June 18, 2022 – Words of Wisdom, Aristotle

Learning From Each Other

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”  Aristotle

“Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Some.. Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said.. “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” John 9:39-41

“Then the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples;and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They (the Jews who had believed in him) answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”  John 8:13, 31-33

Learning From Each Other

In our society today, we have people who go to a school or a mall or show up at a wedding and begin to shoot others because these “others” do not teach, or think, or speak like they do – or they are just so upset they want to go out of this world in a blaze of death. What progress have we made in the last two thousand years, if people still believe that the best way to be rid of their own demons or troubles is to kill others before they are killed? Unfortunately, this is what the Pharisees did to Jesus – had him killed before they might be killed.

The true mark of people of faith, followers of Jesus, in my opinion, is the fact that we can work together with Methodists, with Presbyterians, with Jews, with Muslims, and with the Amish, and though we may have deep divides about Jesus, about Muhammad, about Holy Communion, and about Baptism, we can still sit in a pew together and worship G-d, or talk about serving our community. I do not believe G-d wants us to kill those who think differently from us. I believe G-d wants us to love them, work with them, and to work together to bring about the kingdom of G-d.

Let us pray,

Lord Jesus, this world is so troubling to us in so many ways. We want to be loved, we want to love others, but we are constantly surrounded by the evil that plagues this world. Help me today to be an instrument of peace and love. Amen.

Pastor Dave