Thought for Today
Leviticus 19:18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
Psalm 34:21 Evil brings death to the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
Matthew 5:43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 54 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Romans 12:9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
My Masonic lodge brother and fellow officer Jason is a history teacher at a Jewish school. He is especially interested in and is currently teaching the students about the Holocaust. At our meeting last night, Jason announced that during his summer ‘time off’,’ he is going on a trip to Armenia. While there, he will teach students about the Holocaust and also learn about the Armenian Genocide. “The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.” (Wikipedia)
As I thought about Jason and all of the other history teachers who have impacted my own life, I remembered “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana) There is a deep, abiding truth in those words. We can debate endlessly about whether the opposite of love is hate or is apathy. Irrespective, both hate and apathy are destructive emotions. I know of no incidence more illustrative of that than the Holocaust. I suspect few of us in the U.S.A. are familiar with the Armenian genocide unless we are of Armenian heritage.
Is it part of our human nature to hate? Is it an integral part of our hatred to hate ‘the other?’ Looking at the world around us, thinking about the wars and conflicts currently in progress, is a primary element of those wars and conflicts hatred and fear of ‘the other,’ the alien, the neighbor? I cannot help but wonder how often the excuses we make for our wars are what boxers refer to as a “rope-a-dope,” a misdirection. Rather than admit that we hate and fear anything and everything different, we invent other rationales. Russia is claiming that they have invaded Ukraine because of a resurgence of Nazism in Ukraine. They claim to be liberating innocent Ukrainians from Nazi oppression.
Here in the U.S.A. and elsewhere around the world, there is a rise in anti-Semitism. Often other excuses are offered to explain violence directed toward Jews, but historically all anti-Semitism seems to me a ‘rope-a-dope.’ Anti-Semitism has existed for a very long time. The ‘classic’ excuse for hating Jews in the Christian Era (CE) has been that “Jews killed Jesus.” Totally ignoring the true fact that there is no evidence that Pontus Pilate or any of the Roman soldiers who scourged and crucified Jesus were Jewish, the charge has been leveled repeatedly. Totally ignoring the fact that Jesus was Jewish and that Jesus never stepped inside a Christian Church, Jews have been blamed for killing Jesus. Totally ignoring the fact that all 12 of the disciples were Jewish, even today we hear the same excuse, the same distraction.
The hatred of Jews by Islam is equally hard to explain as anything other than a classic misdirection effort to hide the oppressive political structure of most Islamic societies. Mohammed evinced no hatred of Jews in his life or in the Koran. Yet almost universally, Islamic nations have adopted a policy committing to the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people.
If you cannot see anti-Semitism behind all of the recent college ‘demonstrations,’ you need to look again. I wonder whether there were any ‘demonstrations’ in the U.S.A. after December 7, 1941 demanding an immediate cease fire with Japan and reparations being paid to the families of the 65 Japanese pilots killed during the Pearl Harbor bombing. How many college students demanded that their universities stop investing in companies who supported the U.S.A. military war efforts?
George Santayana was correct. I am thankful for all the men and women who taught me history in school, who taught me to read and think for myself. I have studied Texas history, U.S. history, world history and the history of Christianity. By its nature, history is a study of humanity’s trial-and-error attempts to live together in harmony. Some days it seems as though there have been far too many errors!
Last night, today and until I next see my friend Jason, I have been and will continue to pray for him and for all the other history teachers around the world. I will pray that more people read, study and think about the trials and the errors of history. I will pray that more and more people come to listen to Jesus’ words, "Luke 10:27 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
Stay safe, love, trust God,
Pastor Ray