It’s Christmas time again and everywhere we look we see violence and mayhem, greed and avarice, poverty and hunger. Mankind’s inhumanity to others and a total disregard for the welfare of the earth dominate the news every day. Watching the hearings concerning Trumps impeachment has been the low point of the year for me. Rhetoric, obfuscation, innuendos and fabrications dominate instead of truth, logic and evidence. Christmas is a cruel joke only made worse by the amount of crass commercialism that is exhorted in the name of Jesus Christ.
Satan sat on his throne listening to my above missive and thinking “Ha, Christ was a failure and I have won another soul. Do you hear me God? You sent Moses with a message. You sent Noah with a message. You sent dozens of your prophets with a message. You sent your only son to carry the same message and no one really gives a dam. There is not one Christian on earth who loves everyone. Every single Christian hates someone else. Catholics hate Jews. Protestants hate Catholics. Evangelicals hate non-evangelicals. The right wing hates the left. The left hates the right. Rural Americans despise urban Americans. The rich hate the poor and the poor hate the rich.”
God heard Satan and simply said to him “You are wrong. There is much love and compassion for others in the human race.”
“Yes”, said Satan, “for members of their own tribes. For people who look like them, talk like them, live like them, think like them, but for others there is only hate. I challenge you to find ten Christians who do not hate someone else.”
God replied: “Will you leave humans alone this Christmas if I can find ten good Christians?”
Satan confidently answered, “Of course, but only if you agree on a limit of ten days to find your ten good Christians. That way, I will still have time to ruin Christmas for as many families as I can if you do not find them.”
“Agreed” said God
Two days went by and God could not find ten good Christians who did not hate anyone else. Satan laughed, “I told you so.” God then requested that he be allowed to find only five good Christians who did not hate anyone else. So confident was Satan that he readily agreed to this change.
Two more days went by and God could not find five good Christians who did not hate anyone else. God was getting desperate. “What” he asked Satan, “if I could find just one good Christian who did not hate anyone else? Would you concede that Jesus was not a failure?”
“Okay, I am so confident that there is not one good Christian on Earth who does not hate someone else that I will give you this last chance. But on one condition” said Satan. “My condition is that you will get two more days to find your good Christian but if you do, then I get four days to test your Christian to see if they really are a non-hater.”
God accepted Satan’s conditions and went in search of a single Christian somewhere on the face of the earth who did not hate someone else. God had to expand his search beyond America but in less than two days, God thought he had found his loving non-hating Christian. It was a young girl in India. Her name was Aindrila. Aindrila was eight years old. She lived with her mother, father and her pet cat in a little village in Mizoram, India.
Every night when Aindrila went to bed she prayed for all the people in the world. 
“Now I lay me down to sleep and pray the Lord my soul will keep. Please watch over my mother and father, all the people in India and all the people in the world. Please help everyone who needs help and keep everyone safe. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord, my soul he will take. Amen.”
God presented his good non-hating Christian to Satan, but Satan only laughed. “We will see. I have four days to test if your so-called good Christian really is so good.”
The next day, Satan sent two young teenagers to Aindrila’s house to torture and kill her cat. When Aindrila found the dead body of her cat, she cried for several hours. That night when she went to bed, she prayed much as before except she added a verse:
“Please God watch over the boys who did this to my cat and help them to see the error of their ways. Amen.”
Satan was somewhat chagrined, but he decided to up the ante. The next day, he put a hole in the path of Aindrila as she walked to school. Aindrila fell in the hole and broke her leg. It was a very bad break and Aindrila was taken to the local hospital. They fixed the break but told Aindrila that she might have to walk with a limp because of the injury. Again, that night, Aindrila went to bed and added the following verse to her nightly prayers.
“God, thank you for sending me such good health care and bless the people who fixed my leg the best they could. Please watch over them and take good care of them. Amen.”
Now Satan was very angry. “OK God, you asked for this fight and you are going to get it. We will see if your good Christian is really good or not.”
