A: That is quite a different thing, and to understand that, you would have to go back to that particular period and understand this, which very few people realize—that the high officials of the Hebrew Church at that particular time were a very wicked bunch of men. And their interest was not in religion. Their interest was in how much came in tithes, and sacrifices, and animals, and how much control they could have over the people.
And the Church was at a very low ebb in its moral history. And of course, when you are dealing with a situation like that, you are not dealing with human beings who are, in their ignorance, sinning. You’re dealing with men who really know the law, and who are taking advantage of it, and who are actually using religion as a cloak for theft and political power.
Now, mark this, there was not a sign of repentance in their hearts and souls. When he said, “Judge not, lest ye be judged;” when he said, “Neither do I condemn thee;” remember, he is talking about people in the ordinary walk of life who either are sinning without really an evil motive, and who have either turned for forgiveness, or indicated repentance, or of some types he could say, “They know not what they do.”
But when you are faced with an aggregation of men charged with the spiritual development of their people, who are actually making a racket out of church, there is no use of saying, “Neither do I condemn thee,” and “Go and sin no more,” because that is not what is facing you. Therefore, he could say to them, “Vipers, generations of vipers, money changers, stop these immoral practices!” Now, I’m sure he knew enough to know that it wasn’t men he was condemning, but rather that they were instruments through which this particular form of error could operate. But there was no use of saying to them, “You aren’t responsible,” because they’d love nothing better than to hear that. “Oh, we’re not responsible. We can’t help it.” You see that?
Now, we have the same thing today. In our ordinary practice and dealing with mankind, it is a natural thing to say, “I don’t care what your offenses may be, or what your faults. I know that it’s mainly through ignorance they are taking place, so that I’m not holding you in any condemnation. Father forgive them; they know not what they do.” Or, where it comes to patients and students seeking help, and who have expressed a regret for their offenses, that you can say, “Well, you’re forgiven.” Because the mere fact of your repentance is the forgiveness. It’s out of your mind. But you’re not going to talk that way to a person occupying a high government position, or a high church position, whom you know is deliberately and consciously fooling, and hoodwinking, and robbing the people he is appointed to serve. You see the difference?
Now, it isn’t either that you would condemn them. It’s true you might say, as we have said of certain governmental people, “You’re certainly devils, and there is certainly no question about the evil that’s coming through you.” But even with all of that, you would allow no real bitterness in your heart to take place, knowing that they too are in ignorance of their offenses.
And probably the only place where you will find a sense of righteous indignation, such as the Master [had] against the Hebrew Church masters, would be if you knew somebody in the spiritual life who was using it as a racket, or in the religious life using it as a racket, or fooling the people. You could get very, very, righteously mad about it. You see that?
On the other hand, you would be exercising wisdom if you didn’t let that madness get anything further than lip service—not accept it down in your heart, because the day will come when they too will awaken. Every one of those people in every church where they’re really consciously fooling the people, there’ll be an awakening someday, and you’ll have to forgive them then, so why not in advance? That is the way we used to feel about Hitler. When people would say, “How is it that you don’t feel toward Hitler the way one would naturally expect you to feel?” my answer would be, “Well, supposing he picked up the long-distance telephone, and telephoned to me, and said, ‘I’m sick. Will you give me help?'” What can I say — “Why, you viper?” I’d have to say, “No, you’re a child of God. This isn’t true.” See that? I’ll do it in advance, in case he should call.
So is our attitude toward those, even while we know in our hearts they’re sinning. We’re not fooled. We’re not covering up what they’re doing, but even while we recognize what they’re doing and know that they’re devils, nevertheless, inside of us we’re always ready to say, “But they know not what they’re doing.” And in any second, they too can be forgiven, and the new slate come. You see that?
And that is why sometimes the Master could get mad, but he knew what he was doing. Because it was at a period of time when out of a hundred and fifty years, the Hebrews had only twelve years of intelligent and loving government by their church masters. Out of a hundred and fifty years, they only had twelve years of respectable leadership. The rest of the time there were just he-devils in charge of the church. This is all revealed in these new scrolls, the history of that hundred and fifty years.
1This excerpt is from Recording 240B: 1958 First Maui Lectures, “The Message of The Infinite Way and Its Practice, continued.” It is posted with kind permission from the Estate of Joel Goldsmith, which holds the copy protection on the recorded classes and the copyright on the transcripts. The full transcript of this recording is available from The Infinite Way website or by calling 1-800-922-3195.