 The God of the Times. “Fulfillment” of
the Old Testament in Our Time:
Sexual Child Abuse by Priests
In the Footsteps of the Nazarene
or in Those of the Church Authorities?
Jesus, the Christ, is the truth. He said: I and the Father are one. (Jn. 10:30) Let us consider again the following words of Jesus: Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. (Mt. 5:17) In many cases Jesus did not fulfill what the “God” of the Old Testament had commanded through the prophet Moses. Jesus rarely and only indirectly referred to the “God” of the “Books of Moses.” Rather He said: You have heard that it is written … but I tell you … Or: You have heard that it was said to the ancients … but I tell you … He who has ears to hear, listen: Jesus rarely mentions the “God” of the “Books of Moses.”<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Jesus thus sought to dissociate Himself from that mistaken concept of God, from that false image of God. He spoke of the “Father in heaven,” of His Father, of “God, your Father.” He spoke from the truth that is the eternal reality, the law of the heavens.
One might object that what was said at that time applied to the people then, and that it is no longer valid today, that today it would be entirely different. This raises the question: Were the people worse back then, did they have a more wicked character than people do today? Surely we need not research what people were like back then. Everyone who still has a spark of conscience knows without analysis and based on the facts on page 32 ff. that people today are worse by far than people were back then. That this is true also in regard to their brothers and sisters in nature, the animals, is evidenced by the fate of animals in nature and in the laboratories of science, etc.
Many are of the opinion that they believe in God. Especially those who display their faith in churches and official functions, presume to act like super-gods who not only tolerate but condone that living animals are subjected to the most cruel and brutal experiments that put the practices in the “Books of Moses” in the shade. The Roman clergy, of course, does not mention the shade. They proclaim: “The Old Testament prepares for the New and the New Testament fulfills the Old; the two shed light on each other …” (Catholic Catechism No. 140) For example, do the burning pyres of the Middle Ages shed the light of the Old Testament on the New? On the other hand, do the bloody practices of the Middle Ages and the serious alterations that were done during the past 2000 years to the teachings of Jesus, the Christ, shed light on what happened to the word and the message of God in the Old Testament? It could be worth it to pursue this question … what forces, also called powers, might this be today? If it cannot be God – for He is the law and this law is love, kindness, peace and the good of everyone and everything – then who is it?
Just now I am reading how the Old Testament finds fulfillment in the New Testament, but with different characteristics, tailored to our present times. It is the transcript of a television program that was aired on Sept. 2, 1999 on German television (Auslandsjournal, [Foreign Journal] ZDF), under the title “Child Abuse in Ireland.” Here are some excerpts:
A scandal is shaking Ireland. Its focal point is the Catholic Church, the pillar of Irish society. Over the course of many years, the state has entrusted children to a Catholic Order. Today public indignation is great on the island because a documentary film shows what no one wanted to believe at first: abuse instead of care, violence instead of love. Not single cases, but apparently hundreds of children have lived through hell on Earth in the custody of the Church. Now the pact of silence is being broken, and the truth is brought to light.
At age three, John Prior is assigned to a home by the state because his parents supposedly were neglectful in their care of him. The home is run by the Catholic Order of Christian Brothers. Here, the children are supposedly raised to believe in God.
John, who is 54 years old today, tells his story: For seven years he was sexually abused by two Brothers of the Order and by a Catholic priest.
The worst beating that I ever received was when I told a nurse that I had been sexually abused by a Brother. I was nine and a half or ten. She first beat me and then she told the Brother. He then took me away and then two of the Brothers beat and beat and beat me. I had wounds everywhere …
We had group showers. Twenty boys had to get in there. The Brother (of the Order) got undressed … and he abused some boys in front of the eyes of others and he forced them to touch each other. He once raped me, he threw me on his bed and took me, tearing me open. I was bleeding so badly that the nurse used iodine and I screamed with pain.
In March 1998 the Brothers of the Order publicly apologized for the child abuse in the school homes. Together with other Orders they set up a support telephone line for the victims. There were more than 8,000 calls and the Church referred 600 victims to therapists.
1999: A documentary accuses the state and proves that the authorities knew for years about the child abuse in the church schools and that they nevertheless continued to finance them. As a result, the government established a fact-finding committee, promised to change the law, and provided $5 million for the victims’ therapy.
Today, John is in psychotherapy. He suffers from paranoia, cannot sleep, trusts no one. Almost all his relationships have failed, and he has never accomplished anything professionally.
Therapist: John suffers unceasingly; he has inferiority complexes; he feels useless; he has no self-confidence …
John is not a singular case. Thousands of children were placed in the care of Catholic foster homes … John tells about the fate of his best friend, Joseph:
He had a long leather belt and he hit Joseph with it on both shoulders and on the head. Joseph fell from his chair and the Brother struck every part of his body, and then kicked him with those heavy army boots that the Brothers wore to work in the fields. And he kicked him and kicked him and kicked him, until Joseph could no longer move. Joseph had lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital. There he died. This was generally known. They said here that he had died of leukemia, but he did not die of leukemia.