The next day, Aindrila’s parents were going to work on their usual bus ride. Satan saw to it that a drunk driver smashed into the bus killing only Aindrila’s parents. No one else on the bus was injured. Satan laughed and laughed. “This should do it”, he thought.
Somewhat later that day, the local constable along with a social worker came to find Aindrila at home. When Aindrila answered the door, they told her that both her parents had been killed by a drunk driver that morning. They were very sorry for her loss, but she would have to come with them. Because she had no other relatives, they were going to take her to live at the local orphanage. She would have to stay there until she was eighteen or someone wanted to adopt her. They thought this would be rather unlikely though.
Aindrila was relocated at the orphanage where she seemed sad and despondent. Nothing the kindly Sisters of Charity could say to her seemed to shake her out of her melancholy. She cried until she went to bed that night. Unlike previous nights, she went to sleep without saying any prayers.
A few hours after Aindrila went to bed, she awoke with a start. She did not know where she was. It took her some time to orient to her new surroundings but once she did, she turned over to go back to sleep. Suddenly, she thought “I have not said any prayers tonight.” She climbed out of bed and made the following prayer:
“Dear God, thank you for the wonderful parents you gave me. I know you took them away today, but I am sure that you had a good reason for doing so. Thank you for finding a new home for me with these nice nuns. Oh, and please help the man who killed my parents find a good life. I forgive him for what he did and I hope you will too. Amen.”
Satan listened to the little girl saying her prayers and conceded. “Dam you God, you win.”
And God said “If there is only one person on earth who is not a hater then it was worth sending my son Jesus and Jesus was not a failure.
“Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness in people.” ― The Light in the Heart
Once upon a time, there was a group of creatures called humans. They evolve and live out their lives on a place they call Earth. Earth is basically a spheroidal rock that revolves around a Class 3 star (called a sun) in a galaxy named the Milky Way. No humans know where they came from, how they developed or why. This is a subject of endless debate and speculation that has led to a plethora of social organizations which humans call religions.
Remaining an optimist, I walked up the steps to the church and pulled on the door. Sadly, it was locked. As I started to walk down the steps, I heard a voice call out “Would you like to go inside.”
This week, you will hear from one Jesus of Nazareth. He has been called by many names including: Messiah, Emmanuel, Christ, Lord, Master, Logos (the Word), Son of God and by himself more often The Son of Man. He is often credited with being the founder or perhaps foundation for a popular religion called Christianity. Today, it is difficult to see the link between the teachings of Jesus and many of these so-called Christian religions. I have it on good authority that Jesus never ever preached killing anyone and yet many of these so-called Christian religions are continually waving a banner of mayhem and destruction at those who think differently than they do. Anyway, it is time to let Jesus speak for himself.
I am talking about greed here. I am talking about wanting more and more regardless of the effects it has on the earth. I am telling you that happiness does not come from having more of things. The only true happiness comes from helping others. It is better to share with others who are needy than to amass a fortune that you cannot take with you. Those who berate the tax collector and call him a sinner and cheat are no better than the tax collector. Indeed, those who refuse to pay their fair share for the life they are given are worse than the tax collector. 
I am talking about sin here. I am talking about grieving your mistakes and injustices towards others. No one can walk in this world without hurting others either deliberately or by mistake. But the people who will be comforted in the next world are those who regret their mistakes and injustices and ask for forgiveness. They are the people who acknowledge their sins and mistakes and try to make amends. I was not perfect, and no one born of this world is perfect. The good and just man admits his vices and tries to overcome them. The good and just man tries to make amends to the people he has hurt or abused.
