Justice, forgiveness

The line in Deliverance is disturbing, "You got a pretty mouth" so when the hillbilly band member says it to the marathon runners he also says the whole setup is an act because knowing that line from Deliverance is sophisticated for a hillbilly. Doesn't match. So confirmed right off it's an act. The video is pure progression. Just like Boléro. Dueling banjos, they do get going.

What a perverse thing to say. That bugs me to no end.

I knew a man named James, for the life of me I cannot recall his last name right now, I'll think of it when not trying. He left a lasting impression on me, If you met him you would think what a pleasant fellow. Well mannered, polite.  He looks like a surfer. Well built, six feet tall, blond hair, chiseled features, not smart. The more I knew James the deeper I realized the guy is f'ed up in every way imaginable. He is the person who showed me his x-rays directly from the hospital, I drove him, so no switcheroo, no tricks. his entire body is pins and clamps and plates inside.  Hundreds of them. His movements are restricted. Turns out, he tossed himself out of a fourth-level window years previous to us meeting. He will never heal.

I got to know him well then he disappeared.

He's a flake. I would think sometimes, man, what a bummer, everything going for him really, his father is retired colonel, good family, supportive sister, great starting health, great body in shape but attached to a self-destructive quite stupid and emotionally arrested very confused and impossible to discuss things with head. He is messed up in the head, seriously, and ultimately not nice, but James is no criminal.

You got a purty mouth. And that's all.

I would make a terrible witness. Don't even bother, I'm worthless. In the photo of him entering the church all I saw was bad haircut and really bad shoes. Everyone else said he is thin and that never occurred to me. I didn't see race, sex, height, weight, nothing at all useful, just bad haircut and shoes. And those things can be easily fixed.

Then in comments people who are presumably good and presumably smart say repeatedly and say it all over different sites, things along the line, "he's going to make someone a nice little boyfriend" or some other reference to additional justice being served to him by other criminals behind bars, as that is society's norm, part of the punishment is being raped behind bars. The assumption of that is exceedingly creepy as "you got a purty mouth." Honestly, if the state does not execute him for his crimes then they must protect him because the assumption he'll be raped behind bars is unacceptable.

I am a comparatively poor Christian too. By now you've seen the purportedly only entry to Roof's Facebook page, a message left there by Marcus Stanley before the page was taken down. It is a letter of classic Christian forgiveness. The letter is startling because it is the opposite of everything else. Just like reading the bible straight through, at Matthew coming from Malachi, suddenly a beam of light strikes from above illuminating the reading, the table shakes, the voice is completely different, authoritative, fresh and direct from a different planet.

And the cynic recognizes Marcus Stanley is well known Christian musician, interjecting like this, and not know what to make of that. I'm not that good a Christian.

I recall reading about Jesus talking to a condemned criminal. He was walking around looking for things to get up to, went into a Roman prison and spoke to a prisoner condemned to die. I recall reading Jesus saying directly to the man that although he crossed the laws of society and the laws of man condemned him to death all that in no way condemns him in the eyes of God. Seek forgiveness and God will forgive you and take you back. The episode made extraordinary reading and impressed me deeply.



Urantia search [condemned]

Before beginning his ministry around Galilee Jesus was hired by a wealthy Indian merchant to tutor his young son while traveling to Rome on business. The young man had the personal attention and teaching of Jesus for several weeks. During that period in Rome and returning Jesus took several side excursions with Ganid, his student. While in Corinth doing personal work the pair met many people, for example, to the miller Jesus taught about grinding the grains of truth in the mill of experience to make hard things of divine life accessible to even weak and feeble people. He continued with additional teaching. "In your living and loving ministry serve spiritual food in attractive form and suited to the capacity of receptivity of each of your inquirers.”

He speaks to a Roman centurion about loyalty to Emperors and God not conflicting unless Emperors presume to arrogate to themselves homage due to Deity. Loyalty to God, if you should know him, would make you all the more loyal and faithful in devotion to a worthy emperor.

To the Mithraic cult leader he said to do well seeking for a religion of eternal salvation. He tells the leader he errs in seeking among man-made mysteries and human philosophies. At length, Jesus concludes with the Mithraic leader to not forget that you who know God are the sons of God if you truly yearn to be like him.

To the Epicurean teacher Jesus said, it's all very well to choose the best and esteem the good, but make sure not to fail to discern greater things of mortal life embodied in the spirit realms derived from the realization of the presence of God in the human heart.

To the builder Jesus said, as you build, grow a spiritual character like the divine spirit within your own soul.

Jesus said to the Roman judge, "remember you will also some day come to judgment before the bar of the Rulers of a universe. Judge justly, even mercifully, even as you shall some day thus crave merciful consideration at the hands of the Supreme Arbiter."

To the mistress of the Greek inn, Jesus said, “Elevate the drudgery of your daily toil to the high levels of a fine art through the increasing realization that you minister to God in the persons whom he indwells by his spirit which has descended to live within the hearts of men, thereby seeking to transform their minds and lead their souls to the knowledge of the Paradise Father of all these bestowed gifts of the divine spirit.”

Among many other things that Jesus said to the Chinese merchant while acknowledging his ancestor worship, Jesus reminded him of his own indwelling divine fragment, "Remember that the Father’s spirit ever lives within you and always points your soul-direction heavenward. If you follow the unconscious leadings of this immortal spirit, you are certain to continue on in the uplifted way of finding God."

To the traveler from Britain, among other admonishments, "Did you ever sincerely endeavor to talk with the spirit of your own soul? Such a thing is indeed difficult and seldom yields consciousness of success; but every honest attempt of the material mind to communicate with its indwelling spirit meets with certain success, notwithstanding that the majority of all such magnificent human experiences must long remain as superconscious registrations in the souls of such God-knowing mortals.”

To the runaway lad Jesus said, "Remember, there are two things you cannot run away from — God and yourself. Wherever you may go, you take with you yourself and the spirit of the heavenly Father which lives within your heart. Knock it off, settle down, stop deceiving yourself, lay firm hold on the assurances of sonship with God and the certainty of eternal life."

Here it is.

To the condemned criminal Jesus said at the last hour: “My brother, you have fallen on evil times. You lost your way; you became entangled in the meshes of crime. From talking to you, I well know you did not plan to do the thing which is about to cost you your temporal life. But you did do this evil, and your fellows have adjudged you guilty; they have determined that you shall die. You or I may not deny the state this right of self-defense in the manner of its own choosing. There seems to be no way of humanly escaping the penalty of your wrongdoing. Your fellows must judge you by what you did, but there is a Judge to whom you may appeal for forgiveness, and who will judge you by your real motives and better intentions. You need not fear to meet the judgment of God if your repentance is genuine and your faith sincere. The fact that your error carries with it the death penalty imposed by man does not prejudice the chance of your soul to obtain justice and enjoy mercy before the heavenly courts.”

This is Christianity.