So what went wrong?
Man sets self aflame in Calif. protest
Sat Dec 23, 10:48 AM ET
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - A man used flammable liquid to light himself on fire, apparently to protest a San Joaquin Valley school district's decision to change the names of winter and spring breaks to Christmas and Easter vacation.
The man, who was not immediately identified, on Friday also set fire to a Christmas tree, an American flag and a revolutionary flag replica, said Fire Captain Garth Milam.
Seeing the flames, Sheriff's Deputy Lance Ferguson grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran to the man. Flames were devouring a Christmas tree next to the Liberty Bell, where public events and demonstrations are common.
Beside the tree the man stood with an American flag draped around his shoulders and a red gas can over his head.
Seeing the deputy, the man poured the liquid over his head. He quickly burst into flames when the fumes from the gas met the flames from the tree.
The deputy ordered the man to drop to the ground as he and a parole agent sprayed him with fire extinguishers.
"The man stood there like this," the deputy said with his arms across his chest and his head bent down, "Saying no, no, no."
The man suffered first degree burns on his shoulders and arms, Milam said.
Kern County Sheriff's Deputy John Leyendecker said the man had a sign that read: "(expletive) the religious establishment and KHSD."
On Thursday, the Kern High School Board of Trustees voted to use the names Christmas and Easter instead of winter and spring breaks.
So, what went wrong? Something as simple as the designation “Christmas and Easter breaks” causes a man to set himself on fire?
Is he just insane? Do we dismiss this as just another senseless act of violence and aggression?
Or is it something deeper? Has the name of Jesus become so charged with erroneous thinking and misunderstood dogma that the mere mention of it causes people to set themselves on fire?
Has the ‘religious establishment’ barricaded themselves so well in the ivory towers that the piety and the hypocrisy are all people can see?
Has our message to the world transformed from one of love to one of judgment?
I think this news story paints an image that is far deeper than what the surface holds.
And I don’t know why this one makes me more sad than angry like the last one a few weeks ago.
Dale
Sat Dec 23, 10:48 AM ET
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - A man used flammable liquid to light himself on fire, apparently to protest a San Joaquin Valley school district's decision to change the names of winter and spring breaks to Christmas and Easter vacation.
The man, who was not immediately identified, on Friday also set fire to a Christmas tree, an American flag and a revolutionary flag replica, said Fire Captain Garth Milam.
Seeing the flames, Sheriff's Deputy Lance Ferguson grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran to the man. Flames were devouring a Christmas tree next to the Liberty Bell, where public events and demonstrations are common.
Beside the tree the man stood with an American flag draped around his shoulders and a red gas can over his head.
Seeing the deputy, the man poured the liquid over his head. He quickly burst into flames when the fumes from the gas met the flames from the tree.
The deputy ordered the man to drop to the ground as he and a parole agent sprayed him with fire extinguishers.
"The man stood there like this," the deputy said with his arms across his chest and his head bent down, "Saying no, no, no."
The man suffered first degree burns on his shoulders and arms, Milam said.
Kern County Sheriff's Deputy John Leyendecker said the man had a sign that read: "(expletive) the religious establishment and KHSD."
On Thursday, the Kern High School Board of Trustees voted to use the names Christmas and Easter instead of winter and spring breaks.
So, what went wrong? Something as simple as the designation “Christmas and Easter breaks” causes a man to set himself on fire?
Is he just insane? Do we dismiss this as just another senseless act of violence and aggression?
Or is it something deeper? Has the name of Jesus become so charged with erroneous thinking and misunderstood dogma that the mere mention of it causes people to set themselves on fire?
Has the ‘religious establishment’ barricaded themselves so well in the ivory towers that the piety and the hypocrisy are all people can see?
Has our message to the world transformed from one of love to one of judgment?
I think this news story paints an image that is far deeper than what the surface holds.
And I don’t know why this one makes me more sad than angry like the last one a few weeks ago.
Dale
posted by Wealthedge at 12:46 PM
4 Comments:
Hey dude. Yeah some people are WHACKED. In 1 COR it says that the cross is FOOLISHNESS to those who are perishing... makes perfect sense when you read that as to why/how someone could come to the point of lighting themself on fire!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
That's true .. that's a good point ..
I guess I just see the message of Jesus to be one of love.
Regardless of what people think about churches and priests and catechisms and hypocrisy.
Peace and love aren’t horrible light-yourself-on-fire worthy things.
But mind control and brainwashing and money hoarding and piety and hollow tradition are.
I don’t see Jesus like that. He was all about the fruit of the Spirit.
Sometimes that message gets lost in the white noise.
Dale
God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.
John 3:17
"Sometimes that message gets lost in the white noise."
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