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A
Prayer |
I thank
thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these
things from the wise |
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These my Words (No. 1 of a series on the commandments of Jesus)By Edgar Jones
Racial Discrimination The White churchmen and churches of the American South honored, supported, and practiced racial segregation and discrimination in society and in worship when that was the norm in the world. Out of this system grew all kinds of injustice. There was great suffering, despair, hopelessness, poverty and inequality in the society due to this repressive system of enforced segregation/discrimination. The white Christians supported it, believing and teaching that it was the will of God that the black people be held in servile and oppressive conditions. When Jesus uttered the above Parable of the Builders, with the simple phrase, these my words, he brought his Sermon On the Mount to a conclusion. The phrase, these my words, refers to the Sermon just delivered. Among these my words are these: Therefore everything that you wish that men be doing to you, also be doing to them. (Matthew 7:12, FNT) It is a commandment of Jesus that white Christians could ignore only by convincing themselves that black people were not fully human. So this is what many did, even proving their case by quoting scripture! But his commandment is: Therefore everything that you wish that men be doing to you, also be doing to them.
Do you fail to see the point? Let's look at one other application, one not as constrained by time and place as is racial segregation. War and Other Violence The Christian states of the Western World are continually warring. If not with one another, they wage war against nations professing other religions -- Islam, Hindu, Buddhist, whatever. This statement is particularly applicable to the United States of America that this day wages war against Islamic parties in a foreign land. When warfare rages, every Christian citizen of the nation at war contributes to the cause. It's young women and men go forth to fight, defeat or destroy the enemy. The older generations support them with prayers and provisions as all pray for victory. It is the way of the world; it is the way of war. It is not the Way of Jesus! These my words from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount also include: You
have heard that it was said: You shall agape-love your neighbor, and
you shall hate your enemy. But I say to you, be agape-loving your
enemies and be praying for those persecuting you, in order that
you become sons of your father in [the] heavens. (Matthew 5:43-45 FNT)
It is a commandment of Jesus: be agape-loving your enemies! Of course, Matthew 7:12 also applies here. Therefore everything that you wish that men be doing to you, also be doing to them. Most Christians are literate and they read these my words. The obvious meaning of the Lord is not obvious to them. They are compelled to generate and deliver explanations and interpretations that would condemn them due to their disobedience. The Second Witness Luke is our second witness; Matthew, with his Sermon on the Mount, being our first. Luke says essentially the same things, using only slightly different words to express the very same ideas. Look now to his rendering of the Parable of the Builders: Why do you call me 'lord lord', and not do what I say? Everyone coming to me and hearing my words and doing, I will show you what he is like. He is like [a] man building [a] house, who dug and deepened and placed [the] foundation upon the rock. But when flood came to pass, the river dashed against that house, and it was unable to shake it because it was well built. But the [one] having heard and not having done is like [a] man building [a] house upon the ground without [a] foundation, against which the river dashed, and it was straightway shaken, and great was the fall of that house. (Luke 6:46-49 FNT) What I say! My words! As before, let us examine the applications of My words. Racial Discrimination Many misguided Christians struggle to match the commandments of their Lord with Christian practice. This is not possible because the whole of Christian culture was and is conformed to the ways of the world, and here, again, is the Word that brands the Christian practice of racial discrimination as evil disobedience: The words are almost the same as those of Matthew 7:12; the idea is exactly the same. But every white Christian supporting the segregated society of the American South was guilty of disobedience to this commandment of the Lord. War and Other Violence Luke records this not once, but twice: Be agape-loving your enemies . . .(Luke 6:27 FNT) Rather, be agape-loving your enemies . . . (Luke 6:35 FNT) It is a commandment of Jesus. These commandments are very pointedly defined as being What I say! They are My words! Obedience to Jesus means one thing: doing What I say! Doing My words! Luke also shows something overlooked by Matthew, which is the fallacious use of the term "Lord" when Christians refer to Jesus: Going back to Matthew, we find the end result of this practice, of calling him "Lord" and not doing what he says: Then they also answered saying: Lord, when did we see you hungering or thirsting or [a] stranger or naked or sick or in prison and we did not serve you? Then he will answer them saying: Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, neither did you do it to me. And these will go into eternal punishment, but the just into eternal zoe-life. (Matthew 25:44-46 FNT) Yes, all will call him "Lord" in that day, but those who disobey these my words, What I say! and My words! Will find that confessing him as Lord without obeying is vain, vain, vain! Conclusion Many have attempted to take the guts out of the Lord's words by different devices intended to show that what the Lord is saying in these texts is not really what he is saying. In the next paper on this subject, we will examine one of the more common of these devices so as to expose the sophistry of much of Christianity and, by association, of Christians. Should you be confused by this attack on Christianity in the name of Jesus, you should understand that Christianity miscasts Jesus and thereby seeks to hide the real Savior from the world where a few hungry souls -- hungry for Truth -- are desperately seeking him. Christianity is, by one definition, that religion that calls Jesus "Lord" without obeying his commandments. |