread today in the name of Jesus?

        The above are not questions that should have to be asked at any time let alone on a Sunday morning yet here we are. Whether we like it or not these questions and worse are being asked by believers and non-believers alike.

Criminally negligent homicide.
        An ultra-conservative Christian group operates not far from where we live. Kanakuk Kamps has been in operation for decades. I copied the below statement from their web page.

“At Kanakuk, we live I’m Third—God First. Others Second. I’m Third. This foundational principle is integrated into each of our Kamp’s programming, equipping Kampers to be Christ-like examples who lead with responsibility and care.”

        They have been in the news because initially 40 of their “Kampers” and counselors tested positive for COVID-19. The number grew to over 80. In the end, the number of Stone County confirmed cases only went up one since all the rest were not from this area. They took the virus to their homes and communities across 10 states.
        In light of the above would you think that they stopped holding kamps at the outbreak? If you did you thought wrong.

“Others second” my ass.
        Holding a church camp for kids the middle of a pandemic should be considered criminal. (BTW their other camps are ongoing.) The kids and counselors interacted with others in the community. There is no way of knowing what the final toll or impact will be.

Leadership.
        How are pastors handling the mask question? How are they handling providing safe services for their followers? (I’m talking about the ones that aren’t openly flaunting their disdain for protecting others.) Are they going along to get along?
        Some aren’t. They are encouraging doing all the right things. Some are only having online services and holding meetings and studies using technology like Zoom. They’re using phone calls and emails and are wearing masks when necessary.

Others? Not so much.
        I’ve spent some time surfing religious sites and taking in some online services during pandemic time just to see what’s up. Pretty sad really. Some of the services that I watched are in areas where COVID-19 cases are increasing dramatically.
        If you think that I saw a lot of masks and people keeping a physical distance you’d be wrong. If you thought there wouldn’t be any singing you’d also be wrong.
        Why singing? What’s wrong with singing? Well, singing really projects the virus out there. It goes farther than 6 feet. It aerosolizes and hangs in the air longer and gets spread by the ventilation and movement in the air. It’s the churches’ way of really going the distance to spread the virus.

Ripples in the water.
        And get the virus out there they do. Time and time again we can read in local and national news where the virus was spread out into the community from churches. Pastors have died. Their congregants have died. People in the community have died. People also got sick and recovered. Some will have ongoing medical issues for the rest of their now shortened lives.
        One church leader, no name provided, wrote 1588 words about wearing masks. Whoever they were they were pretty worked up about it. Cited all sorts of scripture. Talked about congregants fighting with each other and how un-Christian it all was.
        Never took an actual position. 1588 words and couldn’t say something as easy and simple as “Wear a mask: it’s the Christian thing to do.”

Fear.
        Regardless of what happens we’re going to end up with fewer churches and fewer followers of the real Jesus as this pandemic runs its course. There will be pastors who, whether directly or indirectly, lead their congregations to dissolution. Some smaller congregations will simply lose too many people to COVID-19 to continue financially.
        There are already Christians leaving churches over the mask issue. Their fellow Christians won’t even wear a mask for bible study. Such a small imposition yet it’s dividing churches.
        Like it or not, if a pastor takes a position either way on masks and physical distancing there will be supposed believers alienated. People have already switched churches in order to go to a church that doesn’t treat the pandemic seriously and vice versa. Some just leave.

        WWJD?

Jesus had the courage of his convictions.
        Unlike too many pastors of today Jesus wasn’t afraid to speak out and take a position to save lives. Now Jesus could bob and weave with the best of them when it came to politics but ultimately he took a position there as well, and died for it. Without getting into all of the theology, with that act he put everyone else first. That’s in keeping with the trinity. He put others before his own wellbeing.
        When alive he cured the sick, injured and lame. He didn’t kill people. He didn’t endanger people. He cured lepers. He didn’t spread leprosy. He wasn’t afraid of losing his church.
        Simply put, Jesus would have worn a mask. His followers would have worn masks as well. Jesus would have worn a mask even if it meant a personal sacrifice to his wellbeing. He carried a cross for us. Wearing a mask would have been easy.

Schrodinger’s End Times

Radio

^        When I was growing up the folks had this truly magical, as far as I was concerned, radio. It was kind of a creamy white with a gold colored dial. The top half of the dial was AM radio. The bottom half—the world! It could not have been an expensive radio if the folks had it.

