Skepticism is a good thing. In the form of critical thinking, it helps us evaluate and moderate our willingness to believe what is false. It is an attitude of challenge. It demands proof. It can help lead our thinking toward wisdom.
However, in some cases, religious skeptics, whom I would even agree at times are reacting rightly to ill-considered religious extremism, can themselves overgeneralize and dismiss faith as harmful self-deception. Faith should never be dismissed, even if certain things remain unexplained.
Today's verse challenges the skeptic, or at least it should. To one who dismisses faith, even in part, as an imagined emotional salve that makes the believer feel better in some way, this verse and the passage from which it is drawn, Luke 6:27-36, must be confusing! In it, Jesus calls us to love our enemies in ways that go against our human nature.
Today, I will seek balance, confident in my faith and willing to question what is presented to me.
Saint Januarius, third century Bishop of Naples, whose relic reminds us that miracles do occur, pray for us.
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