I'm with Jesus

I was reading in the Bible last night (yes, Eric the heathen has converted to Christianity and as part of his faith has decided to read the Bible in its entirety) that Jesus said that it’s not what goes into your mouth that makes you dirty, but what comes out.  That’s a pretty danged good philosophy, if you ask me.  First, I like this idea because I think that one’s actions and words really define character.  Throughout history (and on a smaller scale throughout my life) the people who acted on their thoughts were the clearest and most well-defined people.  You can find thousands of examples of people who believed in something (right or wrong) and acted on it.  They lived their life by some code that came from deep within them. Some succeeded to great effect and others were killed by people acting on equally deep-seated but disagreeing beliefs.  Everyone who has ever made some massive change in the course of human development did so by acting on something they thought worth fighting for.  Granted, some of those who acted on such a drive were clearly misguided souls: Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin, Michael Jackson, etc.  But the thing to remember is that every wonderful machine, every fascinating literary masterpiece, every note of music (except pop “music”) and every work of fine art we created because someone was working on what they saw as the truth.  Michaelangelo, DaVinci, Monet, Rembrandt, Ansel Adams, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bill Gates, the creators of South Park...they have all taken to heart these words of Jesus’.  They realized the power that comes from within.

The subject came up when the right wing whackos of the time asked Jesus why he and his buddies didn’t properly wash in the accepted ritualistic way before eating.  Why is it that they would eat food that was considered unclean for some arcane reason?  “The body is a temple,” they said.  Jesus-the clever little man He was-seized the metaphor.  He had seen the corruption going on in the temples of the day and was known to oppose many things that were going on in society.  He took hold of their metaphor and used it as a way to point out their imperfections to them-yet again.  He said that it’s not what goes in but what comes out that’s important.  The food, the dirty hands...that stuff isn’t important in a spiritual sense.  What’s important is that one be true to oneself and be just in making decisions of good versus evil.  The message to the right wingers was that the temple is supposed to be an example of goodness, kindness, love and justness.  It is not the building that is holy, but the soul of the building (what the building stands for).
Then, there is the other, more important reason I like what Jesus was saying.  What he really meant is that there’s no reason NOT to eat junk food!  I no longer have to feel any pangs of guilt as I drop that fourth scoop of ice cream into my bowl!  

Thanks again, Jesus!