^        The bottom half of the dial was a wonderland. We could get stuff from all over the world especially late at night or under certain atmospheric conditions that we knew nothing about. It required a delicate touch on the bottom half of that dial that foreign voices would speak out from along with conversations from Ham radio operators. The slightest twitch and the carefully tuned in station was lost.

Panic in the streets.

^        It was on one of those searches of the radio cosmos that I tuned in a preacher talking about the “END TIMES” that we were living in and that very soon life as we knew it would be over. Other than going to church with my grandma when I stayed with them in Missouri sans parents we were not religious folks then. I was scared enough to ask my dad about it the next day. Dad said, “They’ve been scaring people with that crap since I was a kid. Don’t worry about it!”

^        As far as I was concerned then Dad was the final authority. Case closed.

Kill the white man!

^        My last duty station is the Army was in Giessen, Germany. We were housed in old German barracks. The Germans were housed in the new barracks. That’s where I spent the last 5 months of my four year hitch. The Army would send people close to getting out overseas to a better duty assignment. Guys would like what they saw of Europe and reenlist. Then the Army would send them to Viet Nam. I passed on reenlisting. I’d had enough fun.

^        I was in our four man room late one night writing a letter home. All the other guys were either out on leave or at their duty station. It was quiet. One of their radios had been playing all day. I didn’t bother turning it off. One of the brothers had it set on a pirate radio station. This station was transmitting from somewhere off the coast if I remember correctly.

^        Anyway a program came on where some guy was saying over and over, “We must kill the white man. We must rise up and kill the white man. We must kill the white man. Kill the white man. Kill the white man.” Over and over and over. Non-stop. It was just playing in the background and I just ignored it and kept writing. I should mention here that there were some racial tensions in the Army during the time I served. As I was writing along I remember thinking yes we must rise up and kill the white man. I had to stop and look down to make sure that I hadn’t actually written that. I was and in fact am white. That’s when I realized that perhaps I should get up off my ass and turn the radio off.

^        A couple of my room mates were brothers and good friends. I would listen to the sermons that Will’s church sent him via audio recordings. They were great. I mean foot stompin’ “Yes, Jesus” great. Will was also a loan shark. I was also their barber. I couldn’t cut a white guy’s hair to save my life but I could cut a modified (short) afro easy peasy.

^        There weren’t any uprisings of mass killings while I was there. The point is in case you’re wondering if there is one is that having the same message delivered over and over can have an effect. It does. That’s what we’re living today.

Not an expert.

^        When I first started to read the bible in earnest it seemed obvious to me that the people of the time thought that Jesus was coming back sooner rather than later. Some thought that he would come back in their lifetime. I had explained to me later that this was not in fact the case. Obviously. Two thousand years have passed. Men that had a much deeper understanding of the bible than regular people have figured out a way to explain the discrepancy of a few thousand years.

^        So if somebody just finds a bible and tries to figure it out or apply what they have learned on their own they will more than likely get it wrong unless they have an expert or at least someone more knowledgeable on hand to explain things to them.

 Experts needed. Apply within.

^        In other words when I read that God had a plan for that one guy and thought that God just had a plan for that one guy I didn’t know that I was wrong about that. God in spite of our free will has a plan for all of us. So when I a guy steps out and gets hit by a bus God planned that. Miscarriages? God’s plan.

^        Where I might read a verse and think that it’s okay to kill a disrespectful kid an expert can explain that this is not the case and perhaps just a good talking to and grounding might be more appropriate. Or if you’re a Southern Baptist just give the unrepentant tot the thrashing of their life.

^        I’m just going to leave that whole the proper way of sacrificing of animals alone other than to say that they must have had very sharp knives back then. What a mess! Interestingly no one ever talks about who is going to clean that mess up afterwards. I’m going to guess a woman or women depending upon the size of the sacrifice.

^        Suffice it to say that the bible isn’t really a standalone book unless an expert happens to have left a really really good set of Cliff Notes with it.

^        We need guidance! Case in point right here.

 Back to the End.

^        I talked about the End back at the beginning of this. Technically people that didn’t know any better have thought that they were living in the End Times since the time of Jesus. So we are both living in the End Times and Not living in the End Times until we are actually in the End Times whether we know it or not. So the people that are always predicting the End Times are both right and not right unless there’s a cutoff point at some point in the past that I haven’t had explained to me yet by a person that knows.

