Reprinted from the British Newsletter
The Way Things Seem
The Rev. Fred C. Elphick
H
ere’s a true story. When I was a boy, my Dad would tell me about the
wonders of creation. One time he pointed out a blackbird searching for
worms. Did I know that blackbirds have such good hearing that they can pick
up the sound of the worms moving in their burrows? Sure enough, we could
see the bird stopping from time to time, cocking his head to one side, and
eventually catching a nice juicy worm.
As with many other things we can observe, it served its purpose. The
wonder remains although the observation was faulty. If you had eyes on the
side of your head, you, too, would need to cock your head to one side to see
something at close quarters. And so what the blackbird is doing is looking
for the tiny tip of the worm as it lies unsuspecting in its burrow. At the same
time, it can keep a lookout for what may lurk above it with the other eye. Being
able to process all this information simultaneously from opposite directions is
equally wonderful.
Taking a step up, and we see the same thing in spiritual progress. Quite
often, the things we “knew” turn out not to be true. But still they can be useful
as stepping stones to a better understanding.
There are other ideas though, which seem very plausible but actually
could lead one astray.
For example, being “non-judgmental” or “inclusive” sounds like a good,
tolerant attitude to have. But then almost anything could be thought allowable.
In fact, we often hear people say, “It’s not up to us to judge.”
Clearly then, the question is not whether or not we should judge something
to be evil, but how. And the answer is justly. With so much confusion around,
that’s not always easy. But the principle is clear. If something is evil, we should
identify it as such. In fact the truths we know tell us what is good and what is
not – what is damaging to society or beneficial.
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