Tag: compassion

Faith…Compassion

“So then, in everything treat others the same way you want them to treat you, for this is [the essence of] the Law and the [writings of the] Prophets.” – Matthew 7:12 (AMP)

If you’ve lived on earth long enough then you have judged someone based on your own preconceived ideas of what that someone of a particular skin color, gender, clothing, and or how they talk, etc. I am very guilty of that myself.

Stereotypes, in my humble opinion, are the major cause of hatred, bigotry, and prejudice that plague our society. A black teen gets shot for being black and wearing a hoodie, a blond haired woman is assumed to be ditsy and unintelligent, and most recently, people of Asian decent are blamed, attacked and killed due to the Covdid19 Pandemic.

When I was in middle school I heard some really mean things said about Hattians. As a result I thought that all Hattians were poor and stupid. However, that all changed when I started interacting with Hattians and got to know them for myself. As of today some of my best relationships are with people of Hattians decent. They are some of the most real, loyal, and beautiful people I know.

What does Faith have to do with compassion? In order to have compassion you must give people you know nothing about the benefit of the doubt that you have against them. If you don’t like a certain group of people or person for whatever the reason, do something different. Do not put your myopic, erroneous and stereotypical views on them. Seek to know, to understand and to have compassion on them.

This is what Jesus did for you. Pay it forward. Show compassion. Hate evil. Love people.

“So then, in everything treat others the same way you want them to treat you, for this is [the essence of] the Law and the [writings of the] Prophets.” – Matthew 7:12 (AMP)

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Faith…Non-judgmental

“When we judge others we are judging ourselves.”

One of the definitions of judgmental according to http://www.dictionary.com is: tending to make moral judgments. On the same website is the British Dictionaries definition: of or denoting an attitude in which judgments about other people’s conduct are made.

We all judge one another in some way shape or form. We judge each other by the way we look, dress, ware our hair, act, talk, etc. We have done it so long that we do it subconsciously. If we see a tall slender black man in sweat pants, we might label him a basketball player. If we see a light skin woman, we might think she speaks Spanish. If we see a guy who we think is acting feminine or a girl who we think is acting masculine, we might think he or she is homosexual.

The questions are: Why do we judge people? Who gives us the right to make assumptions about peoples behavior? Why can’t we get to know people? Why can’t we seek to understand people? Why can’t we show compassion to people? Are we too self-righteous to care? Are we too scared of what others will think of us? Are we too busy to show compassion?

What dose faith have to do with any of this? We need faith in our ability to choose courage over fear, non-judgment over condemnation, and compassion over hate. When we do this we are able to see the beauty in all people. We will liberate our minds to the endless possibility in the human potential to be good.

“When we judge others we are judging ourselves.”