Jesus and the Right to Privacy

In the Bible, Jesus was quoted:

Let he who is without sin

cast first the stone.

The mob was asked to pardon her.

And the adultress walked away.

The mob was asked to give her privacy,

to not punish her sexual nature.

The mob

had no right to punish

her sexual behavior.

The state

has no right to punish

sexual behavior between consenting adults.

Jesus would vote

for a constitutional

right to privacy.

Jesus would say

live and let live.

Jesus would say

do unto others

as you would do to yourself.

Do you want the state

regulating your bedroom?

Don't ask the state

to regulate other bedrooms.

Jesus would promote grace.

Let us govern with grace.

Jesus would say:

Let he who is without sin

Cast the first vote

For proposition 8.

Jesus would promote grace.

Let us govern with grace.

Amen

Freedom Floats: Stage 1... diverting hurricanes

The first freedom floats are simple.

Take something like a party barge.

But change it such that it has no roof.

And the pontoons are made of bamboo.

In fact, most of the infrastructure of the barge

is made of bamboo.

There are bamboo struts that connect

To a bamboo platform.

The platform has a cargo container system.

With metal tracks for bamboo based walls to connect.

The metal base of the walls

Has a system of gears

That will let the wall crawl

along the tracks

so the wall can be repositioned

or removed as needed.

But there are other components.

We need to have sails and ropes.

And a small amount of electronics.

We want the sails and ropes to be organic.

Maybe we grow flax or hemp to create the fibers.

We dump some Mississippi dredge on top of the barge

And our short little bamboo walls will hold much of the dirt.

We let the bamboo barge

Float free.

Assume you had million of these barges.

Sitting out on the ocean.

Soaking up the sun.

In something of a random order.

Until the hurricane comes...

And then the freedom float marshes

are martialed ("marshalled"? :) into action.

The sails are flown

And the marshes kite-surf.

Like a super-sized kite-surfer,

The barge skims over the ocean.

The electronics control the ropes,

And the marsh follows the swirl of the hurricane.

With a million marshes being pushed

Along in the swirl...

Each barge is a 5 ton anchor

Impeding the wind.

But wait!

There's more.

Because with a million marshes

Not only can we slow the hurricane,

we can make it turn!

Just as you have seen islands

and land divert hurricanes...

We can divert hurricanes...

With our floating islands.

Assume you have a hurricane

Out in the Atlantic... headed west.

The weather shows the spiral

And we want to push our marshes into the path of the eye.

As our marshes pass through the eye

Their different thermal signature has an effect.

We keep our marshes on the south side of the eye

and the eye is nudged to the north.

Once the marsh passes through the eye,

It unfurls its sails as the wind picks up.

The marsh hits a brutal wind headed south

And the marsh rides the wind south, moving fast.

But then marsh...

follows the swirl... and heads west!

So the marshes race west...

Past the center of the eye...

And then the swirl...

Takes them north... toward the path of the eye!

Call our marshes intrepid.

For they sail right into the southwest corner of the eye.

At this point, the wind from the southeast

is brutal, but the marsh knows...

The marsh knows the calm of the eye is ahead

So the marsh sails into the southwest corner of the eye.

So the marsh stops sailing in the calm

Or maybe it sails just enough to linger...

On the south side of the eye...

Knowing that it is nudging the eye north.

Or I could be wrong...

And the barges would need to be on the north side

in order to nudge the eye north.

But with a million barges

Absorbing the energy of the storm

We can divert hurricanes.

We can make it happen.

All we have to have

is the faith of a mustard seed

and we can move mountains.

Belief is empowering.

Let us believe we can calm the ocean.

Henry Ford once said:

Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.

We can do this.

Help us make it happen.

Amen.

The end is near? ... Life will go on.

Some prophets are prophets of doom.

The uncertain prophecy: Life will go on.

Will there be disasters?

There will be disasters.

But we will overcome them.

The are two potential disasters

That we can't easily mitigate.

We could destroy ourselves

With Global Thermonuclear War.

Or suffer a major asteroid hit

With similar cataclysmic effect.

Many prophets have seen doom

on the horizon...

But 1984 has come and past

As well as 1999

But a new millenia was born

And life goes on.

We need to prepare for disaster.

We need the arks.

Right now the sea is one of the most dangerous places.

