"If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn to him the other one also." -- Luke 6:29

Topic: Religion

Source: Reading the Bible and journaling this past week in preparation for Easter Sunday.

Relation: Chapter four in our anthropology book discusses religion. It brings up questions, arguments, and practices about it.

Description: When I saw that religion was a topic to blog about, I decided to read my Bible every day for that week and take notes on it. I didn’t know where to start, but I wanted it to be in the New Testament since Easter was coming up. It was between the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I picked Luke because he was the most educated of the four gospel writers and also because he was the only gospel author who was a gentile; or a person who is not Jewish. His letters were to all the people, but mostly to gentiles like me. So I read and took notes on Chapter 4, 5, and 6. Each chapter had great information to follow. The one that impacted me most last week was chapter 6, when Luke talks about loving your enemies just as much as you love your brothers. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them.” (Luke 6:32)

Comment/Analysis: Even though I’ve read this passage before, it’s still hard for me to try and like people I don’t like. It’s hard for everyone to love and forgive those who have done terrible things to you. For example: when you’re waiting in line and someone just cuts you like they’re better than you. I just wanted to push the guy out of the way because I had already been waiting for a while and I had lots of things in my hands, and I was sick. I decided to let it go and not even say anything. He noticed he had cut me and said he was sorry. I decided that was enough first hand evidence for me and I decided to forgive all the people who had ever hurt me or my family right there in my life. I felt like the biggest weight had been lifted off me and for some reason I just kept smiling. It’s funny how things work. It started out as an assignment, turned into a study, and then reality. By forgiving the guy in line I forgave everyone else too and relieved myself of added stress that I didn’t need. Anthropology would view this as an interpretive drift (Robbins). I was drifting toward the practices of the Bible without even realizing it. And the words from Luke stuck with me. Even though all I did was take a couple notes on it.