Jesus Archives - Stephen Altschuler

To those who believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and millions around the world do, have you considered what he would say as he preached his first homily? I have, and I’m not even a Christian. But I am someone who, though does not believe Jesus was the only son of God, does consider him a great teacher and sage. I greatly value what he said and how he lived his life. At the heart of his teaching is the Golden Rule. Do you know it? I’m sure you do. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That about covers every human to human and human to fauna and human to flora interaction with all living things. And since the planet itself is a living thing–the generally accepted Gaia Principle–the Golden Rule would apply to the entire planet as well.

So there he is, Jesus returned, resurrected, if you will, standing, perhaps, on the summit of Mt. Everest, delivering his homily for all of us to hear. A Sermon on the Highest Mount. I humbly submit, it might go something like this:

Dear Ones,

First, I want to clarify a misconception. I am not [Read more…] about If Jesus Came Back Today

In my experience, people, by nature, like to help each other. Helping a woman who cannot reach an item on a high shelf at the market. Helping an older man who has tripped over a curb and fallen. Offering a meal to one less fortunate than ourselves. Assisting a neighbor whose house has been flooded by a swollen river. Helping someone get to the polls no matter what their political persuasion. This is generally true when we’re talking about an individual helping another individual. Usually color, creed, religion, ideology does not enter the equation. Someone’s in trouble or inconvenienced: We’ll often go help them. No judgements. No hesitation. No decisions. The human instinct is to help, setting aside all conditions to the contrary, even one’s personal safety at times, as in helping the victim of a mugging while that attack is taking place.

Even the right wing radicals of Charlottesville would likely react this way to an individual in need. But as soon as you dehumanize and demonize individuals into a maligned class designation, such as Jews, Blacks, Muslims, Foreigners, Hispanics, Liberals, and so forth, you open up a Pandora’s Box of actions often tinged with innuendo, hatred, and even violence based on some stereotyped, prejudiced image of each group. When we start judging people more by “the color of their skin than by the content of their character,” paraphrasing Martin Luther King Jr., we open the door to an Archie Bunker-barrage of slurs designed to denigrate and disparage.

The solution to this emphasis on hatred derived from prejudice towards broadly stated groups is a long term one. It starts with [Read more…] about People, by nature, are…