In all my years of theological, doctrinal and spiritual study, I have come to understand something wonderful. After many years of hard work in ancient languages, philosophy and hermeneutics, I finally came to the point of realization that just about any doctrinal position could be taken by the manipulation of logic, philosophy and Scripture. This left me bleak. This situation leaves one in a position of final authority. This realization left me even more bleak. Being the sinner that I am, I had no faith in my own ability to see and understand enough to feel myself on a solid foundation.
Then I found the Orthodox church. Jesus Christ established the church through the apostles and their successors, with the guarantee that it would be led by the Holy Spirit, forever. The historic Christian church has existed since day one, moving and growing and healing people into free willed beings in loving communion with God. We all have free will but we are all under the God established authority of the church. This takes away the terrible problem of final authority. That authority is found only in Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit led church, we can be certain that, upon our obedience, we will grow in our relationship with God. We do not depend upon our own feelings, our own wisdom, or our own education. God leads us through the church.
That is beautiful.
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