“What I mock is Pharisaism. What I mock is stacked study committees, and the long, solemn, indignant faces whenever somebody mentions this screamingly obvious fact. What I mock is the bum’s rush for ministers in good standing with no charges filed, no evidence submitted, no proof offered, just raw power from on high—but plenty of that. What I mock is a study committee that gets an important quote from me bass-ackwards, drops it sheepishly when caught, promising to explain it on the floor of GA. By the way, did that happen? What I mock is exactly the same thing that we find mocked in the pages of the New Testament—ecclesiastical stuffed-shirt pretentiousness, and an inability to find a sense of godly proportion. You know, camels and gnats, gold and altars, and justice and mercy and tithing from the spice-rack. You know, justice and mercy and parsing the covenant of works under a merit scope. What I mock are those who are so concerned for merit in the pages of their systematics, but when it comes to any merit their judicial proceedings might be lacking, they don’t give a rip. What I mock are the traditions of the elders—even though I love, honor, and keep those traditions. But the ones who have those traditions draped over their heads like so many Westminster tablecloths have only obscured their vision and have started bumping into things, knocking them over. When I say something about that particular custom, I am upbraided for not honoring the tablecloth. Not at all. But it on the Table, and sit down, you and your children. You are supposed to eat the food, people, not argue over the silverware” ().
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