EVALUATE THOSE "holy" POSERS
"A halber emez iz a gantzer lign." [Yiddish proverb: "A half truth is a whole lie."]
"A conservative government is an organized hypocrisy." -Benjamin Disraeli
"Hypocrisy -- prejudice with a halo." -Ambrose Bierce
There continues to be lots of religious struttin' goin' on. People posing as pure and true to their religious pronouncements. And, this being America, most of these phonies identify themselves as "pure" Christians.
It is simple to see through many of these charlatans. Evaluate their pronouncements, their platforms. their statements, and their feelings about the poor, the peace-brokers, and the underserved as it relates to the words of Jesus of Nazareth...
"No one can be loyal to two masters. He is bound to hate one and love the other, or support one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and the power of money at the same time." [Matthew, chapter 6]
"Beware of doing your good deeds conspicuously to catch men's eyes or you will miss the reward of your Heavenly Father."
"So, when you do good to other people, don't hire a trumpeter to go in front of you." [chaper 6]
"You have heard that it used to be said 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy,' but I tell you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Heavenly Father." [Matt, chapter 5]
"Happy are those who claim nothing, for the whole earth will belong to them."
"Happy are the uttlerly sincere, for they will see God!"
"Happy are those who make peace, for they will be known as sons of God!"
"If any of you were asked by his son for bread would you be likely to give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish would you give him a snake? If you then, for all your evil, quite naturally give good things to your children, how much more likely is it that your Heavenly Father will give good good things to those who ask him? Treat other people exactly as you would like to be treated by them -- this is the essence of all true religion." [Matt, chapter 7]
"Be on your guard against false religious teachers, who come to you dressed up as sheep but are really greedy wolves."
These are but a few verses from the Bible, but they give an indication of the type of things Jesus was saying. They indicate the non-material status and life of The Nazarene. They indicate the naturalness of His welfare toward all humans, friend and foe, Jew and Samaritan, rich and poor, sinner and saint...and we might extend that today to mean citizen or immigrant, right-wing or left-wing, etc.
You can easily tell who TRULY understands and follows these principles in all elections, alderman, mayor, governor, legislator, president. We have been taken advantage of by enough charlatans. It is time to not only vote for those who reflect the comments and admonishments of Jesus, but to be clear that not everyone who presents himself or herself as a religious person has empathy or sympathy for the poor and underserved, the alien or the citizen, etc. The same would be true for Jew or Moslem, each of these religions have foundations in similar basic concepts.
"I leave behind with you -- peace." -Jesus, as quoted in John, chapter 14
