“All great truths begin as blasphemies.”
– George Bernard Shaw, (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), Irish
Playwright and Critic awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (1925)
and an Oscar (1938) for his work on the film Pygmalion.
When you think about it, there is much truth in this statement. In
two days we’ll be celebrating the birth of Jesus. Yet the corrupt
religious leaders of the day accused Him of performing miracles by
demonic power (Mark 3:22):
22. And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He
is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler
of the demons.”
The irony here is that those religious leaders were actually
blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, as Jesus explained to them (Mark
3:28-30):
28. “Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of
men, and whatever blasphemies they utter;
29. but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has
forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”
30. because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Those religious leaders were guilty of the unpardonable sin. And the
same thing is happening today. Look how pastors and churches, through
their church-sponsored hunting and fishing programs, condone the torture
of animals in the name of Jesus. One pastor went so far as to publicly
say that fishing should be declared a sacrament. They also do it more
subtly through their church-sponsored dinners where they actually ask
Jesus to bless the tortured body parts and secretions of innocent
animals. And they compound this anathema, hardening children’s hearts by
teaching them not to have empathy for these animals. In Matthew 18:5-7,
this is what Jesus says concerning such behavior:
5. “And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;
6. but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to
stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around
his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.
7. “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is
inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through
whom the stumbling block comes!”
For a large collection of quotations, visit:
http://www.all-creatures.org/quote.html
