I do believe...

I read some things today that made me wonder how modern-day Christians can be so lacking in love. People hate the President and claim to be Christians. Now, I read that book and it says to love your enemy, and I suppose that even means your President.

Another quote I saw today said, "The truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth (know the God of the Bible)." The problem is truth is relative. And if 17,697,384 people read the bible, they'll have 17,697,384 different opinions each (give or take a few hundred thousand). So, whose is right?

My son said to me the other day, "If two people look at a glass and one says it's half full and the other says it's half empty, they're both right." Well said. My mother, of course, the eternal optimist, said, "Well, but, half full is better." Unless it's full of sulphiric acid you must drink it... or could that be good, too?

It reminds me of the Chinese proverb which I'll paraphrase:

A farmer lived in a small village with only his son and his horse. One day the horse ran away, and all the neighbors came to him, saying how bad it was. "We will see if it's bad or good..." said the farmer. The next day the horse came back with another horse. The neighbors rushed to congratulate him on his good fortune. "We will see if it is bad or good..." the farmer said again. And the next day when his son broke his leg trying to break in the new horse, the neighbors came again, exclaiming on his bad luck. "We will see if it is bad or good..." said the farmer patiently. The next day the army came through town and collected all the eligible young men, but left the farmer's son, due to his broken leg. I bet you can guess what the farmer said.

We each have our own truth. No one has exactly the same perspective and that's a good thing. We can see all sides of an issue if we're willing to listen to someone else's viewpoint.

It is funny, tho, that people misquote the bible all the time to make it more strict, e.g., an old pastor of mine used to always explain, "The bible says, 'the rain falls on the just and the unjust,'" as a reason for why "bad" things happen to "good" (i.e., his good followers) people, but I think he misinterpreted it, and he certainly misquoted it. My bible says, "God gives rain to the just and the unjust," which says to me that "God" doesn't discriminate when he's giving out blessing, he gives them to those who believe, according to how they believe. Kind of leaves the judgments of one's neighbors out of the equation...

My sister was once edifying me with the knowledge that I couldn't go to Heaven because of certain sins I hadn't repented of... I told her I was glad it was God doing the judging and not "Christians". I'm perfectly content to let God do his job and maybe we could do our job, which is loving our brothers and sisters. And who are they? Well, aren't we all children of the same god, whoever she is...?



Yours,

D



P.S. Ooo, ooo, one more quote. Bumper sticker: "Who would Jesus bomb?"