Acknowledging passions

Imagine you were born in 2002.  You are male but you find yourself being attracted to other guys.  The culture at large will tell you that this is all fine and normal, you merely are oriented that way.  But at the same time, the Orthodox church is telling you that homosexuality is a sin and that one should never follow their passions, simply because they are “natural”.
This is the difference with the Orthodox church in comparison to the Evangelical/ Protestant world. The latter will tell you that homosexuality is a sinful perversion and you need to not do it.  That you need to be cured. Orthodoxy, on the other hand, will tell you that it is simply a passion that some people have, not much different that any other sexual passion. It’s mere presence means nothing. Natural or unnatural, as Christians we simply do not excuse away the passions we have a “natural” and then indulge. No, we fight against our passions and our soul tells our flesh what to do, not vice-versa.
The question here is not one of natural or unnatural, perverse or normal, but of who is in charge, one of to whom you are listening and following. When we think and act, these things are done according to the leadership of something. When we think or act, are we following the whims of our flesh, i.e., we "feel" like doing it. On the other hand, the Orthodox church would tell us, we ought to live in a way that is preparing us for an eternity of holiness. We can look back at the saints of historic Christianity and those things that the church has always believed and practiced, and align ourselves with this. We do not follow and practice something based on our feelings, but on what the church has identified as holy. We do not follow our passions, we follow the direction of the Holy Spirit. But this is not a personal, interpretive thing. It is a corporate, defined, articulate path of light and holiness.
Whatever our sins, whatever our inclinations are, are irrelevant. If our desires or inclinations are leading us away from holiness, we must fight against them. For our very life depends upon it.

Choosing hell, part 2

If you choose to live a lifestyle that moves you away from God and what he considers holy and good, you are free to choose to do that. He won’t stop you.  But at the end of time, when you enter eternity, you cannot complain that you do not get to spend eternity in his presence, for you have spent your lifetime rejecting exactly that.

That which we call reality

It has been in my mind to a larger degree, as of late, that our reality is far greater than those things we take in via our senses. The Christian worldview is made up of much more than simply physical behavior. To be a faithful Christian, we must learn to direct our thoughts and our actions by our spirit's leadership rather than that of our flesh. Of course, this is completely contrary to the average American way. It seems that our direction, almost from day one, is physical comfort and ease. In other words, what can we do to make ourselves more comfortable and find more free time.
Alternatively, the Christian ought to approach life as an opportunity to learn self control and to learn to love others. This really points to the primacy of the spiritual over the physical. When we focus on making ourselves comfortable and on being entertained, we are giving in to the leadership of our flesh. The reality of life after life after death cannot be ignored.
The pattern of our life, following birth, is three-fold. We start with our initial life on earth, the typical "go to school, get a job, get married, raise kids, retire and then die." Second is life after death, the period of time that most people (errantly) think of as eternity. But this disembodied state is very temporary and very unnatural. Third, is life after life after death. This is what we actually need to think of as eternity. When time finally comes to an end, all men will be given new resurrected bodies (remember, Jesus took the power of death when he resurrected and ultimately death is to be destroyed). Upon receiving our new bodies, we will pass through the final judgement. From this point forward is eternal life, either enjoying the immediate presence of God, as God is everywhere and in all things OR we spend our eternal life hating being in God's eternal presence. And this is the point of this blog.
If we spend our short time here on Earth focused on pleasing and entertaining ourselves, ignoring the spiritual side of reality, we will spend our eternity unprepared for the presence of God. Alternatively, if we see beyond the tiny sliver of reality we think of "it", and embrace an approach that realizes the spiritual and the physical, we will be prepared to enjoy an eternity rather than a mere century (at most).
Reality, for the Christian, is about using this time on earth, preparing our souls for eternity. If we have limited ourselves to comfort and entertainment, we have believed the lie sold to us by the world.
And we really ought to be better than that.

Distraction

When you distract yourself enough, it’s easy to stay content.  When you are distracted, you don’t spend time considering eternal life, suffering, or the vanity of life.  I suppose this is why the ascetics speak of the Orthodox life as being one of a “bright sadness.” We are constantly weighed down with grief over sin, grief over failure, grief over suffering (our own and that of others) and the general inability to really do anything about any of it.  But at the same time, we can look forward to an eternity free of sin and suffering.

This is not a selfish perspective.  In most cases, there is very little we can do to relieve suffering.  Certainly, we must do what we can, but there is nothing wrong with recognizing our weakness and inability but at the same time looking forward to a time when that suffering has ceased.

