John Lewis: Love, hate and Pope Gregory VII's exile

To The Daily Sun,

A long time ago, I graduated from university with a bachelor of arts (honors) in history. Some quotations stay with a person always. I've waited many years to use this one, and the time is ripe.

In the year 1085, Pope Gregory VII, an important church reforming figure, was exiled in Salerno, Italy, as a result of disputes with the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. Gregory died that year, and his epitaph on his sarcophagus reads his dying words "I have loved justice, and hated iniquity, therefore I die, in exile."

Iniquity is immoral or grossly unfair behavior. It includes the lust of the flesh, (I can do anything I want to women, grab them by the p...y) the lust of the eye, (Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein at the dance floor) and the pride of life. "Haughty eyes" is often used to describe pride. In the Bible, haughty eyes means looking down one's nose at others. It means people with exalted self-esteem glance at others with a look meaning "you are nothing but vermin". Ring a bell? Does not Trump have haughty eyes?

Christians have broad agreement of what constitutes sin. Violence, rage, greed, lust, lying and theft. Use these to checkmark Trump. Trump says "What you are seeing, and what you are hearing, is not happening". Is there a brainwashing machine at Mar-a-Lago, where many Republicans who previously uttered distain and contempt for Trump, emerge munching on his criminality?

"I am your retribution," said Trump. "Vengeance is mine," said the Lord. One last quote: On the Cross, Jesus said "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do". MAGA voters today, "What have they done?"

I stand with Gregory's epitaph.

John Lewis

Laconia