"Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel" nghĩa là gì?

*It is the very nature of government to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Congress is run by lawyers. Did you ever ask a lawyer the time of day? He told you how to make a watch, didn’t he?

I find the preponderance (sự trội/ưu thế hơn) of folk still bound by religion are obtuse (trì độn, chậm hiểu) to coloring outside the lines. They, as Jesus was recorded saying, “strain at a gnat and swallow a camel” while following their rules. When it comes to their own lives, they are full of grace and blindness. When they look at those they think color outside the lines, they are repugnant (chống lại, mâu thuẫn) toward them. These drawn lines are so deeply etched as a part of their faith that they cannot escape, neither do they allow others to. The pharisees of old would talk of love and the greatness of God but never dine on anything God served outside of their paradigm (thế giới quan, niệm giới).

Paradoxically (nghịch lý), though, Johnson was helped by the Christian ethics his paganism repudiates (phản đối ngoại giáo). Aversion to the hypocrisy evident in the gulf between the promise to let voters decide and the refusal, from an inward conviction of superiority (sự ưu việt, cao hơn), to accept their answer has deep Christian roots. Christ, in his great denunciation (sự lên án, tố giác) of Pharisee hypocrisy (đạo đức giả) in Matthew 23, cast judgement on those who “say, and do not” and “strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel”, blind to the gulf between an outward demonstration of righteousness and an inner absence of mercy. Since caring about the possible moral distinctions between available actions requires a care and rectitude (tính chính trực, thái độ đúng đắn) Johnson seems to see as pointless and life-negating, he is not unhindered (tự do, không bị cản trở), but dependent on, that which is largely alien (trái ngược với) to him.

Bài trước: "Strike at the heart of" nghĩa là gì?