Religion

"Whoever says, You Moron!, shall be liable to the gehenna of fire," Matthew 5:22.

And here we were, debating under what conditions it's OK to kill somebody. Now, we're all agreed that murder is wrong, but what about self-defense? Or war? Or ... whatever? And then Jesus comes along to ruin our deep, spiritual insights (pro or con) and talks about anger, insults, and name-calling. States of hearts. These being liable to judgment, to the courts, to burning in hell (as it were), respectively. Really!? In fact. He goes on about me (you): if I'm doing this great religious thing and my brother has something against me, I need stop, right now. And get reconciled with my brother, right now. And only then get back to religious stuff. Here's what really bugs me about that: he says, If your brother has something against you - I thought he was going to say, If you have something against your brother.

Life in the kingdom of God grabs our souls. Our Lord and Savior will not leave us the same as he found us, needy and lost. Saved, reconciled, empowered, we give thanks, with a brother or sister today, for Christ's transformation of hearts. A continuing work.