Sin, sin, sin!!!
This morning my spiritual intention is to remove the log from my own eye before I worry about the spec in the eye of my brother or sister. I am constantly remined that I have lived these 4 score years being taught there is some way of judging who is a good person and who is a bad person. Many religions have posited what they thought displeased the god of their understanding. Some, such as Catholics, formulated a list of what they considered mortal and venial sins. A venial sin was lesser and does not, in their opinion, result in a complete separation from God and eternal damnation. A mortal sins would result in eternal damnation in hell. Mortal sins included: voluntary murder, sodomy and homosexual relations, taking advantage of the poor and defrauding the working person of his or her wages. The Pope has recently, to be fair, decided that the god of his understanding does not mind civil unions between consenting, same gender adults.
Various judicial systems have been created to enforce laws passed by legislative bodies which allege who is good and who is bad. In the United States this has resulted in imprisoning an enormous number of people, often for long periods of time. Those imprisoned learn to function in a very harsh and dysfunctional system and, thus, often become harden criminals. Many of these are individual with such diseases as addiction and mental illness as well as those who grew up in a survival atmosphere. To be fair, there are those who, in spite of the prison system and occasionally because of it, do find the help they need. Prisons are, not, however designed to ensure that individuals learn to believe they are a valuable member of the larger community.
Who goes to prison is significantly influenced by political attitudes and ambitions, who can afford an attorney who is highly skilled at selecting juries (or can afford to hire an expert at selecting juries) and who possess more oratory skills than opposing attorneys. Law and the enforcement of laws is influenced by current political, religious and cultural attitudes.
All these factors, one’s personal history including one’s sense of entitlement and one’s religious and cultural views affect the extent to which one is likely to see the spec in the eye of one’s neighbor rather than the log in one’s own eyes.
Once one is aware of the above it is difficult to “correctly” fill out the excel or numbers spread sheet with the sin points of oneself and one neighbor. It is certainly impossible for this human.
Written October 27, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
Sin, sin, sin!!!
This morning my spiritual intention is to remove the log from my own eye before I worry about the spec in the eye of my brother or sister. I am constantly remined that I have lived these 4 score years being taught there is some way of judging who is a good person and who is a bad person. Many religions have posited what they thought displeased the god of their understanding. Some, such as Catholics, formulated a list of what they considered mortal and venial sins. A venial sin was lesser and does not, in their opinion, result in a complete separation from God and eternal damnation. A mortal sins would result in eternal damnation in hell. Mortal sins included: voluntary murder, sodomy and homosexual relations, taking advantage of the poor and defrauding the working person of his or her wages. The Pope has recently, to be fair, decided that the god of his understanding does not mind civil unions between consenting, same gender adults.
Various judicial systems have been created to enforce laws passed by legislative bodies which allege who is good and who is bad. In the United States this has resulted in imprisoning an enormous number of people, often for long periods of time. Those imprisoned learn to function in a very harsh and dysfunctional system and, thus, often become harden criminals. Many of these are individual with such diseases as addiction and mental illness as well as those who grew up in a survival atmosphere. To be fair, there are those who, in spite of the prison system and occasionally because of it, do find the help they need. Prisons are, not, however designed to ensure that individuals learn to believe they are a valuable member of the larger community.
Who goes to prison is significantly influenced by political attitudes and ambitions, who can afford an attorney who is highly skilled at selecting juries (or can afford to hire an expert at selecting juries) and who possess more oratory skills than opposing attorneys. Law and the enforcement of laws is influenced by current political, religious and cultural attitudes.
All these factors, one’s personal history including one’s sense of entitlement and one’s religious and cultural views affect the extent to which one is likely to see the spec in the eye of one’s neighbor rather than the log in one’s own eyes.
Once one is aware of the above it is difficult to “correctly” fill out the excel or numbers spread sheet with the sin points of oneself and one neighbor. It is certainly impossible for this human.
Written October 27, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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