Categories

In what categories do we think?   Do our lives revolve around the immediate or the eternal?  Is our decision making driven by what others think or by the life of the church?  Are our interests moved by our flesh or the Spirit?

It seems that most of these things are driven by habit/by what we've been taught, rather than with understanding, which is unfortunate. In living only by what we've been taught, we are most likely living by our feelings. Most people have a connection between heart and upbringing, romantically modified or not, and that can lead to directing our life simply by "that's the way we've always done it."

I should articulate this a little further. The problem is not "doing things that have always been done that way", but doing things without knowing why.  It's about action based on understanding. I won't go so far as to say that it's wrong, but instead can say that it won't lead to long term good. Proverbs encourages us to strive after knowledge and understanding, not to blindly act.

A great place to start is to simply start asking yourself the question, "Why?" about anything and everything. The wonderful thing about the Church is the foundation that exists for all we do. We don't rely simply on tradition for traditions sake.  Everything we believe and practice has been handed down to us by Christ, the apostles, and the direction of the Holy Spirit.  So we can say we follow Scripture and tradition because these things have been given to us.

To Answer For

            Questions often bounce around my head concerning what is important, what is okay, and what is sinful.  But today the thought occurred to me that another way of looking at it is to give consideration to what we will have to answer for.

            Remembering that we will stand before God at the final judgment and give answers for all that we did and did not do, we should now have answers for how we spent our time, our money, and our attention.  We should at least give some thought to our thoughts and actions and their ramifications.

            We know that Jesus summarized the entire law as loving God and loving neighbor.  We know what Matthew 25 says about “whatever you have done unto the least of these, you have done unto me.” 

With these two passages in mind, what will we answer at the final judgment?

A means or an end

My son recently relayed a story to me about an experience he had while at college. He and some friends had gone out for dinner. One friend, a devout Muslim, had ordered and was in the middle of eating a turkey sandwich, when he realized it contained bacon. He immediately excused himself to the restroom and forced himself to vomit. Muslims by law cannot eat pork. This young man was being faithful to the tenants of his faith.

I had two thoughts that immediately followed this story. First, regardless of the details, its really sad we don't see more extreme devotion among Christian youth. In America, its much too easy to be a Christian. Second, we shouldn't overlook the massive difference between Islam and Christianity in this regard. For the Muslim, eating pork is a matter of law. Violating this rule results in divine displeasure, whereas in Christianity, eating meat during a fasting period results in nothing. 

The point of asceticism is self-control. We use it as a tool to teach ourselves self-control. In short, in Islam law is an end into itself. In Christianity, asceticism is a means for spiritual growth. It is a tool we can choose to use or not. The Church strongly encourages us to do so because it actually works for our sanctification. Why miss out on a great tool?

Unity in Christ

I am currently reading “Let Us Attend – A Journey through the Orthodox Divine Liturgy” by Father Lawrence Farley.  It’s a step-by-step description and explanation of the Divine Liturgy, that is, the Orthodox worship service.  It is proving to be very interesting and informative.  The Divine Liturgy is quite complex and literally packed with symbolic meaning.  I came across this really great paragraph in the book:

“The priest does not offer Eucharist for the private and personal edification of so many individuals. Rather, through the Eucharist the Church renews her fullness and continually reestablishes local Christians as the united body of Christ. Obviously, when each Christian receives Holy Communion, he or she is edified, forgiven, transformed, and saved. But this transformation occurs within the body of the Church as a whole, and for service in the body. All the people, led by clergy, offer the Eucharist together.”

This paragraph explains really well the corporate nature of worship and Christian life.  Our life in the body of Christ is not about “me and Jesus”, but we, as the body of Christ, are part of the union of so many believers, both living and post-living.  I hate to use the term “dead” because those in Christ who are no longer among us are standing, more alive than ever, in the immediate presence of Christ.  When we worship God, we are worshipping with the departed saints as well as with the millions of angels.  That is one purpose of icons.  But more on that another time.

We live and move and have our being in Christ.  And that means that we are part of a massive body of believers.  We need to continually work on and move towards unity in Christ.

Socialism and Immaturity

I uncovered a connection while at work the other day. When giving consideration to the root thinking and consequences of socialism, that is, less responsibility and therefore less freedom for the average citizen, I noticed that the same is going on in the workplace. When a company implements draconian "safety rules" as a means of protection, they are removing the need for rational thought in the individual. "Don't think, just obey the rules". The worker has less freedom to make decisions, but then less responsibility for his actions. This is the opposite direction in which we should be moving. The mature man has freedom to act, while also having the maturity to act wisely and handle the consequences of his actions.

I believe this reversal stems from the obsession our culture has with youth. We've become a people who idolize the young. We see this especially in our entertainment and free time. Culture defines beauty and excellence as the young and fit. We exercise, sun tan, botox, hair color and plastic surgery ourselves, tying to look young. We are being treated like the thing we strive to be. To our shame.

Duck Dynasty

While the events surrounding the Duck Dynasty TV show should come as no surprise, I would like to make a few comments from a little different angle. Phil Robertson’s comments were crude and unloving, exhibiting a lack of understanding and sympathy. He could of done better. That being said, foundationally, he is correct. Homosexuality is a sin with which some people struggle. But, according to Scripture, so are adultery, hatred, and drunkenness (among other things). It is extremely rare to hear, if ever, someone rail against these things. Galatians 5:22 goes on to describe what a godly life looks like.

My point in all of this is that Phil could have spoken better but at the same time put a sharper point to it.  The world is going to hate the truth regardless of how it is delivered. We, as Christians, need to do all things in love regardless of how it is perceived. Phil screwed up, but the truth is what it is. We all need to deal with the sin in our own lives, not judge others but pray for them instead, and see all sin as destructive, not just the sins that we personally find offensive or distasteful.