The width of the path

     In a recent conversation with a friend of mine, he mentioned his rationale for leaving his church of five years and starting a new church.  Apparently, after five years of attendance, it finally occurred to him that the church had become "legalistic".  In his words, the pastor was including "a lot" of personal opinion into his sermons.  In his words, "its unavoidable though, there is no way to avoid that."  The way he saw it, that church had fabricated a very narrow path that pretty much only they were walking.  But that was really easy. But (according to my friend), doing so leaves no potential for living by the lead of the Holy Spirit, it instead is a life of a list to daily check off.
     His new church, on the other hand, was a church of grace.  He now feels so much more alive.
     I have had a few thoughts on this, that I have not yet mentioned to him.  Really, it seems to me, that he has only moved from one man made path to another.  The first was a very narrow, tight-shoed legalistic path.  But really, the second is still a path declared and identified by some leader, this one slightly wider.
     This is the problem with all Protestant churches.  Because they reject the authority of the historic church, they have no where else to go but to human invention.  They can choose to follow Luther or Calvin or Wesley or Graham or Hinn or the local Baptist pastor down the block.  Regardless of who they choose, it is still a man made following.
    The argument of the historic church, that is, the Eastern Orthodox Church, is that we believe and live the same as the apostles.  We live and embrace the historic faith.  Our worship has been exactly the same for the last 1700 years.  And prior to that, the only changes are slightly longer prayers.
So for my friend, moving from one Protestant church to the next is only a circular movement.  Step away from men and follow the path of the apostles.
     Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

Pretty

     Who is defining "pretty" for us?  Who are we listening to?  Looking back over the last many decades, it is very clear that the dominant voice is subjective and driven by instant gratification and the pushing of the envelope.  As I commented to a co-worker the other day, "Why is it that the attire that was worn by prostitutes thirty years ago is commonly worn by the average high schooler today?"  Why is the standard for what is acceptable changing for the worse?  Why do moral decline as a society develops and grows?  It seems that spiritual maturity declines to the same proportion that societal maturity develops?
     Ultimately, we must ask: "Who do we believe regarding the way we attire ourselves?"  The world or the Church?  Ever fluctuating society or the standard of church tradition?  The next thing to address is the problem of articulating and communicating "that" standard to our culture.
     But it has to start with us.

Pornographic Culture

     In an article on the pornographic nature of our current culture, David Bentley Hart laments just how deep the depravity of Western culture has descended.  I would like to continue that thought.   I cannot even begin to comment on all the intricacies of how far our culture has descended.  The really sad part is found in that most people don't realize or spend any time thinking about this sordid state we are in.          One thought that has come to me is that of the power and responsibility of the Church.  We cannot and should not even try to force people to change by the strong arm of the law.  Our leaders are just as depraved as we are and would make no concerted effort to institute any healthy change.
     So what do we do?  I believe a good first step is for the Church to start taking back the act of love.  The Church needs to reach out and fill the needs of the community that surrounds it.  Divorcees, single moms, latchkey kids, the neglected elderly, daycares, old folks homes, and hospitals, to name a few.  These are all areas that the Church can step into and truly help.  I cannot offer any specifics, but can only make general suggestions.  When we begin to truly love others, when we acquire the Holy Spirit and involve ourselves in the lives of those around us, then we will see change.
     We will not see change by becoming like the world (ie seeker friendly mega-churches) and asking for money. We need to give and not take.  We need to love and not hate or condemn... anyone.

Some sins and not others

     Why do we recoil at some sins, but not so much at others?  Why are some sins so repulsive to us, but others we embrace, coddle, or wink at?  One thought is that we distinguish between sins because of our unnatural proclivities.  We all have sinful tendencies that are different from other people's sins.  And of course we have mercy on ourselves but not on others.  But this is exactly backwards.  We ought to assume the best in others and extend grace to others downfalls and weaknesses.
     Since we typically have so little actual knowledge about others, we should not put ourselves in a position over them, judging them by uninformed and graceless standards.  To show genuine love for one's neighbor is to be involved with them, to be able to express love of Christ, not with words but with actions, to the extent that love will draw them to God, to the Church, and to repentance.

Truth

We should embrace truth no matter where it comes from. All men are created in the image of God and no one is totally cut off from God. All men inherently and sometimes unconsciously are seeking for truth. Fortunately, we have the standard of apostolic tradition by which to judge any belief/teaching. Leaving a judgment about the validity of a particular doctrine up to our own interpretive skills is far too suspect. We in the Western world are too far removed from historic, apostolic Christian thinking to be able to make sound judgments. In general, the East is not faring much better as Islam has had a massive detrimental effect upon the Middle East.

