Responsibility in Communication

 

Communication is a strange thing. We use words, organizing them into the shape to share the message we want. Even though spelling has been standardized, the way we communicate is not a black and white effort. Depending on the audience, depending on the topic, and depending on the setting, different methods are used. Sometimes there is a heavy use of metaphor, imagery, and figures of speech, other times there are specialty terms are used that are specific to the hearer.

Often the speaker may use figures of speech that are perfectly clear to him but may be ambiguous to the hearer. It is the responsibility of the speaker to communicate in a way that will guarantee understanding.

Ever Changing Life

 

Eternity is not static bliss or unchanging suffering. It is a continuation of whatever your life was. If you were on a path of selfishness and pleasure, which is a slide into wickedness, on this you will continue. You will only become more and more evil, moving further and further away from holiness. 

If you were on a path of holiness, of loving God and of loving others, then you will continue on this path, becoming more and more holy, becoming more like God, a never-ending journey of theosis.

A Picture of Life

 

Life is perfectly displayed in the game of shoots and ladders. The man who has no concern for spiritual health is the man sliding down the slide with no effort. The man who is concerned with spiritual growth and maturity is he who with effort climbs the ladder toward holiness. 

One is either doing nothing and sliding downward toward comfort and selfishness and this is a path that he will continue for eternity which practically speaking, is hell. But he who strives after holiness will continue as well and will continue to grow more holy and become more a likeness of God.

Understanding Evil

 

We need to be careful how we present evil and how we understand evil. Evil is not a thing in and of itself. It is a perversion of that which is good and right. Evil is not all powerful, it is not an equal opposite to God and holiness. Evil cannot create anything, and evil cannot overpower someone without that person’s consent. But consent then would then mean not overpowering but acceptance and agreement.

That which evil accomplished prior to the incarnation is nothing like what it can accomplish now. It has been moved from being a dominant force to being a defeated guerilla army. Satan is not a general overseeing a well-organized army from a throne in hell. Fallen angels/demons are like savage beasts, seeking only to confuse and destroy anyone allowing them to influence.

You can capture a beast in a cage and keep it there to protect yourself and your loved ones. Or you can let the beast out to do its damage, or you can go into the cage with the beast. Options two and three, clearly are self-destructive. Evil has been defeated and is “out there”. We are safe and protected from it if we choose to be so. It is only when we open ourselves up to its influence that we are in danger.

Freedom and Rights

 

You have the freedom to do anything you wish. You do not have the freedom to force others to agree with or support those decisions. But at the same time, there are always consequences for one’s actions. You can become a raging alcoholic, but you will likely destroy your health and die young. You have the freedom to commit any crime, but you will likely be punished or imprisoned for doing so.

"Freedom to do" something does not equal "the right to do" something.

The Wrong Starting Point

 

Instead of starting with one’s theological presuppositions at the time of the Reformation, one start from the beginning. Jesus taught his disciples, who in turn, filled with the Holy Spirit and given the promise that the gates of hell would never prevail over the Church, taught the first-generation Church across the known world. The Holy Spirit, filling the Church and guiding her, continues to lead the Church, from one generation to the next, clarifying and articulating the faith, initially through the Seven Ecumenical Councils. 

Unless one is willing to advance the idea that the Church was defeated and confused from the end of the first century until the 1500’s, the reality is that the Holy Spirit has filled the Church and led the Church in truth since its first generation.

There have been those inside the Church and outside the Church who have sought to mislead and confuse her teaching, but these have been identified as heretics or heterodox and have been severed or defected to start/re-start “the one true church”. But these are not teaching historic Christianity, they are introducing private interpretation, innovation, and heresy.