tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post7669997382417546770..comments2024-03-28T14:16:42.371+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: Christianity is the capstone of a full spirituality (the capstone; not the whole thing)Bruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-84828713108400028572015-01-23T05:35:26.082+00:002015-01-23T05:35:26.082+00:00@tg- I agree that Eastern Orthodoxy sometimes got ...@tg- I agree that Eastern Orthodoxy sometimes got close to a fullness in Byzantium and Holy Russia - when Christianity was interwoven with life - however that is no longer the case, it never has been the case for most of the world; and that fullness is not available anywhere since 1917, and never again will be because the tradition has been broken. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-67570266189203369672015-01-23T02:08:07.310+00:002015-01-23T02:08:07.310+00:00Christ is the capstone to the story of redemption....Christ is the capstone to the story of redemption. He is the re-opening of the (one and only) path to God that we shut on ourselves. Genuine Christianity is not a capstone to anything else, and certainly not a capstone to any of the various religions that developed after we fell away from God and became progressively more and more confused about who we are and why we are here. It contains the whole story of our existence. It doesn't leave anything important out. There is nothing more to develop in that sense, and those who say there there is more to develop are talking about something else. "Normal" Christianity perhaps, which is entirely meaningless.<br /><br />The Orthodox tradition is the tradition of people who have remembered God from the very beginning, through the time of Christ, until today. God is it. God is the entire reason for our existence. The timeless beginning and the endless end. Not "higher consciousness," not animism, not any other invented religion, not some invented god, not humanism, which invents and discards all the false gods made in our own image. There is a path to God that we lost; now we have it again. The only thing left is to walk it. That is real Christianity. The reason why "normal" Christianity is not satisfying is because it is not real Christianity. It is just another invented humanism. It doesn't have its end in God, not in practice, not in reality, and less and less even in theory.<br /><br />I take it that you do not accept the basic Christian story about reality, because it answers the question of why it claims to be the whole answer, exclusive of the others. I don't see the attraction of "normal" Christianity. Never have. If Christ is not the transcendent creator God, the author and the end of reality, then just be a humanist. It is better to just think and do whatever appeals to oneself and not pretend that this has anything to do with ultimate reality. But if you want the ultimate reality, the real truth... there is no way it is not going to be total. You have to accept it fully, or not at all. As soon as you want something else, as soon as you justify something else, as soon as you start making a life and a religion out of incorporating something else... you have decided against reality. You have set yourself up as the measure, and yourself is as far as you'll get.<br /><br />Reality is hard to obtain; this is the way God has made it... but it is one thing to move towards it and stumble and get up and keep trying, and another thing altogether to say "I don't see it, I don't believe it, I'm not pursuing it because I want what I want."tgjnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-2446108637856976132015-01-20T20:16:58.847+00:002015-01-20T20:16:58.847+00:00@ted - True enough, although its kind-of the inver...@ted - True enough, although its kind-of the inverse of what I was saying here. But if people had put half the effort into Christianity that has been put into neo-Paganism/ New Age (or jogging, for that matter) what might not have been achieved? Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-10645168781270381102015-01-20T18:56:29.248+00:002015-01-20T18:56:29.248+00:00I recall some quote, I think it was Chesterton, wh...I recall some quote, I think it was Chesterton, where he alludes to the fact that Christianity has not been realized yet. So while New Agers attempt to create new religions because they believe the old one is lacking, are unaware of how rich tradition is in itself.tedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07354048695798015131noreply@blogger.com