A nervous passenger, we’ll call him Edward, got into a taxi in the city and was surprised when the very young driver came to a red light and did not stop but went straight through the intersection. In disbelief Edward shouted at the taxi driver, “Are you mad? You just went straight through a red light!” The driver laughed and replied “Relax! There’s a taxi driver in this city they call Farther Thompson because he gets farther than any other driver because he always goes through red lights! He’s like a father to us young drivers!”
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A couple of blocks later they come to another red light and again he just drives straight through. Edward screamed “We could have just been killed!” Again the driver laughs and says “Relax! Farther Thompson always goes through red lights!” By this time Edward was well and truly counting on his rosary beads and nothing else. The taxi driver kept flying along when suddenly they came to a set of green traffic lights and the driver slams on the brakes. Edward screams “The lights are green! Why would you slam on the breaks?”
The taxi driver replied, “Are you mad? Farther Thompson could be coming the other way!”
How often we feel forced to vary our behaviour to suit someone else, even when their behaviour is harmful. One person’s breaking of the rules encourages followers and makes people playing by the rules look and feel stupid.
At any given time in history, there are things that are wrong that we as a society call right. However, just as dangerous – maybe more dangerous – is when we say things are wrong or a “sin” when they are not. We turn people off religion or even from God by convincing them that following God is just too hard; so they don’t even try.
I have met many Christians who have told me that smoking, drinking, gambling and even dancing, are all sins. However, where are any of these pastimes condemned in the Bible? Jesus himself warned the people against the clergy of his day for exaggerating sin and religious demands and therefore making it harder for the people to follow God than it needed to be (Matt 23:4). Now we all understand that doing some things in excess can be harmful to the body, but in moderation and in themselves, these things are not wrong or bad for the soul.
What makes musing on morality particularly difficult today is that it is often hard to know what is right and what is wrong. We the clergy have been reluctant to gently guide the flock in the moral challenges of their day and so the entertainment industry have taken up the slack. We have been subtly taught fiction while being entertained for so long now that we have become cynical as to whether “truth” can even be known at all.
Thankfully, our Creator has loved us enough to place in our hearts a desire to want to know the truth; to want to look for signals about what to do and where to go in life. The old advice, “Listen to your heart” and “To thine own self be true”, is good advice.
Our conscience is a gift, and we can eradicate it or we can educate it; we can find out what colour the traffic lights are, if we really want to know. But be careful on the road, especially at life’s crossroads, for not everyone drives kindly. But when your informed conscience gives you the green light, drive with confidence; even if people like Farther Thompson might be coming the other way. When we all stand before God they will be the one who gets booked.