Productivity

I was about to make a comment, to one of my children, about being productive, when the thought struck me.  Why do we always think of productivity in regards to things temporal/physical/monetary?  When one stops and considers to what the term actually refers, it simply is about producing.  And producing something that one considers valuable.  So clearly, an underlying definition is being exposed herein.
When we have accomplished our day and have been "productive", it means that we have produced that which we intended or hoped to produce.  Whether it be widgets or sales figures or a trailer full of crop x, y, z.  But what about things spiritual? Do we ever think of a visit to a monastery as "productive"?  Do we every finish our Lenten fast (or any fast for that matter) and looking back, consider the time "productive"?  I would think that we probably do not.
But in this I think we are exposing a serious flaw in our hearts and minds.
When we look at the length of our physical life, in comparison to the eternity that stretches out before us, it is almost nil. But the time that we do have, as free will agents of 80 to 100 years, the time is very important.  For this short time we have in our struggle against sin, is the only time we have to form our souls, to seek after holiness and to fight against sin.
So really, we have a tiny sliver of time to prepare ourselves for eternity.  And that is something that we really must strive in and be productive.

The state of eternity

1 Tim 4:10 - For to this end we toil and strive,2 because we have our hope set on the living God, qwho is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

What does Paul mean by this?  “... who is the Savior of all people, especially those who believe.” We just read in the previous verses that Jesus paid the ransom for all men (1 Timothy 2:6).  Here we read that He is the savior of all men. When we read of the final judgment, the sequence is this: Jesus returns, all men are raised from the dead and given perfected bodies, all men are judged according to what they did or did not do, all men then receive the fruit of their time on earth.  If they spent their time loving God, loving neighbor and forming their souls to mirror Jesus Christ, they will glory in the immediate presence of God. But if they spent their time feeding their passions and desires, the holiness of God will be unbearable to them, it will be their hell.

Hell is self made and freely chosen.  If you choose to reject/ignore God during your time on earth, why do you think you would have any desire to be in his holy presence for eternity?  But since God is everywhere and fills all things, you cannot escape the presence of God. Your eternity will be spent in his presence. If you form your soul to love godliness and seek after it, while you are here on earth, your eternity will be glorious.  But if you spend your time seeking temporal pleasure and fulfilling your passions and desires, your eternity will be wretched, as you will be immersed in the holy presence of God, inescapably.

Purpose and Direction

Early this morning it occurred to me.  From 0 to 20, I had no direction in life. I graduated from high school, didn't go to college, got a job unloading semi-trailers of bales of alfalfa on local farms and played my guitar.  That was it.  Within a year of unloading alfalfa, I got another job, at a local factory, entry level.
It wasn't until I was introduced to the Reformed (Calvinist) version of Christianity that direction began to take form.  I immersed myself into the study of my faith and "understanding" was my goal.  So from that point (around 20 years old) to the time I was 40, "understanding" was my be all and end all.
I eventually went to seminary and earned my Masters degree in Divinity, with the goal of becoming a pastor.  God led me into teaching Bible and Koine Greek at a private Christian school, and I loved it. So why did I just share this brief biography?  As I was thinking about that, it occurred to me that direction and purpose is foundational to a person's well being.  As the old saying goes, "Idle hands are the devil's playground."  If someone has no specific direction in life, one of two things takes place. They either distract themselves with pointless and inane entertainment.  Or they immerse themselves in making money. 
I began to wonder what would happen if a person only worked "because they had to" and their vocation was merely a means to provide for themselves.  It seems that this sort of approach to vocation will probably result in vocational mediocrity. If you don't love and immerse yourself in your job, your work will (at least) be adequate at best. 
And then the spiritual side of things.  How do we tie all of this into a life that is focused on pursuing holiness and eternal life?  If we are totally focusing on making money, being comfortable and having a good size retirement plan, how can we say we are focused on eternity?

