st's word.
But further than this, did Christ preach a policy of love towards enemies when he threatened eternal hell fire for all those who did not believe in him?
Christ indicated that no credit was to be given those who loved in return, more than those who hated the individual. This is certainly an ungrateful, backward, and insane philosophy.
While telling his followers to do their good works before men so as to set an example, and not to hide their light under a bushel, he again reverses himself and tells them to do their alms in secret. No man should be blamed for naturally expecting gratitude for his generosity. It is no crime to expect and receive it.
Then Christ tells people not to pray openly and loudly, and while prayer is a waste of time as far as any benefit to this war-weary, prayer-weary, crime-ridden and trouble-soaked world; none of Christ's followers pray in secret; all churches and preachers pray loudly as if their God were quite deaf. They pray on the radio, broadcasting their prayers over the earth, not because they want God to hear, but because they put out propaganda by prayer; they advertise themselves and please their listeners by praying loudly and sometimes entertainingly.
The forgiving of trespasses as recommended by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in Matthew 4, 5, and 6, is not a reasonable thing to do. If a man does wrong he should be made to make reparation, and it should not be easy for him to continue wrong doing. The greatest cause of crime may be the system of the Christian church for centuries, of forgiving sins and crimes upon the expression of belief in their doctrine and the doing of penance (at a price, of course, paid to the priest).
Then comes one of the most fanatically wrong commandments ever uttered, "Lay not up treasures on earth, take no thought for the morrow." No wonder famine followed Christian countries for more than 1000 years, with the people drugged with such listless ideas. No wonder progress was stopped. "Do nothing, wait for God to feed you. Use all you have, trust to God for the future. Do not resist evil. Do nothing, be nothing, sit and wait for a handout."
How much better it would have been if Jesus had said, "Be thrifty, save for your old age and to uplift yourselves from poverty.
Look to the future, famines and scarcity may come, be prepared for emergency, and for help to your brothers." That would have meant happiness and progress on earth.
Christ's reference to the birds of the fields would indicate that they had nothing to do but eat, but the poor little things have to scratch and fight for their food, watch for hawks and cats and freeze and shiver in the rain and the wind. Christ would put man back on the animal plane with his philosophy. Who indeed wants to be a beast of the field, fearing the hunter, eternally suffering from vermin, scarcity and disease, chased from one hill to the other, fighting to the death for the right to satisfy their mating instincts?
The reference to a man with one eye having a whole body full of light must refer to something of the superstitions of the times; the reference to the evil eye apparently bears this out, otherwise the reference to the one-eyed man being full of light is meaningless. It would be a sorry race if we followed Christ's orders "to take no thought for the morrow, what ye shall eat, or drink or wear," etc.
Men should do just the opposite; they should know what is best for them to eat and drink and should provide for what is needed for them to wear. No wonder Christianity has produced nations of loafers and beggars. These arguments of Christ were spectacular, uttered with the sincerity of a paranoiac, and they attracted the poor classes who were uneducated and stupid.
Take no thought of the morrow. What a terrible philosophy! Only by taking thought and preparing for the morrow does humanity progress. But here again do we have the paradox, Christ thinking only of the morrow after death, preaching it all the time, yet preaching against it here.
He criticizes hypocrites who criticize others, while the