It’s About Trust, Not Free Speech
For the Xenia, Ohio School Board, It Should be a Matter of Trust, Not Free Speech
RE: Two educators placed on administrative leave pending investigation.
Public servants like doctors, nurses, police officers, teachers, and judges, only qualify as such if they can be trusted. What does that mean? It means they can be trusted to apply their skills to the best of their abilities, and equally. For a judge, it’s equal application of the law. Obviously, anyone who cannot be trusted with evidence is not, and should not be, a policeman. When we go to see a healthcare professional for medical treatment, we certainly hope they don’t think we are suffering because of “karma.” And lastly, teachers should respect the right of a child to have equal and quality education. Doctors, nurses, police officers, teachers, and judges, who cannot be trusted, are pseudo professionals.
Hence, public statements by those who hold professional credentials are not merely a free speech issue; a public statement may self-expose someone as a pseudo professional. For example, if a doctor or a nurse thinks people of a certain political bent deserve to die, they can’t be trusted by everyone. That’s the definition of a public servant: they can be trusted by everyone. Legally, we say that “justice is blind,” because Lady Justice is blindfolded while holding a set of scales. This is also true for all public servants; they treat everyone the same because they can’t see anyone that would cause them to misapply their profession because of bias.
But what about the ability to separate opinions from the execution of a profession? That depends on the statement. If the statement is a mere opinion, people are likely to believe the opinion can be separated from professionalism. However, if the statement includes malice, and even genocidal thoughts, that is a different matter and is contraindicated for public service. There is a difference between disagreeing with a dead person and celebrating their death because of the opinion.
I will conclude by applying the nursing profession as an illustration. Aside from the fact that my wife was put in grave danger by two nurses at a hospital because they incorrectly assumed she is anti-vax, I will tell you as a practicing nurse that it is ill-advised to go anywhere for medical treatment while wearing political apparel. How did we get here? Why do so many nurses allow their opinions to distort nurse judgement based on what some people “deserve” or don’t deserve? The answer follows: to a significant degree, growing up, they were taught by so-called professionals that think their opinions should be the final word, even upon pain of death.
Nobody has ever lost their job for being anti-2nd Amendment. And no auto mechanic is going to lose their job because they stated publicly that Charlie Kirk deserved to die, because they work on cars, not people. Judges, policemen, medical professionals, and teachers work on people, and like all Americans, they are free to publicly expose the fact that they are unqualified to do so. Again, that is also free speech, but public servants must have everyone’s trust. That is the very definition of a public servant.
Paul M. Dohse,
ADN, LPN
Blank Check Forgiveness Equals Zero Sum Life
Originally published May 2, 2016
Completely absent from forgiveness mania among dumbed-down Christians is any kind of understanding in regard to how justice figures into the forgiveness equation. While insisting that “we forgive others the way God forgave us,” the formula presented for doing so is in no way, shape or form indicative of how God in fact forgives us. This is just one more example in the midst of myriad in considering how confused and illogical evangelicals are. While clamoring about with much indignation in regard to abortion’s devaluing of life, Christians witlessly ply blank check forgiveness and its default zero sum life equation.
Again, the contradiction is justice—justice only exists for the sake of life value. Invariably, injustice and zero sum life walk together hand in hand. It is no surprise that blank check forgiveness comes from the Protestant tradition as the Reformers believed that injustice only occurs between man and God. They considered horizontal injustice (injustice between people) a metaphysical anomaly. Hence, one never gets what he/she deserves in this life as everybody deserves eternal hell. And, to not forgive automatically makes you better than the person you are not forgiving. This is also where moral equivalency, blank check forgiveness, injustice, and zero sum life are all members of the same motley crew.
Blank check forgiveness devalues life by not holding people accountable for sinning against you or others. We don’t hold dogs accountable because they don’t know any better as animals of mostly instinct. And in essence, the same reasons are given for blank check forgiveness among people; they are “totally depraved” and enslaved to sinful instincts. In fact, John Calvin deemed humanity as nothing more than “worms crawling on the ground” while Martin Luther thought that description too charitable in regard to human nature.
Withholding forgiveness keeps the sin of the offender ever before them, and upholds life. Remember, sin is framed as a life/death paradigm in Scripture. This does not mean we do not leave revenge to the Lord, it means we uphold life by demanding repentance from each other. The opposite of revenge is loving our enemies, but in many instances, blank check forgiveness is the opposite of love.
