It seems that a lot of people still cannot see the difference between the letter and the spirit. There remain many who believe that only those who follow a particular officially sanctioned path live an authentic spiritual life. I fully agree that there is truth and there are lies and any deviation from truth will eventually have to be accounted for. But the truth is not an outward thing. It is not a set of doctrines even though there are some doctrines that accord with it and others that don't. Fundamentally, the path to salvation is to do with the love of God and the intuitive recognition of his laws. It is to do with letting Christ into your heart, and that is a spiritual act not an intellectual one.
There are two points to consider, one that has always existed and another that is operative now. The first is that the spiritual path in its higher and more important stages is an inner path. I have no doubt that some religions reflect a greater degree of reality than others and facilitate the task of finding God better than others, but God can be followed in all serious religions by the seeker of pure heart and sincere intent. One portrait may show a better likeness of its subject than another but that does not make all the others worthless. And the portrait is still not the person.
As long as you stick to the outer path you will not find God. If you allow the finger to be more important than the moon you will never see the moon. The way to God is fundamentally through the heart and that is the only way you will find him. I repeat, this does not make the outer paths redundant. We need both but we must go beyond outer paths.
The second point concerns the time we live in. This is a time when all institutions are corrupt. God is forcing us to go beyond them if we would discover him in his true reality. We cannot hope to find God in outer things, any outer things, and if we insist on that we risk becoming like the Pharisees who refused to recognise Christ because they clung to the old ways. I am not saying that there is a new truth now but there is growth and development of consciousness and we are called upon to engage creatively with the Word of God. That Word does not change but our interaction with it can and must.
Again, I repeat because I have to, this certainly does not mean that anything goes or we can inject our own prejudices and preferences into God's Word, adulterating it. Goodness knows, that has happened many times in the past and it happens now. I fully appreciate the concern that would protect truth from distortion. Truth must be guarded and protected in a world of spiritual greed and sin. On the other hand, God is calling those who would know him to find him in a more profound way and that means to find that the Kingdom of Heaven is indeed within (it's not only there but it is there), and if we would become members of that Kingdom we must search for it within our own hearts. As Christ said to Nicodemus, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit".
5 comments:
Agreed.
I think a 'motes and beams' kind of thing is afoot with the 'ultra-correct' of all denominations.
What the past two years have shown me is that ultra-correct adherence to Any type of external authority has failed. Bible-quoting Protestants, ultramontaine Roman Catholics, tradition orientated Orthodox, clean-living dedicated Mormons, and the other kinds of Christians - the same is seen everywhere, with masses who have crossed to the dark side, while continuing their ultra-correctness and following their leaders. Not one of the 'methods' has worked.
Such a vast and catastrophic failure of all these mechanisms which were supposed to maintain Christian rightness surely ought to have sparked a reconsideration? But instead, too many people are reacting by saying that what is needed is even-more of exactly the same strategy which has so massively failed.
Part of this is to expend great effort on criticism other churches and denominations for their lack of 'whatever the mechanism was', for the wrong kind of Christian beliefs.
So long as you are determined to ignore the catastrophic failures of your own church, then there is plenty of ammunition to prove that the other people's churches have failed. But the failure has been so general, that it is a failure of 'churches' (especially their leaders) rather than of particular types of church - and church failure is the deep problem that needs addressing.
I think you will know why I wrote this piece, Bruce.
There is only one church, and that is God.
Thanks this needed to be said. I often run into a certain sect of people online whose mantra is basically, "Everybody I don't like is a Protestant" and "My closed Church is better than your closed Church."
I'm sure these are fine people offline and I bet they are well mannered when attending their (open/closed) Church, but their online persona is unbearable!
Yes, good point. You should behave with people online exactly as you would face to face.
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