Writing a blog is often hard,
when one thought process comes to you and then another takes its place. I have
been writing about the Ladder for nine blogs now, and realize that there is
still so much to learn from the Ladder itself. We have delved into some very serious
topics and some very difficult discussions. Today’s article is definitely one
of those. We have been steadily climbing and we don’t want to stop now the fall
would be harder than if we were on the bottom of the Ladder. The 10TH
chapter or rung of the Ladder is that of slander. Slander is a very important
topic in the world today as we witness people all the time calling each other out
for words they speak and people who offend them. St. John says, “Slander is
an offspring of hatred, a subtle yet coarse disease, a leech lurking unfelt,
wasting and draining the blood of charity. It is simulation of love, the patron
of a heavy and unclean heart, the ruin of chastity.” Slander therefore is
nothing more than hate for one another, a chance to gig and get a rise out of
someone who a person thinks is inferior to them, both intellectually and
spiritually. We must avoid this dear brothers and sisters.
Let’s
look at the most recent example of a clear cut slander in the world. Well
actually two. The first is that of Tucker Carlson and Tulsi Gabbard. Both of
whom have been called out in recent weeks because of their supposed ties to
Russia during this crisis in Ukraine. They have been ridiculed and slandered in
the media for calling out the Ukrainians and their demonic ties to things like
Nazism and people have simply decided that these two must be destroyed for
their views. For the most part these two have reacted as normally as possible,
even if they are not Christians, they have responded in a Christian manner.
They have not gotten angry, nor have they been spiteful in their words towards
those that have slandered them. The opposite could be said of the recent incident
between Will Smith and Chris Rock. Chris Rock at the Oscars told a joke about
Will Smith’s wife’s battle with a disease called Alopecia. In the ensuing aftermath of the joke, Will Smith
originally laughed and thought nothing of the joke. His wife however did not
laugh and became enraged by the apparent slight. While it is not clear what she
said to Will between the joke and the incident, what is clear is that Will Smith
went up on stage and assaulted Chris Rock with his slap. Instead of taking the
joke and letting it roll off, Will Smith insisted that he too had been slighted
and was taking judgment and the slander into his own hands…quite literally. St.
John says, “He who wants to overcome the spirit of slander,
should not ascribe the blame to the person who falls, but to the demon who
suggests it. For no one really wants to sin against God, even though we do all
sin without being forced to do so.” Therefore it is not our job to judge
the person on their faults. We should only judge ourselves and we should do so
harshly so as to avoid the shortcomings we all face. He also says that deep
down no one really wants to sin against God. This is true, that is why I believe
there are no such things as true Atheists, because they too know that God
exists even if they do not want to admit it.
We
must reject slander and all that entails. In doing so, we relieve ourselves
from the cares of this world. So what if someone makes fun of us, we know that
this humiliation is only temporary and is only for a moment. Our souls and our
eternal life are in the balance. When we react to slander and we commit slander
ourselves against a neighbor we are harming our souls and damaging our
salvation. God only wants what is best for us and when we reject that plan we
have fallen off the ladder and fallen into hell. St. John first tells us, “Fire
and water are incompatible; and so is judging others in one who wants to
repent. If you see someone falling into sin at the very moment of his death,
even then do not judge him, because the Divine judgment is hidden from men.
Some have fallen openly into great sins, but they have done greater good deeds
in secret; so their critics were tricked, getting smoke instead of the sun.” Secondly
he says something that is more important. He says, “Hasty and
severe judges of the sins of their neighbour fall into this predicament because
they have not yet attained to a thorough and constant remembrance and concern
for their own sins. For if anyone could see his own vices accurately without
the veil of self-love, he would worry about nothing else in this life,
considering that he would not have time enough for mourning for himself even
though he were to live a hundred years, and even though he were to see a whole
river Jordan of tears streaming from his eyes. I have observed that mourning,
and I did not find in it even a trace of calumny or criticism.” The first
is that judging others is completely incompatible with those of us who wish to
repent. We cannot continually live in sin and expect God to save us. Those who
do are nothing more than harlots and heretics, prostituting themselves to the
Devil for earthly glory. The second in which he speaks shows us that those of
us who commit such acts have not yet obtained the necessary conditions to where
we are constantly concerned with our own sins. We still obsess over whether
other people are the problem for what we have done. I do this all the time; I search
out for people who are worse off than me spiritually so I can feel good about
myself. The whole world does this as well especially with the two examples I gave
above.
As we begin
to wrap up this chapter of the Ladder, the 10th rung as it is, we
have seen how far we have come. We know that God calls all to repentance
through Jesus Christ. There is nothing worse than falling off a ladder. All though
being in a wheelchair I will never have that experience. This the spiritual ladder is an even harder
fall, it brings our soul into the pits of hell, with the torments and destruction
that goes with it. St. John says, “The demons, murderers as they are, push
us into sin. Or if they fail to do this, they get us to pass judgment on those
who are sinning, so that they may smear us with the stain which we our selves
are condemning in another.” They
want us to fall, they want us to be dragged away so they have can a victory dance
over God, even if it is temporary. They do not care about our souls, only seeking
to punish us as they have been punished. Satan and his legions of angels will
not win this war, they will fail. If we give over to slander we are only
allowing them to win a battle or two that they otherwise would lose. May God
keep slander as far away from us as possible and may God protect us through the
prayers of the saints and the Theotokos.
Amen.
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