Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Where's the love?

The God that I pray to is a god of peace and love and justice.

What does the Lord require of you, but that you love justice, do kindness, and walk humbly with your God?
That is from what people in my tradition call the Old Testament. They will tell you that it is a book full of laws and punishment, not love and forgiveness, but they are wrong.

The Jesus I read about told people not to judge others, soicalized with the outcasts, told people to worry about their own sins, and love their neighbors.

What happened to that message? How can the message of love and justice be perverted into hate and condemnation and self-righteousness? How can this be?

Dear God, how can this be? How can it happen?

How can a religion founded on love and justice and acceptance be used to justify hate and condemnation and discrimination?

How can a country founded on individual civil liberties deny those liberties to its citizens, and argue it must largely based upon a religion of love and justice?

Someboday wake me up.

Surely this is just a nightmare.

2 comments:

  1. Yes there is evil and intolerance. Always have been. But in your little corner of the world? Love and tolerance abound. Bless you for all you do. Sometimes it seems so little, like today. But it only takes one candle to chase away the darkness and you are that candle.

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  2. Jo hits the nail on the head.

    I used to agonize over and then simply be stunnned over the way that people could use something that could be so beautiful, like faith, in such an awful way - promoting hate against others...
    now I just try not to think about it.

    Hey I will join my candle with yours!

    ReplyDelete

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