Mercy

Don't you like to put down others so that you will feel better about yourself?  Gossip is one way to do that.  I do it enough so that I must like it, or else why do it at all?  Now my religion is a great anecdote to this put down way of life.  One of the reasons for the put down is because we don't feel all that good about ourselves but don't seem to be getting better.  This can be somewhat of a downer, but we put down others and voila!  We feel better, at least for the moment.  Someone else is a bigger mess than we are.  My religion, however,  has Jesus and he is all about mercy.  I can be bad, and Jesus shows mercy, forgiveness and patience, at least so says the bible.  Why not enjoy that if you believe Jesus is God?  It seems there is an inconsistency, because a lot of Christians go on putting people down but say they believe in Jesus.  I find it such a solace to just sit and enjoy the mercy that meets my messy life of imperfection.  Then I do't have to put others down.  I then recognize, one, I am no better, and two, I am loved anyway.  You don't even have to love Jesus or love the people you put down.  You feel better and you do less damage in the gossip world of character assassination.