Jesus said,
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You are like whitened sepulchres, which appear beautiful on the outside,
but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.
Even so, on the outside you appear righteous,
but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.
No one is to be feared more than one who speaks with absolute certainty.
I am wary of people who speak out of their power,
be it political, financial or even intellectual power.
Often, people with power think that might is right and that is an fearsome thought
that have driven people to war and violence against the weak.
People who act with absolute certainty often have no qualms of conscience.
I’d rather be beset with doubts, uncertainties, and even inconsistencies;
and act based on a reasonable certainty and leave everything else to God.
My faith tells me there is power outside myself that eschews violence and oppression
but would have us live in freedom and love.
But my faith is not an absolute certainty.
I work on it in “fear and trembling”.
I am often beset by “What ifs” even in the face
of all the beauty and affirmations around me.
I pray that I am not numbered among the “hypocrites”.