Life of Christ 116
Note: This is the seventh in an eight part mini-series on the errors of the Pharisees.
The sixth error with
which Christ reproaches the Pharisees is murder. 'Woe unto you! for ye build
the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear
witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them,
and ye build their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will
send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and
persecute: That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the
foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; From the blood of
Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the
temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation' (Luke
11.47-51).
Facebook page advocating beheading anyone who insults Islam, June 28, 2013 |
I have little doubt that
any Christian reading along would agree with this. Thus, I am more concerned
to address to you what produces this, to discover the underlying causes which
produce, years down the line, a system which murders people in order to
perpetuate itself. If we can realistically spot such causes we can identify,
beforehand, which systems are already rotten.
A religion that is bold
enough to kill in the name of its god is one which is dogmatically convinced
that it alone is right. But it has to be more than that surely. The leaders of
that religion have to be convinced that only their interpretation of the divine
is accurate. Such a rigidness produces a black and white world, not ethnically
but morally, in which there are no shades of gray. I do not mean about the big
issues. I mean about all issues. Thus it is that a difference of opinion about
any matter, ever so slight though it may be, becomes interpreted as an attack
on the authority and veracity of that human leader, and thus of the very
religion itself. Ergo, it becomes my sacred religious duty to my god to
exterminate any heretical belief by assassinating the proponent of said belief.
For instance, take the
Roman Catholic doctrine of papal infallibility, for instance. Such a position
holds that not only is the Roman church the only correct church, but that its
human leader is right about absolutely everything he formally says and does in relation to the Church. It is true
that this doctrine was not officially established until the First Vatican
Council in 1870, but you can find specific historical support for it all the
way back in 1087. Thus it was that the Roman church had the supposed authority
to slaughter thousands of religious nonconformists during the Dark Ages.
But let us back up even
further, for again, I do not believe that any of the Christians who would read
my blog would believe in the infallibility of any of their religious leaders.
What is it that brings men to believe they are right about everything? Well,
the answer to that is pride, of course, indisputably. What reveals that condition, a pride
caused internal infallibility, to the outside world? I think it is this – a
refusal to be questioned.
If you're still
following me then let me say it plainly: a religious system that is led by a
person who refuses to be questioned has already within it the seeds of its own
rotten destruction. Now with that statement I think I've finally backed this
error of the Pharisees up to the place where we can see hints of it in our own
religious world, and I do not think I have strained at a gnat and swallowed a
camel to do so.
Have you ever known a
preacher who refused to be questioned? Have you ever known a preacher who
believed he was right about everything? Have you ever known a preacher who
believed that the only possible correct interpretation of Scripture was his
own? You're thinking of somebody right now, aren't you? And it didn't end well,
did it? No, of course not, because such an arrogant attitude is not only
unscriptural, but additionally carries within itself the seeds of its own
systemic destruction.
Although there was
vigorous debate within the pharisaic structure it was a veritable monolith when
compared with the differences Jesus Christ had with it. And it refused to admit
its error about anything. No matter what Jesus brought up the Pharisees
insisted their interpretation was right and Jesus' was wrong. There was in them
not a hint, not an iota, of humility and grace. The proof of this, and the
ultimate proof of the rottenness of their system, was the blood of Christ
running in rivulets down the old rugged cross.
Beloved, let us hold the
truth firmly, but let us do so in charity. Let us argue the rightness of our positions
unashamedly, but let us do so with grace. We are not right about everything. Let
us view no mortal man as infallible, or as an oracle of God. Let us not shrink
from questions but rather let us welcome them. After all, if we have the truth,
it can stand a vigorous examination in the full light of day. And if we don't,
well, then we need to know that too.
No comments:
Post a Comment