It often reflects our view of others and the value of life in general.
paul
Blank Check Forgiveness Equals Zero Sum Life
Completely absent from forgiveness mania among dumbed-down Christians is any kind of understanding in regard to how justice figures into the forgiveness equation. While insisting that “we forgive others the way God forgave us,” the formula presented for doing so is in no way, shape or form indicative of how God in fact forgives us. This is just one more example in the midst of myriad in considering how confused and illogical evangelicals are. While clamoring about with much indignation in regard to abortion’s devaluing of life, Christians witlessly ply blank check forgiveness and its default zero sum life equation.
Again, the contradiction is justice—justice only exists for the sake of life value. Invariably, injustice and zero sum life walk together hand in hand. It is no surprise that blank check forgiveness comes from the Protestant tradition as the Reformers believed that injustice only occurs between man and God. They considered horizontal injustice (injustice between people) a metaphysical anomaly. Hence, one never gets what he/she deserves in this life as everybody deserves eternal hell. And, to not forgive automatically makes you better than the person you are not forgiving. This is also where moral equivalency, blank check forgiveness, injustice, and zero sum life are all members of the same motley crew.
Blank check forgiveness devalues life by not holding people accountable for sinning against you or others. We don’t hold dogs accountable because they don’t know any better as animals of mostly instinct. And in essence, the same reasons are given for blank check forgiveness among people; they are “totally depraved” and enslaved to sinful instincts. In fact, John Calvin deemed humanity as nothing more than “worms crawling on the ground” while Martin Luther thought that description too charitable in regard to human nature.
Withholding forgiveness keeps the sin of the offender ever before them, and upholds life. Remember, sin is framed as a life/death paradigm in Scripture. This does not mean we do not leave revenge to the Lord, it means we uphold life by demanding repentance from each other. The opposite of revenge is loving our enemies, but in many instances, blank check forgiveness is the opposite of love.
It often reflects our view of others and the value of life in general.
paul
Obtaining Life Purpose
One of the primary reasons that I chose a new career in healthcare is the facilitation of my new journey. I believe Christians are woefully inept in the art of living by design. Historically, Protestant orthodoxy has always been predicated on making present life all about obtaining eternal life, and of course, through the institutional church. In fact, Catholics and Protestants alike are fond of posing themselves as lowly misfits striving to achieve God’s future utopia. The Protestant version of this is, “We are all just sinners saved by grace” with the present tense being disingenuous at best. In the face of the most horrific atrocities committed by churchians, we will usually hear the refrain, “No church is perfect.” But of course not; character is not the issue, getting into heaven through obedience to the church is the issue.
I believe salvation is actually secondary to abundant life in the here and now. To make a point on this wise, allow me to say God is looking for disciples, not saved people. Christ initiated His ministry by preaching the good news of the kingdom of God, and we find out the particulars of that message via The Sermon on the Mount in Mathew chapters 5-7. Salvation is not there. The cross is not there; the sermon is on sanctification, viz, Christian living.
Long before I chose this new career in long-term health care, I worked in nursing homes as a fire safety inspector. Though it seemed nursing homes and long-term care in general are where we make people as comfortable as possible while waiting for them to die, such a mentality disturbed me greatly. I believed then, and I must believe now, that every life has a purpose in its totality. I also believe that long-term care individuals must understand life purpose as part of their quality of care and best possible wellbeing. It is God’s will that every individual understands their value and purpose.
Thank God I was chewed up and spit out by the Church that I devoted most of my life to. As a result, one of the most important things I have learned is that God’s creation and our state of being have common principles shared by the lost and saved alike. In other words, I have come to believe that God wants me to learn things from those who don’t share my acknowledgement of God. All things secular are not useless in the art of living. That idea is not only stupid, but makes us little more than well-behaved terrorists.
So, yes, and to those who will now be convinced that I have surely sunk into the lower depths of hell, I believe that Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs indeed has merit. I believe that life purpose is critical to those in long-term care. They must know that their present life has purpose, and this purpose is complex and many-faceted regardless of their circumstances. As caregivers, we are not only their advocates for dignity because of sympathy, empathy and the basic value of life; their dignity must be protected because their life has purpose.
I will conclude with one aspect of this many-faceted-complexity to be considered: oneness. In Maslow’s hierarchy, we have the need for love and relationship, but that is not only a need, it is a reality. In relationships, people become part of each other. Self-wellbeing is determined by the wellbeing of those we care for and love at various levels and intensities. We are all well to greater and lesser degrees when those we care for are well to greater and lesser degrees. As caregivers, we are not only serving the one individual, we are serving all those who are one with that person. This isn’t rocket science or some kind of deep psychology; we all know that when those close to us die, we lose a part of ourselves that we will live without in this life. Furthermore, long-term care recipients should know that when they are doing their best in the circumstance; i.e., obtaining their purpose, those who love them are edified in many ways.
That’s one element of purpose; oneness, and perhaps the most important one.
paul
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
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