Encouragement – Page 3

Countdown to Christmas 2025: “Thou Shalt LOVE, Not Hate” — Day Twenty 12/20/25

Posted on December 20, 2025 by Neal Saye

From December 1-25, I’m sharing a quote and its truth from John Fugelsang’s Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists and Flock-Fleecing Frauds, the book Robert and I are currently and fascinatingly reading.

An odd Advent Calendar, of sorts.

Today Fugelsang explains that “Belief in Jesus doesn’t mandate discrimination or hatred against different faiths; the teachings of Jesus forbid it.” p. 261

“’Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matthew 22:39). Note the lack of an asterisk on this commandment, which means it applies to all humanity, without regard to said neighbor’s religion, race, or background.” p. 261

Countdown to Christmas

Countdown to Christmas 2025: “Thou Shalt LOVE, Not Hate” — Day Nineteen 12/19/25

Posted on December 19, 2025 by Neal Saye

An odd Advent Calendar, of sorts.

Today,Fugelsang looks at healthcare from a Biblical perspective.

“In Proverbs 31:8-9 the Bible calls on believers to ‘speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.’ Ensuring access to healthcare for all, regardless of financial status, is the Biblical point of view.”

“Matthew 9:35: ‘Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.’”

“Access to healthcare for all is consistent with Jesus’s entire operation, and Medicaid is exactly the kind of community social action that he’d be proud of. Fans of Jesus should applaud the fact that our country has such a system, that covers over ninety million of us.”

“Author and theologian Dillon Naber Cruz, a military vet known online as the Tattooed Theologian, suggests we ‘Imagine the positive benefits of applying the Golden Rule (Matthew 7-12; Luke 6-31) to healthcare in America. No one would choose to have life altering medical situations lead to being crippled by debt. No one would willfully choose to skip treatment or to not buy medication because it is too expensive.”

“Applying the Matthean Golden Rule caveat ‘in everything you do’ to healthcare would mean that we enact a robust universal healthcare system in which no person is left to the malicious whims of healthcare profiteers whose money is made from human suffering. Jesus wanted to alleviate suffering and would definitely be against his ostensible followers profiting from it.” p. 195

Countdown to Christmas

Countdown to Christmas 2025: “Thou Shalt LOVE, Not Hate” — Day Eighteen 12/18/25

Posted on December 18, 2025 by Neal Saye

An odd Advent Calendar, of sorts.

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I love the book’s chapter titles. Fugelsang is playing with the Bible’s Ten Commandments.

Thou Shalt Not Hate Femenists

Thou Shalt Not Hate the Gays

Thou Shalt Not Hate “Illegals”

Thou Shalt Not Hate on Poor People

Thou Shalt Not Kill People Who Kill People To Prove Killing People is Wrong

Thou Shalt Not Hate Gun Control or Worship Bro-Dude Jesus

Thou Shalt Not Hate Jews, Muslims or Even Atheists

Thou Shalt Not Be, or Defend, White Supremacists

ALL ARE COMMENDABLE COMMANDMENTS!

Countdown to Christmas

Countdown to Christmas 2025: “Thou Shalt LOVE, Not Hate” — Day Seventeen 12/17/25

Posted on December 17, 2025 by Neal Saye

An odd Advent Calendar, of sorts.

Today, Fugelsang writes:

“Jesus was a nonprofit prophet, but was he really a socialist? The short answer’s no, because socialism didn’t exist yet. But let’s point out:

He never owned property.

He said, ‘It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.’

He told people to pay their taxes.

He never healed the blind and then billed them.

He never gave anyone a mandatory drug test before dispensing some loaves and fishes.

I’ll never say Jesus was a socialist. But I will say if he were alive now and preaching the exact same message, right-wing Christians would call him one.” p. 190

Countdown to Christmas

Countdown to Christmas 2025: “Thou Shalt LOVE, Not Hate” — Day Sixteen 12/16/25

Posted on December 16, 2025 by Neal Saye

An odd Advent Calendar, of sorts.

I love this humorous point the author makes at the beginning of his preface:

“I’ve come to view Jesus the way I’ve come to view Elvis.

I love the guy, but some of the fan clubs terrify me.”

Countdown to Christmas

Countdown to Christmas 2025: “Thou Shalt LOVE, Not Hate” — Day Fifteen 12/15/25

Posted on December 15, 2025 by Neal Saye

An odd Advent Calendar, of sorts.

