By the way, anyone that tells you they are able to separate out their life and their religious beliefs, and that the are not correlated, is lying to you. I’m seeing that now more than ever. There is not and cannot be any true separation of our understanding and interpretation of any religious notion and our previous life experiences.

Anyways, off that soapbox.

I’m left at an impasse, I enjoy blogging when I have the time, and I need an outlet for my thoughts. I tried writing different philosophical thoughts in a journal for a while, but that didn’t hold my interest. I tried taking a break from running through philosophy and theology in my head, but I was bored and unsatisfied, I spent the first twenty years of my life doing that, I’d rather not go back.

I’m lead to the conclusion that blogging is probably the best outlet for me, provided I can remember how social networking actually works, and that I can keep up with the goings-on of the blogosphere.

I’ve also learned over the past few days that more people that I know in real life (that come to rather different theological conclusions than myself) read my blog than I knew. This makes posting on subject matter I’m interested in rather difficult, as it would likely lead to confrontations and judgments I’m not interested in dealing with right now. When you say things like “If God gives more of a shit about my marriage then about the millions that of people going hungry tonight, then who should give a shit about God?” in a public forum such as a blog… well… that doesn’t end well.

So, I’m debating what form to take when i come back. Do I play it safe, or do I stir up the pot and bring out the shit that’s really running through my head?

I’m invested into this debate, not as a progressive who wants to see his side win, but as somewhat that has debated the various outcomes of each side, seen the pros from either side, and not blindly listened to the leaders of the party I’ve most recently affiliated with.

I come at this debate from the perspective of a Christian- that is a follower of the Christ, and hopefully removed from the negative connotations and baggage that word now has- and as a follower, or a student of the Tao of Jesus, I come down on the reform side.

I sit and think through the words of Jesus, word on taking care of the weak, the sick, the hungry, the needy, the poor, the disenfranchised, the ones that we have hurt by becoming who we are. I think through those words and I can’t help but agree that giving up a higher portion of my salary to guarantee their provided healthcare isn’t something that should be mourned or fought. I sit and think through the words of Jesus, words about treating others as you would treat Jesus, and wonder if he would disqualify the illegal immigrants from the 47 million number (of un-insured). I wonder if the Christians of old, the ones from the first days of the Church that sold everything they didn’t need and shared everything they did, would say (As Sean Hannity does) that those who choose (because they cannot afford it) who do not keep healthcare to “save costs” shouldn’t be counted when we survey the need for healthcare.

I wonder, as followers of the way, if we should indeed care for the health of the other. I wonder if instead, as good christians, we should use “Single Payer system” as a term of disgust (As I heard in the church I attended the other day, by one of the “spiritual leaders”), or we should encourage others to break up healthcare town halls with vitriol and hatred. I wonder if Jesus would rather us support the profits of industry (by removing the public option) than the health of the human. I wonder if Jesus would have us holding onto our money for dear life instead of sacrificing for the “less thans.”

I mean, yeah Jesus talked about that taking care of the other thing, that loving and sharing thing, but come on, he wasn’t serious. He didn’t mean we should do that now, he meant that as a perfect utopian heaven. The “Kingdom is here” thing (you know, the kingdom as so close that you can touch it, you can grab it, you can hold it), he didn’t actually mean “here,” he must have meant, sometime after I can enjoy myself and my money. Silly progressives, you’re getting Jesus wrong.

No, my Jesus would want us to spread lies about death panels, my Jesus would want us to stop this reform in it’s tracks because it’s not his will,  Jesus would want us to ignore the immigrants in our health care system. Jesus wouldn’t want us to think through health as something we should care about for the other. He most certainly wouldn’t want us to explore the topic in the light of the “least of these” as Sojourners does here (launches into a .PDF download). No, thats not my Jesus. My Jesus doesn’t want us to care for the lesser fortunate, my Jesus wants us to help those who help themselves.

So, you dirty progressives, take your loving Jesus and shove it.