Abby to God:
Dear God, thank You. Your answer is all that I need! Now I must remember it. I learn slowly, but once I learn something I never forget it. Understanding of You will come to me in time.
God to Abby:
It is not understanding of Me, Abby. It is acceptance of Me that will come to you in time. Trust in Me. Faith in Me. Acceptance of My love for you.
Abby to God:
Dear God, I was just reading a passage in the Bible that said something about how when someone refuses to listen to You on a matter of what is right, you should "treat him as you would a pagan or tax collector."
I'm not sure what this means exactly. I get the impression that pagans and tax collectors are both supposed to be sinful in some way, but I found it extremely amusing! I actually laughed out loud when I read it.
It reminded me of the scene from the movie, "Life is Beautiful", when the father tells his son who asks about the signs people have put up that say 'no Jews or dogs allowed' that they will put up a sign in their store that says 'no spiders or Visigoths allowed'. To me, a pagan is merely a person, and so is a tax collector. Why treat them differently from anyone else?
What exactly was meant by that?
God to Abby:
When do I order that someone listen to Me? And when do I say, This is always absolutely right, and that is absolutely never right? And when do I say, This man is better than another?
If it's control, it is not from Me.
In the context, pagans and tax collectors are considered pretty low, so according to the translation, you must treat someone who does not listen to what you consider right at the time as other than you, less than you.
If a person is of a strong religious-bent, then someone who is less religious or of a different religious-bent, may be called by a name, pagan. There has to be a name for it. Even the word itself sounds like it's not nice, so if you want to be nice, you must fit into an accepted belief-system or you will be a lesser being called a pagan.
Can you imagine My calling anyone a pagan?
I do not sort out My children at all.
As for tax collectors, people who collect taxes do exist, although that is not who they are. They are called tax collectors. Most of the population are not tax collectors. Tax collectors are in a minority. Most of the population does not like to have to pay taxes. Who would think much of tax collectors? In today's time, it is not the individual tax collector who is disdained but the body of tax-collecting itself called the IRS.
In the times the Bible was written, part of being a tax-collector was often preying on people and exhorting from them. Many people who are in positions of control tend to do this. All controlling mechanisms try to force what they think is right. They are like magnets that want to pick up all the metal pieces and add them to their side.
Now, words are used to make a point. And so the general meaning of pagan and tax collector was well-understood. The world uses the words it has to say what it wants.
Your comparison of the spiders and Visigoths is apt. That's about as much sense as any separating My children can make!
Now if I believed in pagans and tax collectors as less than those who call them by those names, I would say: Treat them as innocent children. Treat them as little lambs.
Of course, I do not consider children or lambs less. I consider innocent more. And the truth is: You are all My innocent children. Some of you bluff your way through life more convincingly than others, but you are all innocent in your seeking.
Getting back to the original quotation, the point to remember is that the idea was to lead My children to Me.
The way to lead is to invite. Not command. Invite, not denounce. Invite, not discourage. Invite, not dishonor.
When you invite someone over to your house, how do you do it?
All of My children are guests on earth. All of My children on earth accepted that invitation. And all will accept My invitation to Heaven. No one has to be forced to it or condemned for taking longer than another or for finding their own road to Me.
My children are not pagans. They are forgetters. Those who hold to being better than another are also forgetters.
I invite you all to remember Me. To remember Who-You-Are and remember where you come from and where you go and where you are, for you are already with Me.
There is another possible interpretation of this passage. It could have meant: Leave those who do not agree with you alone. Don't bother them any more than you would bother a pagan or tax collector.
You understand that interpreting the Bible can be like interpreting dreams. It is not so much the end interpretation that matters, but more of what the act of interpreting does for you, what it makes you look at, what you discover about yourself, for everything that you study is study of yourself. We could say that passages in the Bible are passages within yourself, expanses and alleys within you. Touching a particular page in this rich book touches a section of you. We could say that the Bible is an index of themes for self-discovery, an agenda for your search for Me, points of life to be discussed and thought of, reminders of what you are about.