What this really comes down to is the solid foundation of the historic Christian faith, and the trust we can have in the guidance of the Holy Spirit over His church.

What is the value?

     It seems that there should be an ever-standing question that ever confronts us every moment of our lives; the question of value. In every thought that passes through our minds, in every word that crosses our lips, in every cent that we spend, and in every action we take, we ought to be asking ourselves, "What is the value in this?"

     Asking ourselves this question presupposes that we have defined the word 'value'. That point aside, what is the value?

     I'm afraid that we don't think upon this question enough, for we spend an awful amount of time and money on very short-term things, tasty food, entertainment, and comforts.

     To the women the questions must be asked, what value is there in external beauty, in fitness, or in nice clothes?  To the men the questions must be asked, what value is there in sports, in action movies, in luxurious cars, or in a large paycheck?

     The way these questions are answered will reveal what we truly believe is important. In short, where our heart is. Do we value eternity? Do we value or even consider the health of our soul? Or do we distract ourselves to the point where our dried up and hardened souls are ignored all together?

To a very large degree our souls are like concrete. The way we form them now will be the form they take for eternity. Short of something extremely drastic, later in life, the direction we are currently moving right now will be the direction we continue in for the rest of our lives and for eternity.

So if our lives currently consist of work, NFL/NBA, exercise and climbing the corporate ladder or a fit, young looking body, expensive clothes, vacations on a beach somewhere, and a luxurious car, we may want to start asking some questions about where our treasure lies. We may want to think about how we define heaven. We may need to ask ourselves this question, "If all our interest lies in earthly things now, will we find eternity in heaven all that appealing?"

Standards and Expectations

As we go through life, we build our world out of beliefs that we have been raised with and have picked up and developed over time.  Included in this are the standards by which we just judge ourselves and others and the expectations we have of ourselves and of others.
We have problems of two sorts in this situation.  First, when we judge others by our standard (which is usually somewhat arbitrary) and second, when we don't judge ourselves consistent with a standard.
I've heard it said that when we judge others we always go by the book, but when we judge ourselves, we are always extra gracious and understanding of the "extenuating circumstances".  This is exactly backwards when we remember that we actually know our circumstances but not the circumstances that have formed the world of others.  Obviously, no sin is ever excusable, but giving grace to others and trying to sympathize with others weakness is always called for.  I would argue that this is the biggest problem in many Protestant camps.  They know and understand far less than they think they do.
Look at how Jesus handled those around him.  He was hard nosed with the Pharisees (those who should have known better) and he was gracious and forgiving with the common man.  The standard by which we judge ourselves should be nothing short of holiness.  We shouldn't judge others, period.

The power to influence

A while back, my wife showed a video clip from her Facebook account regarding a morbidly obese young man and how sad he was to be that way.  Yet his response was not to try and change his situation but to only eat more.  In the news you hear stories of teenagers who kill themselves because of extreme bullying that they can no longer live under.  You see stories about war veterans who return home, become alcoholics, end up living on the street and destroying their lives.
What is the one thing in common with all of these?  The common factor is the lack of influence in their lives by Christians.  Somehow, the body of Christ has fallen into a seclusion.  We have taken the command to be in the world but not of the world as an excuse to stay away from all the ugliness that goes on.
It is our responsibility to love everyone around us.  We MUST be an influence in this world.  If we are not, we are failing in the one summary command we have from our Lord: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Degeneration?

So what is it exactly that is going on?  If we follow the modesty patterns of people in western countries, the definition of modesty always degenerates over time.  To the point that to call the current level of dress as modest would be a joke.  So what is going on?  Why do cultures become more immodest as time passes?  It cannot simply be the ease of life.  Three thousand years ago, in ancient Greece for example, the men performed the Olympic games in the nude.  Homosexuality was common, even among married men, and there were public baths. And they didn't have the technological tools, thus the ease, that we do now.  Jumping up a bit, to read descriptions of big city culture in 1920's New York city, one would think they were reading a current newspaper.  Drugs, crime, and prostitution (both adult and child).  All the while, the latest fashions showing more and more skin and curves.
So why do we degenerate to immodesty over time?   Is it intellectual laziness, no one wants to do the hard work of thinking through implications and causes?  Is it man's inherent tendency to decline into sin?
The practical answer is that the problem is real and the Christian needs to realize that living a God-glorifying life is one that requires hard work.  Often in the face of culture opposition.  We need to learn to think through every aspect of life, to apply the teaching of the historic church to every area of life, and be willing to sacrifice every area of life to the will of God.

