Thoughts are transient things, but so are a lot of things

Better make a note of an interesting thought before it gets away.

Just prior to this post, I was reading about Joel Osteen and Lakewood Church.  It is said to be the biggest church in the United States now, or something similar to that.  There's criticism that I've seen a number of times about his ministry.  Osteen replies something to the effect that he wants to be positive.

That reminded me of something.  When I was a kid, my parents took me to Sunday services which included an old time fire and brimstone type sermon.  This turned me off to religion for decades.  Now that I am a bit older, I realize that a youngster is not prepared to deal with such a blistering torrent of truth about human nature.  A kid just doesn't have the experience of the world yet to know that this is really where the human experience is like.  People are not nice sometimes, you know.  Or perhaps, I don't need to tell you.

So, I can relate to those who criticize Osteen.  I can also relate to Osteen.  I can understand why he doesn't go fire and brimstone.  People can't handle it.  They want to believe that everything is goodness and light.  If you lay that fire and brimstone on them, they will get turned off and they will leave.

You can also relate that to the recent election.  Romney didn't go fire and brimstone on Obama.  But Obama did that to Romney.  I figure that Romney felt the way that I think Osteen does----that people really can't handle the truth about this President.  So Romney went bean bag.  He went soft on Obama, while Obama creamed him.  The people wanted to believe that Romney was bad and that Obama is good.  Now, if Romney did go negative on Obama like he should have, it may have backfired.  That's the risk one takes when one tries to tell the truth.  If you tell the truth, it may not be accepted.

What we may have here is a bias against the Republicans and conservatism in general.  Hence, Rush Limbaugh can say "we lost the country".  But the truth cannot be lost.  It can only not be seen.  Truth exists.  You should never withhold truth.  If somebody will not accept what you say, that is a problem with themselves.  It is like my youth.  I had to learn about the truth through experience.  If he laid out the truth and events showed the way he said was the truth, the people would have turned to him for leadership.  An example?  Churchill during World War II.  Churchill warned about Hitler only to be shouted down.  As events showed later, Churchill was right.

The moral:  A leader doesn't lie to his people.

He that has an ear, let him hear.

Do you think Obama is telling us the truth?  If so, why is there a bit of disquiet in the land?