It’s time we talked about Shari’a Law, Family Law, and the Disappearance of the Feminine noun and pronoun in public policy. I am not in a “holiday” mood, nor is this my holiday….I stood up against abuse, told the truth in court, hoped to separate from violence, and I have no family as we speak.  I haven’t committed adultery either, and so far we don’t “stone” in the USA– but this venue does allow for “judicial discretion” which turns a blind eye (or reframes issues) when some husbands and fathers “take the law into their own hands” and sacrifice all for their disgraced honor.  It does excommunicate in a particularly vicious way when a Mother asserts herself as mother — but not to participate in an honor killing of her daughter, rather a protective action towards her children.  We know.

It’s probably time we also stopped playing with things that others consider god(s), while the real one is closer to the state, and money/sales/the economy, etc.

But I am going to talk about it in this blog, quickly assembled on the last day of 2010.  I’m learning as I go, too..  I learned that I’ve had it with this season, taken as a whole.  The workforce is organized around it — always good to keep the religions organized and in one place where they won’t get out of control, or will dilute their fiercer expressions by rubbing shoulders with each other in malls, or around family meals.  Or share the Season of Sharing in a Soup Kitchen, great if you eat there, and rewarding if you work there.

Of course, for those who have families….

But only after some politically correct greetings.  NB:  Is there an atheist greeting?  Like, ‘happy holidays.”   The word “holiday” is a version of “holiday” as surely as is Hallow’een.    So what’s appropriate?

How many greetings should we learn to get through the season without offending someone?

How many did you use?  How many New Year’s Traditions

are you going to observe today?

The TV says they have a specialty “Tipsy Tow” for people whose traditions

includes drinking and driving.  (probably appropriate right after the

Season of Saturnalia, etc.  )

“Asalaam Alakam“

(from “Muslim Voices”

By ROSEMARY PENNINGTON
Posted November 16, 2009)

That’s beautiful….a beautiful photo.

The greeting at least means something, and isn’t seasonal…

Now the other one:

“Peace on Earth Good Will Toward Men:”

The inane phrase (no subject, no verb, no “from whom” and thanks to English’s lack of case endings, a mangled translation out of context, and of course it’s commonly known that the birth celebrated at this time didn’t happen in this season) is repeated ad infitum, as sung for centuries too, although it’s meaning is mangled, not exactly a trade secret of the season.  But an easy springboard for a blog.  I give one woman’s, one PhD man’s, another man’s and a news commentary about how it ain’t exactly peaceful at this season!

From what I understand about Jesus (from the Bible), his birth was quickly followed with an attempt to eradicate him, his first sermon, likewise, and most of his short ministry was not well received, and for a period his family tried to have him “institutionalized” (saying, “he is beside himself,” i.e., a fanatic…).  Finally, his disciples deserted him, the religious leaders betrayed him (and broke some laws turning him over to the political authorities) and finally someone else did the dirty deed, despite a certain person’s wife warning against it.  He never had kids or owned a home, and assuming he perfectly kept the law, never had sex outside marriage, in fact, at all.

“Jeesus! — that’s a hard cross to bear.  Makes you wonder why so much hoopla at his season of supposed birth.”

Therefore it only

ONE WOMAN’s:

• “This Blog is about Life Lived.”

I include this sentiment and jpg because it’s a white-haired woman who maintains women’s blogs…  Why not?

And that’s a beautiful image of a Russian Icon, a single angel, with gold background.  Unlike me, the blog has fewer words and says more ….  Mine is about staying alive female in “the leader of the free world’s” country.

Even though she blogs about women, she seems comfortable with the phrase “good will toward men.”  Maybe after enough decades of life, it’s not worth fighting over grammar or individual discrepancies….

ONE MAN’s.

This one is from a guy, in fact a Ph.D. professor from — columbia seminary, I guess.  It’s also about 7 years (and nearly a month) old, and post 9/11 also:

Peace on Earth?
and
Good Will Between Men?

What Christmas is All About

Well, it’s that time of year, once again, when we will hear people saying, “Peace on earth and good will between men.”

This constant refrain is uttered by all sorts of people from all quarters at this time of year.

However, what’s interesting is that many people don’t know that this mangled quotation is actually a passage from the Bible. And even many Christians, sad to say, don’t know what it really means.

People often chant this statement, “Peace on earth good will toward men” as a way of saying that we should have good will between our fellow humans during Christmas season. We should, so they imply, have “peace on earth” during this time.

Someone will robustly announce, “Peace on earth good will toward men,” and all those around will smile and hug one another or pat each other on the backs showing their “good will” toward one another, and their desire for “peace.”

However, this sort of fabricated, momentary “peace” is not what the Bible was talking about when it recorded the words of the angles who said,

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”—(Luke 2:14).

What was actually meant by the angels is obvious if one will take the time to see the context.

Their message was not “peace between men of good will” or even “peace and good will between men.”

Rather it was peace on earth and good will toward men from God for those who accept the babe in the manger.

This is a powerful statement about who Jesus Christ is. The passage shows that for all who accept this babe in the manger as God’s unique Son and as their Savior, there shall be peace on earth for them with God and there shall be good will toward them from God.

Note that it says, “Good will toward men” not “good will between men.” Actually, it is a peace between man and God, for it is through this babe in the manger that humans can have peace with God.

OR, if you would like the less esoteric evangelical version also from 2003, whoever THIS man is:

• From “Tomorrow’s World:  Magazine and Television Program

(I gave home link so you can get a flavor of the topics; the quote is from the link “Peace on Earth?”)

