Not an End in Itself

9/20/2005

It seems like an aspect of that that gets missed a lot, and I’m not sure how much the children even picked up on just now, is that if it’s a treasure map that means it’s not an end in itself. The rules are in place to lead you to a Person and to a quality of Life, but they’re not an end in themselves. It’s not really about, “Do I obey the rules, or do I not obey the rules?” “Does he obey the rules, or does he not obey the rules?” They’re supposed to lead you somewhere: to a Person. The treasure map thing: this is the way to the treasure. You miss it, you miss the treasure. They are critical components, but they’re not an end in themselves. Not only the thing where most of the religious world has stopped at ‘the end in themselves’ and missed the life…

Or ignored it totally…

Or ignored it. But for those who pay attention it is not an end in itself. But even for the children to grasp that element that it’s not even about, “I can feel good about myself because I obeyed all the rules.” Or, “I know...He’s bad. He disobeys all the rules.” This is a treasure map that’s meant to lead somewhere. It is not really a thing in itself anyway.