Doomed

Do you get along with everyone, or are there folks who just get under your skin?

'You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, "You shall not murder"; and "whoever murders shall be liable to judgment." But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, "You fool," you will be liable to the hell of fire. - Matthew 5:21-22

I find it hard to imagine that I would receive the same judgment for being angry with someone as I would if I committed murder.

If everyone believed that, we would surely have more murders, wouldn't we?  After all, why stop at anger?

So, what is the point Jesus is making?

He goes on to talk about reconciliation.  If we have a quarrel with someone, we should resolve the issue before bringing our gifts to the altar.  We need to be ok with each other for us to be ok with God.

Can we do that?

Think of all the conflict in the world and you might just come to the conclusion that we are all doomed.

The posts on Facebook alone are enough to send us off into the hellfire of damnation, if all it takes is a bit of anger.

If it is possible for us to take a moment to reflect and to think about what we are feeling when the anger first rises, perhaps we could stop ourselves from lashing out.  Telling us to consider the judgment of the extreme at the first instance of anger could give us time to change, to avoid acting on our emotions.

That would apply to all the other commandments as well.

When I think it, imagine I have already done it, and maybe at that moment, if I have remorse, I can stop myself from acting on it.

Of course it helps if the other guy does the same.

And I guess that is what keeps us battling with each other.  We just don't trust the other guy.

So, Jesus, work on him too, ok?

More to come...