Well meant reasoning

I have recently been re-examining the presuppositional apologetics of my past.  While I still consider myself a presuppositionalist, in the Van Tillian vein, I am beginning to see the fallacy of intellectualized apologetics as a means to evangelism.  The trouble with academic apologetics is the heavy emphasis on "understanding".  We want to appeal to the unbelievers ability to think clearly and accurately.  But this is akin to looking through a windshield splattered with 10,000 dragonflies.  We can see some things, we can even drive at a reasonably safe speed, but our vision is impaired and skewed.
The unbeliever, especially the one of strong academic ability, can accomplish much with his God given mind, but his heart is a stone and he is trying to ignore or disprove God.  Many of his presuppositions are faulty.
One of the biggest errors committed by the well-meaning Christian apologist is the attempt to "out-debate" the antagonistic and hostile unbeliever.  Something similar to dragging an unwilling elephant.  In 99% of the cases, one will never "convince" the unbeliever with a well-formed argument.  Man's mind is too stubborn and too clever.  The hostile unbeliever will use sophistry as a well-oiled tool to maneuver his way out of just about any argument.  Even if one would "close the mouth" of the argumentative unbeliever, doing so does nothing to move him towards God.  If anything, it will only harden his heart more in his unbelief and hostility.
The one thing that will work, in the manner in which God wills it to, is love and prayer.  We must pray much more and argue much less.  Love will move mountains, tear down walls, and soften hearts.  And prayer is that mysterious tool that accomplishes much in the heart of the righteous man.  As St Seraphim of Sarov has said, "Acquire the Holy Spirit, and around you thousands will be saved."  When we are continually filled with the Holy Spirit and striving toward holiness, those around us will be affected in a way far more positively and powerfully than any argument we can offer.

It's not magic

While there is certainly a large element of mystery in the Christian faith, it is not magic. This is where the Roman Catholics get it wrong. In a worldview sense, magic is the manipulation of impersonal forces through the means of ritual. This is not the case in the Christian faith. While there is much beyond our understanding and even beyond our comprehension, this does not mean its magical. The Christian faith is the communion between God and his people. We interact at an intimate level with God, often in ways that we cannot understand but never in an impersonal, manipulative manner. We shouldn't pray for what we think we need, but rather we should pray for God's mercy. We should never try to manipulate God or use means, either understood or not (ie logical or magical) to try to get what we want.  God is three persons with freewill and infinite understanding, while we too are persons with freewill but limited and sinful understanding. We need to trust God in all things.

Half the Truth

Years ago, in a dialogue with a coworker, he stated that he wasn’t going to go to hell because he hadn’t killed or raped anyone. Besides the obvious fallacy of deciding his own criteria for entrance into heaven, his statement only saw half of the truth. Our gaining eternal life is not about "not" doing some things. That is part of it.

The fruit we produce in our life reveals what kind of "tree" we are.  The other half is that of what we do. Its not enough to just not hate our neighbor, we need to actively love our neighbor.

The Christian life is one of "good action", not merely cessation of "bad action".

Love your neighbor

Jesus summarized the fulfilling of the law (old covenant terminology for living the faithful Christian life) as "loving God and loving neighbor".  Everyone needs love, literally everyone.  That means that the grumpy old man next door, the gay teen down the street, and the immodest and inappropriate woman at work.  It is our responsibility to understand what that means and to live that out.  The Mormans go door to door and make a small impact.  The evangelicals have their huge revival meetings, TV extravaganzas, and seeker friendly mega churches, but only make a small impact.  These things typically don't work that well because there is no personal connection.  In short, there is not "real" love going on.  When you interact with someone and communicate to them that you genuinely care about them, over time they will respond, usually in a positive way.  You might not lead them to church (right away) but the gospel never fails.  You will change someones life by loving them.
We must overcome our personal bias and learn to love the unlovely.  This is much easier to do when we remember that we, ourselves, are extremely unlovely and unlovable, but God took the first step and died for us when there was nothing good in us.
Take the first step and love your neighbor.  He might just love you back.