Listening to the
Passion play for Palm Sunday in church I was struck by the mob mentality of
those who wanted Jesus crucified. I figured out that they crucified him because
they couldn’t believe in him. I’ve been reading the book Conversations with
God and it the author asks God why God doesn’t offer irrefutable proof of
God’s existence by coming to Earth and proclaiming God’s existence. To which
God replies that even if God did come down to earth and proclaim the existence
of God there are still those who would argue that it is the work of Satan and
not God. People are generally afraid of what they can’t explain or what they
can’t define, in other words what doesn’t offer irrefutable, scientific proof. Even when God sent Jesus down to offer “proof”
of God’s existence people crucified him.
There
are two types of people that scare me the most in this life, those who do not
believe in any higher being, God or whatever names you want to call God and
those that use God as a reason to deliberately inflict harm upon others. Most
recently, the Taliban has used their beliefs to inflict harm upon others, even
other Muslims. The Catholic Church, during the time of the Crusades, inflicted
harm upon others. The Church of England (also known as the Episcopal Church)
under the reign of Henry VIII went to war tortured and killed those who had not
converted from Catholicism. All of these “Holy Wars” have at their center
people who believe so extremely in the righteousness of their own religion that
they seek to destroy anyone who do not believe in God as they see God. . All religions have been guilty of
inflicting harm upon people of other religions at various points throughout
history. The one that is perhaps scarier is the person who does not believe in
God. Even the craziest religious fanatic at their core, still has a moral
compass no matter how screwy that compass might be. It is the person that has
no belief in a higher power that truly scares me. If you have no belief in a
higher power of any kind, you have no faith, no moral compass by which to guide
you. Without that guidance, where do you turn when things get truly horrible?
Without that guidance, how do you judge your own morality? In short, what is it
that guides you in your decision making process?
I
was substituting in a high school English course this week and they were
reading excerpts from Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” as well as Ghandi’s
letters and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letters from Birmingham Jail.” The theme
of the unit they were studying was the persuasive essay. What the students came
to realize was these were all written while these men were imprisoned when they
wrote these essays.
What the students
and I all came to realize, was the amount of inner strength and courage it
takes not to fight back. To have such a strong moral compass that you are able
to do as Jesus commanded in Matthew 5:43-48 “You have
heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you, 45 that you may be children of your
Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends
rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If
you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the
tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only
your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do
that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly
Father is perfect.” Jesus’ moral compass and his faith were so strong that
Jesus loved his enemies and forgave even those who crucified him.
