Crossroads: Where Love and Faith Intersect

     One of my favorite parables that Jesus tells is that of the tax collector and the Pharisee (Luke 18:9 -14). Jesus tells about how a tax collector and a Pharisee went to a temple to pray. In Jesus' time tax collectors were looked down upon as wicked people and Pharisees were teachers of the law. The Pharisee praises himself, he thanks God for making him better than other people. The tax collector on the other hand asked God for mercy. God blessed the tax collector, not the Pharisee. Jesus then says, "For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." This, I think, is one of the most valuable lessons that the Bible has to teach. That we should not think as ourselves better than other people, even if we are trying to help them or have clear evidence that we might be better than them. The problem with that way of thinking is that you forget of your own flaws. We should constantly look inward to better our own selves, ...

        In my  studies of ancient philosophy I came across a passage from Plato’s The Republic that struck me. It was in a discussion as to whether it would be better to live an unjust life and have people think you were just, or to be sincerely just. Then Glaucon, a man that the protagonist Socrates is arguing/ teaching, stated, “They will say the just man … will be scourged, tortured, and imprisoned, his eyes will be put out, and after enduring every humiliation he will be crucified.” [1] This sort of thinking would make it seem that being unjust pays much more dividends than doing the right thing. My thoughts then made me think of Christ and of all the suffering that he was put through, and then to other martyrs in Bible and elsewhere. They appear to be like the just man, or in the case of Christ, the full embodiment of the just man. I think this in itself proves that being just is better than being unjust. To the just person, the appeals of being unjust,...