Matthew 6:16

"When you fast, do not look gloomy..."

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Perfect

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Today, I was struck by the fact that the word "he" when referring to Jesus is not capitalized in the Douay Rheims version of scripture.   I looked it up, and neither does the New American Bible, or the New International Version capitalize pronouns when referring to Jesus.  The same is true for the English Standard Version, and the King James version of the Bible.  So if the Bible itself doesn't capitalize the pronoun "he" when referring to Jesus unless the word begins the sentence, why do I?   Is it my own stubbornness?  Pride?   Do I think I somehow have more respect for Jesus than the translator's of scripture? Or is it an honest mistake?  I guess the answer lies in how hard it will be for me to change my grammatical habits.
Anyways...
The main gist of the passages I read today was to not flirt with evil, and to be so good as to be far far away from it.  "Be perfect as also thy heavenly Father is perfect."  That IS a tall order!  It also helps put in perspective whether something seemingly mundane, such as watching Family Guy (yes, I watch this show a couple times a week, even though I know that many of my fellow Christians find it offensive, and honestly, so do I sometimes...) , is a sin.   While I can't see how it is disobedient to the ten commandments, I can see how it strays far away from being perfect.
Jesus describes many situations were he states that he expects his followers to go above and beyond.   He wants more from us than a debate over how close we can get to sin before we actually sin.  He wants us to be so far away from it that we are perfect.
I'm not suggesting it is possible for us to be perfect.   I am suggesting that Jesus wants us as far from sin as possible, and not skirting the line.

1 comment:

  1. I always capitalize the "H" in He, also. I've never really thought about different versions of the Bible not capitalizing it. I just look at it as a show of love and respect and putting Him above all other hims.

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