Friday, April 29, 2005

The Ultimate Temptation of the Religious Person

THE ULTIMATE TEMPTATION
c. Paschal Baute, 1985

Once, out of time, the devil went for a walk with a friend. They saw a man ahead of them stoop down and pick up something from the ground.

"What did that man find?" asked the friend.

"A Piece of truth,” said the devil.

"Doesn't that disturb you?" asked the friend.

"No," said the devil, "I shall help him make a belief out of it. Before long, out of the vanity of his own discovery, he will end up worshiping his belief. Then he will become blind to all other truth!" And the devil laughed.

The temptation to use one's vision of God (or one’s reading of Scripture) to judge others is the ultimate temptation of the religious person down through the ages.

Once we decide we have some hold on some truth, then bolster this by some appeal to faith, bible or orthodox teaching, we put ourselves on the side-of-the-angels, and assume that God supports OUR view. Then we believe that anyone who opposes this view is either "blind," further removed from God, or perhaps even on the side-of-the-devil.

Our blindness in this is that we are more interested in proving the rightness of our point of view, than in discovering others views, finding out what else God may have said, or in appreciating that other sincere people, devout people of any Wisdom traditon, can come to very different points of view.

To the extent that we do this with faith, we have made an idol of our belief, and judged others by this belief. What concerns us is not God's truth, which in its depths is unknowable and incomprehensible, but such a passionate attachment to our idea of God that we find it impossible to believe that God does not share our vision.

Every convinced crusader, vigilante, book-burner, Klan-er, Nazi, Communist, Inquisitor, Censor, or terrorist has the burning conviction that They Alone are right with Ultimate Reality, that "God" is on “our side,” and that WE alone stand against the forces of evil. Because our own conviction is so sincere and noble, ours conviction must be the only right one.

Anytime we use our vision of God, our faith, or our reading of Scripture to judge others as further from God than we are, we are guilty of a form of idolatry, a true perversion of belief. We have put wax in our ears to not hear that faith is a undeserved gift from God. We reassure our own demons, and add to the forces of intolerance and prejudice. Thereby we add our speck to the power of evil in the world, all the while believing we are doing something good and holy.

Furthermore, unconsciously and symbolically we also re-enact the violent founding murder of Jesus by judging brother and sister using the gift of faith to do so.

Can we begin to understand that our need to be right has nothing whatever to do with any love of truth or God. Jesus didn't tell us to look for ways to be sure, but rather to take care: "Be careful lest the light in you be darkness." (Luke 11:35) Gregory of Nyssa in the third century said: "Concepts create idols; only wonder comprehends anything." Religious people still kill people "in God's name" still today.

Consider that we have often distorted the way of Being Christian into a "salvation" exclusively for us, for our group of believers, and further, been ready to judge others as further from God because they do not hold the same beliefs. Rather than a dualistic acceptable/non-acceptable division of people, perhaps the unique way of being Christian has more to do with total equality of discipleship, and that each of us can learn from another, no matter how divergent the path, history, experience, or sinfulness we confront. Maybe this mystery we call God is already present; around, within and between us, and our summons is to recognize “that of God” in each and every human being.

We are being asked today to realize that we live in a global community, that each's welfare is dependent upon all others. We are called to accept the we are truly brothers and sisters of one another. If we dare to call God "Father," then every human being is brother and sister.

So we should be ready to give witness, but not to pass judgment on those whose convictions conflict with our own. This means that we must struggle to walk very humbly before God, to seek the truth and stand for it with passion but never act as if we have exclusive claim upon it. When we consider the terrible harm done to millions in the history of religion, we must conclude that no moral crisis can ever dispense people of conscience from full respect for the freedom and responsibility of every other conscience.

"You are confused about what has gone wrong, and how to set it right?" the prophet asks. "Then listen. This is what Yahweh asks of you, only this: to act justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)

Discussion and comment?