“They are convinced that whatever may be wrong with the world it cannot be themselves. Someone else must be to blame for every evil.… They have no feelings of fear, guilt, or awe. They think, from the very outset, of God’s duties to them, not their duties to Him. And God’s duties to them are conceived not in terms of salvation but in purely secular terms—social security, prevention of war, a higher standard of life.”
One of the more beautiful aspects of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is how the true paradox of the God Man (including the paradoxical transfiguration of the cross) resolves the false dilemmas of men, in time and outside time, for all time, as the cornerstone of God’s good creation and the liberation of man.
Try as they may, men can never outwit the God who gave them their wits. Men cannot find liberty in anything but the will of the One who gave them their liberty by dying for it.
How foolish of men (and fallen angels) to falsely believe that their freedom could be used to supplant the Fountainhead of their liberty! Yet, to this day, the fallen continue concocting their clever schemes, as they rebel in the name of liberty and sink further into bondage!
How many times did Jesus escape the traps laid by the corrupt religious authorities and accusers of his day, including the snare of death on the cross? How many times did the disciples fall short, from the leader Simon Peter to the traitor Judas Iscariot?
Time and again, Christ’s contemporaries missed the mark of his preaching and teaching, just as many today aim awry. I certainly have. For all the miracles, wonders and progress, the history of Christendom is also a history of missed marks, misunderstandings, misuses and mangling of the Word.
Consider that even Jesus’ teachings regarding the poor have been twisted to this day to justify theft, greed, envy, covetousness, and a false faith in the power of men to fulfill God’s duties to the people through secular salves and arbitrary laws.
How many modern reformers have called for liberation by political means while ignoring the people’s duties to God? How many clever fools have put their hope in heaven on earth rather than in Christ? How many supposedly “free” men pursue their freedom only by curtailing the freedom of others? How many say they are free only because they have made other men their serfs, slaves and subjects? How many say they are free as they follow their own whims rather than God’s will?
Yet, the worst are those who know they are full of false dilemmas.
For example, take heed of the accusers for the poor, who only care for the poor as a means to their own ends!
From the Gospel of John (12:1-8):
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ‘Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.’ He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
‘Leave her alone,’ Jesus replied. ‘It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.’
How many false accusers for the poor exist today for their own enrichment? How many who claim to serve “the least of these” have their hand in the money box, ready to accuse even God himself on behalf of the poor for being negligent in his duties?
How many have deformed charity into dependency? How many have warped compassion into control? How many have perverted Christ’s advocacy for the poor into a traitorous accusation?
No doubt, too many.
And though I will not accuse anyone in particular of this path to sin, I’m sure you have someone in mind – possibly even yourself.
No doubt, this is not the only path to sin. Indeed, I suspect all roads, save one, lead to sin and death in one way or another.
Left to their own devices, men always fall short. Left to justify their own freedom by means of their freedom alone, men find only false dilemmas that they always fail to answer.
By obeying the will of the Father and pouring out his love through his suffering and death on the cross, Christ’s perfect freedom stands in stark contrast to men’s incorrigible abuse of their God-given liberty, while upholding and redeeming the gift of liberty to man.
Only the true paradox of the God Man could resolve the false dilemmas of men – setting men free from their destructive whims by teaching them to obey and fulfill their duties to Him.
Joey Clark is a native Alabamian and is currently the host of the radio program News and Views on News Talk 93.1 FM WACV out of Montgomery, AL, M-F 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. His column appears every Tuesday in 1819 News. To contact Joey for media or speaking appearances, as well as any feedback, please email [email protected]. Follow him on X @TheJoeyClark or watch the radio show livestream.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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