Mother Teresa And Her Critics
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own."
John 15:18
I was disgusted and discouraged to read the wikipedia article on Mother Teresa.
I am convinced this woman was very close to God and lived a very righteous life. It seems to me this should be fairly undisputed, but apparently it isn't.
Wikipedia has many interesting articles (particularly on history and science), but the style of the articlces often lack seriousness of any kind, and they are often written by very worldly people.
The article on Mother Teresa is a perfect example. This woman devoted her life to serving God and her neighbor and yet the article on her is between 1/3 and 1/2 criticism.
The criticisms basically read: "Sure she made some impressive attempts at helping people, but she should have been more systematic about it." Or, "She should have been smarter about it."
This is pure foolishness. Does any system care about anyone? Are the published scholars the ones working at orphanages and hospitals? Is it not the case the secular thinkers and the athiests are too busy running universities to care about anyone?
The other criticism she received was for her effort to lead people to know Jesus. She traveled all over the world help the people no one else cared about, and people criticize her for telling people about Jesus. If she helped feed the poor and comfort the dying, yes, this is acceptable to the public, but to offer forgivenness and second chance to know God? Many people claim this is wrong.
The Catholic Church has responded to much of the criticism against Mother Teresa by suggesting she was a "sign of contradiction". The phrase is reserved for those who demonstrate the love of Christ so much they are hated by the people for it. Apparently there are enough examples of this they had to designate a category for it.
These travesity against Mother Teresa remind me that the works God calls us to are often disregarded or even hated by the world. The world is open to letting people be aided externally, but as soon as the inside of a person is addressed, they are hated.
Jesus said that before the world hated any Christians it first hated Christ. The life of true devotion is not something that people can recognize from the outside unless they themselves have found it inside of them.
On a final note, Mother Teresa once said that those who do good would have false friends and true enemies but that we are obligated to do good anyway. As good as this advice is, I emphasize that this woman actually lived it!
John 15:18
I was disgusted and discouraged to read the wikipedia article on Mother Teresa.
I am convinced this woman was very close to God and lived a very righteous life. It seems to me this should be fairly undisputed, but apparently it isn't.
Wikipedia has many interesting articles (particularly on history and science), but the style of the articlces often lack seriousness of any kind, and they are often written by very worldly people.
The article on Mother Teresa is a perfect example. This woman devoted her life to serving God and her neighbor and yet the article on her is between 1/3 and 1/2 criticism.
The criticisms basically read: "Sure she made some impressive attempts at helping people, but she should have been more systematic about it." Or, "She should have been smarter about it."
This is pure foolishness. Does any system care about anyone? Are the published scholars the ones working at orphanages and hospitals? Is it not the case the secular thinkers and the athiests are too busy running universities to care about anyone?
The other criticism she received was for her effort to lead people to know Jesus. She traveled all over the world help the people no one else cared about, and people criticize her for telling people about Jesus. If she helped feed the poor and comfort the dying, yes, this is acceptable to the public, but to offer forgivenness and second chance to know God? Many people claim this is wrong.
The Catholic Church has responded to much of the criticism against Mother Teresa by suggesting she was a "sign of contradiction". The phrase is reserved for those who demonstrate the love of Christ so much they are hated by the people for it. Apparently there are enough examples of this they had to designate a category for it.
These travesity against Mother Teresa remind me that the works God calls us to are often disregarded or even hated by the world. The world is open to letting people be aided externally, but as soon as the inside of a person is addressed, they are hated.
Jesus said that before the world hated any Christians it first hated Christ. The life of true devotion is not something that people can recognize from the outside unless they themselves have found it inside of them.
On a final note, Mother Teresa once said that those who do good would have false friends and true enemies but that we are obligated to do good anyway. As good as this advice is, I emphasize that this woman actually lived it!
Labels: Misunderstood
1 Comments:
Mother Teresa was a very godly women - from what I have seen and read about her. I can understand some of the criticisms - but there is no criticizing she cared for the people dying in Calcutta. If anyone knows anything about the class system in India - they would know Mother Teresa would have been seen as one of the lower classes. I think she chose to be lower than to help people that were considered lower than - knowing God still loved them. I personally think Mother Teresa was some type of modern day saint (if we had saints and all that jazz). I really appreciate what she did for India.
Post a Comment
<< Home