06 September 2023
In one offline exchange, I noted that I've been asked often by folks where they should place me on the scale of theological opinion. If you were to examine my voluminous writing on just that subject alone, you'd find it too eclectic to come up with a simple statement. But there is one major underlying dispute I have with the mainstream that probably defines almost everything I might say on the subject: otherworldliness.
That's the key to everything I have to say to the mainstream churches. Of course, I've had to spend some time addressing how I use that word and what I'm referring to when I say that most churches are too worldly. But the key meaning of the term "mysticism" in Christian Mysticism is to embrace the accusation that we are, indeed, too heavenly minded to be any earthly good. We don't believe Jesus was focused on any earthly good.
We are seeking to leave this world the one and only way Jesus said we should: to take up our crosses and follow Him out of it.
The paradox is that our giving primacy to otherworldliness is very practical. It gives us an entirely pragmatic understanding of all things in this world and of this world. If you understand the council of elohim and angels, then your expectations of what will and will not work are changed. Because we seek to understand what God has revealed about the unseen realm above, we have a very strong sense of how things work here. We don't care that much about this world, but we care a lot about how His glory manifests here, and in particular, through our choices.
The way I see it, almost everything I have to say about the mainstream can be connected to that one thing. If church leaders stopped trying so hard to change this world and things rooted in our fallen nature, I would have very little to say. I'm convinced all the doctrinal arguments arise from a worldly focus of mind, a reliance on making things reasonable. As I often say, in writing and verbally, faith makes the most unreasonable demands.
Once the mind gets used to being a servant instead of the leader, the output changes in a fundamental way that is hard to pin down. That's why my doctrinal teaching seems eclectic in difference to the mainstream. The pattern is not an intellectual one, but rests on a higher faculty. It's a matter of conviction. Faith is not a better brand of reasoning; it's above reason. To "be spiritual" does not mean better ideas, but something wholly non-intellectual.
On the one hand, stop trying to "make the world a better place". That always means trying to undo the Fall, which is not in our hands at all. On the other hand, the very best we can do for this world is point the path out of it. Let's restore our orientation on Eternity.
I confess that I did not want to leave the mainstream church, and I will not tell you that you should. I left because it was the best choice for them and for me. I would go back in a heartbeat if they didn't feel so threatened by my message. I still like the idea of going to church with a big social group of believers. I still like the worship music and the idea of preaching. I just don't care for the worldly orientation.
How far am I from the mainstream? Very close, and yet very far.
Comments
Fun and Prophet
As to "preaching" did you mean standing up and teaching when asked to do so? Or, what most people endure, sitting and listening to whatever mounts a pulpit, with no backtalk?
The teaching here is helpful, and I genuinely look forward to it. But I avoid live sermons, and suspect the routine of preaching as an invented feature imported from "NT evangelist" and glued onto the context of "head man with a captive audience."
Sorely missed, and all evaporated from any world I can enter:
the not-perfect 1926 Prayer Book;
the resonant Orthodox proclamation of the Gospel text;
simple non-coercive liturgies that offer a container for the mind;
sincere voices raised in the Westminster Psalter*.
*...the way of godly men unto the Lord is known: Whereas the way of wicked men shall quite be overthrown. (Westminster Psalm 1)
Catacomb Resident
Naturally, I was referring to the real deal. The actual gospel has been shared from time to time, even if too seldom in the mainstream churches.
DarkMirror
I left my last church after the pastor whined about the fake Jan 6 insurrection. I can't take a leader seriously when he takes mainstream news seriously. There were other things that lead up to that, but that was the last straw for me.
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