I turned on my computer this morning and got this question on the MSN browser page. What are your chances of being attacked by a shark while vacationing at the beach, or being attacked by norovirus on a cruiseship, or being murdered while on vacation in Mexico? Not to worry, my friends, though the thought came to me about the hundreds of millions of people that do not live a full life by reason of religion, even die in the name of religion.
I can’t think of a news story that has attracted more interest than the Casey Anthony trial. It concerns a human life that was snuffed out at age two, a heart-felt tragedy. Now that Anthony has been acquitted of murdering her child, the interest persists, the issue reasonable doubt. How Anthony’s daughter died is not known, but the question was raised of why an accident turned into a murder trial; why Anthony didn’t report her missing child to the police; why she changed her story over and over? The facts of the case were held by the jury to be secondary. The principle of reasonable doubt prevailed. Lying, the absence of truth, won. The jury was sickened but felt it had no choice. American society is badly mixed up. We can’t get over this. It will stick with us. I’d like to offer my take.
Nice work if you can get it. When we lie, it leaves reasonable doubt. What lying politicians have wrought on America leaves reasonable doubt. Nevertheless, the American people voted into office Barack Obama. Factually, a bad situation became a terrible situation, but there remains reasonable doubt. The lying continues. Jesus accused the scribes and Pharisees of being hypocrites—“for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men” (Mt.23:13). Jesus was prosecuted. The jury decided to crucify Jesus. No doubt about it, Jesus was guilty of attacking the recognized authority. As long as reasonable doubt prevails, and the authorities shut up the kingdom of heaven, hundreds of millions will die. Jesus said he would return.
Jesus often referred to the kingdom of heaven. He said, “in earth as it is in heaven.” In order to make his points, he spoke in parables designed to teach the truth in terms people could understand. But he made a distinction. Jesus said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God” (Mt. 6:33). The kingdom of God is not on earth or in heaven. God cannot be here and there at the same time. But it is essential for recognized authorities, both secular and ecclesiastical, they must keep reasonable doubt alive about where God is, and it goes much further.
Cicero, the father of modern law, said, “We are born for justice, and right is not the mere arbitrary construction of opinion but an institution of nature.” An inalienable right, an institution of nature, as I read in Black’s Law Dictionary, is not capable of being surrendered or transferred without the consent of the one possessing such rights. In other words, we are not like properties that can be bought, sold, bartered—or eliminated and left to rot—but surely have the personal responsibility to be self governed. Earthbound authority leaves us with reasonable doubt. For what purpose? What would we be if there was no doubt that we are all God’s children, as Jesus indicated, first seek ye the kingdom of God? Would reasonable doubt be at issue? Jesus said, let he who is not with sin cast the first stone, and indeed, justice is an ever shifting moral principle. I don’t think that’s what Jesus meant. What would we be if there was no doubt in the world that each of us is a child of God? Would a little child whose loss we grieve not be alive today? There is a lesson to be learned in this little child’s murder.
I’ve the experience to speak on seeking first the kingdom of God. My awareness has been considerably expanded. I know that suffering humanity is the result of being out of sync mentally with the harmony of the universe. God’s blessing, immaterial, our actuating cause of life, out of this comes justice and the freedom of spirit. We begin to live the life intended when we look for guidance to the internal God in each of us. Our doubts vanish like mist in the morning sun. We discover hidden powers and all manner of possibilities. Man’s law ceases to be confusing and dominating. We become water-bearers, our brother’s keeper pouring out spiritual energy.
Welcome the second coming of Jesus Christ. Welcome the Age of Aquarius.
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