Someone who is on the side of God the Creator, and who desires to attain the salvation of Jesus Christ, must Proceed With Caution when it comes to joining any formal organization.
And the warning applies as much to religions, churches, and specifically-Christian churches - as to all the other institutions; so that a Christian who joins a church is in spiritual Danger, and needs to Proceed With Caution.
This does not mean that a Christian ought to avoid all churches - far from it*.
For many people, a church is necessary; and for others a particular church (when available and accessible) is positively beneficial to sustaining faith.
But it does mean that - just as a Christian chooses his church with discernment; he must not set-aside that discernment after joining that church.
In a totalitarian world, no institution should be trusted; because none are worthy of trust.
"Christian" must not, therefore, be striving to serve and obey any actually-existing church, nor even that particular sub-section of a church which Christian has chosen from the contending factions.
(Service and obedience to any totalitarian-aligned organization will lead the individual towards evil - later if not sooner.)
Instead; he ought to be ready and willing to continue evaluating all aspects of the church; including whatever the church teaches, instructs, or demands. And proceeding (to the best of his ability) on the basis of these evaluations.
It is a matter not so much of every Christian "taking responsibility" for selecting and implementing his faith - everybody already does that - but of acknowledging the fact that he is responsible: like it, or like it not.
*After all, many people must work therefore have a job, and will mostly work for an organization or several; everyone will have multiple dealings with government and large corporations; indeed people must join all sorts of institutions. We must join the totalitarian system. Opting-out of The System is not an option. You may try to ignore The Matrix, but The Matrix will not ignore you.
So what's the special problem with a church? None unless you forget that the church is a part of The System, and think of it as something qualitatively apart.
Yes, I know about the "Spiritual Church" within the "institutional church", and the SC is - of course - what you want, as a Christian.
The trouble is that the church will try to insist upon the institution, while leaving the spiritual stuff as... well, nice but optional. Spiritual disobedience is tolerated, even encouraged (plenty of bishops and archbishops who don't believe that Jesus was divine, or don't believe in Satan or hell) - but institutional disobedience? That is what gets priests defrocked and laity excommunicated.
For some, the matter of responsibility is not as straightforward as it should be.
ReplyDeleteI recall one fellow who matter-of-factly declared that his obeying his church's recommendation to get the peck back in 2020 relieved him of all responsibility for the decision. He had done his part. He had obeyed authority.
If there was indeed anything nefarious behind the peck -- and he was convinced that there was not -- then he wasn't to blame. He wouldn't even have to repent. The responsibility rested with his priest, and that the priest, not he, would have to deal with any potential spiritual consequences should they arise.
I suppose it never occured to him that the priest could use the same line of thinking and pass the buck to his bishop who could then pass it along to the archbishop who could point at the pope who could then . . . I don't know, blame God, I guess.
At the end of the day, no one is responsible because of free will or something.
I think this helps explain why "church" works for some. They treat as a convenient receptable in which to deposit all sense of personal responsibility. In the end, everyone but them is ultimately to blame for, well, everything. They were just following orders the way all good Christians should.
@Frank - I can imagine that the clear example of the peck might be dismissed as merely public health advice. But we would both agree that the material always has a spiritual dimension - and indeed the peck business was saturated with explicit spiritual evaluations.
ReplyDeleteHowever, what applies to "material" matters, applies even more powerfully to the spiritual, and the sequence of responsibility denial you describe operates on matters of doctrine, ritual, scripture, life rules - and the whole spectrum of spiritual authority.