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| from the Independent Baptist |
The culture of comfort, which makes us think only of ourselves, makes us insensitive to the cries of other people, makes us live in soap bubbles which, however lovely, are insubstantial; they offer a fleeting and empty illusion which results in indifference to others; indeed, it even leads to the globalization of indifference. In this globalized world, we have fallen into globalized indifference. We have become used to the suffering of others: it doesn’t affect me; it doesn’t concern me; it’s none of my business!
Today, and it breaks my heart to say it, finding a homeless person who has died of cold, is not news. Today, the news is scandals, that is news, but the many children who don't have food - that's not news. This is grave. We can't rest easy while things are this way. Pope Francis
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. ... We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future that is not our own. Oscar Romero
The link to an article entitled 'What is the most destructive sin in our churches today?' was posted on the Global Pastors LinkedIn group. In the opinion of its author, the most destructive sin in the church is gossip.
Those who responded had other sins in mind:
Peter Nagy • Just like it says...His people are destroyed by "lack of knowledge." If wisdom is the knowledge of God, then being ignorant of that wisdom is the sin of a lazy and indifferent attitude towards the things of God, which will be to one's ultimate detriment, right?
John Deacon • The most destructive sin in our churches today is our indifference to the poor, the homeless, the refugee, the single mother, the LBGT communities, those in prison and those advocating at great personal expense for justice and equality for all.
Peter Nagy • I have seen people from Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholics, Protestants, and Judaism be very generous and caring to single moms, the poor, homeless, and imprisoned.
But these various groups all preach, teach, and believe in a different Jesus, than what the other groups believe. The poor still got assistance in each case, but there is the question of "which" Jesus was served, and which Jesus was the real biblical one?
At least one or more of the above groups would have done proper biblical activities by helping the poor, but to which Jesus was the credit and honor given? If they can confidently accuse each other for serving a different Jesus, who will in reality be blessed for their efforts by the Lord, if they can each show how the other groups are basically considered cults?
That would mean at least one or more of the groups were doing good things, yet actually serving a different Jesus, wouldn't it?
John Deacon • Good points Peter!
But the question was: What is the most destructive sin in our churches?' Your response suggests the greatest sin in our churches is the lack of truth being taught. On that point - the point of orthodoxy - is a serious issue for all churches. But the greatest sin? No.
The greatest sin is as it has always been - our failure to love God and love our neighbour as ourselves. Jesus spoke of it as the basis for the Final Judgment. Do we love the least or no? Our love of God is only true if we love our neighbour.
One other point - which is linked to that incredible passage in Matthew 25:31-46. There is no religion which addresses the issue of poverty, care of refugees etc. as does Jesus. Jesus owns these issues. 'Welcome a refugee into your home,' he says, 'you're welcoming me.'
For God, the issues of hunger and abandonment are not extraneous to his Person.
There is no portrait of God anywhere else but in Christianity where God is homeless, a refugee, someone hungry, someone beaten, someone longing for justice, someone dying on a cross. That is the reproach of the gospel. What God becomes in order to rescue us.
Hence when we as Christians distance ourselves from those in need, we are in fact distancing ourselves from God himself. Hence, our greatest sin.
Peter Nagy • OkeeDokee, I get it. But what about the right act being done from each group, done to serve their respective God? Not all of them can be serving the true God of Scripture, can they?
The right thing done for the wrong reason, or to serve a God other than the specific one in the Bible, would be hay, wood, and stubble, wouldn't it?
John Deacon • I'm not sure I understand your question.
Are you suggesting that God only answers our prayers or rewards our kindness to others if we have our theology right? That's a terrifying prospect, given that even among the most orthodox of Christians, it is rare that when any 2 of us think of God we are thinking the same thing. Even if we are agreed as to his attributes, those attributes vary widely among us - some see only His love, others his wrath, others his mercy, others his holiness.
Are you as well suggesting that God only answers our prayers or commends our good works if our intentions are right? Again - woe is me if that is the case. Were I to wait for assurance that my motives were pure, I'd never do a damn thing to help anyone!
For me it's the reverse - so reverse that to some it will sound like salvation by good works.
Gravity works whether you believe in gravity or not. Gravity works regardless of whether you understands how it works.
So too with God. God works whether we believe him or not and He rewards whether our theology is right or not.
When God see someone helping another in need, he rewards that person. That reward may be in his drawing that person closer to a truer understanding of who God is; it may be in God's bringing peace to that individual's troubled household.
The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) who Jesus presents as one whose actions are worthy of 'eternal life' probably had the wrong theology assuming he believed as most Samaritans believed.