The uncertain prophecy: we will pacify parts of the seas.

We will pacify the oceans

And harness the excess energy.

We will direct it for good.

And we will create safe havens.

The down side:

Some havens will be safer than others.

It is amazing money can buy.

But that has always been the way.

Want a piece of paradise?

We will grow a garden paradise.

Let our life begin

At the edge of the sea

With an array of man-made marshes.

We will build marshes

That will sustain lots of life

And enable us

to divert hurricanes.

*God* wants us to grow more things...

Freedom floats out there.

Out in future.

We can make freedom happen.

We can grow our way into freedom.

The future is bright.

All we need to do is act on our knowledge.

It has been said

Seek the truth

and it will make you free.

The truth is

we can be free.

We can grow our way to freedom.

We can have life more abundantly.

In the 1970s, we had an 'energy crisis'.

Life was disrupted.

Markets were disrupted.

But there was really plenty of energy.

Today we burn plenty of crude.

But it fouls the air.

Today we are warned of global warming,

that implies there is too much energy.

But too much energy is not a problem!

It is a blessing.

All we need to do

is wisely re-direct the energy.

And the key to re-directing

lots of energy

is to grow lots of things.

Lots of really good things happen

When we grow things.

Growing things pulls carbon from the air.

Growing things pushes oxygen into the air.

I like oxygen.

Green things soak up the sun.

The energy is stored in the plant fibers.

We can do useful things

with the things we grow.

We can eat what we harvest.

We can burn our harvest as fuel.

We can use our harvest

as building material.

We need to grow more things

To build freedom floats.

The freedom floats

will be used for freedom farms.

The freedom floats

will be used for freedom marshes

and freedom forests.

The goal of the floats

is to soak up the power of the sun

and the carbon in the air

and grow more things

to build more floats

to grow a more abundant life opportunity.

If we seek the truth

the truth will make us free.

We can direct our excess energy.

We can harvest our bounty from the sun.

*God* wants us to grow more things..

to scrub the air

to make our planet cooler

to calm the ocean with freedom marshes

to create new opportunities for life

to foster fisheries and forests

to grow food for our families

to build floating homelands

--> safe havens for your tired, your poor, yearning to breathe free

Freedom floats out there.

Out in future.

We can make it happen.

If we only believe.

All it takes

is the faith of a mustard seed

and we can move mountains.

Seek ye the truth

and the truth will make you free.

The Winter of My Content...

You probably have heard the phrase, "the winter of my discontent".

But this is the winter of my content.

I am so blessed.

I live in a fundamentally free world.

It is not perfect.

But it is good.

My life is in a good place.

I have a comfortable home.

We make good food.

We clean up afterwards.

Our homes...

and our lives...

are well-ordered.

Each of us

is empowered to define

our future selves.

Life is good.

Life is peaceful

and fulfilling.

What I wish for me...

I wish for you.

I wish everyone had the cush life I have.

I need to act on my wish.

I need to move from feeling content...

to delivering content... via the net.

The content I wish deliver

would be a message

of hope.

We could make it happen.

We could make life better.

We can be greener.

We can be freer.

More peaceful.

More prosperous.

With the faith

of but a mustard seed

we can move mountains.

Freedom Floats.

An Uncertain Way

There are some people

who are admired

for they say things a certain way.

We wish to be admired

for saying things

in an Uncertain way.

We strive for consensus

in our search for truths.

We disavow

consensus via coercion.

That is oppression.

We strive for consensus

via persuasion.

We acknowledge

that a free people

will often disagree,

sometimes passionately.

We acknowledge your *God*-given right

to worship *God* or not

as you see fit.

*God* wants us to be free.

*God* wants us to govern with grace.

Let freedom ring.

Amen.

The Covenant of the Arks

There is the arc of a story.

And then the ark that holds things.

Is the key to a beautiful future..

Held in some arks?

Consider the arc

Of a very long story...

----------

Before we look to the future,

Let us look to the past.

Consider some of our history

according to the Bible.

There were some arks

in our story.

Noah the prophet predicted a great flood

So he built an ark to save all the animals.

Another ark was built

to hold God's promise to his people

His promise was held

in the Ark of the Covenant.

-----------

And we move to today

And flooding is again an issue.

Many scientists predict extensive flooding

As an eventual impact of global warming.

The Prophecy:

God wants us to build arks

We need a million Noahs.

