You have probably read the book,
“God is not Great”
by the late Christopher Hitchens.
He is of the opinion that
Religion poisons everything.
Is he right?
[PAUSE]
Our Lord is very clear.
A good tree produces good fruit;
an evil tree produces evil fruit.
The idea is quite simple –
we know how good something is
by the effects that it has
on its surroundings.
For those outside the Church,
how does the Church look to them?
What effects has the Church had
on the world around it?
Well, here we begin
to meet people who say that
the church has damaged them.
We see people who say that
the church supports slavery.
We hear people say that
the church supports
sexism,
racism,
homophobia.
We hear of people talk about
the abuse that is going on in the Church
and which is being covered up
by priests and bishops rather
than being brought into the light
and dealt with according to the Law.
The abuse scandals are dreadful
and they damage the Church
because people outside the church
hold the church to the same standards
that our Lord gives.
A good tree produces good fruit,
a bad tree produces bad fruit.
Is the church a good tree or a bad tree?
[PAUSE]
Certainly,
we can look into history
and see how God punishes Israel
for falling away.
We can see how
the apostasy of the Hebrews
results in captivity in Babylon
and why the temple is destroyed by the Romans.
That would suggest that Israel is not a good tree.
You can probably see the problem.
The Church and Israel are
made up of individuals –
individuals whose actions
affect the whole society.
When we look at
what Jesus is actually saying,
we say that he is talking about
those who seek to lead the church,
those who seek to lead Israel's religion.
He is not holding the whole Church
or all of Israel to account,
but the Church and Israel together
suffer the results of the evil fruit
born from evil rulers.
[PAUSE}
We are born in sin.
We are not born sinners,
but from the moment of our birth,
we are surrounded by
the effects of the sins of other people
which weaken us and lead us astray.
It's also true to say
from the moment of our birth,
we are surrounded by
the effects of the good work of other people
which strengthen us
and lead us to God.
The society in which we are born
is filled with this chaotic struggle
between evil and good
and the effects of good works and sin.
The Lord is also clear
that the tree is judged by
the fruit that it bears when the fruit is ripe.
Even good fruit tastes wrong
when it is unripe.
So it is unfair
to judge the whole
based on the actions
of some of its members
at any given moment in time.
To see the good of the Church as a whole,
we need to see it in complete maturity.
That can't happen until the end.
But we can see some evil effects.
We can see evil
when abuse is committed
and covered up.
We can see evil
when the innocent
are corrupted.
We can see evil
when people are convinced that
they are better to be at home
rather than go to Church.
We see evil when the faith of other Christians
is trodden under foot.
[PAUSE]
The trouble is that
we can't do anything
about the evil trees in our midst.
We can only deal with their effects.
One of the great successes
is that the Church shows us
what good and evil are.
We can only judge that abuse is evil
because we know what good is
and that this is still in Society around us.
The fact that Society knows that
slavery is wrong
means that
the teaching of the Church that
every human being is a dearly loved creation of God
regardless of race, sex, or any other aspect
has been learned in the world around us.
Of course,
from outside the Church
it is possible that what gets called good
might not really be good,
and what gets called evil
might not really be evil,
especially when evil seeks
to convince good people to change the rules
for something that is good in appearance
but hides evil under its sheepskin coat.
Without the Faith of the Church,
society cannot make the moral judgement
because the moral judgement
is grounded in Almighty God –
the same God Whom they have rejected
because of the sins of His followers.
In rejecting Him,
they reject the grounds
to judge the wolves in sheep’s clothing.
We cannot change
the evil effects in our midst,
but we can show the world
how to live a good life
by doing just that.
If we know God,
then we know what good is,
because whatever is good
by definition
follows the will of God
and fulfils His purpose.
All we can do is
to live lives dedicated to God
for then,
if we are a good tree,
we will bear good fruit
whether or not
the tree next to us is evil
and thus bearing evil fruit.
[PAUSE]
Christopher Hitchens is quite right
to call out instances of the evil
in the Church.
He can only do so
because the Church
has a moral law given to it by God
and which can be seen by all mankind.
We should be thankful for that
but we must make sure that
it is God who determines what is good
and not the Devil under his cloak of light.
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