"Be the change you want to see in the world." Gandhi
This is an original piece of artwork by the one and only Elijah Benjamin Smith. He is a composing photographer.
Where did we leave off? Oh yeah, Gandhi. Now I will not pretend to know a lot or even a little about Gandhi. In fact, I looked him up on wikipedia and found out that I was spelling his name wrong. Now that I have that little mishap fixed I want to share with you the problem that I have with this very popular quote. First, Let's recap...
In the midst of pondering the Way, and how the loving God would help us all change into being more like his Son. I realized that Gandhi's quote is not the solution to the problem or even the means to go about solving it. If we were merely the change that we wanted to see in our churches, then yes, some people would notice and some things might change. So, you may ask, what is wrong with that? Nothing, except if you tried to take this concept and put it into a group of people who were not so like-minded as the family in the pew next to you.
What happens when an advocate for abortion is standing up and "being the change they want to see in the world", and the lady who has been haunted by hers stands up against this practice to protect other children and potential mothers? Or what may I ask is the result of two people who cannot seem to agree? Arguing? Most certainly. War? Sometimes. Famine? It happens. So lets take this a bit further... What significant difference would I alone make by being so selfish as to only stand up for the changes that I want to see happen? Do you now see the problem with Gandhi's quote? You may call it too centered on self, small, incapable of making true change, but no other description fits it better than: Not being grounded in the Truth. This quote and way of thinking did not come from God, and that, my friend, is the problem.
Instead I would like to present to you a modified version. Instead of being the change that we want to see, let's have a more lasting impression and vote for real change by being the change that God wants to see. You see if I studied my bible, loved my Jesus, and did everything in my life that I think God would have me do. Great things would happen, and they would last longer than my mere term of office. After all, if you advocate for something that God doesn't want to happen; you have to answer to God for why you chose to be so self centered and only try to change the things in this world that you wanted to see change.
Next time we are confronted with a problem whether inside or outside the church lets think about what God would want us to do. If we love Him; then we will find ourselves praying "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
9 comments:
Lori, you've gone a bit too far on this one. While I won't speak to how you shoudl act at your own church (as I don't attend one), I would like to say that your critique of Gandhi's quote is extremely out of context and lacking in knowledge of what he did. You may want to read up a bit on who Gandhi was, what his mission was, and who actually supported him (one such supporter was Martin Luther King, Jr.).
So while I support you trying to unify your church, I don't think that you can apply Gandhi's quote here. It's kind of like trying to fit an apple in a grape-sized hole. Also in the future it would be awesome if you could make sure that you know what you are talking about before you criticize one of the most amazing historical figures that our world has ever seen.
Thanks. And good luck with your church.
Obviously my disclaimer needs more clarification. My thoughts relating to Ghandi's quote started with thinking about the church (not mine, but what others say about the body of believers known as the church), but in fact, has nothing to do with the church's problems, but rather with problems in general that occur everywhere in this lost world.
Thanks for reading!
Ummm...that disclaimer doesn't actually say anything about your portrayal of Gandhi. I believe that the commenter was concerned about your denigration of Gandhi - it had nothing to do with your position about the church.
Additionally, if you think the world is lost, Gandhi's sentiment goes a long way towards fixing it. If you think that the world should be changed so that it follows God's plan be the change you want to see in the world!
Finally, it would behoove you to become more familiar with the respected historical figures you choose to take issue with when you publish your ill-conceived thoughts on the internet for everyone to read. It makes you sound foolish to say things like this.
I look forward to reading your blog in the future.
If this were the time of Gandhi, your words would perfectly resemble those of the British officer's who were killing the peaceful Indians in the square because their "religiousness" convicted them to do so. That puts you right up there with the Muslims who (still) kill in the name of Allah. Who is right-the Christians, Hindu's or the Muslims? Neither, because if you follow Jesus like you CLAIM you do, then your purposeful defamation of another person proves that you are a hypocrite.