Volume 5, Issue 6

Peace on Earth?

By Douglas S. Winnail

Is world peace really possible? The quest for peace seems endless. It is in the news almost every day, yet our world grows more brutal by the minute! Share

Is world peace really possible? The quest for peace seems endless. It is in the news almost every day, yet our world grows more brutal by the minute! The two world wars fought in the 20th century did not bring peace, nor did the end of the Cold War; they brought only a more divided and troubled planet. Every year at Christmas, religious leaders speak of the Christ-child and peace on earth, yet violence and war continue to escalate! Religious people light candles and say prayers for peace. Idealists sign petitions, stage marches and organize conferences to seek peace. Pragmatists build bigger weapons to enforce peace. Yet all these efforts have failed to bring peace. Is peace a mirage, an unrealistic, unattainable goal, an impossible dream?Why is the peace process so frustrating and difficult? Many in our modern world do not realize that Bible prophecies are coming alive in today’s news headlines. The Bible not only predicts the major challenges of our age, it also reveals whyhuman efforts have not produced peace. Scripture also explainsthe way to peace, and how peace on earth will ultimately come. Few today understand what the Bible says about peace. What Jesus Really Said Preachers often say that the message of Christmas is: “Peace on earth and good will toward men.” But this is a mistranslation of what the angel actually said. Properly translated, the angel’s announcement at Christ’s birth was: “Glory to God, and on earth peace, toward men of good will” (Luke 2:14). It could also be worded: “Glory to God, and on earth, peace among men who please God” or “among men with whom God is pleased“—which gives a very different meaning to the statement (see The New Testament in 26 Translations)

Well, now, that opens a WHOLE can of worms about which men please God and which don’t, obviously.  I’m sure that a subscription to this magazine would inform us properly.  That puts it in a whole different ballpark….  No Ph.D. stuff HERE….  and so far, no women either, even though ain’t it ironic, a birth took place at this season, supposedly….

Whoever he is, his website has at least some social networking going on, to spread the good news that SOME men are pleasing to God.

Then there’s the political springboard on the greeting.  My google search on the phrase put this one near the top, so we get a Chicago Conservative “Examiner” blogger.. (reporter?)….  He also happens to be a white male, guess they’re good with the SEOs…

Peace on Earth Good Will Toward Men:

December 23, 2010

Terror alerts are ramping up this week. It started on Fox, but has spilled over to CNN, MSNBC, and network news. There are something like 1.5 billion people of the Muslim faith. There are quite a few Americans who would like to believe that every one of them is a terrorist. You’ve seen me say, on this page, that there are about 1,500 terrorists on the planet, and when I say that, I am referring specifically to members of Al-Qaeda. We have more terrorists than that in Chicago; they are called gang members, and they are urban terrorists.

You may think that Osama Bin Laden is alive, you may think he is dead, but that is not really germane to what I am going to propose.http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/869.html

In the 1980’s, when the Soviet Union was waging an unwinnable conflict in Afghanistan, what we referred to here as their Vietnam, the CIA funded insurgents in that war, led by Osama Bin Laden. What if the most important thing that Bin Laden learned had nothing to do with guerilla, or terrorist, tactics . . . .

(WHATEVER . . . . )

OBVIOUSLY, I am forgetting “Shalom” — the oldest of the three Bible- based religions.

SHALOM.   in fact, Shalom Bayit.

Shalom Bayit
Ending Domestic Violence in Jewish Homes

P.O. Box 10102, Oakland CA 94610
A project of the Tides Center

Helpline: (866) 742-5667 (SHALOM-7) toll free within the Bay Area
(510) 451-7233 (SAFE) outside the Bay Area
(650) 574-7233 (SAFE) Peninsula office

Business office: (510) 451-8874

I doubt these address the impact of the family law system on the civil restraining order, or criminal restraining order system.  Maybe they do, but let’s not forget, OK?

Jesus’s announcement began at his ministry, see Luke 4:18, not LUke 2.

When He realized the time of crucifixion etc. was nearing, he said, MY peace I leave with you, to his disciples.  Other than that, it appears He took it with him….(John14)…

As I was walking out this morning, in the fresh air, I thought again about all the polemics about how “the basic economic unit of the country is the family.”

Well, no, it isn’t.  The family has now become mainstreamed big business.  I personally found the basic economic unit of the country (at least as to the court systems and social service networks — also most transportation AND many other forms of government leadership) are more united at the COUNTY level.

The word “County” stems from the previous word related to nobility, “Count.”  Having dealt for eyars with this systems (because once I became, as a mother, a NON-family member), it became crystal clear that I was not supposed to engage in life as an individual in regards the best interests of my children without the wider approval (rather than, say complying with the basic community standards, and laws, and functioning independently as  a worker, compliant co-parent, and person where I lived, and our daughters did) — of almost anyone who came by with a theory, an allegation, or a claim.  SOme people could accept I wasn’t married, but enough couldn’t that it became another prolonged version of a religious shunning procedure, and struggle for dominance.

While many are grazing peacefully these days, those who stepped on the landmine of the contested custody with an ex-batterer, or over-entitled and feeling underappreciated (male) nearby know there is no such peace to those who haven’t joined up with the right group in the pursuit of LIFE, LIBERTY, and (thereafter) HAPPINESS.

Sorry to put it that blunt, but I wanted to get these greetings in, and in the next blog (today) post a CFR summary next to a contrary opinion, about Shari’a law, and how it hits the female (and young) among us.  All.

Next month, January, is named after a two-headed God, which seems appropriate…