FAST FOOD (AD 2019): Twenty-Fifth Helping
Gospel Nonviolence and Self Deception
Self Deception: “It is all but impossible to get a person to see a truth if his or her livelihood or status, or even just comfort, depends on him or her not seeing that truth.” -ECM
Self-deception is making oneself believe or forget something of critical importance, which points overwhelmingly to conclusions opposite to the ones adopted by the self-deceiver. In other words, it is critically important that Jesus was non-violent. It is critically important that He taught a way of non-violence, of friends and enemies. It is critically important that original Christianity was non-violent. Stephen, Paul, and so forth and so on, those are critical matters, so we won’t even look at that. It’s critically important that the cross itself is the presentation of a man in an ultimate crisis, being attacked by violence and responding non-violently to it.
The cross is a symbol of non-violent love. It is not the sword. It is not a symbol of revenge. It’s returning good for evil, not hurt for hurt. Father, forgive them, and so forth, for they know not what they do. These are matters of critical importance that are simply ignored or forgotten—and hence, evil is called good.
Emmanuel Charles McCarthy
