Jews, Christians, and Muslims

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In a fine country such as the United States used to be, before greed became its false god and war its religion, the people of this nation held fast to some great vistas and horizons of stainless and highest ideals.

As people of the Way (of Love), we must not follow the greedy in stealing from the needy. We must, as good, decent people, resist the cheap and anti-intellectual activities of judging people by the color of their skins, or by their religion.

Our most elevated nobility arises from the respect that we pay to all religious groups in the country.

This does not, of course, imply that we buy into, or accept as truth, every teaching of every faith. That would literally be impossible, as they are often opposites, or conflicting. We do not show "respect" for a faith by joining it! Instead, we regard its members with a kindly eye, towards forgiveness and tolerance. We are kind to the kind; we are kind also to the unkind.

Many Christians embrace three horrifying, anti-agapic doctrines, for example. The mass-murder of Armageddon, the existence of an everlasting hellfire, and pervasive Jehovism are but three out of many examples that could rather easily be derived from history. Despite the nightmarish degeneration of the teachings of Jesus, we can still use our individual freedoms to choose and select what we choose to believe.

Early Judaism suffered from a very similar Jehovism, a very serious religious disease. The worship of an inflated soldier-god, or war-god, marked especially its very early centuries. (This was the violent adoration of a war-god, the "proto-Jehovah.")

And, although it is not "pc" to say so, the Muslim sacred book, the Koran, teaches, several times, that Christians and Jews are "less than" Muslims, who have received the "latest" and "greatest" revelation.

Despite these ghastly follies in all three faiths, we can still maintain an attitude of respect. For the truth is remarkably simple: A good human being can belong to a "bad" or "imperfect" religious org. We must, then, look beyond history, beyond logic and reason, in order to love other imperfect human beings.

It is our conceptually simple, but enormously complex, mission to cultivate Love for all human beings. With some, this is clearly easier than with others.

What is the "least" Love, that we are drawn by God (Love) to love even strangers? Here it is: We can truly "love" them by wishing them, sincerely, peace, Love, joy, friendship, compassion, happiness, with enough material things to assure their survival. For Love is the attitude felt in the heart. It is not necessarily the Lovexpressions of a puppy. We do not grab onto the pantleg, never letting go, and squeal with unabated delight

And it is possible-- indeed, inevitable-- that we will recognize, and reject, a false and harmful teaching when we hear it.

For
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Not to be able to discern the difference between good and evil is not high spirituality. It is abysmal ignorance.
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So, when it comes to ideas and actions, we must take actions, both to embrace the good, and to avoid the evil. We can use discernment or discrimination to know when a teaching, or a group, is anti-spiritual, even though it might have a great disguise. For the truth is that many of our worst religions contain zero spirituality. We are supposed to help to educate each other in these areas of "traps" and "snares." This is not "judgment." If you say, "She's going to hell forever," that is judgment, for it involves the evaluation of her total being. If you say, "He has not a particle of goodness within him," that is also judgment.

But if you say, "That is an evil teaching," this is not judgment. Because you choose not to join the neo-nazis or some other extremist group, that is not judgment; it is your wise use of discernment and discrimination.

As is true of all societies, religions also come in various degrees of fineness. Most, but not all, have mystical cores. But, at the low end of the spectrum, are those "faiths" that contain zero mysticism. These are very shallow, and are all about money and power; they are not even about Good (Love). These primitive and backwards faiths have acted as a plague upon humanity. And that is how the wise avoids them.
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