But what he did have right, and sufficiently right that Jesus tells his inquirer that' he is to go and do likewise' - is his demonstration of mercy.
Apply that to our time and what is Jesus telling us? That if a Muslim shows mercy to someone beaten on the side of the road and left for dead whereas two Christians walk by without caring, the two Christians will have denied the most basic tenet of what they believe thus meriting Christ's rebuke whereas the Muslim with all the wrong theology will merit Christ's praise.
Peter Nagy • Hasn't Christianity drawn the firm line in the sand, that unless someone believes in the Jesus of the Bible and what He did, they are not saved?
Even a Baal worshiper gave their children food, tried to give them medicine when they were sick, may have helped out a neighbor, and comforted someone when they fell. Will a Baal worshiper be blessed and honored by God for doing those basic acts of humanity?
John Deacon • In answer to your first point - there is no other name. (Acts 4:12) Jesus is both the Saviour and Judge.
But allowing that Jesus exercises the same latitude in drawing people to himself as the God of the Old Testament - see Luke 4: 24-28; Cornelius in Acts 10 is told that because of his 'prayers and gifts to the poor' he is to summon the Apostle Peter. In part his good works prepared Cornelius for receiving the gospel.
Thinking as well of Romans 2:10,11 we can't discount the possibility that for many people the first evidence of God's working in a person's life is their being drawn to people in need.
I have seen this repeatedly in my near 30 years of befriending homeless people and meeting the people who help them. I have also seen many Christians revived in their faith as the direct result of their engaging themselves with those in need, gradually shifting from what might be called a charity orientation to a justice one. I have discovered that sharing my faith with people of differing faiths (principally Muslim) has added weight when we are otherwise linked in the common cause of advocating for people without a voice (see Proverbs 31:8,9)
That's the great mystery and great beauty of Matthew 25:31-46 - Jesus isn't teaching salvation by works but he does illustrate that we make ourselves accessible to God's grace and mercy when we show mercy to others. Regardless of our theology.
In a strange way good doctrine and genuine faith is as much shaped by love of neighbour and good works as it is the reverse.
Jesus taught that it is the putting into practice what he taught that makes us the children of heaven, not merely our acceptance of some theological propositions about his divinity and our need for his intervention in our lives. And he also taught that there is no way we can love our brother and sister without our living in him. They are not mutually exclusive practices; indeed they as needful of one another grace is to truth.
Not sure this helps - but it is as close as I frame it.
Peter Nagy • That's all fine and well, but take mother Theresa for instance. She tended to countless people's needs and ailments, but throughout her life, taught nothing except Catholicism.
She did all the things in the physical world you list and more, but served other gods by praying to Miriam (her name was not Mary!) the mother of the Roman god. And she did nothing but lead people away from the true God of the Bible, and straight to condemnation.
Will people be surprised to see her burn in the lake of fire, if serving the god of Rome instead of the God of Israel is the criteria and a deciding factor on Judgment Day?
John Deacon • If your theology has you sending Mother Theresa to hell, then plainly our theologies are poles apart and there is little else worth discussing.
Though Protestant myself, I have drawn much inspiration for Christian activism in keeping with Isaiah 58 and Matthew 25:31-46 from people like Francis of Assisi, Mother Theresa, Jean Vanier, Dorothy Day, Henri Nouwen and other Catholic Christians. The current Pope's emphasis on the church becoming poor for the sake of the poor should resonate with all Christians.
If there is no room in heaven for them, then certainly there is no room for me.
If heaven is only as big as your theology it is a very tiny heaven indeed.
You need to get out more, engage with the hurting and the mentally challenged more, find what you have in common with people of diverse beliefs to ensure the walls you've built around Christianity aren't walls excluding Jesus himself. Given your passion for being right you don't want to be on the wrong side of 'Lord, Lord when did we see you hungry and not feed you? When did we see naked and not clothe you?'
Love covers a multitude of sins even the sins not getting our theology right, should that be the case with Mother Theresa. But getting our theology right at the expense of our not loving our poor neighbour covers no sins at all. We only end up condemning ourselves.
PS - You are selling Mother Theresa short if you think she lead people to someone other than Jesus. I’d encourage you to read Malcolm Muggeridge’s ‘Something Beautiful for God’ (see http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17437.Malcolm_Muggeridge )
Deacon Mike Chesley • Peter,Most of the comments ( if not all) you make on Catholicism are not rooted in historical fact or biblically correct. If you don't like Catholicism that's your choice, but if you choose not to like Catholicism, at least don't like it for the correct information, not distorted fundamentalism that cant stand that test of history.
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