'Raids on the Unspeakable' - Thomas Merton (excerpt)

Law is consistent.

Grace is inconsistent.

The cross is the sign of contradiction--destroying the seriousness of the law, of the Empire, of the armies, of blood sacrifice, and of obsession.

But the magicians keep turning the Cross to their own purposes. Yes, it is for them too a sign of contradiction: the awful blasphemy of the religious magician who makes the Cross contradict mercy!

This of course is the ultimate temptation of Christianity!  To say that Christ has locked all the doors, has given one answer, settled everything and departed, leaving all life enclosed in the frightful consistency of a system outside of which there is seriousness and damnation, inside of which there is the intolerable flippancy of the saved--while nowhere is there any place left for the mystery of the freedom of divine mercy which alone is truly serious, and worthy of being taken seriously.'

Comments

[Logan Runnalls]

Fascinating.

Who are the magicians and what are their purposes? Am I a magician because I believe that _an_ essential element of the cross is atonement?

I also don't understand why this is the ultimate temptation of Christianity. Certainly it is the ultimate temptation of a version of Christianity.

in peace