TRADITION & PERCEPTIONS

In his book, “A Pilgrimage of Palestine,” Dr Harry Fosdick tells of his visit in 1928 to the High Priest of the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim. The tiny remnant of this people, who once had a Temple on the Mount in rivalry to that at Jerusalem, still holds to the traditions of their fathers and still treasures a copy of the Pentateuch — the five books of Moses — which dates from the time of Ezra. The point of Dr Fosdick’s narrative is the striking resemblance between the complacent bigotry of the old high Priest and attitude of some Christians today; quite sure that they, and they alone, have the monopoly on Divine Truth; and that all who differ with them must of necessity be in error. His narrative runs:

“As guests of the High Priest we sat in his tent and through a skilled interpreter talked with the venerable old man about his religion. His complacency, his sense of superiority, his certainty that these few Samaritans alone among men knew the truth about God and practiced it, was fascinating. The millions around him, he said, were forgetting the Divine Law; only his little group of despised people were keeping it. He nestled comfortably into that conviction. From every point of view, he said, the Samaritan religion alone was perfect. Could Jews or Christians divide their edition of the Ten Commandments into two tables so that the same number of words and letters would be on each? Never! The Samaritans could do so with their edition! He had visited, so he said, London, Paris, Constantinople, and had always tried with open mind to welcome new truth, but had come back to Gerizim certain that no new religion was so flawless as the Samaritan. All others were simply more or less pleasing superstructures. Only the Samaritans had solid foundations in the Mosaic Law.

So the old man, venerable of aspect, amiable in spirit, talked on into the night, archaic as the blood sacrifice he had just administered.”

Surely we need to be watchful, that we, who have such wonderful opportunities for advancement in the knowledge of Divine Truth, do not fall into the same petty, narrow groove. How different the exultant words of the Apostle, when, comparing our position with the blinded people of old, he cried:

“We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory unto glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” - (2 Cor. 3:18)

A. O. Hudson

(Excerpt above taken from Bible Student Monthly Magazine)