How Do You Know?
Sermon
The Harry Potter books are perhaps one of the first success stories of this millennium. It seems that not only every child, but also every adult knows all there is to know about Harry Potter, and is an avid collector of the books, to say nothing of all the other merchandise which is always associated with popular books or films. I confess to not yet having read a single Harry Potter book, but I'm determined to catch up on all that very soon by seeing the film. And who knows? After that I too may become a Harry Potter fan.
Of course there's a bit of me that doesn't ever want to go near Harry Potter, simply because the whole world (it seems) is rivetted by him. Part of me is very sceptical, refusing to be taken in by any of the hype, and I don't suppose I'm alone in that. But the curious part of me wants to know just what is so marvellous about Harry Potter, and the conforming part of me wants to share in what everyone else is enjoying, hence the proposed visit to the cinema. I feel a bit like Zacchaeus, hanging about at the back of the crowd, but then getting near enough just to look.
It's through the books that Harry Potter has become so famous. Even in these days of saturation television, the power of the printed word is still amazing. And now that Harry Potter is coupled with films and merchandise and media attention, the power of Harry Potter to captivate his audience is phenomenal.
Words have always been powerful, and there have always been people capable of using that power to its greatest extent. Some of those people are writers, who have the ability to use words in such a way that the reader is entranced by them, and unable to put down the book or paper which is being read. Others are orators, who have the ability to voice words in such a way that their audience is spell-bound. And these effects can happen over any subject matter. Exciting adventure stories written by a good author can keep a reader enthralled, but so can philosophy lectures delivered by a skilled orator.
Throughout the ages many writers and orators have used their gifts to good effect. These days, popular books can have considerable impact upon millions of people and millions of lives, very often throughout the whole world. For instance, thirty odd years ago Dr Spock wrote a series of books on bringing up children, which had a profound impact on a whole generation of parents, and therefore inevitably will continue to have an impact on the way children are raised, perhaps for generations to come.
And great orators too are remembered and revered, sometimes for thousands of years, for their skills. Plato and Socrates, for instance, not only influenced their own generation, but continued to influence people down the ages and still influence us even today. People have always been swayed by those who have the gift of oratory, and it certainly seems to have been one of Jesus' greatest gifts. He was able to attract huge crowds who came to hear him speak, and he was able to hold the attention of those crowds. And through the law of the land his influence is still very strong today, even amongst those who would hesitate to call themselves Christians.
But not all orators influence people for good. Some are evil and although they deliver a very powerful message, they influence people for evil. Hitler is perhaps a contemporary example of this. By all accounts a skilled and charismatic speaker, Hitler swayed millions of ordinary people who then apparently had no qualms about herding Jews and others into concentration camps and gassing them.
Some orators are misguided and deliver a very powerful message, but a message which in time is shown to be wrong. Cult leaders are generally persuasive speakers, but some are downright evil and some are speakers who deliver a misguided message which distorts the Christian gospel, sometimes dangerously. The world has been horrified on a number of occasions by mass suicides generated by cult leaders.
The Thessalonian church had a problem with a powerful speaker or writer. They had received a message purporting to come from Paul himself and saying that the Day of the Lord was already present. This had shaken them beyond belief, because the Day of the Lord had always been understood to come at the end of time itself. Paul warns against this false belief by citing a series of events which must first occur before the end will come (2 Thessalonians 2:3-12). In today's reading, the overall point the author of the second letter to the Thessalonians makes is the need to reject such lies, and he also reaffirms the Thessalonians in their calling. They are to uphold what Paul himself has taught, and the author adds a concluding prayer for their strengthening.
In these days of a multiplicity of beliefs even amongst Christians, like the Thessalonians we too can become very upset by hearing erroneous "Christian" ideas. So how can we identify the truth? If we hear a brilliant orator or read a brilliant book, how can we know whether or not that person or book is revealing the truth to us? There seem to be all shades of Christian opinion, so how can we tell which opinion is right?
