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"None of those who have Hell before their eyes will fall into Hell. No one of those who despise Hell will escape Hell.... Nothing is so profitable as to converse concerning Hell. It renders our souls purer than any silver."  

~St. John Chrysostom~

BOOK

Loss of Spirituality 

Dear Aaron,

             I must say I am heartened to hear that your previous comments were made out of tiredness and frustration and were not necessarily your true feelings. As I said before, I know how it can be when your most cherished beliefs are challenged, especially when you have papers due and exams to take. Your frustration and bewilderment at some of the things I have been saying are also understandable. I must commend you, though, for your willingness to come back for more. It shows a certain desire to seek after truth, and that is indeed a rare commodity these days. There are many in these spiritually confusing times that would have given up thinking about these things all together.

At any rate, your difficulty in seeing the connection between doctrine and spirituality is certainly understandable, and your assertion that your church is very spiritual despite its doctrine is also understandable. Most people today see doctrine as the domain of the theologians, and spirituality as dealing largely with how one feels, or what one experiences in church or prayer. Therefore many have come to see doctrine as almost irrelevant, as long as they can continue to have certain experiences during their services. I suspect this may be the case with you.

            In my opinion, Jesus showed this separation between doctrine and spirituality to be an artificial one when he said that those who worship him must do so in Spirit and in truth. He went on to say that his Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, and that it is the truth that will set us free. I think one can deduce from this that Jesus does not separate his Spirit—and by extension our spirituality—from the truth. We must have one to have the other.

            One of the reasons why most Protestants have difficulty seeing this is that they have a faulty view of salvation. This has led them to a false unity which is based more on a cosmic judicial system than on doctrine. As I mentioned in an earlier e-mail, most Protestants believe that salvation consists solely in God declaring them to be “not guilty” once they have believed in Jesus and repented of their sins. After this pronouncement they are expected to do two things. The first is to believe in a few of what they call core doctrines, such as the incarnation, the virgin birth, and the death and resurrection of Christ. This shows that they have become Christian. The second is to keep certain morals, such as sexual purity, and sobriety, to show that their life has been changed.

            Starting from this rather juridical viewpoint, most of the doctrines of Christianity become unnecessary for one’s salvation. This is where we get the very Protestant idea of primary and secondary doctrines. They unify around the “primary” doctrines and agree to disagree on the “secondary” ones. Not only does this viewpoint have no standing in the scriptures, but I also think one might want to question the Protestant understanding of Christianity if that understanding makes most of its doctrines irrelevant to salvation.

Once again, the process of becoming Christ like is the Orthodox view of salvation. This is a lifelong process, and God has decided to work with us to bring it about. Because of this, any false understandings of the faith that we may have will hinder our progress. Since we must worship God in Spirit and in truth, and since it is the truth that sets us free, then all the doctrines of Christianity become important to our salvation. It is becoming Christ like, and by extension drawing closer to God, which we consider to be true spirituality. It is the Devil who introduces lies and deceptions into the faith, and the Spirit of Truth cannot work with the spirit of falsehood.  

Another thing that hurts our spirituality in Christianity today is the lack of asceticism, and specifically fasting. Once again, the goal of our salvation is to become Christ like, and the Fathers of the Church have told us that one very important way to get there is through asceticism. To help us toward that end the Church has instituted regular times of fasting. Needless to say, most Protestant churches have done away with these all together. My focus here, though, will be on the Roman Catholic Church, who at one time followed many of these prescriptions, but has now left most of them behind. 

            Traditionally the Church has fasted from all meat, fish, and dairy products for forty days before Christmas. This is virtually unknown in Roman Catholicism today. The Lenten fast, which is also forty days of no meat, fish, and dairy, has declined into not eating meat on Fridays. This is hardly an ascetical labor. Traditionally, the faithful have fasted all food and drink from midnight, the night before a liturgy, until after communion the next day. All that is expected these days in the Catholic Church is to fast one hour before receiving communion. One can get up a little early, have a big breakfast, and still have plenty of time to fulfill that requirement. Many older Roman Catholics can still remember the weekly Wednesday and Friday fasts. This eventually was reduced to Friday only, and now is largely ignored all together.

            On a slightly different note, but still on the topic of asceticism, the Church has traditionally stood during her services. Now, most Roman Catholic Churches have pews, so they can take a load off during the Mass. One does not even have to arise early Sunday morning to go to church any more as that requirement can now be fulfilled Saturday evening.

            Are you beginning to see the lack of spirituality? Being spiritual is not an emotion, or how you feel during a service, but it is making progress in becoming like Christ and drawing closer to God. It is no wonder that most Protestant churches have lost this idea altogether, and many Catholic parishes are doing likewise. Truth, asceticism, and Christ likeness are inseparably bound together. If you lose one, you will to one degree or another begin to lose the others. Truth has been compromised. Asceticism and Christ likeness have been all but lost. If that is not a decline in spirituality then I am at a loss to know what is.  

            I hope these last couple of correspondences have helped you to see that correct doctrine, worship, and practices are essential to our salvation. It is a little bit sad that we even have to talk about these things as at one time they would have been considered to be self-evident. Again, please don’t take that as a condemnation of you. It is just a symptom of the times in which we live. Who would have thought that spirituality would have come to be associated with an emotion elicited by pop music. The Devil must be dancing with glee.

Anyway, on a more upbeat note, I must say congratulations, and keep up the good work in school. It is exciting to hear that you are doing well, but then I always knew you would. After all you come from good stock!  

Proud as always,

Uncle Greg