Showing posts with label revjph. Show all posts
Showing posts with label revjph. Show all posts

28.5.13

A Tale of Two Priests

The book of Ecclesiastes says:
"There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there are just men, unto whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men, to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity."

Recently a priest came out with damning words for the Boy Scouts because of their acceptance of gay scouts. The words this priest spoke as a representative of a loving Christ was so repellent, so disgusting with what he had to say about gay youth in the scouts, it made other religious leaders say; "I have nothing to do with this one."

I looked closer at this supposed man of the moth eaten cloth and found these words from him; "I have a good life: food on the table often prepared by parishioners, decent health, fraternal love expressed openly by my parish family, bills paid, and in general a personal peace."

Now I happen to know another priest by the name of Reverend Jonathan Hagger. This priest in contrast has troubles paying his monthly bills and is spoken about as a heretic deserving of his fate with what was, or was not, a blessing of a same sex couple. I see a fury in him with the indignity shown me as a gay man by those in and out of the faith and it sits like a rotting trout in the man's spirit. It wouldn't have been out in left field if he did what he did for a gay couple under his church's nose.

Unlike the priest who thinks himself the better to Michael the Archangel in bringing railing accusations with using the Boy Scouts as an excuse, the priest I know, the one who wonders how he'll pay his electric bill, reached out and took the hand that he saw as belonging to a brother in Christ, the hand of a gay man, and said come sup with me.

Tell me, who is the better priest good Samaritan man in the eyes of God with loving kindness?

How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world, they increase in riches (Psalms 73:11-14).

There is no pat answer why the evil prosper while in this world while the good get wallops that seem to go past chastisements to make us better Christians because there IS no real answer and anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar. It was kept from Job in his tortures when he asked (Job 12:6.) and it is kept from us until the day we don't see through what Paul says is tinted glass. Most people believe the ending given in the book of Ecclesiastes was a later addition not from the original author. They believed this because they refused to accept God would just leave the chapter without some kind of "glass half full" ending, SOMETHING that will give us the reason to human existence that seems without rhyme or reasoning.