One way is to take every word in the Bible as literal fact, as fundamentalists do. On the surface this appears to be a safe option, for every opinion is checked out against a text which is unchanging. And since that text is the word of God himself, how can it be wrong? But a moment's reflection reveals the hidden dangers in that option, for even if the words haven't changed, everything else has. Our own culture is light years away from what is was 2000 or more years ago, and the culture of the West is entirely different to that in the East. And the words themselves have been translated into English from ancient Hebrew and Greek, and the original copies of the Old and New Testaments have long been lost. And added to all that, Jesus himself spoke in Aramaic, so his words were translated even before they were first written down.
Another way to feel safe amidst the shifting sands of various persuasive Christian speakers is to cling to the rock of Church tradition. The theory here is that Church tradition which hasn't changed for centuries must be right, because it goes back as near as is possible to the beginning of Christianity. But again, a moment's reflection soon reveals the holes in this theory. Tradition which is unchanging is usually also dead, and a living religion such as Christianity must change to be able to appeal to each generation, otherwise Christianity will simply become a museum piece.
The author of this second letter to the Thessalonians pointed out the only way in which we can begin to know whether or not a speaker is speaking the truth. The words spoken should be checked against the basic truths previously learned. This is easier for us than it would have been for the Thessalonians, since we have the Old and New Testaments to guide us. Taken as a whole, the underlying thrust of the entire Bible is God's love for his people, so any words which fail to support and proclaim this are likely to be wrong. Cult leaders who call their followers to suicide for whatever reason are wrong, because a God of love would never demand such a step from human beings created by God in his own image.
Sorting our truth from error isn't an easy task and there are no foolproof answers because it depends considerably on the amount of work we're prepared to put in to seek the truth. Those who take anything they hear at face value without bothering to check it out or delve beneath the surface are unlikely to reach the truth. But those who dissect every word without listening to the overall message are equally unlikely to reach the truth.
In the end perhaps we should listen, check out what is said, then take a leap of faith trusting in God to guide us and to pick us up when we get it wrong. For if we move forward trusting in God even our errors can be redeemed. Ultimately of course, it's God who keeps us safe, and that's worth any risk.
Of course there's a bit of me that doesn't ever want to go near Harry Potter, simply because the whole world (it seems) is rivetted by him. Part of me is very sceptical, refusing to be taken in by any of the hype, and I don't suppose I'm alone in that. But the curious part of me wants to know just what is so marvellous about Harry Potter, and the conforming part of me wants to share in what everyone else is enjoying, hence the proposed visit to the cinema. I feel a bit like Zacchaeus, hanging about at the back of the crowd, but then getting near enough just to look.
It's through the books that Harry Potter has become so famous. Even in these days of saturation television, the power of the printed word is still amazing. And now that Harry Potter is coupled with films and merchandise and media attention, the power of Harry Potter to captivate his audience is phenomenal.
Words have always been powerful, and there have always been people capable of using that power to its greatest extent. Some of those people are writers, who have the ability to use words in such a way that the reader is entranced by them, and unable to put down the book or paper which is being read. Others are orators, who have the ability to voice words in such a way that their audience is spell-bound. And these effects can happen over any subject matter. Exciting adventure stories written by a good author can keep a reader enthralled, but so can philosophy lectures delivered by a skilled orator.
Throughout the ages many writers and orators have used their gifts to good effect. These days, popular books can have considerable impact upon millions of people and millions of lives, very often throughout the whole world. For instance, thirty odd years ago Dr Spock wrote a series of books on bringing up children, which had a profound impact on a whole generation of parents, and therefore inevitably will continue to have an impact on the way children are raised, perhaps for generations to come.
And great orators too are remembered and revered, sometimes for thousands of years, for their skills. Plato and Socrates, for instance, not only influenced their own generation, but continued to influence people down the ages and still influence us even today. People have always been swayed by those who have the gift of oratory, and it certainly seems to have been one of Jesus' greatest gifts. He was able to attract huge crowds who came to hear him speak, and he was able to hold the attention of those crowds. And through the law of the land his influence is still very strong today, even amongst those who would hesitate to call themselves Christians.
