There were rather a lot of questions in your reply. Forgive me for not tackling all of them.
Yes, people in stage 3 do believe that there are heretics. But they use the word cautiously and they have no wish to burn them at the stake.
For me heresy is a way of thinking that leads people away from the way to God, leaving them wandering in the desert to die for lack of water. And unfortunately heretics exist, and the Church says: don’t follow them.
I hesitate with your ‘needing to believe firmly that any journey brings a person to God'. Yes, we both agree on the vital importance of setting out on the spiritual journey. But I do suspect that some people rather want to travel first class the whole way whereas there are places where you have to get out and walk over rough ground.
This rough ground includes facing some rather nasty things inside ourselves: anger, fear of emptiness, repressed sexuality and the like. The Christian believes he can face them in Christ and with Christ and - this is important - in Christ's good time. It is this that gives the freedom of stage 3.
Let me say one thing for which some people will want to burn me at the stake: our first priority is to be Christian. Being Orthodox is second to this. If the form in which Orthodoxy presents itself in a person’s particular situation blocks their way forward, then it is better to go part of the way with another confession than to quit the Christian faith.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-12-03 09:34 pm (UTC)Yes, people in stage 3 do believe that there are heretics. But they use the word cautiously and they have no wish to burn them at the stake.
For me heresy is a way of thinking that leads people away from the way to God, leaving them wandering in the desert to die for lack of water. And unfortunately heretics exist, and the Church says: don’t follow them.
I hesitate with your ‘needing to believe firmly that any journey brings a person to God'. Yes, we both agree on the vital importance of setting out on the spiritual journey. But I do suspect that some people rather want to travel first class the whole way whereas there are places where you have to get out and walk over rough ground.
This rough ground includes facing some rather nasty things inside ourselves: anger, fear of emptiness, repressed sexuality and the like. The Christian believes he can face them in Christ and with Christ and - this is important - in Christ's good time. It is this that gives the freedom of stage 3.
Let me say one thing for which some people will want to burn me at the stake: our first priority is to be Christian. Being Orthodox is second to this. If the form in which Orthodoxy presents itself in a person’s particular situation blocks their way forward, then it is better to go part of the way with another confession than to quit the Christian faith.