Let's see, it's shabbot, I'm sitting in my hotel room in Chengdu and that provides the perfect opportunity to let my mind wander over past events. The beauty of a fertile mind is that although we may physically not be able to move through time, we certainly can let our imaginations travel back to see what was. To relive the lives of my ancestors and share the emotions and awe that they must have felt each time they walked into the Holy of Holies. One day a year but that one day would have left a lasting impression.

History has often portrayed the Samaritans as the half-breeds of Northern Israel, contaminated by Molech and Baal worship and bent on the destruction of their more pure brothers to the south living in Judea. Whereas God had abandoned the Samaritan, scripture claims he still loved the Jews of the Southern Kingdom. But these accounts of kings and prophets were kept by the Judeans themselves. What if it wasn't completely accurate? What if the evil-Samaritans weren't evil at all, merely the hapless victims of being history's losers.

His was a warning that to follow blindly is the greatest sin of all because it will do exactly the opposite what it claims it was designed to do. The preaching will be “Do not lead us unto evil” yet the outcome for any religion where it demands blind obedience, advises not to question its teachings or origins, and both assails and condemns any opinion that it deems contrary will do exactly that; it will lead you unto evil! The heritage of Christianity has been the eradication of any opinion that those in power deemed contrary. Silencing the heretics was the norm for hundreds of years.