Jesus spoke against injustice, yet you promote it with your words. If YOUR message indeed speaks the Truth, then you can promote it without speaking against another persons good intentions.
"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction." -Blaise Pascal
This is not the first time you have commented on this. I should think 7 months of time would have prepared you for a more informed rebuttal from previous attacks on Gandhi...
You have some interesting thoughts. I am glad that my blog has made some people think more, that is what it is for.
If you really wanted to have an intelligent conversation you wouldn't be posting as anonymous, but then I guess that leaves me free from having to really respond to someone that I don't even know.
Read On! And please feel free to leave comments.
I think you bring up two very important issues here with this latest post. The first one to grab my attention was the issue of abortion and the church body, the word of GOD is very clear of how he feels about the spilling of innocent blood and most important the murder of children. He is very specific about the consequences of such actions both here on earth (physically, mentally, physcology and emotionally) and at the judgement, so having a TRUE member of the body of CHRIST that is a advocate of abortion, seems to me to be a imposible situation.
And second The statement of "be the change that GOD wants to see", doesn't that completely cover what it means to have CHRIST as your savior, (I dont beleive that the word christian is a noun, it is a verb), Yet most of the church going professing people never read the word of GOD for themselves they allow a pastor, preacher, priest, ect.. tell them what they are suppose to believe. How are we to know the true savior unless we have a personal relationship with him, which includes reading and studying his word ourselves on our own with the holy spirit for guidance. This is starting to soud preachy, I just wanted to say that I enjoyed yiur post and think I understood were you were comming from. Lisa midwife
Thank you Lisa.
I wanted to clarify for others that I was not trying to diminish Gandhi's work, but rather share that although Gandhi was a good man, Christ is in fact greater and did more. My post was not about where Gandhi was lacking, however, but was about where following his quote leaves out the most important thing (Christ), and puts the focus on ourselves (it is not about us). I think that we all need to question whether we revere humans as more important than God.
I'll leave a few more comments and then I am done with this particular blog.
1. Abortion is a very delicate issue that cannot be discussed in absolutes. There is no place in the Bible that states when life begins, we have been relying on modern science to try to come up with an answer to that, and people involved on the pro-life side of the debate seem to have chosen the stage that is most convenient for their agenda. I am not here to discuss that point however, but I may make it a new blog post. What about instances of rape or incest? What about situations in which carrying out the pregnancy (even if it is an intentional pregnancy) would kill the mother? These are questions that should be discussed and answered between a woman (and her husband if he is there), her doctor, and her Lord (if she believes). And most importantly, if she does believe and prays about her decision and goes through with it SHE IS FORGIVEN!!! Christianity (at least for Protestants) is a very individualized religion that a person must explore between him or herself and Jesus/God. Judge not lest ye be judged, and so on abortion, as long as it remains legal, it is none of your business whether someone gets one, it is their business to settle with God.
2. On Gandhi (which is spelled with the h at the end): I believe that the first anonymous poster (as we all know who the second one was) had it right. Gandhi's quote can work as is if you view yourself as a vessel for the change that God wants in the world. You yourself must be that change, and you yourself must want it because you should want what God wants. And so, leaving Gandhi's quote alone and using the transitive property from algebra, be the change YOU want to see in the world can mean EXACTLY the same thing as the quote you have proposed Lori, which was be the change GOD wants to see in the world. This only works if you are an instrument of God's will and a model for what he would want to see. Therefore, Gandhi was right, and his quote can be applied to any moral, just, caring person whether they are religious or not. Just like any statement it can be twisted for evil (the Bible, Koran, and many other religious documents have been used just this way) but it is up to us to maintain integrity and see it for what it is: a call for increased responsibility, morality, and humanity in an increasingly unjust and violent world.
PS I'm not done with the blog (as stated in the intro paragraph) I'm finished with this entry. Sorry for any confusion.
Post a Comment