Aspies For Freedom

I think first I adopted a vague sense of humanism from some of tomorrow's leaders (women, five to ten of them) in the honors dorm at Shepherd in 1990.  I wasn't very good at the peace and forgiving part as I recall but I did do a good job of supporting everyone else's freedoms.

Some years later by May 1993 I had applied Christian principles to my own life (in practice they were Southern Baptist principles, and are now American Baptist principles, although I will gladly attend any Christian church for worship and service, especially based on its ministry, for example, Mt. Oak Methodist Church, Bowie, MD, and its autistic children ministry, I contributed dummy plugs for wall outlets and rigged up a gate to keep the kids from going upstairs).  

Everyone deserves respectful treatment.

I Corinthians 13 is a long list of things that love is.

Love is not prejudice, love is not discrimination, and I apply that in practice (voting down, unsuccessfully, Virginia's Amendment 1 against the rights of singles to domestic law, police protection et cetera)

No hateful words, no hateful actions.  Try to eliminate hateful thoughts too. If I am really mad I try to speak only in the presence of God.  Right now I am simmering over a college student from Ghana, all but begging his way through school it seems.  I have to remind myself that only his begging is the problem, and we have a nice guy from Ghana over at Mt. Vernon Baptist

Is not to say I am not really sad that so many Christians can have prejudices related to their romantic lives (hypothesis: my weight, or that I was distracted by closing Mom's estate, because Equally Yoked Christian singles failed 2002-2005).

The rights of man and woman and child to non-threatening words and actions are unconditional.  I do not delight in rubbing Scripture in anyone's eye.

A strong tradition of religious tolerance.  My parents and brother went in various directions.  The only time Mom ever tried to impose Sunday school on me was when she wanted Sunday morning off and church buses rolled through the subdivision.

Before I was a Christian I hated those kind of "Christians" who were threatening (or seemed so).  The last thing I'd like to become.

I find unequal treatment, prejudice, discrimination most offensive to me, employment related or social exclusion.

"Right now I am simmering over a college student from Ghana, all but begging his way through school it seems. "

GuessWho, how much tuition did you pay at the Rehab Center that is responsible for your career?

That is a valid point, Max.  I was a poverty stricken Maryland resident with a disability (not even a severe one).

$0.00

I am well aware the Federal government tends to treat folk on student visas like garbage.

Can't get financial aid, not eligible to work, why I helped him at first, but he has a green card now, now eligble for both.  I did think, however, he having to delay graduation one year for lack of not too much money was too much, and helped him.

I read the same thing last night in reference to Muslim students.  The visa is conditional on going to school, no financial aid, and I am not really sure if student visa holders can work legally.  The context of the explanation was that a lot of Muslim women in America have fathers who demand too much dowry and how can a Muslim student get married under those circumstances?

I agree.  

I am also happy that the writer even suggested his fellow countrymen (Palestinians) would be better off with the few Christians in America who dare to leave a comfortable state-side life and go serve people, because his point was there are too few Muslims who do (especially in the really rich countries like Saudi Arabia Bahrain and vicinity).  His point is that many Americans (honest Christians) live as piously as the Muslims did back in the days of Mohammed.

He also had something to say about "bikini Christians" who seem to worship the naked skin as eagerly as they worship Christ, calling the women essentially naked.

After reading the bikini article, I thought, "America can do better than this.  We have to."  Although the bikini-clad American women were removed ("by request" of other Muslims), they did show three modestly clad Muslim teenagers and one young girl.  I must say I felt a sense of reverence for how attractive a woman respectfully dressed can be.

Well.... frequently I thought (back then), what if a judge ordered me employed in a proper capacity (say, applied research)?

In 1996 (and 1997 and 1998), I was a Master's in sociology with a year's paid experience in criminal justice related applied research (specifically, recidivism, gun control, the argument for legalizing drugs, and especially, domestic violence, a major problem in W. and V. made worse by the fact the geography is cumbersome, not very many cops for the available square miles, and the telephone system is sometimes a party line or unreliable)

Was the appropriate solution to have the Maryland Department of Rehabilitation Services pay for the equivalent of 1 and a half semesters of computer programming courses, at a state residential facility?

Or

Should the Americans with Disabilities Act been aggressively enforced to put a person with a disability (albeit minor) who had an advanced degree already to work?

Probably the question is, should the residents of Maryland have had to pay for the (mistakes?) of employers, some of whom were Maryland-based (one Hagerstown, one Baltimore, three Rockville, not sure if any were in Frederick)?

