NC is still living in the 16 Century.

Check out this article and watch the video:

http://www.examiner.com/x-10853-Portland-Humanist-Examiner~y2009m10d23-NC-Baptist-church-plans-Halloween-book-burning-Video

Wow.  Sometimes people still amaze me even though I know in my heart that they shouldn't.  I have met a lot of people with all sorts of beliefs and feelings.  We are all made differently and, as the saying goes, it takes all kinds, but this really amazes me.  I thought that we put these things behind us.  Even the Christians should have...

1 Corinthians 13:11 - When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

Are people still this lost and confused in the world?  The area where I live, Northern Nevada, is full of a lot of misinformed people who think that hoarding their dollars is more important than the health and education of their community, people who do drugs or drink are accepted as either friends that are just doing their thing or worthless trash that needs to be dealt with instead of realizing that the alcoholic and drug addict are a product, a reflection on their community, and that hate and violence is okay as long as it is against whomever they choose, but I have not met many people with the gall to stand up and say that we need to burn books.

I can see them now, a bunch of older, confused people dancing around their book pyre, speaking in tongues and hissing as if it were nothing more than an old time melodrama.

I believe in freedom of religion and I think it is one of the many brilliant sparks in the Constitution.  I believe that these people, whom I wish I could just write off as crazy, but that is not productive, should be able to burn these books if they want.  The right of protest is important, but I cannot understand how people are so lost and misguided.  Do these people actually think that destroying books is going to change anything?  It sounds to me like it is revenge for logic and reason showing how obsolete and ridiculous these people are.  Through education we find that these silly acts of childishness are just that, silly and childish.

There is another thing going on here as well:  The town has said that setting this bonfire is a safety hazard and that the fire department will stop it.  If the church continues with the burning, the FD will put it out and charge the ringleader for the services.

I do give them a certain amount of credit for standing up for what they believe in, something that a lot of us have lost due to apathy.  If we as reasonable people stood up in 2000 and protested the election, maybe the Bush/Cheney regime would not have ever happened.  It shows that us reasonable people believe in the rule of law and the constitution.  By the way, whatever you think about 2000, whether you thought it was fair or stolen, you have to admit that it was very fishy and not everything was on the level there...but I shall move on.

According to the website of the church, they are destroying perversions of the will of God, including many books written by other christian writers as well as various versions of the bible that they see unfit.

First of all, don't you think it rather presumptuous to assume the word of God??  I don't even believe in that great illusionist, but I cannot assume to know what he wants.  Even if they go by the word of the bible, they should read the damn thing before making assumptions and learn a little about their actual history.

The very early Christians were considered a cult in ancient Rome, which in turn made them illegal.  In order to fight this, they decided to add what we call the old testament to the new testament and therefore claim that this is an actual religion that goes back a long time.  this gave them a certain amount of acceptance, especially after Constantine came along.

In the new testament, Jesus, the man that they claim to follow, the man they claim is their lord and savior preached a few, very simple things to live by.  He also made this statement that he would tear down the church and rebuild it in three days.  This was a great metaphor meaning to turn away the old practices and look forward to the new ones, those simple ideas that are quite often summed up as the Beatitudes.
Here:

Matthew 5:2-10 (New International Version)
²and he began to teach them saying:
 ³"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 ⁴Blessed are those who mourn,
      for they will be comforted.
 ⁵Blessed are the meek,
      for they will inherit the earth.
 ⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
      for they will be filled.
 ⁷Blessed are the merciful,
      for they will be shown mercy.
 ⁸Blessed are the pure in heart,
      for they will see God.
 ⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,
      for they will be called sons of God.
 ¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Christians today seem to forget that they have a religious obligation to the poor and to make peace, but many choose to follow the old eye for an eye saying or practice hate on others unlike themselves.

On eye for an eye for a second, Jesus specifically said in the book, and mind you this is not me assuming, this is what is says, that eye for an eye is the old way and we do not practice that anymore.  Now we practice love and forgiveness, turn the other cheek.  Oh how quickly we tend to forget when we are becoming desperate.

I did not mean to turn this into a christian-bashing party or anything.  I actually have many christian friends and agree with a few of them, mainly the ones that follow what the book says and don't cram their religion down your throat.  I have one friend that never, ever preaches to you.  He is willing to speak and educate you on the bible if you would like, but truly understands that it is not his place to convince you of anything.  I respect that a lot.  It is refreshing in this world to see someone that has great experiences with religion and has used it as a tool to assist him in becoming a better person, not a crutch to fling hate and fear at one another.

This NC Church enjoys this book burning.  To them, it is a practice of faith in some twisted way, but to evolved beings, they are nothing but silly, uneducated people.  To quote Mickey Knox, "From where you're standing, you're a man, but from where I'm standing, you're an ape."

Let them burn their silly books.  Let the people like Limbaugh, Savage, Robertson, and the other right-wing wackos say what they want.  It will only be through education that we will evolve as society toward peace and love, not the hate that these people want to spew.  It takes us not regulating or looking away, but watching and seeing the ridiculousness of it all to show how weird these people really are.  You cannot argue against that which you do not understand or know about.

The Tao teaches us that when you create more laws, you create more criminals.  It is with patience and teaching that we will move forward.

I guess this post went a few different directions there, but oh well.  Say what you will because I will not shut you up.  I will not burn your books.  I may call you a moron and laugh at your antiquated superstitions and rituals, but feel free to do them as long as you need to.

That is one of the great things about the internet:  People can't burn it.  Also, really check out that website of the church.  It is almost as funny as the all-powerful TIMECUBE!!