Ban the Story of the Good Samaritan!
It really angers me when my faith is used to promote gun violence.
In our recent daily American mass shooting in Indiana, another young white male armed better than a Marine in Kandahar, shot a bunch of innocent people with a weapon of war. In this case, another young male shot him.
Immediately, the media began describing the shooter who shot the shooter as a "Good Samaritan".
Even if you are not Christian, you probably know the story of the Good Samaritan. See, a traveler was was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
The Good Samaritan didn't see the guy by the side of the road and pull out his sword, chase after the robbers and kill them.
See, the Good Samaritan is a story about compassion and care, NOT vengeance and killing. It's also a pretty good example of what the right might call "Critical Race Theory", because Jesus uses it a an example to show the Jews that their bias against Samaritans was disgusting and wrong.
You can't understand the Good Samaritan story without understanding the context.
So who were the Samaritans of the Bible?
Well, the Jews called them "half-breeds". The Samaritans built their own temple which the Jews considered pagan. The feud grew, and by the time of Christ, the Jews hated the Samaritans so much they crossed the Jordan river rather than travel through Samaria.
The story was not about vengeance and justice, it was Jesus' way of showing who was a true follower of God. It was a Samaritan that showed what was meant by "love your neighbor as thyself". That was the point of the parable.
Yes, the Good Samaritan helped a stranger in need, but that is NOT the message the story is meant to tell.
A priest and a Levite purposefully avoided helping the man, but the Samaritan, the one the Jews considered a half-breed and a pagan, helped.
Calling the shooters shooter a "Good Samaritan" is bastardizing the true meaning of the story.
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