The narcissist and the man full of hubris will do injustice to all they meet. The narcissist thinks that the world revolves around his needs, wants and desires, and is content to ignore the needs and wants and desires of others. The man of hubris is overly prideful and arrogant and thinks that he has earned the right to have more than others. Both feel that everyone else is there to serve their needs and that their needs come before the needs of anyone else. The injustice done by these beliefs amounts to a mountain of intolerance and discrimination towards anyone who is perceived as inferior or beneath their consideration. For this reason, I say “Do not look upon yourself as being better than others. Remember that there but for the grace of God, would you go.”
world. No one who is not seeking righteousness and justice can expect to find peace. I say that your task is to look for justice where there is injustice. To look for goodness where there is wickedness. You can never complete your search. Your hunger will never be sated. Your thirst will never be quenched. Each generation must take up the search because evil is in our own hearts. Only by looking to replace evil with justice and righteousness can the evil that is within us be banished. We are all born with original sin, but the righteous man is the one who overcomes their sinfulness by replacing it with a goodness that transcends earthly needs and desires.
Those who show mercy towards others will have mercy shown towards them. I lived in a time when lepers, Samaritans, non-Jews and many others were thought to be unworthy of mercy. Mercy was always for those in our own tribe. This meant mercy for Jews if you were a Jew. Mercy for Romans if you were a Roman. No mercy was to be shown to the poor for they were lazy. No mercy was to be shown to the sick because they were sinners. No mercy was to be shown to those of other religions because they were “non-believers.”
I say to you that the pure of heart are those with integrity and character. They are without selfishness and seek primarily to do good for others regardless of the cost to themselves. They are not opportunists who try to squeeze the most for themselves at every turn of events. Neither are they sycophants who yield their ideas and actions to others so they can creat more profit for themselves. The pure of heart are not greedy. They are not profit driven. They are not out for fame and fortune. The pure of heart care only about the good they can do for others. Others include the entire human race and not simply those who belong to their tribe or religion or country. Those who put humanity above patriotism, humanity above family, humanity above friendships and humanity above self will surely see God.
Rage, jealousy, ingratitude, intolerance, bigotry and fear are the enemies of peace. Those who want peace must be willing to beat their swords into plowshares. If you follow my Beatitude, you will disarm yourself. You will throw down your guns. You will deactivate your nuclear weapons. You will turn your armies for war into armies for education. There is no peace possible in aggression. There is no peace possible in hatred. There is no peace possible in defensiveness. The only path to peace is to turn the other cheek. How many times have I said you must do this to find peace?
Actions speak louder than words. All those who cry out “Lord, lord” will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. What good is the salt if it has lost its taste? Those who speak beautiful words will not enter my kingdom without beautiful deeds to match their words. I spoke out my ideas and thoughts. I challenged the powers that were corrupt. I was taken up to the mountain and promised fame and fortune and power by Satan if I renounced my beliefs, but I remained steadfast. I was persecuted and crucified, but I never renounced my beliefs. How then do you think you will be saved by being nice to others and by silencing your thoughts in the face of evil? No one who speaks my name should expect to escape persecution. There is no change without struggle and oppression.
There have been many theories proposed for the policies held by Trump and his Republican supporters. They include “Greed Theory.” The Republicans are held to be greedier than most people and only want to accumulate as much money as they can. Another is “Hate Theory.” This theory holds that since most Republicans are White European in ancestry, they loath and detest any people who are different then they are. This includes Asians, Blacks, Indians, Latinos and any immigrants not from Europe.
About a week later, I was substitute teaching in a Casa Grande High School. I drew an eleventh-grade social studies class. The teacher had left an assignment wherein the students had to find certain terms and concepts associated with the second industrial revolution and write definitions for each of them. Included among such terms as: robber barons, corporations, patents and trusts was the term “Social Darwinism.” One of the students asked me to explain it beyond the simple definition she found on line. I tried to recall my ideas relating to this concept from many years ago. I gave her my explanation and then later I looked up the definition at Wikipedia. I was struck at how well my memory had served me. It was at that point that the proverbial light bulb or blinding light of inspiration hit me. I suddenly realized that the Republican Party was not just trying to create elite systems but they were also trying to build on the theories of Herbert Spencer. The following excerpt explains this theory very well as it applies to many current concepts such as: trickle down theory, privatization, corporate welfare and tax reform.