^        There could be a cutoff date say a few hundred or thousand years back where those that predicted the End Times were actually deemed to be wrong. Expiration date exceeded. Out of warranty. Sorry buddy or budette take that class over.

^        This is how guys like Copeland end up making $300 million dollars off of rubes. He knows. Or at least he says he knows. Try and prove him wrong. Can’t be done. Can’t prove him right either. Well there is a way.

Jesus.

^        He either has to show his face or he doesn’t. Depends upon the time frame. We’re either deep into the End Times or just starting. Depends upon what expert you’re dealing with. If you like scary apocalyptic movies go with that expert. They know. Or they don’t. Could be that they’re just a fake prophet or smoking a little too much of the good stuff. Depends upon what their Godometer is forecasting at the time.

Who’s to know?

^        Here’s what I do know.

^        Don’t drink the Koolaid!

^        If your pastor is telling you that you need to all get close together in the middle of a pandemic they are bat shit crazy and endangering people including all the innocent bystanders that come into contact with the flock. LEAVE. Jesus doesn’t want you dead! Jesus doesn’t want other people to die because of you.

^        Team Trump jesus may not care if you’re dead but the real Jesus doesn’t want you dead. Jesus doesn’t need the Constitution to be believed in. Not a part of the Good News.

^        Holy Spirit is with you wherever you are. Jesus is not confined to four walls. Pray to God wherever you are. God is there.

Go with God.

 

Reckless Endangerment [COVID-19/Politics]

(8 minute read)

Quite often in life I will hear the phrase “everyone knows this” or something similar. Well, “everyone” does not think or know or believe a certain thing.

I’m just doing a follow up on the current pandemic that we find ourselves in after reading several lengthy reports and watching more video. Obviously I am NOT an expert. It is important though in times like these for regular citizens to document the world that they are in and how they feel about things.

I have gone to the trouble to try to ensure that I am NOT passing along incorrect information.

https://www.cdc.gov/ does have information available now, including some statistics, even though they are still playing catch up.

I keep reading comments where people are saying that COVID-19 (the disease) is no different than the flu this season. It is.

The actual designation for the virus that causes COVID-19 disease is SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus). Novel coronavirus was a provisional name (2019-nCoV). It is a different type of virus than an influenza virus. They are the same only in the sense that they are both viruses and also cause or can cause respiratory as well as other similar symptoms. The shared symptoms will cause statistical issues when it comes to determining whether someone has the flu or COVID-19 since not everyone will be tested and many cases of both will go unreported.

 As of today 3/11/20

Ω In response to criticism of the Trump Administration’s lack of transparency in their handling the corona virus pandemic the Administration made all meetings classified. So in the midst of an epidemic the White House is going dark. (On March 3^rd Vice President Pence said that the Administration would be fully transparent.)

Ω Philadelphia happened in 1918 because the government lied to the people.

Ω Health Experts vital to the handling of the coronavirus pandemic were not allowed to attend meetings held by the Administration because they lacked the necessary security clearances.

Ω (You know this would be funny if it weren’t so sad. It isn’t that the Administration keeps shooting themselves in the foot it’s how fast they can reload.)

Ω South Korea tested more people in one day than this country has since the outbreak.

Ω Testing kits are NOT available to everyone. Period.

Ω Testing is not yet free to everyone.

Ω Some of the Republicans exposed to the virus who had contact with the President have been tested. (It’s almost poetic that the biggest physical threat posed to the President has come from Republicans shaking hands with him. There’s a conspiracy theory!)

Ω There is NOT yet a complete travel ban from China. American citizens are still being allowed to return. 

Ω Ships have also allowed the return of citizens to our shores. Those already having the coronavirus are being allowed to return to the country.

Ω Foreign ships are still unloading goods.

Ω There is no plan presented that will make up for the wages lost by working people. A reduction in payroll taxes only means that people will get a little more money back when they return to work. The reduction in payroll taxes is a back door Republican maneuver to attack social security.

Ω Layoffs due to COVID-19 have started.

Ω The white House has recommended that the budget of the CDC be reduced and will not amend their budget request to do so.

Ω The Senate rejected a House stimulus plan that would have reimbursed working people who had to miss work because of the virus. A proposal along with other proposals that would put $$$ in the hands of working people.

Ω We should know by the end of next week if we’re going to end up like Italy.

Ω The Fed isn’t going to be able to fix the stock market.

