"As the chief moral guardian of the community, the church must implore men to be good and well-intentioned and must extol the virtues of kindheartedness and conscientiousness. But somewhere along the way the church must remind men that devoid of intelligence, goodness and conscientiousness will become brutal forces leading to shameful crucifixions. Never must the church tire of reminding men that they have a moral responsibility to be intelligent.
"Must we not admit that the church has often overlooked this moral demand for enlightenment ? At times it has talked as though ignorance were a virtue and intelligence a crime. Through obscurantism, closed mindedness, and obstinacy to the truth, the church has often unconsciously encouraged its worshippers to look askance upon intelligence.
"But if we are to call ourselves Christians, we had better avoid intellectual and moral blindness. Throughout the New Testament we are reminded of the need for enlightenment. We are commanded to love God, not only with our hearts and souls but also with our minds. When the Apostle Paul noticed the blindness of many of his opponents, he said, "I bear them record that they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge." Over and over again the Bible reminds us of the danger of zeal without knowledge and sincerity without intelligence.
"So we have a mandate both to conquer sin and also to conquer ignorance...
"'They know not what they do,' said Jesus. Blindness was their besetting trouble. And the crux of the matter lies here: we do need to be blind. Unlike physical blindness that is usually inflicted upon individuals as a result of natural forces beyond their control, intellectual and moral blindness is a dilemma that man inflicts upon himself by his tragic misuse of freedom and his failure to use his mind to its fullest capacity. One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right if the head is totally wrong. Only through the bringing together of head and heart--intelligence and goodness--shall man rise to a fulfillment of his true nature. Neither is this to say that one must be a philosopher or a possessor of extensive academic training before he can achieve the good life. I know many people of limited formal training who have amazing intelligence and foresight. The call for intelligence is a call for open mindedness, sound judgment, and a love for truth. It is a call for men to rise above the stagnation of closed mindedness and the paralysis of gullibility. One does not need to be a profound scholar to be open minded nor, nor a keen academician to engage in an assiduous pursuit of truth.
"Light has come into this world. A voice crying through the vista of time calls men to walk in the light. Man's earthly life will become a tragic cosmic elegy if he fails to heed this call. 'This is the condemnation,' says John, 'that light is come into this world and that man loved darkness rather than light.'"
P.39-41, "Love in Action," STRENGTH TO LOVE, by Martin Luther King, Jr. (Fortress Press, Minn. MN: 1963, 2010)
Sunday, May 11, 2014
CONQUERING SIN AND IGNORANCE
"As the chief moral guardian of the community, the church must implore men to be good and well-intentioned and must extol the virtues of kindheartedness and conscientiousness. But somewhere along the way the church must remind men that devoid of intelligence, goodness and conscientiousness will become brutal forces leading to shameful crucifixions. Never must the church tire of reminding men that they have a moral responsibility to be intelligent.
"Must we not admit that the church has often overlooked this moral demand for enlightenment ? At times it has talked as though ignorance were a virtue and intelligence a crime. Through obscurantism, closed mindedness, and obstinacy to the truth, the church has often unconsciously encouraged its worshippers to look askance upon intelligence.
"But if we are to call ourselves Christians, we had better avoid intellectual and moral blindness. Throughout the New Testament we are reminded of the need for enlightenment. We are commanded to love God, not only with our hearts and souls but also with our minds. When the Apostle Paul noticed the blindness of many of his opponents, he said, "I bear them record that they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge." Over and over again the Bible reminds us of the danger of zeal without knowledge and sincerity without intelligence.
"So we have a mandate both to conquer sin and also to conquer ignorance...
"'They know not what they do,' said Jesus. Blindness was their besetting trouble. And the crux of the matter lies here: we do need to be blind. Unlike physical blindness that is usually inflicted upon individuals as a result of natural forces beyond their control, intellectual and moral blindness is a dilemma that man inflicts upon himself by his tragic misuse of freedom and his failure to use his mind to its fullest capacity. One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right if the head is totally wrong. Only through the bringing together of head and heart--intelligence and goodness--shall man rise to a fulfillment of his true nature. Neither is this to say that one must be a philosopher or a possessor of extensive academic training before he can achieve the good life. I know many people of limited formal training who have amazing intelligence and foresight. The call for intelligence is a call for open mindedness, sound judgment, and a love for truth. It is a call for men to rise above the stagnation of closed mindedness and the paralysis of gullibility. One does not need to be a profound scholar to be open minded nor, nor a keen academician to engage in an assiduous pursuit of truth.
"Light has come into this world. A voice crying through the vista of time calls men to walk in the light. Man's earthly life will become a tragic cosmic elegy if he fails to heed this call. 'This is the condemnation,' says John, 'that light is come into this world and that man loved darkness rather than light.'"
P.39-41, "Love in Action," STRENGTH TO LOVE, by Martin Luther King, Jr. (Fortress Press, Minn. MN: 1963, 2010)