When Brunel drove his tunnel through Box Hill, naysayers foresaw calamity. Passengers would not be able to breathe as the pressure grew. It was madness. Brunel, being Brunel, disregarded his naysayers and went ahead. Trains went through the tunnel like a knife through butter. The jeremiahs were left with what was a delusion.
Much the same happened when Paul and his team declared the Christian Gospel. It was derided by the movers and shakers of Athenian and other cities. It was asking too much of people to abandon the traditional thinking they had received in Tarsus or Alexandria. Who did these street-preachers think they were?
An alert and talkative society rapidly builds up a framework for citizens to inhabit. Alongside the Stoics with their considered views on a rational universe were less cautious elements in society who looked for a more acceptable basis on which to build their understanding.
This fostered polytheism. Passions and creative instincts combine too explain the forces tht worked on human nature. A parade of gods from Poseidon to Hermes provided an adequate explanation of the forces that ruled susceptible human beings. Not all took this seriously but it was the official line and it was best to keep in step. The augurs who regulated prediction did not take lightly any slights against their activity.
Christian believers faced a compelling delusion. The face of society was against them. The brave and the bold gritted their teeth and held the faith as peaceably as they could. Others, knowingly or unknowingly, colluded with the spirit of the age.
And today? Is such collusion to be seen? Does it pay well to fit into a ready-made slot and imbibe the wisdom of the hierarchs? Paul must have pondered these issues when he wrote or dictated 2 Thessalonians 2.11.
BRISTOL DECLARATION
Redland parish church, Bristol makes a clear declaration on its website about its place in Bristol: ‘Inviting and equipping people to be apprentices of Jesus, being formed by him to be a visible presence required where he has placed us.’
The church has a strong ministry team and has set up a hub with documents in Ukrainian to welcome and help refugees. The church offers language classes and art therapy in its programme. The Vicar is Will Fairbairn. The church building dates from 1742 and its new church halls hum with activity.
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