Comments on: Good Shepherd, Bad Shepherd*

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:36:39 +0000

Mercurious, my thoughts here are strictly from the point of view that most people operate from a base of greed, hatred, and – most importantly – delusion. That goes for the Palins and Cheneys and Hitlers, too, as well as their followers. But these leaders know they are manipulating the masses (or they are in denial of it, perhaps).

It does surprise me that so many of these people who claim to be followers of Christ are so downright mean and hateful. It may be a technicality, and maybe I’m stretching the association, but isn’t there a commandment about taking God’s name in vain?

And right you are about fear. I contend that fear is a powerful motivator that is present in most of us most of the time.

Talk about ye of little faith.

By: Mercurious

Mercurious — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:42:13 +0000

Interesting couple of posts, Paul, discussing how “truth” is perceived so differently by different people.

I’d like to believe you’re right, that a “shepherd” is rather easy to identify, when you look closely. Yet we both know many, many people, otherwise reasonable, who believe in the message of characters like Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney. At the end of the day, it seems to me that these people, and their followers, hold an inherent belief that the universe is a hostile place to humankind, whereas Ghandi, Jesus, etc. generally encourage us to believe in benevolence. Even Hitler was widely perceived as a savior to the Germans, which says something to me about the strength of fear in the world.