blog-maryBlog - Joyful Curmudgeon - Blog
A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

 

"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful.  At the same time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.

 


More on Culture and Tradition - 17 Mar 2006
By Mary T. Hoffman

Lately, it seems as though every cruel abomination and perversion is being shamelessly promoted and excused by tacking on the words “culture” and “tradition.” Why is so much effort expended to perpetuate ways of life that should go the way of cannibalism and slavery?

Somehow, I expected better from Public TV, since they do offer some worthwhile, enjoyable programs.

But an example of a disgustingly poor choice is a recent lengthy segment on “The Newshour with Jim Lehrer” that was laden with nostalgia and sentimentality in praise of the “culture” and “tradition” (those words again!) of the “cowboy,” an inherently inhumane way of life. People in these occupations should be encouraged to move on to better things. Just because our parents or grandparents made a living in certain inherently cruel occupations doesn’t mean that we should perpetuate and glorify those lifestyles. As I’ve mentioned before in another Blog, although we must love and respect our parents, we must also face the truth and correct the mistakes of the past.

One of the older cowboys in this presentation said that he finds it difficult to talk about love and that poetry helps him to express it. Hopefully, he and others like him will begin to extend true love and unselfish care to include the Creator’s sentient creatures to whom He has also given the right to lives of their own.

This program was shown during the Public TV fund drive, and since we have been members for many years, I was ready to make an additional donation. Well, this segment in praise of just another lifestyle based on the exploitation of God’s innocent creatures stopped me in my tracks.

Proverbs 26:11 and 2 Peter 2:22 admonish us not to return to our vomit or continue to wallow in the mire. And in John 14:12, Jesus Himself tells us that we are to do “greater works”:

12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.

New American Standard Bible

So, it’s plain to see that we should be moving on to “greater works” and adopting traditions more in keeping with the standards expressed by the Savior: more ethical, kinder, gentler pursuits than those of our forefathers. Positive change is what true Christianity is all about. Think about it.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

For more on “culture” and “tradition”
see: http://www.all-creatures.org/heart/blog-20060208.html 

For facts about the “herding culture”
see: http://all-creatures.org/anex/cattle.html 
and http://www.all-creatures.org/heart/blog-20060217.html
and http://www.all-creatures.org/heart/blog-20060302.html   

Go on to: Animal Ingredients A to Z - 18 Mar 2006
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