Humanity, and in particular man, has the evil inclination to dominate everything with absolute abandon, especially and at the expense of those who would really prefer an equal status of respect and love for all. There is no profit in goodness according to certain leaders of this world, which is truly quite pathetic and far from the exemplary contribution that God would prefer.
‘Yahweh said: Make true judgment, be kind and merciful to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the foreigner or the poor; do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’ Zechariah 7:8-10. How much easier could this instruction be, and yet the men, who assumed to be the authority, have made an absolute bollix of such a simple request?
Planet Earth has numerous natural borders that divide the world into fairly manageable sections, but man once again chose to add even more borders with names for each section spanning continents and nations, cities and towns, counties and provinces, and yet however, that is not enough. The man chooses to divide people by ethnicity and creed and of course by gender with extremes of opposition to those perceived as different from the norm. Just as nature flows around the planet, our civilization must flow unobstructed and to the benefit of each person. However, for this to happen, we must embrace a closer bond with each other and annihilate those among us who create heinous criminal actions with disastrous results.
The question, of course, is ‘what is the expected norm?’ Is it measured by an open mind that allows for educated differentiation, or is the norm measured by bias, either limited education or uneducated primitive mindsets? As a clarification, the primitive mentality is measured by an attachment to old beliefs and mechanics of society that differentiate people to the detriment of the opposite norm and to the benefit of arrogant primitive individuals.
Jesus emphasized two main guiding lights a) honoring God primarily without adhering to anything else that detracts from the belief in one true God. B) his second request is ‘Love one another’ or ‘love our neighbor as ourselves’. Mark 12:29-33. He also pointed out that if we love only those who love us, then what kind of faith is ours. Luke 6:32.
Now, as we examine the major religions of this world, we may wonder how many there are who comply with these two requests and how many representatives of these religions actually prove their understanding of God’s word by adhering to their request. The answer would be few to rare, since all religions have the practice of differentiation and some are more serious than others, but in general, there is no religion that has mutual unconditional love as its focal point. To make matters worse then and add salt to the wounds of differentiation, legislatures follow the examples of religions and incorporate hostile laws into their constitutions.
In the words of Jesus, let us ponder how we can advance his request so that all people and all nations can be included without prejudice: ‘Because the preaching of the Gospel to all nations must come first.’ Mark 13:10. Jesus advised us to be as cunning as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16) because of people’s ambiguity and bad intentions.
If you are familiar with the gospels, you will fully appreciate the talks that Jesus had during the brief period that he walked among the Jews and how he urged us to purify ourselves on the inside and then we will automatically purify ourselves on the outside. To purify our interior, it is beneficial to reflect on what we keep in our hearts, measuring its authenticity to propel us forward with the kindness and love that generously emanates. The confession is truly useless if the source that caused the fall has not been resolved. This little exercise in reflective humility will open many windows of light that will illuminate the inner spirit and, consequently, life will flow more easily.
Complicating faith with laws is counterproductive because they chain our essence to simple love and when we behave with true love in our hearts, all laws in religions will be inconsequential. Every society has rules and laws for citizens to adhere to with direct consequences when those statutes are broken, therefore when we apply the truth of our real faith in God, fewer social laws are broken as well.
If you happen to be disappointed with the portrayal of religions, don’t despise God as well because religions are not complete examples of His word. Faith as unconditional love is similar to education in that everything is linked to growth. That which defies growth cannot be representative of anything true, so embracing faith plus love plus continuing education will be a path to exuberant peace on earth. God bless you and may his love flow through and around you always!
