Prophets on profits

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." -1 Timothy 6:10

While I am not a literati of all aspects of the Bible, I can hold my own in a religious discussion. I can say with the utmost certainty that men like Moses and Jesus Christ would endorse Occupy Wall Street. After all, Moses is the original revolutionary against systemic oppression. Having led the Israelites out of Egypt with the help of God, I would certainly hope that if Moses were alive today, he'd be able to shed some insight as to how we can alleviate ourselves of the societal ills we face now. Jesus would encourage us to stay peaceful while standing up for what we believe in. I am not a Christian, but Jesus, in essence, was a cool guy. You could say that he was one of the original hippies. Though many have taken his message and interpreted the scriptures as a means of carrying out the hatred of God (Fred Phelps and The Westboro Baptist Church), most Christians who have love in their soul know that Jesus would never condemn anybody. A quote about casting the first stone comes to mind. Also, as the quote states above, Jesus would not have sold his soul for money by backstabbing coworkers while wearing a suit and a saccharine smile. WWJD? Certainly not endorse taxpayers to bail out corporations. That is for certain.

Having gone to Occupy Wall Street earlier this week, I saw a wide variety of people protesting. Though many of my beliefs stem from a socialistic mindset, I do not believe that organized religion is "the opiate of the masses." For starters, all the major religions share the same positive message in different words. We share a lot of the same traditions and structures. If you get past the dogma regarding certain rituals, know that you can fill the void in your soul with a healthy dose of inspiration from a holy text. Bibliomancy is a common practice in this regard. I recommend thinking about what you want to get out of your life through religion. Open up a holy book. Any one will do. When you crack open the book to a random page, look towards where either one of your thumbs are placed and read the scripture. Miraculously, you will get an answer you did not expect. But I digress.

Services have been held at Occupy Wall Street, because there are strong spiritual ties that the protesters have to one another and to their respective deities. Spirit links more than it divides. It is my belief that love will prevail amongst the chaos and the ruin. I still stand in solidarity and might make another trip down there soon.