Jesus was a liberal
I want to comment on a letter to the editor from a Vanderbilt resident defending blasphemy while praising and revering a recently deceased man.
In the Vanderbilt resident’s letter, he said he had never met the deceased, but believed him to be a good man. I never met Mr. Marietta either and will not condemn him. He obviously was a passionate man and held true to his beliefs. I did not agree with Mr. Marietta’s right-wing fascist ideology. If you read your Bible, you will see that Jesus was not a right-wing Fascist. Jesus was a liberal. I agree with the ideology of Jesus. The point of my letter of was to point out the fact that to change the word of God to satisfy your own beliefs, ideology or financial goals is blasphemy.
The Ten Commandments, cut into stone by God’s own hand, are the only written words of God. Everything else you read in the Bible was written by man. If you believe nothing else, believe that.
The 1st Commandment reads: “I am the lord your God. Thous shalt have no other gods before me.” God means that. To place yourself above God and change the only written words of God violates the first Commandment and is blasphemy. To say God was mistaken in his writing or that God leaves the interpretation of his written word up to you is blasphemy. To insinuate that God did not mean what he had written is blasphemy.
For four thousand years, the Sixth Commandment was interpreted by Jewish scholars, Greek scholars, Latin scholars, French and English scholars as “thou shalt not kill.” The Sixth Commandment has always been interpreted to mean kill not murder. The belief has always been as it is today; that God loves all mankind and wants all mankind to come to him for redemption. All life is sacred to God. The taking of life by any means, either by pre-meditated vicious murder, an act of self-defense, an act of war or suicide is killing. And all, but the act of suicide, can be forgiven if the person that commits the killing of another person is willing to seek redemption. Suicide cannot be forgiven because the person responsible for taking their own life cannot redeem themselves.
Jesus, in Matthew, said the only sin that is unforgivable is blasphemy. God knows the reason behind every killing by one person of another person. Man may punish man or forgive man for an act of killing, but God will be the final judge.
For our Vanderbilt resident and others, the word murder specifies one type of killing. The word kill is all inclusive. You may be able find somewhere or other, an obscure loose translation that differs from the original commandments and use that as justification to fool others and convert them to your ideology, but you won’t fool God.
To think God only condemns a person that murders and is OK with other forms of killing is nonsensical.
James Sloan
Hopwood