Good Intentions
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." I used to have trouble with that proverb. I thought that as long as you thought you were doing good, that as long as you followed your conscience, you'd be kept out of the danger of sin. I was, in hindsight, a blind follower of the dominant relativist and situationist ethics of post-modernism. The Church stresses the importance of conscience in morality, but emphasizes the necessity of a well-informed conscience.
Today, I read that the Mennonite Central Committee of Pennsylvania is sending a Canadian couple to teach English to North Korean scientists (see U.S. sends English teachers to N. Korea). This may seem like a good and Christian thing to do, but these scientists work for the most repressive government on the face of the Earth: a government that is accused of testing chemical and biological weapons on Christians and other political prisoners, a goverment that starves its own people, that breaks nuclear agreements, that enshrines its leader as a living god. Providing food aid to the innocent starving victims of that regime is a corporal act of mercy, but aiding and abetting the regime that keeps them starving is a pact with the devil.
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." I used to have trouble with that proverb. I thought that as long as you thought you were doing good, that as long as you followed your conscience, you'd be kept out of the danger of sin. I was, in hindsight, a blind follower of the dominant relativist and situationist ethics of post-modernism. The Church stresses the importance of conscience in morality, but emphasizes the necessity of a well-informed conscience.
Today, I read that the Mennonite Central Committee of Pennsylvania is sending a Canadian couple to teach English to North Korean scientists (see U.S. sends English teachers to N. Korea). This may seem like a good and Christian thing to do, but these scientists work for the most repressive government on the face of the Earth: a government that is accused of testing chemical and biological weapons on Christians and other political prisoners, a goverment that starves its own people, that breaks nuclear agreements, that enshrines its leader as a living god. Providing food aid to the innocent starving victims of that regime is a corporal act of mercy, but aiding and abetting the regime that keeps them starving is a pact with the devil.
Redeemed by Our Savior, I work out my salvation with fear and trembling in Pohang, South Korea, where I live with my wife, daughter, and son and teach English at a science and technology university. Baptized a Methodist and raised a Missouri Synod Lutheran in Buffalo, NY, I spent six years as a guest of the Anglican Communion before being received by the Grace of God into the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church on the Feast of Saint Andrew, my patron, anno domini 2002.
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