“the magnitude of the challenge we all face”
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Gandhi
In 1927 Dr. J. H. Holmes, a philosophy professor and member of the Society of Friends, summed up [Gandhi’s] view of Christianity. “I believe in the teachings of Christ, but you on the other side of the world do not. I read the Bible faithfully and see little in Christendom that those who profess faith pretend to see. The Christians above all others are seeking after wealth. Their aim is to be rich at the expense of their neighbors. They come among aliens to exploit them for their own good and cheat them to do so. Their prosperity is far more essential to them than the life, liberty, and happiness of others.”[i]
Christians in America (2019) seem to have lost their way. “Moral concern has given way to moral panic. It distorts their perceptions about the very real progress that has been made while causing feelings of deep insecurity and fear, despite ‘fear not’ being one of the most frequently repeated commands in the Bible. This apocalyptic moral mind-set has led to an alliance with a shockingly unethical figure, who embodies a mobster’s mentality and an anti-Christian ethic. Mr. Trump, a skilled demagogue, has taken full advantage of this. There appears to be almost nothing he can say or do to break the bond that has developed, and virtually nothing that many of his Christian supporters will not excuse.”[ii]
“The worldview of the early Christian monastic communities involved unconscious choices that would lead them away from the fundamental worldview of Jesus. Instead of placing the ‘Heavenly Jerusalem’ in the present moment (the Kingdom of Heaven in the NOW), they projected it into a future time and place. Secondly, instead of understanding that they were the repository of universal wisdom (the Kingdom of Heaven is within) they attempted to create a temporary refuge away from the profane world; a place to wait until the Second Coming. Both of these beliefs became foundational to the Christian narrative and proved to, in effect, destroy the power of the Gospel.”[iii]
One of Christianity’s core teachings was to be in the world but not of the world, and it’s still good advice today. Getting caught up in the delusional world of materialism, greed and worship of false “gods” makes the goal of Transcendence virtually impossible.
Insight # 40 comes to us from Richard Rolle (1300-1349), a Christian and a hermit who endeavored to live in the present moment.
“We get a feel for the magnitude of the challenge we all face in affecting a paradigm shift as we engage in the transformation of our identity and behaviors.”[iv]
Rolle expands on the “magnitude of the challenge” in the Christians he observed: “They are sometimes tempted with foul thoughts [mind], vile lusts, wicked delights [sensations], with pride [power], anger, envy, despair, presumption, and other sins many.’”[v]
__________
Additional Reading:
- Christianity, The ABC’s of Simple Reality, Vol 1
__________
[i] “Christian nations seek wealth and fight most wars.” The Harvard Crimson, January 11, 1927. No writer attributed.
[ii] Wehner, Peter. “Christian Doomsayers Have Lost It.” New York Times Sunday Review. December 8, 2019, p. 3.
[iii] Henry, Roy Charles. “Architecture and the Afterlife.” Art and Simple Reality, Vol 1. October 2021, p. 29.
[iv] Lieder, Paul Robert. British Prose and Poetry, Volume I. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 1950, p. 85.
[v] Ibid.
