Just in time for Christmas (or soon after, in this case), major media outlets are releasing documentaries and cover stories about Christianity and its origins. What better time to discuss Christian beginnings than the birth of Jesus Christ, right?
This week’s Link of the Week is Dr. Albert Mohler’s review of the recent CNN documentary, After Jesus: The First Christians. I was able to watch a brief few moments of this work on Christmas Eve, and find Dr. Mohler’s analysis to be compelling and fair.
In his discussion of Gnosticism, an ancient heretical view that arose in the second century, Mohler quotes narrator Liam Neeson. This quote is worth reprinting:
The New Testament Gospels are gospels of the cross. The Gnostic gospels are gospels of wisdom. The New Testament Gospels care about salvation from sin. The Gnostic gospels care about salvation from ignorance. The New Testament Gospels look to stimulate faith. The Gnostic gospels look to stimulate knowledge and insight.
Well said.
Thanks for the posting.
This reminds me of a time when I was at a fundamentalist meeting where the preacher was reading a biblical passage that mentions darkness. He then looked at the audience and asked, “What is darkness?”
I answered, “Ignorance.” The rest of the audience responded, “Darkness is sin.”
I thought about it for a moment, then came to the conclusion that, yes, ignorance is sin. Some call it salvation from ignorance. Others call it salvation from sin. It’s pretty much the same thing.
Sophia,
Glad to hear your thoughts. I am not sure, however, that I would agree to your equation of ignorance and sin entirely. Understanding sin and ignorance to be essentially synonymous would suggest that the solution for human misery and social injustice is education. In my opinion, human history argues against this theory.
With that being said, I do believe that there is some truth in your equation. Sin (by which I mean active, willful rebellion against God which may or may not result in harm to our fellow human beings) is encouraged by ignorance of God’s expressed will. In this sense, ignorance of God and His will encourages sin.
In conclusion, I assert that ignorance is sin, but not all sin is the result of ignorance.
I agree with your refinement of the assertion that ignorance is sin. A better way for me to have phrased it would have been to say that ignorance is sinful.
The worst kind of ignorance is that which decides willfully to ignore. There are those who go through life with blinders on, deliberately ignoring all but that which they choose to see. Likewise, there are those who refuse to read enlightening literature because they have been deceived into thinking that it is against the divine will.
I agree with you. If we hold the position that God is (a) a god of truth and (b) has revealed truth to humanity, then the quest for knowledge and understanding is an inherently godly and honorable pursuit. The rub comes when truth is redefined as culturally determined.
Do you have any specific literature in mind which you would place in the category of “enlightening, yet vilified”?
The Vatican had a hefty list of proscribed literature (I don’t know if they’re still in the habit of attacking books). Thomas Paine’s “Age of Reason” had been condemned by some fanatics. And then, there are wonderful works of fiction such as “Satanic Verses” which are recommended by those who would ban them or attack their author.