I have said repeatedly that there is nothing simple about the Golden Rule.

I believe the Inquisition came from a distortion of the Golden Rule:
“Do unto others are you would have them do unto you.”

The first thing organized Christianity forgot was that this applies not only to others, but to you.

Once the Church became the established religion, all aspiring Christians began to make the martyrs the heroes of their age. So the age of self-torture began.

As one writer said, since one could not longer be a martyr for Christ, people began to make martyrs of themselves.

Or, as he put “They tried to storm their way into heaven by agony.”

If you will whip and and starve yourself , what will you do to others?

Jesus never asked anyone to do that.

The only time Jesus ever asked anyone to do anything painful to himself was when he said to the wealthy young man , “IF YOU WOULD BE PERFECT give all that you have to the poor AND FOLLOW ME.”

There are sixteen words in my version of those words. All the versions of the Bible differ somewhat, but that is the context. I have heard many sermons on those words, but I have never heard the first five or the last three words os what Jesus said even mentioned in sermons on “Jesus and the Rich Young Man.”

The last three words are of startling importance. Jesus was asking the man to be one of his disciples, one of the Apostles. That is ignored.

Every sermon I have heard conclude the man “was lost,” that is he went to Hell because he would not give all he had to the poor. Look at the first five words. If we have to be perfect to be saved, Jesus is going to be very lonely up there.

So the whole point here is completely missed because preachers are obsessed with giving to the poor. That’s all I ever hear them preach about.

CS Lewis pointed out that the sin of gluttony is not eating too much, it is being obsessed with food.

At my exercise club I am surrounded by slim, trim gluttons. They have made a religion out of eating right. Their souls are ignored. They spend half the day Sunday prettying themselves up and going to church. But their entire idea of being good is concentrated on eating right and exercising right and shaming others into doing the same thing.

Those who violated the Golden Rule by causing themselves agony FOR THEIR OWN GOOD naturally began to impose agony on others FOR THEIR OWN GOOD. They were obsessed with martyrdom.

So preachers who talk about Jesus and the rich young man are obsesssed with MONEY. They ignore everything but what Christ said about hard cash and chattels.

Which is one reason Jesus was more comfortable sitting and talking with moneylenders and tax gatherers as he was with highly religious people like himself. The moneylenders KNEW they were obsessed with money. The Righteous were incurable.

What I learned from this out here in the secular world was that a person who knows he is ignorant can be taught. A person who is a slave of Fashionable Opinion and what he thinks is Intellectual Thought is beyond redemption.

I mean that literally. Jesus specifically condemned the truly righteous but proud high priest who stood in the front of the temple to Hell, while he pronounced redemption for sinner in the shadows who knew he was obsessed with money and asked for forgiveness.

By the way, the sinner in the back of the temple did not CURE himself of his obsession. He went in a sinner and he went out a sinner. It was recognizing his imperfections that saved him, not becoming perfect.

When Jesus saved the adultress from stoning, He said, “Go and sin no more.”

He did NOT say, “It’s OK this time, but if you do it again you should be stoned.”

He WANTED perfection from her and from the rich young man. But he never demanded it for salvation. He went onto the cross specifically because we cannot achieve perfection. Repentance is all we have.

Jesus was not obsessed with our perfection.

There was only one person Jesus subjected to torture, and he spent the whole night before praying not to have to do it. He subjected himself to the cross because he HAD to. He did it to spare pain to others.

Once.

Repeat, ONCE.

And for all. And forever.

Christ was no fan of pain.

Those who insist on repeating Christ’s agony belittle the fact that he made the ONLY sacrifice that matters. Those who insist on repeating Christ’s agonies are mocking him and ridiculing him.

Because of the obsession they think is idealistic.

A person who is obsessed with NOT having sex is in the same category with someone who is obsessed with having it. The whole history of the Church and of secular history is of people who lost their souls in an obsession.

And the best obsession from Satan’s point of view are the ones that seem idealistic.

The best obsessions that promote ignorance in the secular world are the ones that seem the most idealistic.

Obsession with money, obsession with pain, obsession with food, obsession with perfection. As CS Lewis says, Satan knows that any obsession will do