The Infection Touches All

Reading books about The Crusades the past two nights. It is easy to see why the Founding Fathers were so adament about the separation of Church and State. The Crusades epitomizes the evil abuses of power. How could the Gospel have produced this kind of fruit?

May 4, 2000

The answer to this question from my journals is contained within the sacred scriptures themselves. The Fall has infected everything, including the church. The church is made of people, people who have been distorted by this "brokenness" that seeps through everything, every heart and every relationship. We see its fingerprints everywhere, and for this reason people who claim to be enlightened must wear a mantle of humility at all times, lest we fall into an imperialistic or paternalistic attitude toward outsiders and neighbors.

Having to be humble is such a drag, though. It is so much easier to be a know it all. Why have doubts when you are right?

Actually, what is more incredible than this "bad history" is the quiet river of good deeds and kindnesses that have spilled unabated throughout the world this past two thousand years. Without fanfare. Despite so much apparent evidence to the contrary, there is a strong belief that God is good and that to be identified with him requires that his followers likewise demonstrate goodness, kindness and mercy toward those in need. Maybe we don't need guns and swords to change the world after all.

But then, who will stop the really bad people? Things are seldom as simple as they appear.

Today's thought, the real secret to world peace:

http://www.enewman.biz/Mother-T.html