In the same chapter from yesterday, “Thou Shalt Not Take All of This Too Literally,” Fugelsang examines the fallacy of folks who want to take the Bible (or any “holy” book) as God-breathed, literal instructions on how to live:

“Faith does not require literalism; many Christians [and non-Christians] find profound meaning in the Bible without taking every word as fact. As author and theologian Keith Giles reminds us, ‘Many things are Biblical, like genocide, patriarchy, slavery, polygamy. When I say these things are Biblical, I mean that people have in the past-and even today-used the Bible to justify all of those things. So, yes, those things are Biblical. But none of those things are Christlike.’”

“’And that’s the point. We’re called to follow Christ, not the Bible. In fact, please understand this: the Bible does not tell us to follow the Bible. The Bible tells us to follow Christ’” p. 77

Fugelsang continues;

“The Bible often uses figurative language to express truth. Jesus described himself as the ‘bread of life’ in John 6:35, but it’s not interpreted literally. The man was a poet; he wasn’t actually made of flour and yeast.” p.72

The author then quotes one of today’s most intelligent and insightful clergy, Pastor John Pavlovitz.

“The people who most stridently contend they believe in a literal application of the Bible have simply not read the majority of it. They have been selectively armed with the verses that seem to reflect their prejudices, confirm their theology, ratify their politics, and echo the story they believe about God. The moment you give them a verse or a section that confronts their worldview, you take the pressure off of yourself by having them argue with God and not you?” p. 75

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My understanding of today’s post: What’s most important in any faith’s “book” or any person’s “core belief” is the Love it directs us toward. The kindness, the compassion, the inclusion, the joy. Not the dogma and sense of exclusive superiority.

Happy 15th Day of Advent.

Countdown to Christmas

Countdown to Christmas 2025: “Thou Shalt LOVE, Not Hate” — Day Fourteen 12/14/25

Posted on December 14, 2025 by Neal Saye

From December 1-25, I’ll be sharing a quote and its truth from John Fugelsang’s Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists and Flock-Fleecing Frauds, the book Robert and I are currently and fascinatingly reading.

An odd Advent Calendar, of sorts.

In a fascinating chapter titled, “Thou Shalt Not Take All of This Too Literally,” author Fugelsang again uses a bit of humor to make a point:

“Ever notice how some folks take the Bible very literally when they want to put down LGBTQ people or restrict the power of women, but not so much when Jesus tells them to give away all their stuff to the poor?” p. 63

Countdown to Christmas

Countdown to Christmas 2025: “Thou Shalt LOVE, Not Hate” — Day Thirteen 12/13/25

Posted on December 13, 2025 by Neal Saye

An odd Advent Calendar, of sorts.

Today Fugelsang reminds us that “The God of the Bible consistently takes an unambiguously compassionate stance toward immigrants and strangers.

Jesus commands individuals and nations to welcome the stranger and warns they’ll be judged by how well they do it.

Cruelty to immigrants, while deeply popular today, violates those tedious woke themes of compassion, justice, and inclusivity in both Old and New Testaments.

And before our conservative friends get upset, I acknowledge that societies need to have restrictions on who can enter. I’m not calling for open borders or amnesty; that was Ronald Reagan. But people can support restrictions on immigration without weaponizing the Bible to smear refugees or asylum seekers as criminals.

Humans don’t need to hate or scapegoat immigrants, and Christ followers aren’t technically allowed to.” p. 165

Thank you, John Fugelsang. Very True!

Christmas Countdown 2023

Countdown to Christmas 2025: “Thou Shalt LOVE, Not Hate” — Day Twelve 12/12/25

Posted on December 12, 2025 by Neal Saye

An odd Advent Calendar, of sorts.

Fugelsang offers a bit of humor today, alongside a truthful point about anti-gay thought. He asks:

“Best of all, do the homophobes kiss each other whenever they meet?
Because they must, according to Romans 16:16. That’s where Paul instructs all real Christians to greet one another with a custom reflecting the familial nature of early Christian communities: ‘Greet one another with a holy kiss.’
The holy kiss was a greeting in many cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world, signifying peace, respect, and community.
For Paul, this must have been a very important custom of his time, because he writes about it much more than he writes about gay people.
So every Christian man who uses Romans to justify homophobia is biblically obliged to start kissing every Christian dude he knows, every time they meet.
Pucker up.” p. 133