Or did the state of West Virginia prefer to cough up Food Stamps, Medicaid, and Division of Rehabilitative Services instead of employ a graduate of two of its state universities (Shepherd 1992 and Marshall 1996) within the Department of Education in Charleston?

That was one heck of a failed job interview.  600-700 miles from Martinsburg to Charleston (overnighting in Huntington) at 33 cents a mile.  That was the most expensive job interview I ever had (January 1998).

Good point, Ian.  Could I have done it myself?  Did I really need more education?  Or just simply aggressive enforcement of existing law?

I advised the young man to ask others who live much closer to the University of Maryland, College Park, than myself.
Maybe the fact that I don't use hateful language.... it is preferable to beg from people who won't throw angry words around

but yes, Max, any of us Americans are probably better off than he is.  And as I said, non-citizen students get treated like trash.

http://www.answering-christianity.com/na...uslims.htm

http://www.answering-christianity.com/ab...ianity.htm

I thought it was interesting.

The author is saying that many Muslims (especially the wealthy) in places like Saudi Arabia have forgotten what is more important than money.

I don't see an awful lot of Europeans asking for help to go to college, CJ.  Most of them have better governments than ours, those that pay for college, at least if they have the grades and scores.

I don't care if Gideon was Swiss, it doesn't mean education is a necessity of life.

My parents did not die to expect their sons to close to subsidize the college education of strangers.

Family-on-family aid is different than Christian aid, CJ.

When I had cancer in early 1997 and was severely underemployed.....

My mother continued to feed and house me indefinitely, knowing I could not afford my own living unless I was employed at a Master's or at least a Bachelor's level.  Continued, free use of automobile, and subsidized my job search costs.

Later that year I was sharing the rent with Mom when we moved out of the countryside into a city apartment

No, Mom did not touch my medical expenses.  I simply paid the portion not forgiven as long as necessary, and necessary was almost September 1999.

Covenant Baptist Church sent a bag of groceries.

Maybe we are supposed to treat other people like they are literally our family.  That would require, however, an amount of giving ten or a hundred times what Christians are used to.  Sure enough, I seldom hear of entire West Virginia churches trying to raise money for a kid's medical expenses.

OK, I do recall the story of the Samaritan who cared for the injured Jew when the other Jews (one a religious leader) would not care for him.

What would a literal interpretation of Christianity mean for America and those who come here?  Certainly more giving and hardly any questions asked.  Not that I would not mind that welfare-reforming (frequently Republican) "Christians" would actually start giving.

I did give him about $100 on the grounds that failing to register for certain courses would delay his graduation perhaps a whole year.  $100 seemed less important than a year of his life.

I tend to wonder if the United States economy is starting to sink, especially as debt levels tend to fund the government and taking mortgages keeps the housing industry going.

It is like a star, when it is done fusing hydrogen into helium, starts fusing elements into denser and denser elements, carbon, oxygen, all the way to iron, and then, the star dies.

I wish folks like Gideon would get a clue.  Stupidity, such as eating at a Chinese buffet with the last of your money, is going to only get more expensive.  Gideon did laugh at me earlier this year when I said it was not a crime to starve in America.  I wish his learning curve was better.  

If I was in Sydney, and someone told me don't touch the spiders, I would not.
If I was in the Amazon rain forest and someone told me don't touch the frogs, I would not
If I was in the desert and someone told me don't touch the scorpion, I would not.
I would not laugh.

Gideon is in the United States economy.  The hazards are not animals.  The hazards are man made, economic.

People that want to become Americans should avoid the mistakes too many of my fellow citizens have made, mismanaging money, going into debt.

If we were such perfect Christians why would Jesus have to die for us?

I do recall the first Christians gave everything they had voluntarily.

No, I am not yet ready to give up absolutely everything.  I treasure the concept of communication and information access, hence my continuing $100+ bill to Comcast for high speed Internet and digital cable.

I am starting to think a car is way too much, however.  The only thing that stops me from selling the sucker and cancelling my insurance is wondering if I will be able to rent a car from Enterprise if an evacuation of Washington DC and surrounding area is called for.

This is not to say, incidentally, that running away is always the best option.  The authorities may tell you to seal your doors and windows instead with sheeting and duct tape (chemical or radiological attack)

Isn't life fun within ten miles of Washington?  Not sure if a suitcase nuke on the Washington Monument would kill us in southern Arlington, I'm sure one on the Pentagon would.  But the fact that I work for a Federal contractor, well, Department of Education and Labor like to work with contractors close in.

But, back to the point.  It is one thing to suggest someone else sell everything they have and give to the poor.  It is another thing to do it. That is why I never suggest anyone do it.

