Monday, January 24, 2011

Struggle over a piece from T.S. Elliot

One of Quakerism's guiding light's is the Bible verse, from Acts 5:29 (and Romans 13:1; I Peter 2:13.), "Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men." It is commonly understood in Christian thought, Quakers included, that 'We should obey man only in so far that in obeying him we also obey God '(from the Geneva Study Bible). My problem with this is that every time we support the Parasite Class, we help heap suffering upon the latest victim of that despicable class. How is that "obeying God"? "Love thy neighbor" hardly means pay his oppressors, does it? Yet, "Christians/Quakers that I know, all pay taxes because they "see" no conflict. I spend all my efforts trying to raise that awareness. OK, then, connection to the title of this. The quote (from Murder in the Cathedral): "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason." The way I see it, the 'wrong reason' is the will of man. So, the thought of the Geneva Study Bible represents treason and why most Churches have devolved from bastions for God to being rah rah cheerleaders for foreign wars.

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