Jeff Dietrich felt compelled to quote a verse from the Gospel of Matthew to cast the Occupy Movement in a positive, even a holy, light.
In my opinion, I cannot think of a greater abuse of scripture than attempting to contort the gospel message of individual salvation by faith into a mantra justifying the corporate disrespect of today's youth for the civic community and the political process.
Civil disobedience that ends in disrupting commerce, frustrates merchants, and denigrates a public forum that belongs, well…to the public — is unacceptable, dissolute, and unscriptural.
I am appalled at the blatant misappropriation and misuse of scripture, especially to justify the miscreant massive demonstrations that have throttled our nation from New York to Los Angeles.
I also understand that " the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." (Matthew 11:12) However, I do not see the value of harassing the average Joe who is willing to work, as if depriving him of his daily bread will bring anyone of us closer to the Kingdom ourselves.
Dietrich forgot to mention that "The Kingdom of Heaven of is within each of us, not somewhere out there. Nor can it be achieved through collective bullying of the public in the public square.
Too bad that volunteer civil disobedient Jeff Dietrich failed to acknowledge that for Jesus Christ, become as a child is a full, complete, and uninhibited dependence on God the Father, not throwing a violent, deviant, en masse temper tantrum in the middle of Downtown Los Angeles.
Instead of misquoting scripture, Jeff Dietrich should have quoted something from "The Lord of the Flies", a more apt comparison of a sinister dystopia of youth that breeds terror and destruction, as opposed to respect for the rights of others and responsibility of self.
"We are going to have FUN on this island."
Followed perhaps by:
"Kill the Beast! Spill her blood! Bash her in!"
The youth of Occupy Everywhere are more like the spoiled savages from a prep school who have broken free of the trappings of religiosity that had no effect on them to begin with.