Controversies and the Church

Attack on Christian belief, what is our stand?

Of late a number of controversies have cropped up that have resulted in our church resorting to all available means to rebut them. These are the DaVinci Code, The Gospel of Judas and the recent publication of a scientific explanation for certain miracles performed by Jesus.

The various churches, in particular the Catholic Church, have embarked on extensive counter measures to rebut these allegations. Do we need to go to such an extent to counter these allegations?. We contend these allegations are baseless and malicious. What if they are true? Only God knows for sure whether they are true or otherwise.

This is not going to be the end of such claims and allegations. As long as man exists, his egoism and curiosity will continue to rule him and he will persist in his attempts to disprove our long accepted believes. Man will continue to cast doubts on our faith and believes that are so dear to us. Modern scientific principles may even succeed in proving certain of our established believes wrong.

Are we going to be shaken every time someone tries to shatter our belief with new allegations or discoveries? If so our faith is very superficial and we have not understood Christ fully. His teachings will stand the test of time. His two great commandments, love God and love you neighbors as yourself, are relevant throughout the ages and would never become obsolete. If we understand and practice these two great commandments, we need not be too worried that our faith will be proven wrong.

The trouble is, today we are more obsessed with rituals than the essence of our faith. If religion is about dressing according to a code and the observation of rituals without a real concern for the condition of the human heart and conduct, it misses the point. In such a situation there is cause for concern every time someone tries to shatter our faith.

The two great personalities of recent times, Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa, proved this point very precisely. No amount of coaxing, however strong, could divert them from their strong convictions of service to fellow man. This was because of their strong commitment to sharing the inherent love of God with others.

Let us too pray for the development of this strong commitment to share Christ’s love with others at all times.

Dr.Chris Anthony