Food for thought

[rainbowinthesky]

From Desire of Ages, p.450. It is about Jesus and the church leaders of His day:

"To avoid useless conflict with the leaders in Jerusalem, He had restricted His labors to Galilee. His apparent neglect of the great religious assemblies and the enmity manifested toward Him by the priests and rabbis, were a cause of perplexity to the people about Him, and even to His own disciples and His kindred. In His teachings He had dwelt upon the blessings of obedience to the law of God and yet He Himself seemed to be indifferent to the service which had been divinely established: His mingling with publicans and others of ill-repute, His disregard of the rabbinical observances, and the freedom with which He set aside the traditional requirements concerning the Sabbath, all seeming to place Him in antagonism to the religious authorities, excited much questioning. His brothers thought it a mistake for Him to alienate the great and learned men of the nation. They felt that these men must be in the right and that Jesus was at fault in placing Himself in antagonism to them."

Was it a mistake for Him to alienate the great and learned men of the nation? It was not. Was Jesus at fault in placing Himself in antagonism to them? He was not. But there were those who thought that He was. And why did they think so?--Oh, just because "they felt that these men were in the right." And why did they feel that these men must be in the right?--Oh, just because these men occupied position and place, they "must be in the right;" and, of course, just because of this, Jesus must be "at fault" in placing Himself in antagonism to them.

But in all this Jesus was not at fault in any sense whatever. He was eternally right all the time; and the real antagonism was not at all on His part.

Therefore disagreement with church leaders, to dissent from "religious authorities," even to occupy an attitude of antagonism to them, is never, in itself, any evidence of error or fault. No man, no association or combination of men, ever has any authority because of any official position or place in the church of Christ, or in any church professing to be the church of Christ. And when any man or set of men ever does have it in any church it is because that church is of men only and not of Christ.

"The princes of the Gentiles (the heathen) exercise dominion over them, and their great ones exercise authority upon them; but it shall not be so among you." Matt.20:25.

 

[rainbowinthesky]

Again, on page 550, I read:

"In the kingdoms of the world, position meant self-aggrandizement. The people were supposed to exist for the benefit of the ruling classes. Influence, wealth, education, were so many means of gaining control of the masses for the use of the leaders. The higher classes were to think, decide, enjoy, and rule; the lower were to obey and serve. RELIGION, LIKE ALL THINGS ELSE, WAS A MATTER OF AUTHORITY. The people were expected to believe and practice as their superiors dictated. The right of man as man, to think and act for himself, was wholly unrecognized...

However, "Christ was establishing a kingdom on different principles. He called men, not to authority, but to service, the strong to bear the infirmities of the weak. Power, position, talent, education, placed their possessor under greater obligation to serve his fellows. To even the lowliest of Christ's disciples it is said, 'All things are for your sakes.'...

"In matters of conscience the soul must be left untrammeled. No one is to control another's mind, to judge for another, or to prescribe his duty. God gives to every soul freedom to think, and to follow his own convictions. 'Every one of us shall give account of himself to God.' No one has a right to merge his own individuality in that of another. In all matters where principle is involved, 'let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.' In Christ's kingdom there is no lordly oppression: no compulsion of manner. The angels of Heaven do not come to earth to rule, and to exact homage, but as messengers of mercy, to co-operate with men in uplifting humanity."

So then, in the church of Christ, which is His body, there is no place for any one to rule another; the only field of activity is loving service to one another; it is the kingdom of grace in which the soul is left untrammeled, that kingdom of God in which no one seeks to control another's mind, to judge for another, or to prescribe his duty; that kingdom in which every soul enjoys his God-given freedom to think and to follow his own convictions: that kingdom of God in which everyone gives account of himself to God, that kingdom where there is no lordly oppression, nor any compulsion of manner.

This Gospel of that Kingdom is to be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, then the end will come.

This was the new working order as laid by the Lord at the General Conference of 1901. Up until then the order of things that had prevailed was:

"Men have taken unfair advantage of those whom they supposed to be under their jurisdiction. They were determined to bring the individuals to their terms. They would rule or ruin. There will be no material change until a decided movement is made to bring in a different order of things." T.M.360.

As far as we know, there has been no decided movement to bring in a different order of things ever since. One thing is certain and that is that at the 1903 General Conference, the reformatory steps that had been adopted in 1901, to bring in a different order of things, were reversed. A few years later Mrs. White warned that God had been put aside and the devisings of men re-adopted. (T.M.481)

sky