Consider the part about judging others. Oh boy. We might
call it the “Anti-Facebook” gospel. Let’s look at the section in its entirety.
7 Judge not, that
ye be not judged.
2 For with what
judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall
be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest
thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that
is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou
say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a
beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite,
first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly
to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
6 Give not that
which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest
they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
I present this in
the KJV in honor of the FB poster who said she only read her Bible in the original
English.
Some (I won’t call
them scholars as most, like me, aren’t’) say he is laying a can of “whup-ass”
(I do couch my analysis in strictest of scholarly styles, however,) on the scribes
and Pharisees. I tend to see them as “deacons on steroids” so to speak. But he
seems to broaden his rebuke to all his listeners and the first verses must make
us think. Is he telling us not to judge the actions of the unholy? Is he
telling us not eschew the actions of the unholy? Is he actually implying that
we might actually use the actions of the unholy for our own purposes?
I think not. Think
whatever you wish. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that allows us
that religious privilege—though under severe attack—still stood “by the dawn’s
early light” this morning. I think, getting back to the point, that it is the
act of judging those whom we decide are sinners, that galls him.
My Sainted Mother
used to paraphrase it as “Sweep around your own door first.”
In a secular
example, it’s like some man with a pot belly that hangs over his belt like dough
spilling from a skillet referring, in public, to someone else as “fat,”
Some refer to
Matthew 7:1-6 as the “most misunderstood portions of scripture.” Again, think
what you wish, but, in my experience, this statement (about scripture) almost
always leads to a justification of perfidy on the part of the writer. Just ask Joyce
Meyer about rich people. I don’t think it is my role to judge what the
Galilean wrote. I’m not a “taken out of context” person. I think it is my role
to try and figure out what the hell he was talking about.
So I must ask the question,
could we take the opening verses of today’s section too far? I ask this after reading
and watching about the so-called “Family,” based in Washington D.C. and formerly
controlled by a shadowy figure named Doug Coe who seemed bent on adding the coup
de grâce to that fragile First Amendment I mentioned earlier.’
This secret organization
avowedly believes that it is fine to use “political monsters” to promote their brand
of religion, which is a severe, right-wing, fundamentalist worship of their concept
of Jesus and to influence both our national, and international, politics. This has
brought them into partnerships with political monsters such as Muammar Mohammed
Abu Minyar Gaddafi and others. “The more horrible the monster, the more useful
he is to us,” is their mantra.
Don’t you think that’s
carrying this “Do not judge” thing a little too far? I do. That will bring us
next to a metaphor I love, and that’s the “pearls before swine” part. Stay
tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment