Values

My primary values are derived from being a Jesus follower. If there is an issue I ask, “What did Jesus say about the issue?” If Jesus said nothing, then I believe the answer is to follow Jesus’ principal and I believe Jesus’ foundational principal is to love your neighbor as yourself. As a Jesus follower, I do not put the Old Testament writings nor Paul, Peter, John and/or James’s writings on the same level of significance as Jesus. So, “What did Jesus say?” is my standard. He said a great deal about poverty and sharing wealth; caring for the sick and imprisoned; caring for widows and children, especially those without adequate homes and food. I wish our leaders (both government and Church leaders) as well as citizenship would spend more of their energy and decisions about how to create affordable and universal health care; how to release from jails and prisons those who have minor infractions. I also wish our leaders were arguing about the need to build affordable housing and eliminate food deserts in our cities. Jesus was also concerned about the “stranger,” the refugee and immigrants because as a child he was a refugee. Jesus did not say anything about many of the contemporary issues that seem to take so much time and energy from our government and Church leaders. I often wonder if the present debates might not be a diversion so that we would not have to deal with the issues that Jesus said was important?