But not all orators influence people for good. Some are evil and although they deliver a very powerful message, they influence people for evil. Hitler is perhaps a contemporary example of this. By all accounts a skilled and charismatic speaker, Hitler swayed millions of ordinary people who then apparently had no qualms about herding Jews and others into concentration camps and gassing them.
Some orators are misguided and deliver a very powerful message, but a message which in time is shown to be wrong. Cult leaders are generally persuasive speakers, but some are downright evil and some are speakers who deliver a misguided message which distorts the Christian gospel, sometimes dangerously. The world has been horrified on a number of occasions by mass suicides generated by cult leaders.
The Thessalonian church had a problem with a powerful speaker or writer. They had received a message purporting to come from Paul himself and saying that the Day of the Lord was already present. This had shaken them beyond belief, because the Day of the Lord had always been understood to come at the end of time itself. Paul warns against this false belief by citing a series of events which must first occur before the end will come (2 Thessalonians 2:3-12). In today's reading, the overall point the author of the second letter to the Thessalonians makes is the need to reject such lies, and he also reaffirms the Thessalonians in their calling. They are to uphold what Paul himself has taught, and the author adds a concluding prayer for their strengthening.
In these days of a multiplicity of beliefs even amongst Christians, like the Thessalonians we too can become very upset by hearing erroneous "Christian" ideas. So how can we identify the truth? If we hear a brilliant orator or read a brilliant book, how can we know whether or not that person or book is revealing the truth to us? There seem to be all shades of Christian opinion, so how can we tell which opinion is right?
One way is to take every word in the Bible as literal fact, as fundamentalists do. On the surface this appears to be a safe option, for every opinion is checked out against a text which is unchanging. And since that text is the word of God himself, how can it be wrong? But a moment's reflection reveals the hidden dangers in that option, for even if the words haven't changed, everything else has. Our own culture is light years away from what is was 2000 or more years ago, and the culture of the West is entirely different to that in the East. And the words themselves have been translated into English from ancient Hebrew and Greek, and the original copies of the Old and New Testaments have long been lost. And added to all that, Jesus himself spoke in Aramaic, so his words were translated even before they were first written down.
Another way to feel safe amidst the shifting sands of various persuasive Christian speakers is to cling to the rock of Church tradition. The theory here is that Church tradition which hasn't changed for centuries must be right, because it goes back as near as is possible to the beginning of Christianity. But again, a moment's reflection soon reveals the holes in this theory. Tradition which is unchanging is usually also dead, and a living religion such as Christianity must change to be able to appeal to each generation, otherwise Christianity will simply become a museum piece.
The author of this second letter to the Thessalonians pointed out the only way in which we can begin to know whether or not a speaker is speaking the truth. The words spoken should be checked against the basic truths previously learned. This is easier for us than it would have been for the Thessalonians, since we have the Old and New Testaments to guide us. Taken as a whole, the underlying thrust of the entire Bible is God's love for his people, so any words which fail to support and proclaim this are likely to be wrong. Cult leaders who call their followers to suicide for whatever reason are wrong, because a God of love would never demand such a step from human beings created by God in his own image.
Sorting our truth from error isn't an easy task and there are no foolproof answers because it depends considerably on the amount of work we're prepared to put in to seek the truth. Those who take anything they hear at face value without bothering to check it out or delve beneath the surface are unlikely to reach the truth. But those who dissect every word without listening to the overall message are equally unlikely to reach the truth.
In the end perhaps we should listen, check out what is said, then take a leap of faith trusting in God to guide us and to pick us up when we get it wrong. For if we move forward trusting in God even our errors can be redeemed. Ultimately of course, it's God who keeps us safe, and that's worth any risk.
