Faith in God is attributed to mental disease or deficiency, or viewed as an anodyne for misery, when examination of the lives of the most devout would show abounding mental health and unusual levels of happiness and stability. The morbidly or insanely religious are identified as the True Believers, while in fact Christianity regards the loss of sound mind and sober judgment (and probably also the capacity for humor) as a sign of the loss of faith rather than its perfection. Likewise unbelief is associated with talent, learning, urbanity, and good sense, when in fact, whatever the gifts of the unbeliever may be, it is still only--unbelief. Mockery is the energy that puts this illusion on display, and scoffing the display itself, declaring the Christian faith to be the province of the ignorant, ignoble, and maladapted, using the appearance of evidentiary reasoning while keeping its reality at bay.Unbelievers scoff at Christians, yes, but what I have witnessed in the last few years in Catholic circles is believers mocking and ridiculing other sincere believers. This trend is not of God. It reminds me of St. Thomas Becket, who was killed by his own.
A place for friends to meet... with reflections on politics, history, art, music, books, morals, manners, and matters of faith. A blog by Elena Maria Vidal.
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Monday, December 29, 2008
Scoffing
Mere Comments offers some profound reflections on the diabolical aspects of scoffing.
7 comments:
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I came here from Totus Tuus. I've enjoyed reading. Thank you so much for posting this piece. I read and re-read it and will probably come back to read it again! :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent observation.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Aubrey! I've been re-reading it, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Terry!
Hello Elena :-)
ReplyDeleteQuote; 'Faith in God is attributed to mental disease or deficiency...'
How many times do we Christians have to listen to this statement?!
Yes, it's certainly mocking and we have all heard it at least once.
Melina x
Yes, Melina dear, at least once!
ReplyDeleteThe phenomenon of sincere Catholics scoffing at and mocking other sincere Catholics, and, worse, calling their faith into question, has been most surprising to me this year, and a real lesson in how subtle the Slanderer is: he appeals to what is good in us -- for some, it's our faith and our knowledge of it -- and uses these things, if we're not careful to do damage to other sincere believers, all in the name of upholding the truth.
ReplyDeleteI have seen this year as never before how much we truly need to pray for one another.
Yes, we really need to pray. And also maybe it is good to remember that when we scoff at others, it is a reflection of our own short-comings and insecurities.
ReplyDelete