Friday, October 6, 2006

Oranges and Practical Christianity

"...Some of the old ones still refuse to see that my method is better than theirs. The only thing that will convince them is when I get three oranges to their one, and sell them for twice the price because they are full of juice. But we'll show them in the end."

"You puzzle me," said Meredith frankly.

"Why?"

"What have oranges got to do with the human soul?"

"Everything," said the bishop flatly. "You can't cut a man in two and polish up his soul while you throw his body in the trash heap. If the Almighty had designed him that way, he would have made him a biped who carried his soul in a bag round his neck. If reason and revelation mean anything they mean that a man works out his salvation in the body by the use of material things. A neglected tree, a second-rate fruit are defects in the divine scheme of things. Unnecessary misery is an even greater defect because it is an impediment to salvation. When you don't know where your next meal is coming from, how can you think or care about the state of your soul? Hunger has no morals, my friend."
The Devil's Advocate by Morris L. West

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