“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Unfortunately, the Hebrew of Leviticus 19:18 is ambiguous. With equal correctness, it can be translated as either

“Love your neighbor as you love yourself,” or

“Love your neighbor who is like you.”

The first way is how Christians normally think Jesus meant it.

The second way is how the Pharisees took it — love your neighbor who is clean, upstanding, and follows all the rules (the 613 commandments they say Torah sets forth).

I am impressed that given the example Jesus set by his words and actions,

Jesus' teaching about this verse may more accurately be expressed,

“Love your neighbor who is NOT like you.”

He reached out to the outcasts, the “sinners,” the lumpen.

Though it is common in teaching in our day to soften the blow by calling them more often “outcasts” than “sinners,” make no mistake: the lumpen are full of sin. And that, frankly, is why I think he went to them.

I have written a great deal about how these people busy themselves in destruction of wealth. Crime is rampant among them, as also is sexual immorality.

Related: “Easily breakable”

Related: “Naughty girls ISO the Kingdom”

So Jesus went among them, to model and teach an alternative, better approach to life.

The lumpen aren't the only ones who aren't like me.

“Normies” today swim in scandals and controversies. I have set myself the task of giving negativity no attention whatsoever, but rather to merely emanate love, light and goodwill toward everyone. This is little different from what my prayer became during the political strife of 2016: not to take sides in any way, but merely seek goodwill among all Americans, that they would honor each other regardless of differences in political stands.

There are those who have no mind to cooperate with any such goal.

The haters.

They fill up my FaceBook feed every day.

It is my task to love them, too.