By Kay S. Pedrotti
A visit with my daughter Beth is always enough to make me start thinking about things I may not want to face – she has a knack for being able to “call BS” on people and she’ll tell off just about anybody who is acting stupid.
Kay Pedrotti
It's time to walk the walk
She was here the last weekend in July to retrieve her daughter Abby, who stayed with me most of that month. Happily taking advantage of my computer, she looked up some quotes from different people that she thought I would like. Poor baby, her computer died, she can’t afford another one and what she Internets is on her phone.
There was one quote that struck me, from a TV personality alleged to be a “liberal.” He said something like “If we are to be a Christian nation that does not help the poor, then we have to say that Jesus was just as selfish as we are. But if we believe that Jesus commanded us to help the poor, we have to be ready to admit that we just don’t want to.”
Now I know there are folks out there who say it depends on your definition of “poor” – the conservative view is to make that a very narrow definition, while the liberals use a broader stroke. There is a happy medium out there somewhere. It just seems we have depended upon Congress to find it for so long that we are now gullible enough to believe that what they do is always right, if they’re members of “our” party and wrong if they are not.
I don’t think the above quote is either a liberal or a conservative point of view. I think it forces all of us who call ourselves Christians to face up to whether we’re just “talking the talk” or actually “walking the walk.” I’m included in that number. Some of my family members are not, but they respect my faith and understand that I want everything I do to provide an example of love, kindness, service, forgiveness and tolerance – those things I understand to be the Christian’s true values.
I don’t think – with Jesus having done what he did for us, and that his second-most-important commandment was to “love your neighbor as yourself” – that we will be asked in heaven whether we read the Bible every day or went to church every week. I think we will be asked, “What did you do for the least of these?”
I’m not sure I have a good answer, but I’m trying. Thanks, Beth.
Kay Pedrotti is a writer for The Herald Gazette and the Pike County Journal-Reporter.
There was one quote that struck me, from a TV personality alleged to be a “liberal.” He said something like “If we are to be a Christian nation that does not help the poor, then we have to say that Jesus was just as selfish as we are. But if we believe that Jesus commanded us to help the poor, we have to be ready to admit that we just don’t want to.”
Now I know there are folks out there who say it depends on your definition of “poor” – the conservative view is to make that a very narrow definition, while the liberals use a broader stroke. There is a happy medium out there somewhere. It just seems we have depended upon Congress to find it for so long that we are now gullible enough to believe that what they do is always right, if they’re members of “our” party and wrong if they are not.
I don’t think the above quote is either a liberal or a conservative point of view. I think it forces all of us who call ourselves Christians to face up to whether we’re just “talking the talk” or actually “walking the walk.” I’m included in that number. Some of my family members are not, but they respect my faith and understand that I want everything I do to provide an example of love, kindness, service, forgiveness and tolerance – those things I understand to be the Christian’s true values.
I don’t think – with Jesus having done what he did for us, and that his second-most-important commandment was to “love your neighbor as yourself” – that we will be asked in heaven whether we read the Bible every day or went to church every week. I think we will be asked, “What did you do for the least of these?”
I’m not sure I have a good answer, but I’m trying. Thanks, Beth.
Kay Pedrotti is a writer for The Herald Gazette and the Pike County Journal-Reporter.
So, I say to your daughter, convince our ultra-liberal government to return the working man's money and quit stealing from the working person to give to the drunks and drug addicts and the people will return to their generosity by choice.
God gave us a heart for LOVING and GIVING, and a brain to keep it all balanced.
We are charged with looking after widows, orphans and the least of these. It doesn't say anything about complaining about it or deciding who is least.
29,000 children under the age of 5 have died in Somalia of malnutrition while the USA's obesity rate goes up. When was the last time you went to bed hungry? Come on people. We are better than all this judgemental negativity.
We have not had a leader as President since Ronald Reagan.
Come on back, Jesus. We have lost our minds in America. I think it is too late to catch that runaway train.
Sheila: our country was founded by people who were fleeing a land that was "Christian" in order to practice religious freedom...Thomas Jefferson owned a Quran. Some of the founding fathers were atheists. Dont rewrite history to fit your tea party narrative.
Christianity was stong for awhile but as people became more educated and actually started to read what the Bible states many have had a change of heart. 2000 years of waiting for Jesus to return started to question the whole cooky story also.
But enough of my opinion lets stick with the facts. The Christian Church as a whole is declining in numbers every year. As them old Christians die off there is not enough young ones that believe the silly things that their elders did. I tried to slick son into going to church. He comes and told me he searched the world wide web and in his research has found that no man can walk on water. A darn 11 year old boy with a greater sense of reasoning then his 67 year old Grand Daddy. We are going to let Grand Daddy go on believing what he believes. I just hope he doesn't try to walk on water. He can't swim......................
The more I studied science the less it helped me grasp it also. So I guess I am stupid in science also.
As a single unemployed parent I really just went to church for the reason most do. To see if I can find me a good Christian gal (hopefully a freak all around!) and hopefully some work. Being I drank up all my money Saturday night I figured I might as well get saved anyway til my next check comes. After all it is how it works isn't it.