"The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions!" (This proverb was taken from St. Bernard of Clairvaux about 1150, "L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés ou désirs" translated more accurately, "Hell is full of good intentions or wishes"), But many folk have quoted it, or have referred to it over the years, to quote a few:
"Hell isn't merely paved with good intentions; it's walled and roofed with them. Yes, and furnished too." ~ Aldous Huxley
"Life is short and if you're looking for extension, you had best do well. 'Cause there's good deeds and then there's good intentions. They are as far apart as Heaven and Hell." ~ Ben Harper
"One lives with so many bad deeds on one's conscience and some good intentions in one's heart."
~ John Dewey
"Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work." ~ Peter Drucker
"The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding." ~ Albert Camus
"The object of most prayers is to wangle an advance on good intentions." ~ Robert Brault
"The Senate is a place filled with goodwill and good intentions, and if the road to hell is paved with them, then it's a pretty good detour. " ~ Hubert H. Humphrey
This proverb means in essence the same thing which was meant by the writer of New Covenant book of James (Jacob), when he said, "....faith without works is dead..."! In other words, it is clear that just wishing doesn't get the job done, and that "planning to get around to it" isn't the same as doing it, etc.! So, what's my point?
Well, I have noticed that we, in westernized "Christianity" or the religious world (that has separated itself from the Jewish Writings and ways) have placed a lot of weight and importance on our own intentions.In other words, when confronted with the plain facts about the (now) obvious, horribly profane, origins of most of our lovely, sentimentally charged Christmas traditions, my first response, which I have heard echoed time and again, was, "But that wasn't what my motivations were!" or "That is not what was in our hearts!" However, while that is true, the question I want to pose is, "SO?!". So what?! What difference does that really make? I know that there is something to the fact that G-d does weigh the motives of the heart. However, do motives that were developed and supported on the wrong information really count, after the errors are exposed? As the quote from Albert Camus indicates, much wrong has been done simply because of a lack of understanding! And something which I like to call "selective understanding", which I have also heard described as "familiarity bias" or "comfort zones", which simply means that we do not want our security shaken by new ideas, so we tend to "selectively" understand only the things that will support what makes us feel secure - whether it is actually true or not!
As in the case of "Christmas", for example, our sentimental attachments - to our feel-good traditions, that are often tied to warm childhood memories, etc.,- clearly overshadow the increasingly difficult-to- avoid "facts"; which would indicate that most of our practices are offensive to the very Messiah whom they were "intended" to "honor"! We shrink from any truths that indicate otherwise, even vehemently fight them, because we do not want our memories dishonored or our intentions frustrated! However, Yeshua Himself, in rebuking the Pharisees, had this complaint against them;
“Tell me,” replied Jesus, “why do youbreak God’s commandment through your tradition?For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’, and ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death’. But you saythat if a man tells his parents, ‘Whatever use I might have been to you is now given to God’, then he owes no further duty to his parents. And so your traditionempties the commandment of God of all its meaning. You hypocrites! Isaiah describes you beautifully when he said: ‘These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Andin vain they worship me,teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’.”
Matthew 15:2-4 (in Context) J.B. Phillips New Testament
Even then G-d's Word was being exchanged for human ways of doing and thinking and being. The Church world has had many condemning things to say about the foolishness of the Pharisees, and yet have fallen face first into the very same mire of the subconscious motivations that fueled their deception! I know we do not want this to be true! But if it isn't, then where are the feasts - which G-d ordained "as a statute, or a commandment, to be observed "by His people FOREVER"?Why do we have - in the place His Appointed Times- a bunch of totally unrelated "holidays" like Easter, Christmas and even "All Hallows Eve", craftily covering over the abomination of their profane pagan origins with the lame excuse that we are "redeeming them for Him"? Please! This is sort of like our cats bringing us a mouse for dinner - we may appreciate the kind intention - but we are not thrilled enough to eat it! G-d does not want our dressed up garbage. He wants our loving, loyal obedience to what He has set forth for us!
Messiah was a Torah Observant Jew! He was not a politically correct, spineless, culture-less, blob of religious vagueness! He had a specific goal and a specific calling, which was to bring back the Glory of the Name of His Father in this Earth! Thereby redeeming His prime creation! It was not just to "save us from sin", so that we could continue in it! This is like a man who has been saved from drowning that will not cease to throw himself into the water! As though the mere fact that he has been saved would prevent his drowning the next time! The "logic" behind this kind of thinking is startlingly naive, incredulously stupid, and astoundingly twisted!
