Eye for an Eye Justice

Raoul’s Two Cents: March 27, 2026

Thoughts for Palm Sunday

If you don’t want to ponder, move on to the Jokes.

This Sunday is Palm Sunday and next Friday I will be quiet. No jokes next Friday because it is Good Friday (the day when Jesus was crucified on the cross) and it’s been our tradition (here in my emails) not to bring humor on such a sacred day. I hope you understand. And I hope you don’t mind that this edition will be more spiritual in context. If it bothers you, please move on to the jokes.

I’ve been doing research on the Ethiopian Bible and it’s fascinating. In a nutshell, the Ethiopian Bible has the same books as our regular Bible except that it has a few more books (about 15 more) that were tossed aside by the Bishops (during the Council of Nicea during the 3rd century). They doubted these other books were God-inspired and were not worthy to be among the collected scriptural books.

DANIEL

For example, the book of Daniel had an interesting additional Chapter 13 which was about Susanna, a beautiful woman who was lusted by two elders (ie. supposedly righteous men) who hid in the bushes as she bathed. They pounced on her and threatened to spread a scandal if they did not get their way. She chose the scandal instead of giving in. She prayed to God that justice would be served. The accusation spread as expected and the people were about to stone her to death but Daniel, a godly wise man, intervened and requested to interrogate the 2 elders. He separated the two and asked each of them under which tree they saw her having an affair. They gave different answers and that proved they were the ones guilty of fabricating a lie. And the elders were executed.

Cool story, huh? I wonder why they didn’t include that in the Bible.

There was another book about Adam and Eve that explained what they did after their fall from grace — how they wanted to get back to Paradise and how Satan tried to deceive them time and time again. The story reminded me of Greek mythology and, intriguing as the stories were, I think these were more fable than authentic.

DISCERMENT DILEMMA

Since time immemorial, we have been flooded with truth and fiction. It is understandable why people find it hard to believe the claims of scripture. Even now we have fake news. Yet truth has always existed between the chatter. Sometimes it’s just harder to find.

On the first Palm Sunday when Jesus rode a donkey inside Jerusalem, He fulfilled a series of unmistakable prophecies. Religious scholars either missed all the signs or denied they were taking place. Today we have an array of irrefutable archeological evidence that Jesus was/is the Messiah.

I asked Grok (the AI of X) about Jesus and it admitted that Jesus definitely existed:

“Jesus was real. His core ethical teachings contain profound, practical wisdom that has improved human life on balance – they reward curiosity about goodness, self-examination, and love over power. They align with a humanist impulse: treating people as ends, not means, and seeking truth beyond raw survival or greed.

Whether the full Christian story (divinity, atonement, eternal life) is literally true is a question of personal faith, evidence evaluation, and worldview. Billions find deep meaning and transformation in it. Others see it as beautiful myth carrying moral truth. I respect both. I’m here to explore the universe with honesty – historical, scientific, and philosophical – without dogma.

If the teachings resonate with you, they’re worth living by, whether you see Jesus as fully divine, a great moral teacher, or something in between.”

Good diplomatic answer, huh?

PERSONAL STORY

When I was searching for God/truth decades ago, a young pastor volunteered to spend time with me at his humble home every Monday at six o’clock. No question was off limits. I had so many questions — among them were: the existence of UFOs, yetis, evolution, déjà vu, the silliness of tithing, ghosts, stonehenge, etc. After months of me hammering and hoping to find a crack in his faith, I overheard his wife calling out to him to come to dinner (she didn’t know I was in the patio with her husband). I suddenly realized this patient little man had been skipping dinner with his family every Monday just to listen to my silly banter. I felt so small. I realized I wasn’t there to learn. I was there to ridicule his faith. Even though he was willing to continue our sessions, I told him that I wasn’t coming back to bother him. He left the door open.

Even though the logic made sense, I was a stubborn mule who didn’t want to accept anything to change my lifestyle. I continued to investigate this Christian counter-culture and, a few months later, I became a born-again Christian. In retrospect, it wasn’t the facts presented, but the changed lives I saw, that made me take the leap of faith. It’s been over 40 years and I have never regretted that leap. They say no one comes to faith except through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. If you really want to know, pray about it. May you be blessed beyond your wildest dream. Thank you for reading this far. If you have questions, let’s talk. I’ll skip my dinner for you.

Of course, this is just me. TGIF people!

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Quotes of the Week

“Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.” — Terry McAuliffe

“The lion and the calf shall lie down together but the calf won’t get much sleep.” — Woody Allen

“The great advantage about telling the truth is that nobody ever believes it.” — Dorothy L. Sayers

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” — Winston Churchill

“Half a truth is often a great lie.” — Benjamin Franklin

“The most common lie is that which one lies to himself; lying to others is relatively an exception.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“Sometimes the point isn’t to make people believe a lie – it’s to make people fear the liar.” — Anne Applebaum

“A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape.” — Proverbs 19:5

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” — John 14:6

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” — John 8:32

“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” — Revelations 21:8

Joke of the Week

Thanks to Norm of Encino, California.

Parting Shots

Thanks to James of Los Angeles, CA

Thanks to Barbara of Pasadena, CA

Thanks to Tom of Pasadena, CA

Thanks to Jennifer of Los Angeles, CA

Thanks to Fred of Long Beach, CA

Thanks to Norm of Encino, CA

Thanks to Art of Sierra Madre, CA

I found these:

Thank you Chuck for creating an icon that sprouted so many laughable memes. R.I.P.

My good friend (and jokester) Terry and I came up with these.

Got any good jokes? Come share it with rest of us!
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