The key to a bright future

Is held in the Covenant of the Arks.

The Covenant is an agreement;

it is a contract.

If we build the arks

our world will be greener and safer.

If we build the arks

we'll soak up the sun with marshes, farms and forests.

If we build the arks

we'll soak up carbon dioxide and clean our air and water.

If we build the arks

we'll mitigate hurricanes.

If we build the arks

we'll feed everyone.

If we build the arks

we'll free everyone.

If we build the arks

we'll grow a lush garden paradise on earth.

If we build the arks

we'll prevent the floods

and free the world

from a lot of pain and suffering.

That is God's promise

It is the Covenant of the Arks.

If we believe

We can make this happen.

If we believe

We can move mountains.

If we seek the truth

It will make us free.

If we have but the faith of a mustard seed

We can move mountains.

Believe with us

Help us save the world.

Help us fulfill our part...

In the Covenant of the Arks.

We need a million Noahs...

Amen.

In Search of Axioms

In math, an axiom is something you assume to be true, even though you can't prove it. Axioms are really useful in math because you can use them build logical proofs that have valuable applications in real life.

I think it would be a beautiful thing if we could all agree on three philosophical axioms:

• God, whether real or imagined, is a powerful force in our lives.
• We all have an imperfect understanding of God.
• God is good.

I think everyone has grappled with the question of God's true nature or the actual existence of God. No matter what we have settled on believing or dis-believing, all of us have an imperfect understanding of God.

So there is uncertainty. And uncertainty has caused many a believer to do harm in order to protect a belief.

Evil has been committed in God's name. Catholics have killed Protestants. Protestants have killed Catholics. Jews have died. Muslims have died. "Witches" have died.

People have been killed in God's name. And that is sad. That is why we need to affirm our beliefs in the three axioms above. Because the logical conclusion is a path to peace.

Some extensions of the axiom:

• God doesn't want us to kill. God is good.
• God wants us to be free. God is good.
• God wants us to be free to worship him as we see fit. God is good.

Atheists believe that man created God, instead of God creating man. Many atheists hate hearing the word God. Many atheists fear the power and damage that can done in God's name.

To the atheists, we say: if you are right, and God is created by man, then Man can redefine God. Many atheists would contend that evil-doers have redefined God for evil purposes.

To the atheists and to all searchers, we say:

• God, whether real or imagined, will be with us always.
• *God* is good.

So, we each can choose to define *God* as we see fit:

• A Muslim can see *God* as Allah
• A Christian can see *God* as the Trinity
• A Jew can see *God* as Jehovah
• An atheist can see *God* as a creation of man that should be defined as good

So we can then revise our axioms to read simpler:

• *God* is a powerful force in our lives.
• We all have an imperfect understanding of *God*.
• *God* is good.
• *God* wants us to be free.
• *God* doesn't want us to kill each other.
• *God* wants us to live and let live.
• Belief is empowering.

These are our shared values.

These shared values are the path to peace and prosperity.

So assume with us, the truth of the axioms.

And stay tuned for for the prophecy.

With shared values we can trust one another.

With shared values we can peacefully coexist.

*God* has revealed an uncertain prophecy. Uncertain, because we don't always do good. And all it takes for evil to flourish, is for good men to do nothing.

*God* wants us to live in a green earth that is lush garden paradise, where every child is fed and cared for and nurtured.

But if we chose to do good, to follow the prophecy's path to peace, we could create a new free world. A world free of hunger and hurricanes. A world full of life and energy... well directed energy. Our chi, well channeled, could do incredible things.

Help me channel our chi. Read on... to read the Covenant of the Arks.

Watered Down Christianity

I bet most of us have been exposed

at one time or another

to an obnoxious Christian.

A lover of the law

A spouter of the verse

Knowledgeable enough to judge

Motivated enough

To rally the troops

And enforce the law

With the power of the state.

It tears my soul

to see Christianity besmirched.

It tears my soul

to see Christians

craving control.

Dictating righteousness.

Criminalizing play.

Take alcohol.

Go to a wedding reception.

Without any wine.

It will be definitely sedated.

At least compared

to a reception with wine.

So that is part of the miracle

Of the water to wine story.

God wants us to live with joy.

People should be able to play

Without suffering our judgment

Let us govern with grace.

Amen.