|
"Dealing With Powerful Beliefs” Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – February 1, 2015 Centenary United
Mark 1:21-28; I Corinthians 8:1-13 Today, we are going to discuss the pain that so many people
experience because of the accelerated speed with which values and
beliefs are clashing all over the world.
We cannot pick up a newspaper without seeing headlines that
feature what is happening.
There is no escaping the fact that people live by rules, values and
beliefs that can be quite different from those held in other parts of
the world. What is our role as
disciples of Jesus in dealing
with the powerful beliefs of people? This past week If we paid attention to all that was spoken or written, there was
a minority of people that gave a voice to a more substantive
position.
Here is a composite of such thoughts: This issue is not
about the politics of our union leaders defending those they represent,
nor is this issue about our political parties.
The issue is about mathematics and the fiscal cliff toward which
Our leaders must
sort out together how we can cut expenses with the least amount of
financial pain borne by all the stake holders.
Inflaming screaming protestors
and pointing fingers of blame will not produce solutions.
We have time to solve this but we must take our selfish ambitions
off the table and speak to a fact of life -- we will doom ourselves if
we refuse to compromise on our fixed positions. Both sides have stopped taking their case to the public through
the media. We hope that as
the meetings continue in a less emotional setting that these more
reasonable voices will be influential in keeping discussions moving
toward a creative solution. This cooling off period, however, is not what is happening in our
world. The world's people do not
have a common goal for everyone in terms of
a global community.
For instance, today, pockets of
Muslims in the Sharia Law in some ways harkens back to the 12th Century when the
Christian Church sanctioned the execution of couples for falling in
love. Men and women had
their mates chosen for them by their parents.
The couples were then blessed by the Church.
No variations to this entrenched belief were permitted. For centuries the
Church treated women as second class citizens.
Not until the 20th Century were
women permitted to become Protestant pastors, something the Roman
Catholics still resist. You
may have noticed in Tuesday's
Gazette that the Church of England recently consecrated the We have to remember our own history when Sharia Law is condemned
for allowing people to engage in insane, inhuman practices that are not
crimes according to the
values and sensibilities of other cultures.
Powerful beliefs are very
controlling of human behavior and attitudes.
Again, what is our role when we have to deal with people who hold
these very powerful beliefs? In one of our lessons today, Jesus was teaching in the Synagogue
when he was faced with a disruptive person.
The man shouted, "Why have you
come to torment and destroy us? I know who you are. You are the chosen
one of God!" Everyone knew that
this man was possessed by a demon.
The belief in demon-possession dominated the minds of most people
in Jesus' world. Every
behavior that was considered abnormal was believed to be caused by a
demon. There were demons
for every form of illness or crippling disease.
It is estimated that one out of every twenty-six people had holes
drilled into their skills by surgeons so that demons could escape.
Whether we believe in demons or not is not the point.
The point is that everyone in Jesus' day held this
powerful belief because it helped them to understand abnormalities.
Jesus faced a dilemma.
He would have lost all credibility among his listeners had he
dismissed the existence of demons as being
a ridiculous notion.
Jesus knew that God would never create invisible entities to
afflict people. He remained
silent concerning demons. Jesus commanded the man to be quiet.
When the man settled down,
everyone was amazed. (Mark 1:25)
If Jesus found demons that important to his listeners he would
have repeatedly talked about them during his ministry.
He treated the subject with silence. Paul also taught how to deal with the powerful beliefs held by
others. In our second
lesson today, he was dealing with people who believed that if they ate
food that was once offered to idols, they would
poison
their spirits.
Paul took the same position that Jesus took with demons.
He
did not energize these beliefs by commenting on them. Paul knew that whatever people ate would not influence their
relationship with God. (I
Corinth. 8:8) Further, he
taught, that when Christians come into contact with people who hold such
a belief, they should become
vegetarians during those instances. (I Corinth. 8:13) What is our
response when we meet others
whose powerful
beliefs are in
another universe from our own?
The wisdom of Jesus and Paul was to allow others to keep
their beliefs without arguing with them. (Matthew 7:6)
We were directed to be
the leaven for the loaf much like the less-passionate Bermudians
that pointed to the fiscal problem rather than to the attitudes and lack
of cooperation by various people. (Matthew
13:33) Powerful beliefs, by definition, are the absolute truth for those that stake their identity on them. It is only when such people encounter a better understanding that works for them that they become willing to surrender their current position. Until that time, preaching at them will not work. When more
compassionate, understanding and encouraging beliefs conflict with those
of others, over time they become more dominant.
For instance, the German people
today have little in common with the ideology of the Nazi regime of
years ago. The military that
supported Imperial Japan has no relevance with today's Japanese people.
When I was a child, Mitsubishi was a manufacturer that was used
by the Japanese Imperial war-machine.
Today, they are the manufacturer of the two units that cool and
heat our sanctuary. People
in Some of us remember the days when smoking a cigarette was a
status symbol. We remember when the air in our restaurants, offices, and
aircraft was filled with second-hand smoke. There was a powerful belief
in society that people had the right to smoke anywhere.
During the Viet Nam War, 58,000
Americans lost their lives.
To show how entrenched smoking was in society, the same number of people
were dying every seven weeks due to their use of tobacco products
and no one was marching in protest.
As time moved on, once powerful beliefs about tobacco changed. Today, we are faced with the legalization of marijuana.
We are faced with the threat of cyber-crime.
We are faced with the threat of
drones that are capable of carrying biological agents or explosives.
We are faced with a quasi-religious ideology that sends
missionaries to other nations
that are referred to as sleeper
cells. Disrupting and
destroying the lives of law-abiding citizens requires very little
intelligence or effort.
Governing people by inspiring them
toward education, growth and prosperity is a far greater challenge.
Both Jesus and Paul
had an answer for dealing with beliefs and ideologies that lack love and
compassion.
They both taught their listeners
to live in peace among all people while remembering their role as being
the leaven for the loaf.
This did not make them pacifists.
Rather, it meant that
disciples of Jesus have a different role to play in their societies.
As more time passes, the powerful beliefs that are based in fear,
that force women to obey a head-to-toe dress code and that deliver
suicide bombings to unsuspecting men, women and children will eventually
go the way of the head-hunters, Voodoo and cannibalism.
Recent history tells us that accelerating, evolutionary changes
are taking place in every area of life.
In the past, generations of people have had to face and endure
people whose values and creeds were tethered to their need for power and
control.
Jesus taught that nothing exists
in his Kingdom but attitudes
and desires that are rooted in love and compassion.
(John 13:35) A question for
us this morning is a good one.
Are we committed enough to living in the
Kingdom
Jesus pointed to? The
forgiveness pattern of 70 times 7 sounds insane given what we are
experiencing in today's world.
We must remember, however, that forgiveness does not heal the
world; it heals us from our hurts and from our frustrations caused by
inconveniences. The answer to
the question is easy to make when we remember that there is no room in
the Kingdom for anyone whose
angry spirit is still wielding a
sword. Jesus was being very gentle and compassionate when he embraced
all people with his love.
He said, "In my Father's House, there are many rooms." (John
14:2) Translated, that means
that all of us choose the room we want because where our treasure is,
there will our hearts be also. (Matthew 6:21)
Not all powerful beliefs light the way toward a remarkable future for humanity. When powerful beliefs prove themselves to be useless, they eventually fall by the wayside. Beliefs that are based in love and compassion will flourish and become stronger. Why? They work and they have value for everyone, not just for a select few. |