Tuesday, July 15, 2014

All In The Name Of God

". . . All the killing?  It was for God.  Someone says the wrong prayer -- good-bye.  Someone eats the wrong food -- adios.  Spring comes and this one says Happy Ramadan, and this one says Happy Passover, and this one says Happy Easter, and then they pick up their swords and try to cut each other's head off."  Anabelle, a character in Man In The Woods, a novel by Scott Spencer.  HarperCollins Publishers, 2010.


And then the Almighty, the creator of the universe, paces the heavens wondering what He did when He created mankind.  Was this a worse mistake than the artichoke?  (And yes, I like artichokes, too).


I can't speak for those saying Happy Ramadan, but the other two were instructed by God not to kill.  It is one of the Ten Commandments.  His commandments.  Yet what do the people of the world do?  They kill, kill, kill.  That is the nature of the beast inside them.  It courses through their veins.  They acquire a taste for it -- a thirst for the jugular.  And then they have the audacity to blame it on God.  They are killing to collect converts for their version of our creator -- Jehovah or Allah.


How we shame our creator!  We disobey his directive and then refuse to be held accountable for our sins.  It isn't us, they say.  We are doing this for God, they repeat.  We are supposed to bring converts to the fold.


Some models of religious persuasion we are!  Do we show the world how to be good?  Do we concentrate on saving souls and feeding the poor?  Are we examples of mercy?  Good judgment?


No!  We are examples of shooting and knifing and bombing.  We destroy in the name of Jehovah and Allah.  Then we have the nerve to pray in our churches and mosques and temples.


Well, maybe in another time and place, we might set good examples by caring and loving behaviors -- by being kind and thoughtful -- by being gentle.


I don't know about you, but I don't think a loving and worthy God will accept our gifts of death and destruction.  He wants life and well-being.


So pack up your guns, your bombs, your knives, your evil ways and ask the God in Heaven to forgive you for your sins and to show you how to win converts through being friends. 

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