Merry Christmas you filthy animals! If there’s one thing everyone expects from the greatest, satirical news source in the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, and Lower Temecula, it’s an earnest conversation about the Word of God and the Christian Faith.

You guessed it! It’s time to get your Jesus on… unless you’re not a Christian in which case all we have to say is…

Happy Holidays you filthy animals!!!

It’s a crazy world and fewer Christians seem to recognize the word of their God anymore. So mired in faith-based advantages for themselves, and an idolatrous devotion to the image of the Christian God and the image of themselves as better than other people, rather than–and greater than–the message of the Christian God itself. How many times do Christians use the image of God, and his son on a cross, to fight perceived non-believers? And how rarely do they rely on his words of brotherhood and community to invite people to safe harbor? The answers are upsetting to everyone, not just Christians.

So let’s talk about Jesus, the Big J, his Holy J-ness, J-Man and the 12 Aps, JC and the Aptones, the J-surrected…

For all of our Christian readers out there, for all who follow in the practice of the good word of Jesus and the good word of compassion, we–at the Vidalia News Recorder–thank you.

Too often Christians treat absolution, or seek divine forgiveness, as the goal of Christianity, as if death bed forgiveness absolves our behavior or the affect we have on others. Absolution does not heal the hurt we leave on other people.

We remind all Christians this year that absolution is just the beginning of the Christian Path and only possible when you feel the weight of the suffering you’ve caused in other people. This is why Christianity has forgiveness as a key feature for your soul on its journey to the Kingdom of Heaven. It can only, truly be granted when we understand how we affect other people and feel the sorrow we’ve caused.  Once you feel this, the journey for forgiveness can begin. This divine forgiveness is the first step on the road to The Kingdom of Heaven. It is not the last step of Faith, nor the final achievement of one’s soul and efforts.

Once forgiven for earnest remorse, and the cold slap of reality hits you–about who you really are in this world–then you can begin your Journey on to The Kingdom of Heaven. The journey is the good work that Jesus asked of us to do and that good work is kindness and compassion and generosity towards your neighbors. Faith–simply for the promise of being welcomed to the Kingdom of Heaven–is a selfish approach to following a religion that hollows out the core message. If your life is spent only to save yourself in the afterlife, you’ve forgotten the word of God.

Kindness, avoiding needless suffering, healing needless suffering when you can, is the work on the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. This life is easier for all of us if we can spend a little time looking out for each other. That’s the message, it’s a simple one. Take care of each other. That’s the work.

Salvation is just a place to begin the work, because if you lied to yourself about your neighbors, then you cannot help them. A convenient truth, a half-truth, a well-curated omission about your neighbors is the convenient lie to keep our generosity to ourselves.

And if you’ve lied to yourself about your neighbors, if you’ve beaten your neighbors or denied your neighbors, then salvation is the beginning to cleanse that palate of greed of mistrust of anger. Then you can begin the work. The actual work to follow the word of God which is be kind to yourselves and your neighbors. Share the generosity with your neighbors as you would share with yourself to stop only it.

This Christmas please take a moment to see the humanity in:

• your neighbors
• in the people you agree with
• and the people you do not agree with
• the people you don’t even know
• the people on the border
• and the people inside your borders.

The word of God, the word of Jesus is simple. Be kind. Be generous. If you can share, do share. It’s easy to see our neighbors as not ourselves if we see the lies about our neighbors. This path will tear us apart.

Abraham Lincoln taught us that: “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” This is true of ourselves and our neighbors as well. If we cannot trust each other, we will kill each other. So then the work of deceit is done. Humanity only works when we work together. Generosity is our salvation. The goodness we show our neighbors. That’s the Kingdom of Heaven.

By our lack of faith to the word of God, we are destroying the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

This Earth, our home, can be the Kingdom of Heaven if we work together. If we follow the simple message, be kind to others. Be kind to ourselves. Be kind to our neighbors and those we don’t know

The message of Jesus isn’t about coming home to safe harbor when you die, it’s about building it together while you’re alive. That is the Kingdom of Heaven.