This August 6th and 9th mark the 62nd anniversary of America's atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki . At 2:45 AM, on August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber flew north from Tinian Island toward Japan . Three and a half hours later, the Enola Gay dropped "Little Boy" an 8,900-pound atomic weapon upon innocent civilians in Hiroshima and leveled almost 90% of the city. On August 9, "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki, and one third of that city was destroyed.
"Little Boy" was fueled by highly enriched uranium-235 and generated a destructive force of about 15 kilotons—the equivalent of 15,000 tons of TNT. "Fat Man" consisted of a plutonium core surrounded by high explosives wired to explode simultaneously and yielded a 22 kiloton explosion.
As a child, I could not comprehend how my country could cold bloodedly target and murder an estimated 110,000 Japanese citizens and severely injure another 130,000 innocent civilians in order to 'save' American lives.
As an adult, I am aggrieved that my government has still not repented for their terrorism nor expressed public sorrow for the lives that were vaporized and devastated in 1945, when by 1950, another 230,000 innocent Japanese had died from injuries or radiation poisoning.
If THAT DAY, we call 9/11 taught us anything, it should be that America's nuclear arsenal cannot keep us safe or secure from the actions of a few violent mad men who target and murder innocent ones.
2,000 years ago, a social justice, radical revolutionary Palestinian devout Jewish road warrior and prophet rose up and challenged the job security of the corrupt Temple by teaching the people that they did not have to pay the high priests for ritual baths or to sacrifice livestock to be OK with God; for God already loved them just as they were; sinners, outcasts, diseased, cripples, poor and oppressed common folk, widows, orphans and prisoners enduring under military occupation.
2,000 years ago the Roman Occupying Forces routinely crucified any agitator for disturbing the status quo of the elite. A particular social justice, radical revolutionary Palestinian devout Jewish road warrior and prophet named Jesus, issued a political statement and is quoted in Mark's Gospel, "If any want to be my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."-Mark 8:34.
2,000 years ago, "the cross…was neither a religious icon nor metaphor for personal anguish or humility. It had only one meaning: that terrible form of capitol punishment reserved by imperial Rome for political dissenters. The cross was a common sight in the revolutionary Palestine of Mark's time; in this recruiting call, the disciple is invited to reckon with the consequences facing those who dare to challenge the hegemony of imperial Rome."-Ched Myers, Sojourners Magazine , August 2007, page 28.
In America, we have a lot of religion about Jesus, but not much of the religion Jesus actually taught, which is summed up in The Beatitudes; the Sermon on the Mount.
About 2,000 years ago, when Christ was about 33, he hiked up a hill and sat down under an olive tree and began to teach the people;
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven."
In other words: it is those who know their own spiritual poverty, their own limitations and sins honestly and trust God loves them just as they are, who already live in the Kingdom of God.
How comforted we will all be, when we see, we haven't got a clue, as to the depth and breadth of pure love and mercy of The Divine Mystery of The Universe.
God's name in ancient Aramaic is Abba which means Daddy as much as Mommy and He/She: The Lord has said, "My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts." -Isaiah 55:8
Christ proclaimed more: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."
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