Make the Pledge - 40 Days and 40 Nights
September 2, 2010 - 22:17 ET
For the next 40 days and 40 nights, I pledge...I
COVENANT to practice faith, hope and charity by doing these things.
First...faith. I will pray on my knees every night for the next 40
nights...starting TONIGHT. Pray for guidance, inspiration, peace...pray for the
leaders of our country. Pray for their safety, and that they will receive
wisdom. I will re-establish my relationship with God.
Hope...hope comes from truth. You can't have hope based on lies. If you go to
the doctor and you're in the early stages of cancer, but the doctor tells you
that you just have the sniffles...that's false hope, and it won't help you, in
fact, it would kill you. So, we have to have honesty, to have real hope. So, I
will stop all lies for the next 40 days. That includes lying to myself. I will
establish a pattern of honesty and make it become habitual. I will question with
boldness...everything...even the things Glenn Beck tells you every night...I
will do my own research...and then pray for my own confirmation on the things I
have learned. I will find out what is true in my life.
And third...I will have charity. Charity begins at home. I will do something
kind for every member of your family at least once a week. I will write it down,
and then do it. Also, I pledge to take notice of how blessed I really am. I live
in the greatest country the world has ever known...and even the least prosperous
among us, are among the wealthiest people in the world...I will be grateful.
Pledge of Nonviolence
Below
is the Pledge of Nonviolence that Martin Luther King, Jr. asked those who
believed in his message to abide by as well as his core principles of
nonviolence.
I am going to ask you to make the same commitment
to nonviolence and give you the opportunity to make that pledge public by having
you ‘sign’ these documents below.
-glenn
1. As you prepare to march meditate on the life
and teachings of Jesus
2. Remember the nonviolent movement seeks justice
and reconciliation - not victory.
3. Walk and talk in the manner of love; for God
is love.
4. Pray daily to be used by God that all men and
women might be free.
5. Sacrifice personal wishes that all might be
free.
6. Observe with friend and foes the ordinary
rules of courtesy.
7. Perform regular service for others and the
world.
8. Refrain from violence of fist, tongue and
heart.
9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily
health.
10. Follow the directions of the movement leaders
and of the captains on demonstrations.
The Five Principles of Nonviolence
1. Non-violent resistance is not a method for
cowards. It does resist. The nonviolent resister is just as strongly opposed to
the evil against which he protests, as is the person who uses violence. His
method is passive or nonaggressive in the sense that he is not physically
aggressive toward his opponent, but his mind and emotions are always active,
constantly seeking to persuade the opponent that he is mistaken. This method is
passive physically but strongly active spiritually; it is nonaggressive
physically but dynamically aggressive spiritually.
2. Nonviolent resistance does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding. The nonviolent resister must often express his protest through noncooperation but he realizes that noncooperation is not the ends itself; it is merely means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent.
3. The attack is directed against forces of evil
rather than against persons who are caught in those forces. It is a struggle
between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of
darkness.
4. Nonviolent resistance avoids not only external
physical violence, but also internal violence of spirit. At the center of
non-violence stands the principle of love.
5. Nonviolence is based on the conviction that
the universe is on the side of justice. It is the deep faith in the future that
allows a nonviolent resister to accept suffering without retaliation. The
nonviolent resister knows that in his struggle for justice, he has a cosmic
companionship.
Make Your
Pledge
If you agree to abide by these principles of
nonviolence and to practice faith, hope and charity by doing the above things,
sign your name below.