I thought we stopped talking about that.  Besides, I personally respect the couples I have known.

I have very little respect for what comes easy and goes easy, but we are adults.

Why don't you suggest I actually sell all my worldly goods for something Jesus did mention in Matthew 25.

Let's be honest here.

Are you suggesting these things so I can be a better Christian, and/or

are you suggesting these things to discredit the Bible as a set of standards for living?

I think both.  

I would not ask you to sell all your goods and give to the poor if you weren't ready, and neither am I.

Ready for me means
1.  $20 per week which is a guesstimate of the church's annual budget, divided by its members
2.  Some kid in Guatemala named Jose (courtesy Children International)
3.  Occasional assistance (the Good Neighbor bar code coupon for local area food assistance, $5 denomination; the occasional check to Whitman Walker Clinic for HIV/AIDS; loans and grants totalling almost a thousand dollars over two years to one Gideon).

The fact that I could have given him a scholarship out of mutual funds or at least the 401K as well, and Jesus' suggestion to give, should not be interpreted so literally by yourself because it is not voluntary giving.

You might as well know I once practiced compulsory giving at 10% of gross income, when I had hardly any.  Before I recognized I had obsessive compulsive traits.  

That kind of giving can lead to the very un Christian attitude of "here Jesus is your ten percent, and don't ask me for another penny....."

"Get lost Gideon, I tithe.... "

"...and you damn well better bless me oh God like you said in the chapter of Malachi...."

Let not anyone give reluctantly, nor under compulsion, for God loveth a cheerful giver....

also read the 15th chapter of Acts.  We are no more asked to tithe than men are to be ritually mutilated.  

Paul had very few requirements for the Gentile churches, avoid sexual immorality, avoid eating of blood, avoid eating strangled animals, et cetera, it was a list of four things.  Tithing and circumcision were not on the list.

I sympathize, Max.  You probably want to discredit my faith, I understand.  It threatens your freedom and, in practice, even your dignity and safety.  

Americans who are Christians are still Americans.  

I might value things a little less than some Christians, but I still want my computer, TV, VCR, DVD.  I enjoy reading certain books on various subjects.  My microwave oven lets me heat food a little easier.  I am actually sorry I own a car.  I'd have more money and less weight if I was forced to go without it, and I'd generate less CO2 and depend less on foreign oil.  The few times I actually go to WV or get an eye exam with pupil dilation, they have cars rented by the hour or the day, and they have taxis.  Even if I had to use the more expensive dry cleaner across the street from work, it would be made up several times over by not carrying automobile insurance and not having to fix and maintain the sucker.

I have Mom's furniture.  It is nice to give guests a place to sit to watch TV or for a meal together.  

It is a fair question to ask a Christian what would they give up for someone else, and if they would not, what not, and why not.

1.  Car.  I am concerned about evacuations, really.  I know damn well I'd save thousands if I simply rented a car on demand.  I know damn well I'd weigh 30 40 50 pounds less if I was forced to hoof it or bike it instead of drive within the three mile radius of where I live.

2.  Computer: I want the ability to communicate and research.  I want to figure out how to videoconference too.

3.  TV, VCR, DVD: History Channel, Science Channel, National Geographic channel....

4.  Why not tithe?  Concern over saving for retirement.  Although if the Rapture hit, I'd be so so sorry I'd saved for retirement.  I know not everyone lives to retirement or long after.  I had a boss die of a stroke on tax day. 2004, right in a meeting.  He was 45.  His medulla was starved of blood: translation, could never breathe on his own again.  His brother asked that he be removed from life support.  My own parents?  Dad had 9 years of retirement.  He and Mom both died at 66.

Would you give everything you had for your church?  Would you hesitate as I do?  Would you admit to it?

As I am the only one responsible for my life, and responsible for none other, I care not if I marry a virgin.  If she got saved and she wasn't, she died when she converted and became a "new creature" and the new person is a virgin.

But the Protestant faiths do insist that I and others like me can absolutely depend on salvation, like the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark III when Sean Connery got to walk on air

You are right about the education and fertility correlation.  I studied that as a first semester grad student at Marshall in fall 1993.  

You are also right about helping others evacuate, it is the right thing to do and would reduce traffic congestion.  Have you heard of lane reversal?  In a genuine crisis, there would be no routes into Washington along some or all highways, the lanes into town would be commandeered and turned into more out of town lanes.  We also have High Occupancy Vehicle lanes that can be used into town in the morning and out of town at night, to encourage 2 or 3 persons per car