Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven
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| Sunny Days in Heaven Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven |
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Saturday, April 27, 2002 Question the Premise Jimmy Tomato at Louder Fenn (link on the right) "I do not believe that churches should be splintered -- I believe that church should be unifying, on many levels -- therefore, I believe that we should seek the universal -- one of those universals is music." Putting the discussion on music in church to rest, Jimmy says this in passing which is worth a look or two at. The assertion of Jimmy's is one I first made as a Christian, too. Perhaps, it's also inherent in Catholics (universalists, after all) to believe this idea of one church, one creed, one authority, one Body since after all, there is only one God (sort of sub-divided, but that's another story). People who might gag at the thought of One world, one government, one police force have no problem of endorsing the same for our religion. The problem is that the idea is based on a false premise - that oneness in things of faith is unity and therefore good. After all, Jesus did say, "May they be one as we are One...may they be so perfected in unity..." We'll set aside the question of whether Jesus ever said such a thing since it only matters that people believe he said such a thing. Anybody who believes that Jesus is God is certainly One with anyone else who believes the same and they are in perfect unity. After that, any other demand must be purely a matter of opinion, not belief or faith. One group or person interprets Scripture thus and there is then division. It is inevitable. It is impossible for people to think exactly alike about all of Reality in this world. To hope for it or insist on it is at best naive, at worst tyrannical. There is also the dimension of insisting that one cannot be happy until everyone agrees with one; that the problem is other people and their intractable notions. If only everyone else would only submit as I have! the believer insists. This is true in heaven, not earth; and any attempt to create heaven on Earth is a basically evil and hopeless plan. Yes, Jimmy, there is unity and lack of division in Heaven, but there is also no church, no sacraments, no mass, no priests, no dogmas, doctrines, creeds, or confessions. That you should want everyone to share in these things on Earth says a great deal more about your will than God's will; more about your insecurity and concept of power than about God's liberality, freedom, and tolerance. Just imagine how unbearably horrible it would be to have a single, mighty, universal, and absolute church on Earth which all Christians adhered to. Can you begin to imagine the monstrous evil it would perpetrate? Far better it is for the Body of Christ to be divided into thousands of small groups who can do so much less harm in His name. Or do you think that some Central Church of All would be inclined to less sin and fallen behavior when all history illustrates the opposite? Do you not recall the Inquisition? Demand for conformity of belief is one of the worst things a Christian could ask for on Earth. If you want a better example, look at Islam now (and even that has major divisions in it of very small, but violent differences of belief [Sunni, Shi'ite, Sufi splits] and nations). Remember the iota of difference in the Schism of East and West? No, if people are not going to come together over their essential agreement as Christians, then it is far better we should separate in thousands of groups which simply must tolerate each other. posted by Mark Butterworth | 1:32 AM | |
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