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Sunday, December 26, 2010

Charity and Justice verse pride and arrogance

Two keys to a successful life are charity and justice.

What is charity? It's making sure the needs of everyone are taken care of.

What is justice?  It is making sure no one is taken advantage of

Two things that get in the way of justice and charity are arrogance and pride.

What is arrogance?  It's thinking you know all.

What is pride? It's putting yourself above all others.

There are two things that help with charity and justice, and they are humility and avoiding judgements.

What is humility?  It's putting other people before yourself and admitting you don't know all

What is avoiding judgements?  It's accepting people for what they are.

There's an old saying that says: "Pride comes before the fall." (Proverb 16: 18) This means that pride can lead to a person becoming unable to see the selfish, and a selfish thinking often leads one to do selfish things, such as stealing and committing murder.

In order to stand upright and depart from evil, it is important to depart from evil. In this way, it is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly and to realize that you are no better than any other person, than to be haughty and stumble through life with no real vision as to your true purpose.

Those who are exalted become humbled. (Matthew 23:12).  This means that the greatest among us -- the wisest, the leaders, the chief executive officers, the inventors, the Hollywood actors, the professional athletes -- become our servants. They are the ones who we call into action when we need to rise up as a society to better ourselves.  Worded another way: the greatest among us shall be our servants.

Those who become humbled shall be exalted.  (Matthew 23:13)  This means that all people who put others before themselves, all people who admit they don't know everything and continue to search for answers for the benefit of themselves and mankind, are equals to those who are exalted by their fame.

Those who become humbled learn not to judge. Then they bring all people together and come up with the best solution to make charity and justice possible.

Regardless of whether the homeless choose to be that way or not, we should not judge them and we should offer our charity. Charity does not have to be in the form of money or food, it may be something simple as lending an ear.

Some of us are arrogant and feel we have all the answers, that they are always right, and therefore we feel we have no need to hear the opinions of others.  These people may offer charity, but may not provide equal justice.

A good example here is a doctor who refuses to listen to the opinions of his patients. This neither benefits the patient nor the physician. It's arrogance at the expense of justice.

Another example is politicians who creates policies that force their views on other people. This is arrogance and does not provide for justice nor charity.

Another example is judges who make rulings based on their views and opinions rather than by the laws that rule the land. This is not justice, nor is it charity.

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