Thursday, May 18
"It's all about sin, Drew."
A priest friend of mine summed up the ecclesial chaos of the 1970's: "It's all about sin, Drew. It's all about people justifying their behabior to themselves." The heresy, the sacriledge, the abandonment of religion.
That maxim came to mind just now--
"Rich DVC actor happy to believe anything that dilutes the moral challenge of Jesus--er, that Jesus was married."
"Why, I bet Jesus had 1 kid, a 3-car garage, and a little place along the Sea of Galilee to get away. Jesus was just like me--I'm just like Jesus!"
Then again, if I were making millions of dollars defaming Someone Who preached that the rich enter heaven like a camel passes the eye of a needle*... well, I'd want to dilute his prophetic witness, too.
Because, usually, when it comes to sacriledge and heresy... it's all about justifying sin.
* This is a parable where historical context is important, actually. I read an explanation that an "eye of the needle" was slang for small holes cut into the sides of city walls. In order for a camel to pass through an eye of the need, the owner would have to unburden the camel, removing all of the possessions it was carrying. The message thus becomes less one of hopelessness for the salvation of "the rich," but rather--continuous with other Gospel incidents--a command to give alms to an extreme of generosity, because... "you can't take it with you."
A priest friend of mine summed up the ecclesial chaos of the 1970's: "It's all about sin, Drew. It's all about people justifying their behabior to themselves." The heresy, the sacriledge, the abandonment of religion.
That maxim came to mind just now--
"Rich DVC actor happy to believe anything that dilutes the moral challenge of Jesus--er, that Jesus was married."
"Why, I bet Jesus had 1 kid, a 3-car garage, and a little place along the Sea of Galilee to get away. Jesus was just like me--I'm just like Jesus!"
Then again, if I were making millions of dollars defaming Someone Who preached that the rich enter heaven like a camel passes the eye of a needle*... well, I'd want to dilute his prophetic witness, too.
Because, usually, when it comes to sacriledge and heresy... it's all about justifying sin.
* This is a parable where historical context is important, actually. I read an explanation that an "eye of the needle" was slang for small holes cut into the sides of city walls. In order for a camel to pass through an eye of the need, the owner would have to unburden the camel, removing all of the possessions it was carrying. The message thus becomes less one of hopelessness for the salvation of "the rich," but rather--continuous with other Gospel incidents--a command to give alms to an extreme of generosity, because... "you can't take it with you."
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