“It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine,
and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man.”
Thomas Paine, The
Age of Reason
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Jesus said, “God is love”
Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself”
Jesus said, “forgive”
Jesus said, “give”
Jesus said, “turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile,
give the coat off your back”
Jesus said, “welcome the stranger’
Jesus said, “let the little children come to me”
Jesus said, “do not despise the little ones (the least of
these)”
And yet today
Each day
We see people who claim to love God
Who seem to forget that God is love
But instead act as if God is harsh and retributive
Each day
We see people who carry Bibles (do they read them?)
And wear crosses
And stick fish on their cars
Who do not love their neighbor
Who shout “lock them up” at every opportunity
We horde wealth (while leaving their workers in poverty)
Who seek vengeance, constantly, persistently,
aggressively
Who seem to delight in using power on others
Who rejoice in brutality
Every day we see
An essential selfishness destroy and pretension of
generosity
We see walls built, and people put in camps
And children denied basic needs
We see programs for the poor gutted
The mentally ill left on the street to suffer and die
Something is wrong somewhere!
Why is it that people default to brutality and cruelty?
Why is it that people so delight in using and abusing
power?
I watch the jeering faces, as hate is spewed at
Rallies plastered with red, white, and blue
And my heart hurts
How can people go, so easily to this place?
How can people so totally abandon the way of Jesus
And find nothing in-congruent, about then turning around
Walking into a church
And singing about God’s love?
How is it we make faith all about us?
Our success
Our safety
Our power
Our rights
Our wealth
How is it we can ignore the basics?
Those critical things that are at the heart of the
Gospel,
Such as inclusion, kindness, and generosity?
How is it that we can claim God
And still walk the path
Of callousness
And cruelty?
We can’t
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