My Law

If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you . . . 

 - From Jeremiah 26

In 2021, out of both sides of the same mouth:

The Bible is about violence and slavery, and misogyny, and racism, and violence, and war . . . 

Doesn't the Bible say to take care of immigrants?

When it suits them (that is . . . when it fits their stratagem, to gain power for themselves so that they can get back at people that remind them of someone that was mean to them once) the certain faction of modern society finds the Bible quite useful. But when defaming the Bible can create enough dissension and confusion, also to assist them in the acquisition of power, they will do so. 

Here's a rather harsh and extreme-sounding warning from Jeremiah. Apparently, he lived in a time that had suddenly turned away from the Lord. But they didn't know they had turned away. Jeremiah spoke the prophetic warnings in the synagogues, in the presence of people that considered themselves faithful. The society, of its times, thought of itself as on the right track. Perhaps they were set on the goal of tweaking some of God's laws that were too hard, or that seemed to mean, or that didn't allow for the kind of selfish "fun" of the kind that gave their lives "meaning."

What was this "law" that God had set before them (and us)? It is summarized and repeated over and over throughout the Old Testament, and then Christ took it to a higher level in the New Testament. Here it is:

* Take care of widows and orphans

* Take care of strangers traveling through your communities

* Live purely - that is, unselfishly, not with greed, not being driven by carnal physical drives. 

Those three life practices are the very essence of practical love. 

And then Jesus further clarified it: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. 

That's it. That's what's so horrible. But notice it doesn't say anything about virtue signaling . . . and this is where perhaps people come so unglued over having to actually . . . well . . . love ALL others. 

That's the root of all the anger, all the hate, all the strife and violence. 

But I don't want to love others!

 . . . that's really what people are saying, when they resist God.