Good Intentions By Joshua Evers
Reading through the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation by The Venerable Bede has given me impressions of Christianity and society's relationship to it. Christianity is at the very least a norm in society. It has a firm grasp and influence in the every day lives of citizens and men in power. This medieval period involved little writing outside of Christian works, and it makes plenty of sense why the population was so influenced by it. The council in chapter 13 was very interesting and may have revealed some alarming motives.
Coifi admits to their previous religious practices saying
"...the religion which we have hitherto professed has, as far as I can learn, no virtue in it." and says "...if upon examination you find those new doctrines, which are now preached to us, better and efficacious, we immediately receive them without any delay."
The others mention that these doctrines should be taken and followed if they appear more certain, and supposedly they spoke under Divine Inspiration?!! Really? According to the writer, the words of these men should be added to the canon of scripture as they are Words from God.
Some of the men were probably sincere in what they said and truly wanted to follow God's Word, but I felt a heavy sense that they were tired of their old doctrines and Christianity was the popular belief of that time. In fact, scripture can be very appetizing to anyone who assumes they are of the saints mentioned in Paul's epistles and likes the great rewards of salvation. Good intentions can only go so far. They do not justify any action and can contrarily mask the severity of acts committed. The Crusades let to thousands of people dying, in turn violating the command of God to not murder man, who was created in God's image, and thereby paints a picture of killing God in effigy. But isn't that okay? (Note my Sarcasm please) Their intentions were just to reclaim the holy land, and after all those people were in the way. We as Believers in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior need to be pursuing righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness as Paul told Timothy in 1 Tim. 6:11.
I commented on Will and Moriah's posts.
Coifi admits to their previous religious practices saying
"...the religion which we have hitherto professed has, as far as I can learn, no virtue in it." and says "...if upon examination you find those new doctrines, which are now preached to us, better and efficacious, we immediately receive them without any delay."
The others mention that these doctrines should be taken and followed if they appear more certain, and supposedly they spoke under Divine Inspiration?!! Really? According to the writer, the words of these men should be added to the canon of scripture as they are Words from God.
Some of the men were probably sincere in what they said and truly wanted to follow God's Word, but I felt a heavy sense that they were tired of their old doctrines and Christianity was the popular belief of that time. In fact, scripture can be very appetizing to anyone who assumes they are of the saints mentioned in Paul's epistles and likes the great rewards of salvation. Good intentions can only go so far. They do not justify any action and can contrarily mask the severity of acts committed. The Crusades let to thousands of people dying, in turn violating the command of God to not murder man, who was created in God's image, and thereby paints a picture of killing God in effigy. But isn't that okay? (Note my Sarcasm please) Their intentions were just to reclaim the holy land, and after all those people were in the way. We as Believers in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior need to be pursuing righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness as Paul told Timothy in 1 Tim. 6:11.
I commented on Will and Moriah's posts.
I definitely can agree about the intentions of the royals being skewed because they seemed to only care when religion would bring them success. I wonder if they would have so ready jumped to follow Christianity if they were told that they would be hated by men and would suffer for Christ's sake. Honestly, though, this is the cost of discipleship that all Christians must face and choose whether they will surrender everything to Christ or just some (or none at all).
ReplyDeleteThe practice of placing the words of man on an equal footing with Scripture is still going on today, actually… The Catholic Church hasn’t changed in that regard; all of the teachings in the Catechism are regarded as divinely authorized and equal with biblical canon. That’s where many ideas not found in the Bible come from: the Immaculate Conception (which isn’t the virgin birth), purgatory, etc.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem like the popularity of Christianity leads to a diluting of the God’s true message… There’s a reason why the church is exploding in persecution hotspots like China and the Middle East while in America it’s stagnating and lukewarm. The more overwhelming public acceptance of the Gospel is, the more unlikely it will remain the true Gospel. It will inevitably be twisted and corrupted by the culture that intertwines with it, just like in the Holy Roman Empire. Can true Christianity mix with society if Jesus said we would be hated by the world if we were truly following Him, and that we are in the world but not of it? Satan doesn’t need people to be atheists, as it’s much more dangerous when a person only THINKS they’re a Christian. Not all who say “Lord, Lord” to Him are saved. Scripture and the world are more unequally yoked than a donkey and an ox… We could sit here all day thinking up more references to draw this out.
I got the impression from the council that not all of them were genuine converts, despite what the venerable Bede might have written about them. But, I don't know what goes on in anyone's heart, especially men who lived centuries ago in a culture I cannot even begin to understand. Despite my inability to accurately judge the state of a person's heart, the fact remains that this issue of genuine conversion versus just going with the next new thing is a problem for all missionaries and evangelists. Many people have asked the question whether it is better to have genuine Christians in a hostile culture or cultural Christianity that leads to many false Christians. I don't think Christians will ever really settle on an answer to that question.
ReplyDeleteDude, I laughed out loud at your comment about the sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, I talked about this a bit in my post as well, but remember that eve whittler quoted scriptures in his speeches to inspire people to action: ultimately making them reliant on his rule and their impression of the rule of God when they were only fueling their own sinful agendas.
I got the same feeling while reading that selection. It is so easy for people to just go with the flow or hop on the bandwagon. I know many people who have jumped to Christianity just because it seems cool or because their friends did it, which is not a true conversion. But I wonder, could that lead to something more. I know they say no man will come to the Lord unless he is called, but could this have a big impact in their lives if they were to stick around people who were truly converted. Im sorry, thats just my brain going down the rabbit hole of "what ifs" lol. But like Eliza said, I can't judge because I don't know people's hearts.
ReplyDelete