Whatever you do for the least of these, my children, you do also for me.
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. ”
Now, I'm an atheist, myself, but these, to me, are an expansion on the Golden Rule. If you can't easily understand how to treat others as you would want to be treated, then ask yourself, how would you want your mother to be treated, or your brother, or your wife, or your guru or your rabbi or whoever it is you love--how would you want them to be treated?
When these Pharisees, these holier-than-anyone types, see their God, how would they respond when He says to them: "When I was ostracized for who I loved, when I had to be silent to protect my loved one and myself, and yet you denied me my liberty--
"When I was bullied and was frightened, and yet you gave succor to my bully, and increased my pain--
"When I wanted to work, but I was denied employment, because you calumniated against me--
"When I was told my loved one was not my kin, and and was turned away from his hospital bed
"When my children where taken away from me, because they were of my spouse, but I enjoyed no physical part in them
"When I was told I was not well, but you would make me whole by abusing me
"When I was beaten, you ignored my pain but told me I asked for it,
"When I tried to enjoy my body according to my understanding, but you told me my understanding was corrupted, and I had no right to the only flesh and blood I would ever know
"When I wanted to raise the orphan, I was called a pervert, and when I wanted to raise the child of my flesh, I was called unfit, and when I wanted to marry and be a parent, all the while I was called a liar.
I would say no true Christian should treat gays as they have been treated by Christians in the past. Maybe I say that as a bisexual and an atheist, but I think that thought holds up.
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"So you think Jesus is impressed...." (Original post)
The Straight Story (41,438 posts) 
