The old adage, actions speak louder than words lies at the heart of striving to set a good example for others to follow. However, good example will only be followed by those possessing a humble and sincere desire for the good. Those who have little or no love for what is good and virtuous will find convenient (and even plausible) excuses to disregard good example. And so, the good example of John the Baptist is dismissed because he is accused of being possessed by a demon; whereas, the self-giving love of Christ and his compassionate ministry are disqualified for imitation because he is thought to be a drunkard and a glutton. We would do well to examine ourselves in this regard, because when we impute evil where none exists, we place ourselves at risk of committing that one sin Christ labeled as “unforgiveable,” namely, the sin against the Holy Spirit that renders us incapable of receiving divine mercy.
jim hayes says
I would like this put more simply. I don’t know exactly what is meant.
jim hayes says
I need you help to further understand this. A sin against the Holy Spirit is quite a damning charge.
In this context how does it relate to my judgements on a, say, mass murderer.
Felicity says
Mr. Hayes,
Forgive me for butting in … Abbot Joseph says “when we impute evil where none exists”. Jesus and his friends were not, in fact, gluttons and drunkards, they just were not dour ascetics. To accuse them that way becomes an excuse for writing off the real challenge of Jesus’s message: to love God above all and our neighbor as ourselves, to love even our enemies.
Mass murder is different, of course that is evil. But the real challenge of loving our enemy is to see and truly believe that even the mass murderer is not intrinsically evil, he (or she) was created good by God but has been “infected” by or possessed by evil, has for whatever reason rejected the good and embraced the bad. But he is not irredeemable … So Jesus prayed His forgiveness for those who crucified Him, and so Judas’s unforgivable sin is his suicide (not like suicide committed out of mental illness), since he despaired of — rejected the possibility of — divine forgiveness and redemption for his sin of betraying Jesus. Whereas St. Paul lived his whole Christian life on the grace of forgiveness for the great sins he had committed in persecuting Christians, including participating in at least one murder (stoning St. Stephen to death).
Does this make any sense? Does it resonate with the questions you were asking?
jim hayes says
Yes. I mean about imputing evil where it does exist.