And yes, I am angry. Angry at myself most of all, that I didn't have the good sense to look into all of this sooner. I really can't claim ignorance totally, I can not say that these manufactured "holidays" didn't always cause some form of internal discomfort. Looking back I am aware that there wasalways a feeling that something was wrong, but I just couldn't put my finger on it! And so - because of the familiarity bias, no doubt - I went along with the flow, and allowed all the explanations of those "in Authority" to quiet this disturbance, time and again! Now I am kicking myself for my "selective stupidity"! Oy! I will forgive myself in good time, but right now I am feeling ashamed and irritated. I am also angry at those in leadership who, I know, had to have studied this stuff and had to know the origins! Why in the world would anyone deliberately propound something so hatefully opposed to the Word of G-d - and in His Name! Is there no reverence? No fear?! I am angry at being deceived, but I also tremble for them! I recommend repentance, long, hard and immediate!
But now I am not the only one who is angry, there are angry folk on both sides of this thing. Those on this "side", which I have recently transferred to, whose perspectives have been unavoidably altered by this sudden onslaught of all this "new" information (new to us, it has obviously been around for hundreds and thousands of years!). Our out look has been so altered, in fact, that we will never be able to maintain our comfortable "status-quo" again!
And then there is that "other side". Consisting of those who are still stubbornly clinging to their position that their traditions are indeed "approved by G-d" or socially acceptable or whatever their standard happens to be, simply because their "intentions" were pure in their own eyes!
I am not "intending" to offend anyone in my struggles to determine what is "Scripturally Correct" (which is, and has always been the plum-line for Truth, for me), however, historically it has been the dividing line, hasn't it, and so offense is somewhat unavoidable. Men and women have given their "last full measure", time and again, in this same search for divine understanding!
While the "powers that be" have always sought to mask it, twist it and use it to manipulate the masses to their own ends! So the battle for Truth rages, and we must all decide on which side of that line we will stand - with Scripture or against it. But here is my current "bottom line" - it appears to me that in this day and time the spirits of the anti-G-d in this world have arisen with renewed vigor, with new strength and determination to silence all references to the "G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob", and all references to the "chosen One", Yeshua/Jesus, who is considered to be the "Messiah" by many!
This war against the true people of G-d, similar to what happened just prior to WWII, is heating up again, and any who "believe" may eventually come to a place of being forced to decide just how much they actually do"believe", and what they are willing to pay for the right to maintain that "belief"! My attitude is this, if I may someday be martyred for telling the Truth, I at least want it be the actual version of the Truth that G-d wrote! Not some watered down man made crap! I do not want to give my life or waste my death on a bunch of fairy-tales and foolishness - whose ultimate design - from the enemies of G-d - were to lead mankind away unwittingly! I do not want to be found aiding and abetting the enemies of G-d, "accidentally" or otherwise, since I have sincerely have set out with the "intention" to "Love the Lord My G-d with all my heart, soul and strength, and my neighbor as myself"!
What kind of "neighbor" peddles stale bread to his friends? I am in a fight for life. Notmylife, but for the Life of G-d (His concept and provision of life which was set aside for us) in the earth! I do not want to fall back on my intentions! I do not want to follow my "good intentions" blindly into hell! I want to have the Peace of G-d which passes all understanding, not a mere lack of conflict because I don't have the courage to stand up for anything! I have never wanted a dull colorless life, I have never been comfortable just taking folks words for things, I generally require some sort of convincing!
The problem here is that I have been too trusting. The one place that was fraught with the most risk just happened to be the onlyplace that I have been too trusting! Not that I haven't scrutinized what I was told, but for some reason I never got past the tradition to the truth. Somehow it has been successfully elusive all these years. I suspect our old "friend" Familiarity Bias" is the culprit here, I suspect that I just fell into that human tendency to want my own comfort at any cost!
But in order for our "intentions to be fruitful and not just more hell-bound paving material we will need to have a plan, and we will need to be aware of what is fueling those intentions! With the help of G-d I intend to find a place of truth and rest in all of this stuff. I intend to find that place of internal peace with myself. I have pretty much given up on external peace, since that requires too much "but-kissing" to suit me - and besides, you can't please everyone, someone is always going to be put out that it isn't their butt that is being kissed at any given moment! So I may as well put that effort into pleasing G-d! He allows us to Love Him from our free will, He does require obedience, but again, it is to be freely offered - because of Love - not begrudgingly doled out because of fear!
I am re-examining my intentions to see if they are truly honorable or just some more lame, religiously correct, pretty excuses for doing whatever my flesh wants! I think this is a crucial move in these the last of days if we want to avoid the "highway to hell", found on the path of deception. If I am going to make a stand for anything, I want to be fairly sure that it warrants such a stand. The Torah is the only thing standing that is worth that kind of effort. It, being the source of all life, would sensibly be the only thing worth giving that life to, or for. When I eventually face G-d I do not want to be judged only by my intentions, but by my actions, I want to live in such a way that there is a hope that they will line up with His Truth, His Torah. To that end I live. To that end I write. To that end I pray.
Shalom!
SCD 1/24/12
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