Are You an Eternal Risk-Taker?
During World War II, an American plane, under the cloak of darkness, headed for Benghazi in North Africa. A strong tail wind accelerated the plane beyond what they felt was their air speed, so that in disbelief of their gauges they flew far beyond their destination, looking for the identifying beacon light, already far behind them. The plane finally exhausted its fuel and crashed in the desert, killing the entire crew.
Like those airmen, many a Christian has met with a disaster, not physically but spiritually, by relying on his or her personal feelings--often sincere but erroneous--rather than on the established norms of God’s revealed truth, especially as they are articulated by Christ’s Church, “the pillar and bulwark of truth”(1 Tm 3:15), with its Spirit-guided teaching (see Jn 16:13). Many sincere persons make what they judge to be prudent moral decisions, based only on feelings, not on divine revelation and the Church’s God-gifted infallibility. Those “feelings” may be contrary to Christ-imposed obedience to the Church’s authentic guiding authority (see Mt 18:18).
Thus, many believe in the acceptability of euthanasia, abortion, artificial birth control, cloning, premarital sex (fornication), astrology, fortune telling, and the like. Even if these things are subjectively in accord with one’s conscience, however, they are objectively sinful. Ignoring the God-assigned guides in such moral issues can lead to spiritual disasters, according to the words of Jesus: “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Lk 10:16).
These persons usually claim to be wise in their judgment, but, in the words of James, “such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, and of the devil” (Jas 3:15). “Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?” asks Jeremiah (Jer 8:9). Paul says that such false assumptions are held by persons “whose consciences have been seared” (1 Tm 4:2). In Hebrews 5:13-14 it says that “the teaching about righteousness . . . is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (emphasis mine). James asks a challenging question about earthly wisdom as it contravenes divine wisdom: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom” (Jas 3:13, emphasis mine). It is pride, not humility, that can cause one’s thoughts and actions to repudiate submission to legitimate authority.
When dealing with divine truths revealed directly or indirectly, so-called prudent self-determined decisions are based on trust in oneself, not on trust in God’s guiding Spirit. “He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe” (Prv 28:26). It was “to some who were confident of their own righteousness” (Lk 18:9) that Jesus directed his scathing parable about the Publican and the Pharisee. The Lord fulminated to the prophet Ezekiel, “If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but then he trusts in his righteousness and does evil, none of the righteous things he has done will be remembered; he will die for the evil he has done” (Ez 33:13).
The bottom-line rationale for the immorality of one’s imprudent choice or irresponsible decision is that such souls do not really trust what God has said about such matters, nor do they trust the authority he has delegated to his Church. Their trust is faulty because it is misdirected. With the requisite condition of humility, this corrupted mentality can be redirected to its proper focus on the God of wisdom. The spiritual wisdom and understanding that Paul prayed for the Colossians to experience (see Col 1:9) was aimed at protecting them from spiritual disaster resulting from self-trust or human-based trust: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ” (Col 2:8).
This excerpt is from the book Pathways of Trust, by John H. Hampsch,C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.