As part of a recent religion in America report on the evening news a reporter stopped a placid looking middle-aged man who had apparently just stepped out of the church where he had attended mass. He was thrown a sissy pitch and asked to name the first four books of the New Testament. Sad to say, instead of knocking that one confidently out of the park he whiffed--whiffed! From his reaction to the question, nonplussed silence, one might have thought he had been asked to state and prove on the spot Fermat's last theorem. Studies may show America to be one of the most "religious" nations on the planet, but "religious" seems to be a Brobdingnagian garment commodious enough to fit any wearer who chooses to mark X in the box which asks him if he is religious.
Unfortunately, many religions, churches, and assorted Elmer Gantrys lick their chops at the prospect of a flock of these obedient, unquestioning, and pliable sheep who seem to welcome with relief being led around by the nose (and don't mind paying for the privilege) by any Pooh-Bah with a rope an a will. For far too many it is a comfort to turn over the burdensome task of serious study, thought, and prayer to someone else, and there never seems to be a shortage of someone elses. It was to better than many among us to whom Christ Jesus spoke when he said, no doubt with a leaden heart: "Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners."
Once again I hope I am not alone in finding the final section of this week's lesson, "Doctrine of Atonement", distasteful and unsettling. To end the lesson with Jesus nailed to the cross could only appeal to those who would delight in hearing the chant, as the curtain drops, of the gloomily doleful "Stabat Mater dolorosa" as they kneel reverently before a crucifix, trembling in ecstasy like "St. Theresa in her wild lament". If that horrific closing tableau in this week's lesson doesn't give any Christian Scientist worthy of the name at least a twinge of the heebie-jeebies I don't know what would. "St. Paul said: 'For I am determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.' (I Cor ii 2) Christian Science says: I am determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him glorified." (S&H 200: 25-29)
If you think this is really nitpicking at the bottom of the barrel please fire at will, i.e., affix a gently reproving comment. If the sap is beginning to run a bit thin here I can always find something else to do with my time.
Note: In reference to the note posted a day later to the second entry before this one, I have rechecked and find that in the November 15-21 lesson John 5: 7 is not included, but the more objectionable John 5: 4 is.
The 200 in the previous entry is an acknowledgment that it was the 200th entry in this blog.
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22 comments:
Just love the way you think and write on CS issues. This was very well done, Christian.
Fascinating title. I'm not familiar with the person you mention, but certainly sets up your splendid essay. (Thanks for letting us know what the 200 indicated in your poem.)
You're not nitpicking, in my view. Rather, you are digging deep into the lessons far more than most I would say. Appreciate your insights on what is wrong with the official lessons. Does it ever pay to be alert to what comes out of there!
Thoroughly enjoy reading your blog posts, Christian. Keep up the fine work you are doing.
You are such a thinker, Christian, and you have the ability to make your thoughts on important CS matters very clear to the Field.
Well, all I would say is, if reading the official lesson sermons disturbs you, why not stop? I don't read them, so I have no problems in that area.
Good blog post. Gives me much to think about later.
The last section is a rather clumsy attempt to "…acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eternal Life… ." The lesson committee once again fall back on Mark 15:25 to sum up the most thunderous event in Christian history, and then uses the second-hand, after-the-fact account by Paul to sum up the most important. It must have been chosen because it specifically designates Jesus' act as "the atonement." There is a lot of theological fudging in this section, and if the lesson had stopped at the end of Section V it would have been complete. VI feels tacked on.
You are right about the Nov 15-21 lesson too. To omit verse 7 creates a great narrative gap, and without it there is no motivation on the part of the man and so Jesus' firm "Get up!" (Phillips translation) seems merely peremptory.
With all the other recent errors, it makes me wonder what they're smoking at the CSPS.
Will a C.S. Elmer Gantry ever appear? The internet provides opportunities that can bypass any ecclesiastical lecture board. As for the super secret Lesson committee members, you've got 'em exposed. Just finish the job with names. I'd give 'em to you, if I knew.
What would be gained by revealing the names of the lesson committee? We know all we need to know just by reading what they put out.
Love your blog. Some real substance here.
My take on this lesson committee thing is this: if people have no love in their hearts, much less reverence, for our Lord and Master, how can this show up in what they do? Christ Jesus will get the short shrift in what they turn out.
A fascinating website you've got here, I must say. I'll stop by again.
Keep doing the thinking for us out here. I think you're a rare one indeed. Not too many CS's I know even notice what's awry.
I do enjoy a well-written and much-read website. Thanks blogger.
You're doing a great job, Christian. Keep it going.
It's just my opinion, but it may be time to move beyond the lesson sermons in your essays. Most CS's don't notice, and don't care, and those who do have probably already ordered the good ones from the Bookmark.
Speaking of the BookMark "vintage" Bible Lessons, I never cease to wonder at the powerful Lessons those BLC's put out before there was even a Concordance to MBE's works.Incredible!!!
Dear Christian,
Your reference to the Stabat Mater dolorosa should give a hint to your readers as to what is really going on in Boston, and what the underlying evil is. Enough said.
Well, Practitioner, should this week's lesson proclaim "Tuba mirum spargens sonum"? We've had so many uncertain sounds that we don't know the battle if it hits us in the face!
Thanks for the e.e. cummings poem. This one was new to me, and wasn't in any anthology I have, so I had to look it up. Your readers might enjoy seeing the whole poem:
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/e__e__cummings/poems/14328
The bigotry exhibited in your reference to the Stabat Mater dolorosa is one of reasons C.S. churches are empty. Shall I tell you the other reason? The REAL reason? It's because C.S. people don't know the meaning of the word COMPASSION! "Passion" means "the suffering of life," "com" means "to suffer with," or "to suffer alongside." Human experience has led people over the centuries to identify with "the way of the Cross." When people have asked me about C.S., I've often told them, "If you're looking for somebody to feel your pain, don't go there!" When C.S. works, it's wonderful; When it doesn't, it gives people nowhere to go with teir sadness. They blame themselves, and their fellow church members blame them, They don't mean to, but they do.
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