I needed to state that thesis up front. To discuss it, I have to cite instances of cruelty that will turn your stomach. If I started this column with them, you’d probably quit reading.

            Let’s start with Genghis Khan, who reputedly killed 40 million people in his 30-year reign. He executed one enemy by pouring molten silver into his eyes and ears.

            Which is probably characteristic of his time. A rival tyrant boiled captured generals alive. Victims may have been conscious for several hours as they cooked.

            Scottish explorer James Bruce became the first European to enter the mountain kingdom of Ethiopia. The emperor and his vizier entertained their visitor by putting out the eyes of a dozen slaves while they ate dinner.

            In his polemic against religion, The End of Faith, Sam Harris details the deliberate and calculated tortures of the Spanish Inquisition. Burning at the stake would come as relief to the Inquisition’s victims.

Yes, we too

            And consider the English phrase “hung, drawn, and quartered” – now casually used as a synonym for public humiliation. In the Middle Ages, the term was all too literal. Victims were first hung by the neck. Just before they suffocated, they were cut down, their bellies slashed open, and their entrails dragged out of their bodies and burned. Then they were ripped apart, into four pieces, by horses roped to each of their limbs.

            Are you throwing up yet?

            Christianity sanitized the cross, turning it into  a symbol of triumph. In reality, the cross was the personification of evil. It was the most cruel death the Roman Empire could devise – the victim naked, alone, the bones of wrists and ankles pulverized by great nails, struggling for each breath, dying of dehydration and sunburn….

            No modern nation would dare impose such punishments today. That’s a sign of progress.

Refrain from cruelty

            A variety of historic codes have denounced cruelty.

            Every great religion includes some form of the Golden Rule: treat others as you would want to be treated.

            Gandhi’s ahimsa, or rejection of violence, derives from Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions that go back centuries before Jesus. Ahimsa applies to all living beings, including animals.

            The Hippocratic Oath required abstention “from all intentional wrong-doing and harm” – commonly shortened to “Do no harm.”

            Although I endorse both those ideals, I can’t obey them. I do harm to carrots when I dig them. I do violence to trees when I cut them. If I discipline my children, I may do harm; if I don’t discipline them, I may also do harm.

            But I can always refrain from cruelty. I may have to injure another living entity – for food, for warmth, for self-protection -- but I don’t have to take pleasure in imposing suffering.

            Elvis Presley sang,  “Don’t be cruel…”

            Henry James, who often wrote labyrinthine sentences, put the message in positive terms. To a nephew, he condensed his wisdom into three simple rules: 1: Be kind. 2:Be kind. 3: Be kind.

            The path from barbarism to civility is measured by our refusal to practice cruelty.

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Copyright © 2020 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.

                  To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca

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YOUR TURN

Last week’s column emerged almost spontaneously, prompted by my own congregation’s use of the Wesley Covenant to mark the beginning of a new year. For some of you, I gather, the whole idea of a Covenant service was new.

            Anne McRae, for one, wrote, “I am old [92] and I had not heard that [prayer] before. Where have I been??? I especially liked the doggie paraphrase, certainly something to think about and live each day.

            “I thank God for all He has given me. God didn't tell us life would be easy He said He'd be with us and that's all we need.”

Bob Rollwagen explored the idea of covenant: “One wonders about contracts, promises, resolutions, and covenants. All I have seen recently is a focus on the meaning of each word, and how each reader brings personal understanding to the statement or prayer and this creates unexpected meaning or action that was not intended by the author.

            “An extreme example: Donald Trump’s oath of office. How would John Wesley interpret this covenant to a nation. Another would be how busy the Contract dispute courts are, with the status of marriage in current society.

            “Probably the strongest covenant is between a mother and her newly born child. It is unspoken, not written or read, just truly understood by its existence.”

I was a little nervous about paraphrasing Wesley’s Covenant Prayer from a dog’s perspective, but it seems to have been the most touching part of the column.

            Diana Cabott wrote, “I cried like a baby when I read your last paragraph...and then kissed my dog all over his head.....”

            And this from Libby Sheather: “I really related to your ‘new angle on an old prayer’ regarding a dog's devotion to its person and the person's reciprocal devotion to his/her dog. I had a wonderful dog years ago who fit this analogy perfectly.”

            And Thelma Arnott added, “Your use of the dog’s faithfulness helped see covenant through a new lens.  Brought tears to my eyes when I thought of what a beloved dog had given to me.  Hard to imagine a human person giving to such a measure.  O to be as faithful and giving as my dog.”

Isabel Gibson noted an underlying assumption: “It's often interesting to stand in a new place and see what we see from there. In this case, you offer two new places: modern language that we can't let slide off us, and another being's perspective.

            “Both, of course, presume a two-party model: That there is someone or something with which we can covenant; that we ourselves are singular enough to do so.”

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PSALM PARAPHRASE

This paraphrase of Psalm 40 suggests that evangelism is not something we do, but something we live.

1          I believed I could make it on my own.
But I slipped and fell. I sank into a morass of my own making.

2          The Holiness of Being heard my cry.
It lifted me out of the mire and set me safe on solid ground.

3          Like any addict who quits, I must talk about what has happened to me.
Like a robin at dawn, I must sing praises to the skies.
I will risk being a bore;
If just one person hears me, my work has not been wasted.

4          Too many today chase false gods;
They try to multiply their own gains.

5          But the richest returns come from God.
You can't begin to count your blessings!

6          God does not want us to wear frowns or long faces;
God wants us to find childlike joy in shining drops of dew,
in whispering pine needles, in warm mud between the toes.

7, 8      Our delight becomes one with God's;
Our personalities blend.

9          So I will not keep silent;
I will proclaim my good news privately and publicly.

10        I cannot keep it to myself.

For paraphrases of most of the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalms from Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.

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TECHNICAL STUFF

If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, jimt@quixotic.ca.

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                  I write a second column each Sunday called Sharp Edges, which tends to be somewhat more cutting about social and justice issues. To sign up for Sharp Edges, write to me directly, jimt@quixotic.ca, or send a note to sharpedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca

                  And for those of you who like poetry, please check my webpage .https://quixotic.ca/My-Poetry I posted some new poetic works there a few weeks ago.  If you’d like to receive notifications about new poems, write me at jimt@quixotic.ca,  or subscribe yourself to the list by sending a blank email (no message) to poetry-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca (If it doesn’t work, please let me know.)

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PROMOTION STUFF

To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols. Some spam filters have blocked my posts because they’re suspicious of some of the web links.

                  Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca He’s also relatively inexpensive!

                  I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom. She also has lots of beautiful photos. Especially of birds.

                  Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom (NB that’s “watso” not “watson”)

ALVA WOOD’S ARCHIVE

                  I have acquired (don’t ask how) the complete archive of the late Alva Wood’s collection of satiric and sometimes wildly funny columns about a mythical village’s misadventures. I’ve put them on my website: http://quixotic.ca/Alva-Wood-Archive. You’re welcome to browse. No charge. (Although maybe if I charged a fee, more people would find the archive worth visiting.)