While
I labor to finish Who Do You Belong To? Part Deux, a
small provocation from a couple of surprising sources:
First
in the batting order is none other than Russian nobility, writer,
philosopher, political thinker, etc., Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy,
aka Tolstoy, author of War
and Peace,
the second most widely known book, behind the Bible, that no one has
read.
In
his book The
Kingdom of God is Within You
Tolstoy had this to say:
Another
reason [Christ's doctrine is not understood] is the mistaken notion
that it is impracticable, and ought to be replaced by the doctrine of
love for humanity. But the principal reason, which is the source of
all other mistaken ideas about it, is the notion that Christianity is
a doctrine
which can be accepted or rejected without any change of life.
Men
who are used to the existing order of things, who like it and dread
its being changed (See Machiavelli's 'The Prince' - sz), try to take
the doctrine as a collection
of revelations and rules which one can accept without their modifying
one's life.
While Christ's teaching is not only a doctrine which gives rules a
man must follow, it unfolds a new meaning in life, and defines a
whole world of human activity quite different from all
that has preceded it and appropriate to the period on which man is
entering.
-
Leo Tolstoy
The
Kingdom of God is Within You
Casell,
1894, (p.110)
Tolstoy
highlighted, as Bonhoeffer would later do, the gap between
Christianity as practiced versus how Christ's words are preached.
Smart fellow.
To
prove Count Tolstoy was a right-minded thinker, he allegedly had this
to say of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, famous for his
statement, God
is dead:
Nietzsche
was stupid and abnormal.
Of
course God allegedly responded to Mr. Nietzsche's statement of His
(God's) death with this, upon the passing of Mr. Nietzsche:
Nietzsche
is dead.
And
then there are these gems from Indian leader and Hindu Mohandas Mahatma Gandhi:
I
like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are
so unlike their Master (another version of this quote says: Your
Christians are so unlike your Christ).*
*
Like Martin Luther's alleged last words before the Diet of Worms,
"Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me. Amen," Gandhi's quote cannot be found in any authoritative source. But I have always taken
comfort in Martin Luther's alleged quote, real or not. (I am invoking the Magic Fried
Egg here.) So, just to be blunt about it, Gandhi's quote,
specifically the version where he says that Christians are so unlike
their Master, fits my "agenda" viz-a-vis Who
Do Belong To. Oh, and allegedly Luther didn't say those stirring last words on the date of my confession, baptism and entrance into the
eternal Kingdom, April 18th. So. Bite me?
But,
keep reading.
- In conversation, attributed by James E. McEldowney
I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. The materialism of affluent Christian countries appears to contradict the claims of Jesus Christ that says it's not possible to worship both Mammon and God at the same time.**
- As quoted by William Rees-Mogg in The Times of London, April 4, 05
** The archivist of this quote cannot find an authoritative source of attribution to Gandhi past Mr. Rees-Mogg. Instead, the archivist believes the quote to be attributable to Bara Dada in The Christ of the Indian Road, NY, The Abingdon Press, 1925. (p. 114)
Regardless of attribution it still is an interesting outside view of Christ and Christianity. Speaking of which:
Gandhi and Lord Irwin, former Viceroy to India, were friends. On their return from the Round Table Conference at London, Lord Irwin paid a visit to the Mahatma in his ashram. During the conversation Lord Irwin put this question to his host: "Mahatma, as man to man, tell me what you consider to be the solution to the problems of your country and mine." Taking up a little book from the nearby lamp stand, Gandhi opened it the fifth chapter of Matthew and replied, "When your country and mine shall get together on the teachings laid down by Christ in this Sermon on the Mount, we shall have solved the problems of not only our countries but those of the whole world."
- Frank E. Eden, reporting what was related to him by a "friend who has traveled through India in the interest of mission work," in Treasury of the Christian Faith. Association Press, 1949. (p. 43)
What? You don't have a copy of The Bhagavad Gita (a Hindu holy scripture) laying around the house for ready reading? Hmm. Interesting. But, I do have the sayings of Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, by my bed. I also have a book written by a Taoist about what is Taoism/what Taoism is (?) from Winnie the Pooh's perspective (really) and I have yet to make it past the second chapter. I know...! I am a man of very little brain. (BUT. I also have at least 8 different Bibles of various cover material, translation and/or paraphrase, with varying degrees of my personal notes written on the pages, laying around the house for ready reading.)
But I digress.
Our final gem from the Mahatma is this, from Ethical Religion, Madras, S. Ganesan, 1922. (Chapter 6, p. 61):
A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.
Hmm. And where have we heard this before? Can you say, "Jesus"? Just a sampling, Matthew 12:34 (which I am certain you can readilly read, in context, either from your computer, your mobile, or the copy of the Bible you have lying around the house for said purpose).
You brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Now, the "brood of vipers" were the Pharisees. The guys who plotted, out of envy (one of my favorite sins, btw), with the secular Herodians and together with the Sanhedrin, to kill Jesus. So I think Jesus kinda hit the nail on the head in addressing them. But the "...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks," addresses us.
So. Now can you see, or at least are beginning to see, if I have confused you in Who Do You Belong To, how it is important to know the answer to that question and consequently know how to think and become?
I think that's enough for now. You can likely get a copy of the Gita on Amazon but I would suggest getting a Bible first, just in case you don't have one. You can get a Bible for FREE for your mobile phone! Ooo-RAH!
My thanks to Brothers David "Moose" Moscrip and Keith Mackey for helping to kick start my spirit and brain, by being sounding boards and...well, brothers in Christ.
So until the next time, same Bat Space in the Blogosphere,
(I never, ever thought for a second that I would ever type the word blogosphere. Times change. Do you realize if the Gopher protocol - similar but not quite like the Web - had won out over the Web, we'd be in Gopher space? Yeah. Some times alternate time lines can be scary.)
May the peace of Christ be with you,
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