Men must be discerning to know that what God and saints can do for men are very different from what religions can do for men or what temples / churches can do for men.
What are of God and saints are controlled and managed by God and saints. What are of men like religions, churches and temples are controlled and managed by men though we say these are influenced by their inclinations to God and saints.
Thus know who are God and saints and who are men. Give to God and saints what are due to God and saints and to men what is due to men.
Man is man and God is God. Do not mistake man for God or we will end up worshiping the God in man and make a monster out of man who is the pastor or the priest at the pulpit.
It may not at all be the primary fault of the pastor or priest for being the devil in sheep's clothing but the fault of the congregation for idolizing him and creating the monster out of him.
Blame not God and saints for the predicament. Blame not the flower for insects coming to it. This is the oft repeated parable narrated by Lord Bo Tien.
Often the wrong type of man will come to a church to be pastor because of the nectar offered by the men making up the congregation. Well the pastor should know better than to err but the poor pastor is no God.
Well, in the end the pastor will take the blame and the men cry foul that providence is cruel. These men escape blame and end up scotch free. How ironical can life be?
Likewise whose fault is it when a temple head turns obnoxious and overbearing. Some men would like to point fingers at him but the real culprits are the small group of reigning and not-so-principled men at the temple for being wrong and prodigal.
This makes it necessary for the temple head to come down hard on them and from there there will be bad blood. The men turns against the temple head and of course, they say that his head will have to roll albeit figuratively.
In this instance, unlike the priest or pastor, the monsters may very well be the men and they are monsters simply because the temple head has failed to manage them well enough. Blame not these men when the temple head may well be at fault for not managing them well.
But is it too unkind to let the temple head bear the burden of the problem? Well, this story may well be repeated over and over again in many temples and organisations. The rest of the story can have various versions, can of course go either way and can be open ended as well.
The crux of problem may be due to a few unprincipled men with little or no spiritual ballast but yet want to call the tune. Whatever has become of respect for elders and their good works?
Those who know better should advise and lead and not those who know little or less. But those in apparent majority and control of the reigns may still call the tune even though less right.
The ultimate outcome is that mistakes and weakness of men, of pastor, priest, monk and temple head are there for all to learn and to be better off from the learning.
A spiritual obstacle is for the learning and not to divine who is right and who is wrong or less right. When will men learn and have men already learnt? That is the issue.
But the cost may be high if men are slow to learn or if men fail to see the light. That will be fate perhaps...
Often the wrong type of man will come to a church to be pastor because of the nectar offered by the men making up the congregation. Well the pastor should know better than to err but the poor pastor is no God.
Well, in the end the pastor will take the blame and the men cry foul that providence is cruel. These men escape blame and end up scotch free. How ironical can life be?
Likewise whose fault is it when a temple head turns obnoxious and overbearing. Some men would like to point fingers at him but the real culprits are the small group of reigning and not-so-principled men at the temple for being wrong and prodigal.
This makes it necessary for the temple head to come down hard on them and from there there will be bad blood. The men turns against the temple head and of course, they say that his head will have to roll albeit figuratively.
In this instance, unlike the priest or pastor, the monsters may very well be the men and they are monsters simply because the temple head has failed to manage them well enough. Blame not these men when the temple head may well be at fault for not managing them well.
But is it too unkind to let the temple head bear the burden of the problem? Well, this story may well be repeated over and over again in many temples and organisations. The rest of the story can have various versions, can of course go either way and can be open ended as well.
The crux of problem may be due to a few unprincipled men with little or no spiritual ballast but yet want to call the tune. Whatever has become of respect for elders and their good works?
Those who know better should advise and lead and not those who know little or less. But those in apparent majority and control of the reigns may still call the tune even though less right.
The ultimate outcome is that mistakes and weakness of men, of pastor, priest, monk and temple head are there for all to learn and to be better off from the learning.
A spiritual obstacle is for the learning and not to divine who is right and who is wrong or less right. When will men learn and have men already learnt? That is the issue.
But the cost may be high if men are slow to learn or if men fail to see the light. That will be fate perhaps...
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