God did not create a separate flock of clergy men and did not make them immediate decedents of God. It is from the so called lay men the clergy group is formed. No one is born as a clergy man, he is born as an ordinary man, his studies and special way of life has put him an elevated position as clergy and it is needless to hype that clergy men are superior and lay men are inferior. As clergymen are automatically in the ruling side they themselves make a distinction like clergy and lay people. It is just to strengthen their monopoly in the church.
Already the church is divided into maximum number of entities, we have hell lots of denominations and why then we have again a clergy and laity division. I don't think there is any major transformation happening in the process of one becoming the so called clergy from layman. I strongly believe that there is only an external difference that is the dress both the parties wear; the former wear religious habit and the latter civil.
Why we need to have Laity Voice at all. It itself means the laity is suppressed thus the laity needs to voice out against clergy. The laity needs to make its voice heard. So a subliminal message is being spread that the clergy is the ruling party. The true spiritual beings are the laity because they have simple faith whereas the clergy men are arriving at faith through their philosophical and theological pursuit thus hardly we can see any faith in them.
Wherever there is a hierarchy automatically corruptions, politics and hunger for power pop up. Jesus did not establish a separate flock as clergy it was just a need of the society, someone had to be there to initiate the prayer and other rituals for the particular community and in course of time it got formalized and a new group named clergy is formed.
What we need to become is basic human, being a Good Samaritan is the greatest spiritually. We preach a lot about charity but our eyes always remain closed towards our needy brethren. Church and clergy are just means for the end and our end is heaven. Let us not get hooked up with church and clergy. The church is always giving important for rules and rituals but we human beings are not for laws instead law should be for us.
Church has to get revolutionized. Church has to keep space with the changes and modernity. Jesus Christ was a revolutionary and the church should keep the human dignity always up not keeping believers divided like clergy and lay men. Both the parities can't remain as separate entities, instead both are complimenting each other. Therefore, both are equally important and decorate same status.
Interesting post...
ReplyDeleteI think it is ok to have a clergy/laity distinction. Not everyone can spend countless hours in theological study and preparation. Someone has to however.
The problem comes when people in the clergy think that they are superior or someone special or that what they do is somehow more holy than what say an engineer does. (What I am saying is that even the work of an engineer ought to be done for God's sake ... to God's glory. If we pray before eating then why not work?)
The real problem is that a lot clergy do not understand that mankind is fallen and has a sinful nature (Thank you Adam & Eve!) and that our sins separate us from God. Furthermore they have failed to understand the basic fact that this is why Jesus Christ died. When was the last time that you heard this proclaimed by them? The fact is that Jesus died for our sins so that forgiveness can be made available to us sinners. If and only IF we shun and turn away from our sinful ways and accept that Jesus died for our sins then we are given new hearts and a new nature.
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."
~ Ezekiel 36:26
So long as clergy walk around with old unchanged hearts ... you will continue to see problems.
"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?" 2 Corinthians 13:5