MATHETΩN

I have thought of what may be a simple way to demonstrate what I have maintained for years, that Christians of all people do not have a sense, or are prevented from having a sense, of right and wrong, of good and bad. My wife found on a Christian young persons’ forum a thread titled something like “Is to Be Rich a Sin?” I won’t talk about the immorality inherent in the question: its dishonesty — “Can I get away with this?” — or its cowardice — “What punishment must I fear?” Instead, I will offer this trivial thought-exercise:

If I had posted a thread in this forum titled “Is to Be Rich a Good?”, Christians would reply — at least imply — “Do you mean is to be rich biblical?” I would say no. “Then do you mean to ask if to be rich is not a sin?” Again I would say no. “But what is good or bad is a matter of sin.” There could be no further discourse unless my demand that good be judged as good were ignored.

Since there is no Christian concept of good and bad per se, thus they of all people cannot tell what is good or bad.

Early in his History of the World, J.M. Roberts remarks that Modernism has made it impossible for the intelligent man to be a Christian. It is a rather silly remark in a very silly book — however, truly that was Modernism’s main goal and largely they won it. I mentioned it to my friend the Slave. Said he:

“A goal of our school of thought, so far as we can yet be said to have one, is finally to make it impossible for the good man to be a Christian.”

I’m reading such a difference from Christianity now in the ca. A.D. 600 The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Here are some examples:

1.

“God is the life in all free beings. He is the salvation of believers or unbelievers, of the just or the unjust, of monks or those living in the world, of the educated or the illiterate, of the healthy or the sick, of the young or the very old. He is like the outpouring of light, the glimpse of the sun, or the changes of the weather, which are the same for everyone without exception. ‘For God is no respecter of persons.’ “

I can hear the snort with which a Christian now would greet this description — a Christian used to hearing and saying “ethics aren’t situational”, “but those people worship a different God”, “God bless America.”

2.

“Do whatever good you may. Speak evil of no one. Rob no one. Tell no lie. Despise no one. Show compassion to the needy. Be satisfied with what your own wives can provide you. If you do all this, you will not be far from the Kingdom of heaven.”

Contrast this with “Accept Jesus as your Lordnsavior; do it today!”

3.

“The true teacher is one who has received directly from heaven the tablet of spiritual knowledge inscribed by God’s own finger, that is, by the active working of illumination. Such a one has no need of other books. … Do you imagine that plain words can describe the love of God? Do you imagine that talk of such matters would mean anything to someone who had not experienced it? If you think so, then you are like a man who with words tries to convey the sweetness of honey to people who have never tasted it.”

To which a Christian now would shout, as he shouts at everything either soulful or intellectual: “The Bible is the repository of knowledge!”

4.

I can’t think how often I’ve heard Christians bemoaning their prayers: “I ask for thus-and-so and He does not give it”; “I desire that this-or-that be removed and He does not remove it.” Instead:

“Prayer is the mother, and then the daughter, of tears. Prayer is an expiation of sin, a bridge across temptation, a bulwark against [later doing others harm]. Prayer wipes out conflict. It is the work of angels and the nourishment of everything spiritual.”

I think I am learning that a good man must also be a practically good man.