Index 
Morality (ON) Email to Mark Wilkerson: NGRAMS
(J) Sermon on the Mount: first paraphrase of Matthew: 5 – 7, a deconstruction ala Derrida (final version: Sermon on the Mount)
| Verse | Paraphrase |
| Chapter 5 | |
| 5:1-11 | Come one, come all, everyone is blessed, even the poor and meek |
| 5:12-16 | Be happy, you can, and it will show |
| 5:17-18 | Destiny (the Law) WILL prevail |
| 5:19-20 | Heaven likes obeying the law with joy, but not the Pharisees |
| 5:21 | It was said of old, “Do not kill” but I say |
| 5:22 | Uncaused anger is as bad: Racca is in danger of Caesar, Respect everyone’s intelligence, i.e. those saying someone else is a “fool shall be in danger of hell fire” |
| 5:23-24 | Ask the person you wrong for forgiveness, not the gods, THEN ask the gods, after you have attempted reconciliation in your heart |
| 5:25 | Feign agreement with Caesar, if necessary, and with those you disagree with for they can call upon Caesar to punish you, so avoid that unnecessary travail |
| 5:26 | And Caesar WILL extract his due. |
| 5:27 | It was said of old, “Don’t commit adultery” but I say |
| 5:28 | Lusting for another IS adultery |
| 5:29-30 | “If the right eye offend thee, pluck it out.” IF you lust AND think it is bad, get rid of it in yourself (implications: “don’t worry about the adultery of others; plus IF you don’t think adultery is bad, well, OK. But I think Jesus point here is that we ALL lust, if not most. So many of those calling for punishment of adulterous behavior are hypocrites. Look to yourself for your relationship with God and sin, don’t worry about others; Caesar will do enough of that for you. |
| 5:31 | t has been said, “Get a divorce is you leave your wife” but I say |
| 5:32 | If you leave your wife, you cause her to commit adultery (to lust, remember we all do), and whoever marries her also commits adultery. So, lighten up. If you want to stop adultery, stay with your wife. |
| 5:33 | It has been said, “Keep your promises”, especially to God, but I say |
| 5:34-36 | Don’t promise anything to anyone |
| 5:37 | Because saying more than “Yes” or “No” just causes problems, coming from evil within you |
| 5:38 | You have heard it said, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” but I say |
| 5:39-42 | “Turn the other cheek”; give to those who steal from you; do what others require with joy; give to those who ask. |
| 5:43 | You have heard it said, “Love your neighbor, hate your enemy” but I say |
| 5:44 | “love your enemy”, love everybody, even those who wrong you |
| 5:45 | For God makes “the sun rise on the evil as well as the good and the rain to fall on the just and unjust”. This is one place where Jesus makes no distinction between good and evil, implying they don’t exist, or at least it’s “all good” as it is, as God made it. The other is “heaven is not divided”. |
| 5:46-47 | Even “publicans” praise their friends and brethren, what reward is there in that? |
| 5:48 | “Be ye therefore perfect” This is where Jesus says, I think, “we” can “have it all right now, right here”; heaven on earth; as God is in heaven; as God created Earth; as EVERYTHING is. “Step onto the golden platter” of not judging everything as good or evil, better or worse. It’s possible, “Just DO it” as the sport’s ad says. |
| Chapter 6 | |
| 6:1 | Don’t show off your piety for others (give alms). God knows; that’s enough. |
| 6:2-4 | Don’t be as the hypocrites who show off in church and public to gain others’ favor and glory. |
| 6:5 | Don’t pray as the hypocrites who show off their piety by prayers in church and public |
| 6:6 | Pray in your “closet”, in private. God knows. |
| 6:7 | Don’t chant repetitious prayers. Don’t ask in prayer for God know what you need before you ask |
| 6:8-13 | Example prayer: The Lord’s Prayer, now chanted at every church service. The example became the chant warned about. I suspect these verses were “added”, because they “ask”, no “demand” (imperative mood) that God do things (give us our daily bread, forgive us), which in verse 7 he admonished against. |
| 6:14-15 | If we forgive others, God forgives us; if not, not. |
| 6:16-18 | Again, don’t be as “sad” hypocrites using fasting to advertise piety, fast in joy, privately with God |
| 6:19-20 | Don’t pursue wealth, it rots and can be stolen, instead accumulate “treasures in heaven. |
| 6:21 | Your “treasure” is where your heart is; look to yourself |
| 6:22 | “If thine eye be single” you are full of light |
| 6:23 | “If thine eye be evil” you are full of darkness |
| 6:22-23 | This pair, “single” vrs “evil” again to me indicates the “evil” is seeing “evil” which is not there; this also sets up the next verse. |
