Aging Capriciously

It is not unusual to hear someone refer to the need for more humanity.  We often hear about “Calls” for humanitarian needs.  But what does it mean to exercise humanity?  What are our humanitarian needs?  Who is a real humanitarian?  Should we all strive to be humanitarians?  Can you get a diploma or a degree in humanitarianism?  My Google AI program gave me the following definition for a “humanitarian”:

“A humanitarian is a person who is concerned with the welfare of others.  They may work to improve the happiness and health of people.    Humanitarians can be volunteers or paid employees.”

The last few years in the USA, Humanitarians and humanitarianism seem to be in scarce supply.  More people are concerned with how much they can buy and the fact that “Black Friday” is fast approaching than they are with improving the happiness and health of other people.  I find it very confusing that a large portion of Americans claim that the USA is a Christian Nation or that it should be.  My reading of the Bible gives me a different understanding of what a Christian is and how they behave.  Recently, I discovered the term “Cultural Christians.”  A “Cultural Christian” is a Christian by birth.  Someone who is born into a family of Christians or is baptized into a Christian denomination shortly after their birth.

Calling upon my AI program again, a “Cultural Christian” is defined as, “Someone who identifies as a Christian but doesn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus.”  In other words, a Cultural Christian does not have a clue as to the teachings of Jesus Christ or any other Christian prophet, Saint, or proselytizer.  Ironic isn’t it that many of these same people call on the name of Jesus to save them.  I suspect that if Jesus were alive today, he would ask them to repent before they went to hell.  A song (You Don’t Love God If You Don’t Love Your Neighbor) that I recently heard by Rhonda Vincent has the following lines:

There are many people, who will say they’re Christians

And they live like Christians on the Sabbath day

But come Monday morning, till the coming Sunday

They will fight their neighbor all along the way

Oh, you don’t love God

If you don’t love your neighbor.

Two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire started its decline after having been the greatest empire that the world had yet seen.  Many historians point to the decadence of the Roman Empire during its decline.  “Decadence” is defined by the Oxford On-Line Dictionary as, “Moral or cultural decline as characterized by excessive indulgence in pleasure or luxury.”  The Romans had their “Bread and Circuses.”  The Oxford Dictionary defines “Bread and Circuses” as, “A diet of entertainment or political policies on which the masses are fed to keep them happy and docile.”  For many, football and politics are the bread and circuses or our American Empire.  I think the rot and decay in America today goes much deeper than that.  Here is my list of some of the decadence that I see in the USA today:

• Excessive consumerism and a frenzy to have bigger and bigger stuff
• Excessive shopping till we drop, more and more stuff
• Excessive eating leading to mega levels of obesity in America
• Excessive time spent watching TV, movies, and other entertainment
• Obsession with sports and team affiliation from grade school to the NFL
• Excessive casino gambling
• Pull tabs, scratch offs, lotteries
• Drugs and alcohol addiction
• Greed and more greed. Forever, cutting taxes so the greedy can have even more and the poor and needy can have even less
• And now we have added “On-line Sports Betting.”

You Don’t Love God If You Don’t Love Your Neighbor

If you gossip about him, if you never have mercy

If he gets into trouble, and you don’t try to help him

Then you don’t love your neighbor

The more I write this blog, the more I think of the prophet Jeremiah.  Jeremiah constantly called upon the Israelites to turn away from their wicked ways and dependence upon idols and false gods and return to God.  For his troubles, Jeremiah was stoned to death.  But Jeremiah did more than just rail against sin and evil.  He also tried to give hope to his countrymen.  He promised that a “New Covenant” was coming to all those who followed God’s laws.  This covenant would supersede the old Mosaic Covenant.  Instead of inscribing his law upon tablets of stone as in the Mosaic Covenant, God would write his law upon the hearts of men.  Jesus said at the last supper, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.”  — (Luke 22:20)

In the holy Bible, in the book of Matthew

Read the 18th chapter in the 21st verse

Jesus plainly tells us that we must have mercy

There’s a special warning in the 35th verse

Oh, you don’t love God

If you don’t love your neighbor

If you gossip about him, if you never have mercy

If he gets into trouble, and you don’t try to help him

Then you don’t love your neighbor

And you don’t love God.

You may well ask, Well “Who is my neighbor?”  Jesus answered this question in his story about the Good Samaritan.  Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29–37) and makes it clear in this parable that our neighbor is anyone around us, regardless of their ethnic, religious, or socio-economic status.  I have a T-Shirt that I like which reads, “God Bless Everyone:  No Exceptions.”  I have had many people come up to me and tell me how much they like this blessing.

I have another T-Shirt where I list the “No Exceptions” groups that somehow seem to be conveniently overlooked by many Cultural Christians.  The major fallacy that many Christians seem to observe is to define their neighbors as either someone in their own church or in their own social group.  When Jesus included the Samaritans who were an outcast group at the time as his neighbors, this should have made it clear that you must go beyond your tribe or friends to include other nations, other ethnicities, other religions, and other people with different beliefs as your neighbor.

There’s a God Almighty, and you’ve got to love him

If you want salvation and a home on high

If you say you love him while you hate your neighbor

Then you don’t have religion, you just told a lie

Oh, you don’t love God

If you don’t love your neighbor.

Well, we are almost at the end of my story.  Not much else to say is there?”  Just one last thought to leave you with.  Please feel free to share this with others.

• If you love things more than you love people,
• if you love money more than you love people,
• if you love ideology more than you love people,
• if you love tv, gambling, sports, and movies more than you love people,
• If you love drugs and alcohol more than you love people,
• then I think Jesus would say that:
• “You Don’t Love God.”

 My thanks to Rhonda Vincent for her song and the lyrics in this blog.  You may listen to her song at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR2rpVd5Lwo