About 1 hours walk from my home are the ruins of Woodspring Priory. Built in the late 1100s, the priory was erected as a penance by a Norman knight who was instrumental in the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket.
During the 1160s, Becket had been a close friend to King Henry the Second. Henry had pulled strings to have his Chancellor pal installed as Archbishop in the hope that he would at last have more power over the English church, which was very much under the jurisdiction of Rome at that time.
Unfortunately for Henry, and later more unfortunately for Thomas Becket, the Archbishop started to listen to his own conscience once he was in power. Henry had been confident that Becket would make changes in the way that church officials were dealt with when accused of wrongdoing. To Henry`s great chagrin Beckets loyalties were now with his personal beliefs and he did not hold back from telling Henry how he felt.
Over the next few years Becket and Henry played a cat and mouse game. They made friends , fell out again, became friends and once more argued. Finally, in sheer frustration, King Henry gave full vent to his feelings and shouted: “Will no-one rid me of this troublesome priest?” These words were to prove fatal.
Several knights were close by and heard the Kings words. They journeyed to Canterbury Cathedral, and there, in his own church, Thomas Becket was put to the sword. History is unclear as to the exact motives of the murderous knights but it is thought that their main purpose was to curry favour with King Henry and thereby gain his approval.
Of course we know now that this was not the case. Henry was outraged that the knights had presumed to act in his name without his permission and he imposed punitive financial penalties upon the errant knights. Whether he totally disowned them or not isn`t clear.
So what has this tale of yore got to do with this site?
Well, JWs love to draw parallels (especially obscure ones), and this story has parallels by the bucketful!
Consider this: What so-called followers of a spiritual King presume that they know his wishes?
What so-called followers of a spiritual King act without mercy in the name of that king, and seek to impose spiritual death upon those that they believe (mistakenly) are at odds with him by shunning them? (Let’s remember that shunning means to pretend that the shunned one does not exist, and that this method has been used by primitive people to actually make that person die from fear.)
What so-called followers of a spiritual King could be in for one heck of a humiliation when that King decides to impose punitive measures upon them for usurping his authority?
I find it all very interesting!
Englishman.