Narrator: Since then, John no longer believes in God.
This report speaks for itself …
In a recent edition of “Kirche Intern” [Inside the Church, Austria] the following appeared under the heading “Sexual Abuse. Therapy in the Monastery:”
More and more often priests and members of Orders are being suspected of taking part in sexual abuse. Reason enough for the abbot of monastery G., in J.A., to take action. Still this year, he wants to establish a therapy center in the monastery P. for the clergy, members of Orders and pastoral workers.
It might be advisable to read what the “God of Moses” said about such and similar things. If this old law, which can look back on a long tradition and which is esteemed by the Church as a part of the “Holy Scriptures” were to be applied, there would very quickly be fewer people around.
The transgressions of man today are not only directed against individuals, against people and animals, but it is a global strategy against people and animals. He is even convinced that he should improve on God’s creation. Cruel and domineering people interfere in manifold and the most brutal ways and means in the life of animals – and the world of plants and minerals is not spared either. Others, the great mass of people, leave the tormented creatures to their fate without protest, being deaf and blind in their egotism and dull indifference. In a similar fashion, people treat each other.
The caste of priests today has put together their own God, just as during the time of Moses. Only the “God” of today does not concur with either the “God” of the Old Testament or with the teachings of Jesus. Church dignitaries at all times adapted their god or their gods to their times – that is, to their conceptions, needs and aims. The true God, on the other hand, is not the Church spirit-of-the-times “God,” but the unchanging God whom Jesus taught us. The Church spirit-of-the-times “God” is inconstant and unreliable. It does not help to formulate statements in absolute terms, pretending stability. Untruth is not of eternal duration, even if the cracks and holes in the structure of untruth may be patched for a while by claiming these are “the mysteries of God.” The light of truth will bring everything to light.
Why do church dignitaries not abide by their own statements? If they would let the Old Testament be brought to fulfillment in all details in the New Testament, they themselves would be the first that the “God” in the “Books of Moses” would have killed.
The people of today, especially church believers, walk in the footsteps of church authorities, who proclaim a changing God who is subject to the changing spirit-of-the-times, so that their neck will not be caught in the noose of the Old Testament – a noose that the “God” of the “Books of Moses” would have long since put around their necks and pulled tight. And so, they need their spirit-of-the-times, whom they call “God.”
This “God” is flexible and adapts to the requirements of those currently in command, so that there is little difficulty in presenting him to the believers, so that in their lethargy, egocentricity and dissipation they will be disturbed as little as possible. This way, the believers are happy to remain in the folds of this comfortable Church, which takes the burden of many a decision of conscience away and provides an alibi for atrocities of many kinds.
The true eternal One is absolute. He is the all-wise law of the cosmos, which is love. I repeat, God, the love, does not punish or discipline. He does not condemn, kill, or murder. God will not hand over people or animals to other people. Jesus taught us this. He lived the law of His Father and is the example by which to live.
If we learn to understand the depth of His teaching and His statement: Follow me! (Mt. 4:19), then we will know why Jesus urged us to follow in His steps. Did Jesus want to tell us, among other things, that we should not walk in the footsteps of the priest caste which teaches a God of the times, a spirit-of-the-times God that unavoidably leads people into destruction – something which our world today is showing us? The Seer of Patmos recognized this, because we can read in the revelation of John: Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues … (Rev. 18:4)
Again let it be clearly and unmistakably said: Jesus spoke against the brutal, bestial slaughter of animals and the killing and murder of people. We should keep asking questions of ourselves until we have received enlightenment and have recognized deep within us why Jesus proclaimed a God who is different from the “God” of the “Books of Moses” and from the “God” of today’s church officials. Or do we believe in several gods of differing quality? In that case, it is the personal philosophy of each individual, who does not require a church authority for this – unless the individual lacks imagination in this respect: then the Church is the right place for him as a “religious” member. But if the one God should be changeable, then woe unto the people who have turned from the state Church of pagan rituals!
We should consider carefully, and wisely weigh everything! God gave not only people a heart – the stirrings of which are not so reliable if we have lost our conscience – but also a mind. We are well advised to make use of it and to reawaken our perhaps long-unused ability for independent thinking.
To come to clarity, a good approach is to question oneself – or God in deep prayer. For: Whoever asks sincerely may receive guidance.
After 2000 years it is time that those people who believe in Jesus and who want to follow Him make a decision: to either follow in the steps of Jesus, the Christ, and to thus apply His teaching; or to follow in the steps of today’s church authorities, who in no way fall short of the caste of priests in Moses’ times.
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