Seeing these beautiful reminders of the past served to teach me a lesson.
This week in the UK we have a visit from the Pope. There are very mixed feelings, coming on the heels of the abuse scandals in the Catholic Church.
Montecute House was built at a time when Catholicism in England was very much under pressure and Elizabeth I was queen. (Daughter of Henry VIII who decared himself head of a new Church of England and kicked off a protestant separation). The churches are trying hard to reach new agreements but the main differences are huge. Still, any progress is good.
My point is this. In my unforgiving youth I was guilty of saying to a devout Catholic "I can't understand anybody with a tiny bit of intelligence being a Catholic".
Why did I say such a horribly hurtful thing? Because, in my limited knowledge I had been taught to speak directly to my God and taught that Catholics thought that they could only do so through Mary.
This is just how misunderstandings come about.
My thought today was this
Through the discoveries of science, the growth of other world religions and the rapidity of communications, our understanding of this world and it's people is now very confused. What are we to believe?
Most people will agree that, most of the worlds major religions have similar beliefs and values but big factors still make it impossible to bring them together in proper agreement.
It is so arrogant to believe that, just because all of today's information was not available to the people of 1500's that their views were wrong or based upon ignorance. Christianity today is being secularised, sqeezed and battered and frankly ignored too by many, but we have to remember that THE BEST BRAINS of former times were happy to believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and indeed die for it. Some, admittedly believed because they thought it was their insurance for the next life, but others through history STUDIED and comitted themselves to the christian cause. Other religions too employed the best brains to build their credibility.
We really need to look to simpler times and put ourselves back to a place nearer to nature. When death was accepted and came at an early age, when to toil was mostly man's lot.
I am not promoting my Christian beliefs and I'm not attacking the non-christians either. What I am doing however is reminding myself that. Who am I to dismiss the beliefs of years as shallow when I see the beauty that they were capable of producing often in the name of their God.
We are in danger of becoming accepters. We need to sometimes test our faith and strenghthen it.
I love to see open minds. I see people here who have no problem in accepting UFO's, aliens and God. There were times when many of today's accepted things (dancing/TV/sensible drinking) were thought ungodly. Are they now or do we shift the goalposts when we think fit?