| 6:24 | “No man can serve two masters” serve both good and evil. You cannot serve God and “mammon”. You can’t have it both ways. It’s up to you. |
| 6:25 | So take no thought of “things”, God will provide what you need. |
| 6:26 | For example, the birds do not sow or reap, but God feeds them just the same. Are you not better than the birds. |
| 6:27 | “Which of you can by thought add one cm to his stature?” Thought can’t change the material world. |
| 6:28-30 | Another example: “the lilies of the field” don’t work but are as beautiful as Solomon arrayed in his finest attire. So if you question God’s provisions, you have little faith. “Oh ye of little faith?” |
| 6:31-32 | So don’t worry about food, drink, or clothing (or any other material things). God knows your needs. |
| 6:33 | Pursue God and all your material needs will be met. |
| 6:34 | So don’t worry about tomorrow, it will take care of itself. Then a tongue-in-cheek joke, I think. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” |
| Chapter 7 (added August 30, 2016) | |
| 7:1-2 | “Judge not lest ye be so judged” IF-THEN statement: “Measure for Measure” of thought (judgement) |
| 7:3-4 | Eye “motes” and “beams”; judge not others, but judge yourself by the same standards, again an IF-THEN construction, put as questions? |
| 7:5 | Hypocrites: first apply “your” standards to yourself, then maybe you will better be able to (see with your own beam) apply them to others |
| 7:6 | Don’t cast “Pearls before Swine” lest the swine turn and trample you (again an IF-THEN, just know what to expect, and don’t complain when it happens, IF they turn on you) |
| 7:7-8 | “Seek and you will find, knock and the door will open” |
| 7:9-10 | “Give a son a stone, when he asks for bread”, lay more burden on (anyone?) who asks for help, again, and IF-THEN put as a question, perhaps somewhat rhetorical, but nonetheless leaving the question unanswered, implying the possibility, at least, of conflicting answers, e.g. some men may give a stone when asked for bread, perhaps justifiably for a “moocher” son. |
| 7:11 | All you need to do is “ask God for the “gifts” and they will be given. IF you, evil as you are from above, perhaps, give “good” gifts to your children? Then God, as a good father, will give gift to all who ask. |
| 7:12 | The Golden Rule: “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” |
| 7:13 | Most will choose the wide, broad path to destruction |
| 7:14 | Few will find the straight, narrow path to life (I think he means right now, during life, here and now. The path is “judge not”, neither good nor evil, accept “God’s gift of “life” and smile, smile, smile, as the song says where “Pinkie” is Jesus and the smile is in your closet. |
| 7:15-16 | You can tell by peoples’ actions. Beware of false prophets, wolves in sheep clothing. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Rhetorical, the obvious answer is “No”, they gather grapes from vines and figs from palms. |
| 7:17-19 | Good trees bear good fruit, bad trees do not, nor can they help but be so. The bad trees are weeded out and burned to kill the disease and allow the good trees to flourish (an orchard, olive grove, vineyard, fig grove reference I assume, husbanded crops) |
| 7:20 | Repeat” You can tell by peoples’ actions |
| 7:21 | Saying “Lord, Lord, I believe” won’t get you into heaven, but living by God’s will as discussed throughout this sermon, will. (Note: saying “Lord, Lord, I believe” doesn’t preclude the ticket either) |
| 7:22 | Many who say they followed my advice and in my name have prophesized (Revelations), cast out devils and done much good in the world (the Church) |
| 7:23 | I say; “liars” – “get away from me you workers of iniquity” (This supports my contention that people who want to “better” the world, only make it worse or, at best, don’t change it at all, they only bring hate (iniquity) of the things that are in the way of betterment, of “progress”. As this sermon asks, “Why?” It is just Great as it is, as God made it. If you curse God, God will curse your life with the same judgements you curse “things” with. If you thank God for life, I would add awareness, and smile, you’ve discovered heaven on earth. |
| 7:24-25 | If you understand my meaning in this sermon, you are wise and built your intellectual house on solid rock that can withstand the vicissitudes of time. |
| 7:26-27 | If you don’t, you are a fool (despite verse 5:22), and your “house” is as built on sand, unstable, drifting with the whim of community – so sad (“great was the fall of it”) |
| 7:28 | And the people were astonished (still are, always have been. It seems we have always ignored the advice contained in this sermon. Machiavelli is preferred, at both personal and national levels. |