So, there you have it. Trump and the Republican Party are not greedy, hateful or fearful of others, they simply do not believe that you have a right to anything unless you are also rich and successful and White like they are. Based on the concepts of Social Darwinism, they have the right to whatever you have if they can find a way to take it away from you. If you cannot keep it, that means you are inferior. If you are inferior, you have no right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. According to Social Darwinism, the elite will eventually Trump the poor because they are stronger, smarter and more fit. This will eventually result in a society wherein everyone is fit, and everyone is trying to screw everyone else.
Jesus talked about the three classes of good people. The first class hears his message but has little time to do anything about it. The second class hears the message and when convenient they try to help others and spread the message of Jesus. The third class commits their body and soul to sharing Jesus’s message. The third class of men/women make a commitment to doing this year round and 24/7. For the third class, it is not a onetime thing or something to be done when they have time or are not busy. It is a lifetime commitment to share his message with the world.
The Joy of Christmas is a state of fulfillment, contentment and gratitude. Through the love of others who give selflessly of themselves, we can all be free to experience a Joy that cannot be bought or traded. It is one of the reasons that giving and not receiving is said to be the true path to happiness. During the holidays, we are excited about the chance to give to others. And nowhere is that feeling of giving more delightful than in watching the face of a young child receive something that we know they really wanted. However, Joy to the World should mean more than just giving toys to tots. There are physical gifts which we can give but there are also emotional and spiritual gifts as well.
I am frequently critical of all the toy drives that I see going on at Christmastime. Not just because I think most kids in America have more toys than they know what to do with, but because of the message that this sends. Why not I ask, have a “books for tots” drive? Why not give books for a present? Why is it always about toys? We become so narrowly focused that we lose sight of the larger picture.
Thus, Jesus did not come to replace the commandments but he did come to go beyond the commandments. God brought the commandments to Moses but the message that Jesus brought to us is in addition to the commandments. Jesus extended the Ten Commandments with a list that has come to be known as the Eight Beatitudes. A beatitude is something that gives one both happiness and blessedness. Jesus gave these Eight during his famous Sermon on the Mount:
I am continually surprised by so-called Christians who seem to revel in the Ten Commandments but treat the Eight Beatitudes as though they were bastard children of Satan. When was the last time you heard anyone wanting to put up a statue or sculpture or sign with the Eight Beatitudes on it? The Message of Christmas is the Eight Beatitudes. The Joy that Jesus wanted to bring to the world can only come by following the Eight Beatitudes. If you call yourself a Christian but you do not practice these in you daily life, then you are not spreading the Gospel of Jesus.
words of the Beatitudes go beyond any one religion. They speak to a way of being in the world and a way of treating other human beings. Just as I have found valuable teachings in other religions, I think more Christians should be willing to share the Message of Jesus in the Eight Beatitudes. Keep in mind though, that sharing this message will never work unless you also live by the message. You must be the change you want to see in others. Do you know what the famous Indian Chief Sitting Bull said when asked what he thought of Christianity? Chief Sitting Bull replied: “I have read your Bible and the religion seems good but I do not see many White people practicing it.”
Production Manager: Jesus Christ, you are fired. I have told you repeatedly that your job is to help us make a profit, not to take care of the sick and needy. I am sorry but I am going to have to let you go. I wish I could give you a good reference but you just don’t belong in the business world.
Advertising Manager: Jesus Christ, you are fired. You can’t tell people the truth about our client’s products. Your job was to make this stuff look good. But no, you kept telling people the truth. You are too honest and you will never make a good marketing person. I suggest you find another outlet for your talents.
Employment Counselor: Well, Jesus, if you were asked about your future plans and what you wanted to aspire to, could you maybe forget about the sacrifice thing and just talk about how hard you can work?
Aging Capriciously 