When I was growing up in the 70's and 80's I was thought to govern my life by a set of principles called "morals" set out by the Church and Society. These principles govern my conscience so that when I'm about to do something, even if it's correct to do within the remits of the law, I should judge it based on my conscience and my morals. Some of these morals are, just to name a few, love thy neighbour as thy self meaning treat people the way you would like to be treated, be just and fair, truthfulness, abhor lies, the love of money is the root of all evil (do not be greedy), do not envy, do not hate, abhor bigotry, love of family etc. The Church at that time played such a pivotal role in the communities in fashioning these simple principles and reminding people of what is right and just.
Over the years, I have seen first hand how Society and Church have disintegrated or have become less relevant. The values that I grew up with slowly weren't being thought as aggressively anymore. In the early 90's it was the height of the capitalism, banking, fashion boom, music videos, sneakers (trainers). The height of Capitalism in this period ushered in selfishness and greed. Everyone wants to be rich and would do anything to get there. Children and adults no longer values what I know as good morals, their focus was somewhere else, like trying to wear the best sneakers (trainers), looking like the stars in the music videos and the ability to nurture and develop good morals become less relevant. Hatred and even abuse started to become very prevalent, children were being thought through society to hate and not to love. Exclusion greed and fear was the thing of the day. A clear break down and disregard for family was also clear to see from peoples behaviour. In the midst of all this turmoil and goings on, more and more young people were being recruited into the Church but this level of moral breakdown was continuing.
This brings me to the question of why? I was going to Church at that time also; being active in the Church and even began to attend Bible School for a brief while. Sitting here today and thinking back to the core message of the Church at that time, I realised that the message at that time was significantly different from when I was growing up. The message was no longer of Love and Hope and Tolerance anymore. Instead I was being thought that my religious theology was the only and best and any other Theology is wrong. I was told that gays will be burned in Hell and I should not associate myself with them and scripture sighted to support that "Come out from among them and be ye separated". During that time the Church began to move away from the core message of the Gospel and started to focus their attention on a narrow message. Ministers started to pay themselves massive salaries sighting that the Prophet of God should be taken care of. The Prosperity Gospel was being preached, feeding into the new Capitalism and glamour. Every Pastor wants to drive the best cars, live in the best and most posh flats and houses. This period also lead the way for each and every Pastor having a book deal. GREED took hold of the Church and they abandoned their core morals and thus the breakdown of Society. Bigotry and Hatred was even preached from the pulpit. The New Testament that is so full of bigotry was being quoted over and over to support their narrow failed message. I have seen first hand, how believers become totally fooled into thinking that they don't have to do a hard days work for a hard days pay and some how the Lord is going to provide some way of making them rich. People action began to be filled with temerity with no regards for other peoples feeling. It is my belief that over the years the Church have lost their way in the world by continuing to preach a message that was not in keeping with the basic foundation of Christianity and as such Society, which is formed around the Church, began to fail.
Time change, new Science is discovered and the percentage of uneducated 10 years ago will not be the same percentage today. Knowledge increases everyday. I believe in the study of Hermeneutics as described in Wikepedia "Contemporary or modern hermeneutics encompasses not just issues involving the written text, but everything in the interpretative process. This includes verbal and nonverbal forms of communication as well as prior aspects that impact communication, such as presuppositions, preunderstandings, the meaning and philosophy of language, and semiotics." It is my belief that the Church has a responsibility to Society to study the text they read to derive their message preached to Society to see if it is going to be relevant in the changing times but not steering from the main principle message of the Church which should be Love, Hope, Faith and Tolerance. The tough and hard questions needed to be asked about the time and circumstances and interpretation of the text to see its relevance and proper interpretation for the time we are living in. This has never been done, instead the Church continues down the same failed path over and over again and nothing to this day has changed. The Church Scholars refuse to come up with anything new and Society has caught on and today the Church is not relevant.
Societies are built around the Church and see the Church as the moral authority. If the Church is failing in its basic message then it is my belief that Societies are going to fail and morality would breakdown. The sickness of money and greed, selfishness, hated and all the things that are not conducive to a strong society are going to grow and eventually be out of control. This can be proven today in every society across the globe. Hatred is on the rise, crime is sky rocketing, people don't even know their neighbours and don't care either, poverty is rampant, disease is on the rise, faith has declined, hope has declined and intolerance have increased in every corner of the earth e. " Then Financial Collapse, The British MP's expense scandal".
I have no problem with capitalism so readers don't get me wrong but in practicing capitalism we have to do so responsibly and that's where good morals, strong society and where the pivotal role of the Church comes into play. Recently we have seen the collapse of the world financial system, which have been reported by all media and and Government that the main culprit is GREED and people acting irresponsibly. Why? It's brings us back to good morals which guide our conscience. That tells us that something is morally wrong even if it falls within the remit of the law. It is that morals that say to our conscience that if we participate in a certain action the immoral effect it would have on other people is just not right. That basic message the Church failed to communicate, over and over, failed. The Pastors who preach that prosperity (GREED) gospel should share a great burden for the failure of Society, as we know it. Luke 19:45-46 then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling. [46] "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be a house of prayer'; but you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"
Then there is the problem of exclusion, intolerance and bigotry found so much in the New Testament. These have contributed so much to a lot of prejudice. Society believes that people should be persecuted just because they're different, because this is practiced in the Church. The Church gives legitimacy to prejudice. These same people were looking to the church for comfort but instead they were excluded. People became disillusioned and started to question the teaching of the Church. How is it that we were taught the foundation of Christianity is Love and yet the Church is not tolerant to people who do not conform to a certain behaviour pattern and began to exclude them from the majority, pre-empting and tolerating not condemning hatred etc. According to Proverbs 10:12 it say this about hatred "Hatred stirred up strife: but love covered all sins". I wonder what the writer of proverbs was thinking when he made that statement. It means to me that the main message of Love should be preached at all times, that the Church should be tolerant and inclusive and not exclusive. People look to the church to be the moral authority, when the Church lost it's main and core message and narrow it's message to exclusion, intolerance, and hatred then the mess the world is in the Church is to be blamed for most of it.
Over the years morality has broken down to such an extent that people are no longer respected because of their moral standing in society but because of the size of their Bank accounts. Morality has been replaced with a type of Capitalism called GREED. One example of this is here in the UK the media have paraded the footballers and there wives and the amount of money they're paid weekly as role models. No one have taken into account or even bother to inquire about their morals, what do they believe, how they conduct themselves etc. They are the new moral authority (MONEY, DRUGS, ALCOHOL) this is also true for the people that work in the City here in London and the Financial District in the USA. We have elected leaders on both side of the Atlantic who have been trusted with the Nations purse being engaged in unethical and unjust behaviour or even fraud (British MP's Expense Scandal). Money and Greed have replaced morality.
It is time for the Church to return to basics, to return to the teaching of Love, Faith, Hope and tolerance. Teaching people to Love their neighbours, to abhor hated, to Love, not to be Greedy, to hope and have faith again. The Church needs to find a way to rebuild society, as we know it. To retake their standing in the world as the moral authority, to study and interpret the text that they derive their message and make it more relevant to today's world. The world is looking for moral direction and it is time the Church rise to the challenge. The Pope and the Spiritual Ministers around the world have to abandoned that narrow message of exclusion and intolerance and employ a big tent approach. Employ Educated Scholars who are willing to have tough conversation about the different text and rewrite commentaries that can be applied to everyday life and hopefully people will see the relevance of the Church again.
--
No comments:
Post a Comment