Thoughts on eternity

I don't really spend much time thinking about heaven.  That may come as a surprise, but it really shouldn't.  Looking through the Bible, one does not see much of anything in terms of details when it comes to heaven.  In other words, we simply know little to nothing of its details.
First things first.  Heaven is not an eternal, disembodied state of clouds and harps.  While I'm pretty sure that no one actually thinks of heaven as "flying around on clouds playing harps", I am convinced that this imagery holds the imaginations of many people as containing some seeds of truth. 
When God created Adam and Eve, it is interesting to notice the details of how that took place.  God formed man from the dust of the earth, breathed into him and THEN he became a living being.  What this means is that existing in a bodiless state is unnatural for man.  Being bodiless is not what we were meant for.  While I am uncertain of the feasibility or possibility of astral projection, I do know that such a feat would be unnatural.  Man was not made to exist outside of his body.  (This also touches on another subject, that of the relationship between body and spirit, but that will have to be for another time.)
Second, that being said, the Bible and the historic church are not silent, either, in this regard.  We do know SOME things about eternity, and we should take great solace in that we do know. We know that at the final judgment, all men will be resurrected (i.e., brought back together with their physical bodies) and will stand before God and give answer for the lives they led.  They will not be punished for sins, for Jesus already died for the sins of all men.  This is, surely, not to say that all men will enjoy eternity in bliss with God.  No, some will be separated from him, by their own choice.  They will have formed their souls, so as to want nothing to do with God, for eternity.
After the final judgment and after the separation of the righteous from the unrighteous, the righteous will inherit the earth.  In other words, we will get earth back.  We will live forever, in a physical/spiritual reality.  And even more importantly, we will live forever, free from the horrendous assaults of sin.
That is what we do know.  We will be free from the power of sin and the power of death.  We will be in perfect communion with God and with those around us. 
We dare not speculate on anything else.  The simple fact that this blessed state to which we look forward, is beyond anything we have even remotely experienced.  It will be completely "other".  Any fabrication of our imagination will completely miss the point and, most likely, be structured by our passions and our fleshly weakness.
All we have known, up to this point in our lives, is the wretched, ever present, influence of sin. 
To know that we will be free from sin, for eternity, should be enough to motivate us to prepare for that, in whatever way we should.

The "what"

Libraries could be filled with books that speak of the "why people do what they do" and doing so probably would not accomplish much.  But I would like to focus on the "what" we do.  What are we doing?
When you break down your day and look at how you spend your minutes, what do you see?  From a strictly practical position, we spend our time making money and trying to be comfortable.  And that really bothers me.  It bothers me that I profess to be an Orthodox Christian, yet the majority of my time is spent earning money to buy things (necessary and not) and care for my earthly needs. 
Comparatively speaking, way, way more time is spent on creature needs and comforts than on things spiritual.  And if we really believe what the Bible and the church tells us about life and eternity, our behavior makes no sense.
The way we are acting makes about as much sense as counting all the peas on your plate before you eat your dinner.  Why do we spend so much time on the things of this very short time on earth, when we have, literally, eternity to spend after our 100 years here?  How does it make any sense to focus on money and comfort for this tiny bit of time and, by default, basically ignore those things that will prepare us for eternity?
One answer to this, and it is a very practical one, is that we are extremely short sighted.  We can only see the "right here/right now".  This is not wrong per se.  It really is just what we are.  Tiny humans with very limited sight.  But what we do have is faith.  We have faith in what God has told us, or at least we should.  But yet, somehow, we only focus on what makes us comfortable.
We have grown into a nation that ignores eternity, strives after comfort and love our individual selves.  The focus in America has been wrong from the beginning. But this is not a rant against the USA.  Most nations have this issue, but in different forms.  It has become so "normal", that we can see nothing else.
What do we have to do to reverse this worldview?  How can we turn it around so that we focus on our spiritual health and only deal with the physical when we absolutely must?

Goals and the price

I walked past my dining room table and happened to glance down at one of my childrens' "Calvin and Hobbes" books lying open, face up.  I read the comic and therein, Calvin was complaining, out loud that he really did not want to go to school, that he would rather go anywhere else or do anything else than go to school.  His father responded with, "How about you go get a full time job and I'll go to school instead.  Then you can work every day until evening and then come home to a whiny kid."  And that made me think.  Everyone seems to have this built in, without even thinking, mentality of going to school, getting a job and living out the American dream.
My thought is about goals and the price we are willing to pay to achieve them.  Why do we put such a high price on having stuff, when none of it really satisfies, long term.  We all work so hard to get an education, we try to earn lots of money, but are we happy or satisfied?  To aim for anything is so contrary, so unusual, so (almost) unAmerican, no one ever thinks outside of the box.
It comes down to not really thinking for ourselves about what it will take to make us happy, to achieve love of God and love of neighbor and be prepared for eternity.  Those things seem to fall into a secondary, tertiary (or lower) position.  We get to them, if we have the time and energy after work and play.
But what if we hit the reset button and aimed for something more valuable and eternal?