Jesus is Love Clear Through

The kind of Christian fundamentalism Bush and his fanatics espouse opposes reason and rejects love and science completely. Their intolerance creates fear and division. Nowhere in the Bible is a directive on abortion, prayer in school, contraception, subjugation of women and minorities, and only one hypothetical reference to homosexuality in Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians. If Bush’s religion leads to the deaths of 3,000 Americans and over 700,000 Iraqis, then what he is practicing may have been good for him(dope, alcohol), but certainly not good for the world. Thou shalt not kill is a Commandant and killing is a primal violation of Jesus’ love.

The Law of the Prophets tells us to love God completely and our neighbors as ourselves. Everything in the Bible is not the word of Jesus so reason must be used in its interpretation i. e. slavery is practiced in the Old and New Testament, yet it violates the Law of the Prophets and must be reasonably rejected. If the fanatics were logically uniform, they would support slavery because it is defended in the Bible and not cherry pick to defend a political dogma.

Finally, Christianity is love. Fanatics displaying signs saying “Jesus Hates Fags” is as remote as possible from Jesus’ teachings. Jesus loved everyone. Those who intolerantly reject individual differences are practicing something other than Jesus’ love.

Finally, all human behavior must pass the test of love. Do we love our neighbors (Mexicans, Muslims, Russians) the way we love ourselves, unconditionally? Jesus’ birthday is a good time to evaluate our behavior to determine if we are practicing Jesus’ love clear through or unknowingly perverting the Law of the Prophets for political ends. If we can practice love at Christmas, we can practice it always. Loving unconditionally is Jesus’ gift to the world.