Ω It isn’t a hoax.

Ω Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have coronavirus.

Comparisons

Comparisons of statistics from the flu to what is developing with the coronavirus pandemic are made to show the differences that the two have when it comes to mortality rates and who will be affected more. COVID-19 so far is more dangerous for those that have it in the age group that Shelley and I are in (60-70) as well as 80 plus, especially if there are underlying illnesses. BUT that does NOT mean that young healthy people can’t die from it because they are. That age group is just in the lower mortality rate group of around 3%. The difference between the mortality rate associated with the current flu of .05% and the COVID-19 rate is dramatic in terms number of fatalities especially in certain age groups as mentioned above.

The President continuing to do his level best to minimize the risks and telling people to just go to work if they’re sick is reckless endangerment. (He won’t be charged or convicted.) The man is incapable of not lying. He can say that this “will go away” and be 100% correct. So did the Spanish flu after 650,000 deaths.

Along for the ride

At this point there really isn’t need for panic at all. In fact, there is no need to panic ever. Panic is not productive.

Apply social distancing as much as is possible. This means stay away from people ESPECIALLY if you’re sick. This is what is being referred to as flattening the curve. Slowing the spread down so that hospitals don’t get overwhelmed.

Wear a mask IF you’re sick.

Wear gloves in public and don’t touch your face. This admonition is worrisome because it’s hard not to touch one’s face. Also, there’s a proper way to remove gloves without picking contamination from your own gloves. Here’s a link as to how that’s done if you’re so inclined https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4gyNAsPCbU

If you’re able to self-quarantine and stay home, try to have enough stuff on hand to make it a couple of weeks. This shouldn’t require vast amounts of toilet paper unless you have been saving up more than is humanly possible.

Avoid crowds. Seriously. I can’t believe that candidates are still holding campaign rallies and that people are going to them.

Some levity

A friend that had previously mentioned that they purchased a bidet that was an add on to an existing toilet was taking the opportunity to gloat over their purchase recently in reference to the current for-no-apparent-reason run on toilet paper in markets.

I would like to say at this point that there is a low cost alternative to purchasing a bidet if you and/or your loved ones, friends or family find themselves in a paperless situation. Simply use a pressurized tank garden sprayer. Have one sitting beside the toilet. A two gallon sprayer should be more than sufficient for several…um…visits!...yeah, visits, that’s what we’ll go with. You’ll need a sprayer with a plastic wand as opposed to an inflexible metal wand. I suggest setting the nozzles for the widest coverage. And it should go without saying just in case anyone is taking this seriously to only use water!

Obviously guys will have to be told to be sure and pump the sprayer back up before they leave and that this is one instance where more horsepower is NOT better! Seriously. Just don’t! I also advise caution if the decision is made to hook a garden hose up to the sink. The opportunity for significant water damage is greatly increased.

If a person has problems with dexterity or any other wand usage issues then I suggest using a buddy system. Some considerations should be made in determining who would qualify as a buddy in the instance.

A really good buddy will be needed. A through-thick-and-thin buddy. A through-better-or-worse buddy. A buddy with a low gag reflex. Attention to detail as well as availability should also be a consideration.

Unlike the DIY hand sanitizer I don’t anticipate anyone coming up with a DIY toilet paper solution any time soon that doesn’t involve major quantities of pulp, water and significant drying time. So the above method does at least from surface and untested appearances offer a more readily available solution.

If you or anyone you know should actually try this please feel free to post how it works out because there isn’t any way that I’m going to try it.

 Back to the real world

BTW yes I did watch the President as he addressed the nation. I had my fingers crossed that he would stick to the script that they gave him and he did. I am amazed. He did a great job of pronouncing the big words. (He has struggled in the past in this area. There are entire videos of garbling words up.) He said that partisanship should stop. I feel like I should start a pool guessing how long it will be before he tweets something partisan. At least the lies were scripted. There is hope.

I’m not having to change anything that I wrote and I was hoping that I would.

What gives me hope in this pandemic is that real leaders from the top to the bottom are stepping in and make a difference. People outside the thumb of the Administration. People at the local level that are making hard decisions. There are still enough professional people at the top that are continuing to put out accurate information even if it’s at odds with the Administration’s line.

Beyond anything else the people of the health care industry, nurses, doctors and everyone in between have already stepped up from day one. They are on the front lines and they are extraordinary.

Extraordinary people accomplish extraordinary things.