I believe that those who take their Christian faith seriously, those who try to live it out, will let their faith change them; they will learn from what Christ teaches, and engage those teachings, trying to become better, wiser persons over time. There are many different way this will happen, depending upon the person, their abilities and interests, and the situations they find themselves living in. Those who have the time, ability, and resources to study and learn Christian doctrine will do so, but they must do so, not just for the sake of intellectual curiosity, but to find out the implications of the Christian faith for their lives, and then, once they have done so, they will act upon what they have learned. They should also try to help others, especially those who do not have the luxury to study as they do, to understand what they have learned. Others, who are not beholden to such study, but still take their faith seriously, will engage the truth the best they can, listening to their conscience when they have any question as to what they should be doing. They certainly will not make excuses for injustices, as they will promote what is good and just, both by their actions, but also in their political advocacy. They will not justify themselves when they sin, especially when they sin in a grave manner, such as by rejecting the dignity of other people, by saying everyone is a sinner; nor will they, upon receiving mercy for their own sins, seek out others to judge and condemn for theirs.
Christianity is not meant to leave us unchanged. It certainly is not meant to reify our worst instincts and habits. It is meant to challenge us, to provoke us, to reform us, to make us better people. And what all Christians should be able to understand is the foundational teaching of all Christian ethics, the foundational teaching which connects to the message of the Gospel, which is the teaching of love. There are, of course, many dogmas and doctrines which have emerged over time, some subtle and difficult for most people to understand, some simpler and far easier for everyone to understand. They are important, but knowledge without love, without active love, falls short of Christ’s expectation for his followers. Christ tells us to love, and all Christians, even those who cannot read but have listened to the Gospel preached to them, can know this.
We are to love God, but also, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. How do we do that? We put ourselves in the shoes of the others and think about how we would like to be treated if we were them. The more empathy we have for them, the better we can love them as Christ wants us to do. Sadly, even knowing this, many Christians try to find some sort of excuse to ignore this message. They love Christ because they believe Christ cares for them and will save them, but they want Christ to do it without expecting them to change. They ignore Christ said that they must change, that they must die to the self, and all their selfishness, if they want to experience the glory of the kingdom of God.
It seems many follow the Christian faith, not out of love or devotion to God, but out of selfishness; it is a mercenary faith, where they are looking for what they can get out of it. They will do what they like, thinking that they can have faith without works, and it is such faith, such mere belief, that is enough to save them, that Christ will ignore whatever ways they stray from the way he set up for them to live. This is why they have no problems promoting and engaging all kinds of evils, such as promoting and establishing laws which harm others – be it someone who is poor, or someone who is a different gender, different sexual orientation, a different nationality, or even, a different religion. Then, slowly, they become convinced, through the assurance they have of their own salvation, God is at work in and through them, that what they want is what God wants. Their success in the world prove it. Slowly but surely the Christian faith is perverted, and becomes something else, such as Christian nationalism, a pseudo-Christianity which has at its core a denial of Christ’s teachings.
My own Christian journey has been one of constant change. I have, and continue to explore and learn from the wisdom of other Christians, ancients and modern. I also am willing to learn from people of other faiths, or no faith, realizing they have much to teach me. I allow myself to be challenged, to reconsider things which I once believed, and so, I have seen the change over time, hopefully for the better. To be sure, that is how I became Catholic. I was raised to be a nominal Southern Baptist, but through study, and the friends I made, I learned of Eastern Christian thought and spiritual tradition, became attracted to it, and was chrismated as a Byzantine Catholic. Since then, I have made sure I continue my journey, to learn more from the rich wisdom of the Eastern Christian traditions (Byzantine, Syriac, et. al.) while not ignoring the rich theological legacy of the Western tradition, with its many variants. I have came to see many of the ways this has brought change into my life. For example, this can be seen in the way I have developing my understanding of war and peace. When I was young, I remember being all-in with the first Gulf War, accepting the way it was presented; I was glad for the United States working to protect Kuwait and bombing Iraq – so much so, I bought t-shirts promoting Desert Storm. But later, long before the 2003 Iraq War, I began to see the military and war quite differently. I saw not only the way we had been lied to during the first Gulf War, but how those lies were only being made worse in order to bring us back to war. I would likely have believed the governmental position if I had not studied and learned from the wisdom behind the Christian understanding of war and peace. I especially saw how the Just War tradition, and the expectations it had on Christians engaged in war, was not meant to be used to create conditions for war, but to try to prevent war, that it was abused when it was being used to promote preemptive wars. Thus, I went from being pro-war, to one who saw war as an evil, something which Christians must do everything they can to prevent. It is not that I became an absolute pacifist, but rather, I saw that war must truly be the last resort, and defensive (without any sophistry used to proclaim aggression as a kind of defense). This was reinforced by my readings of patristic sources which dealt with the question of war; I saw that they believed war was always an evil for all involved in it, so that, once it was over, soldiers were expected to engage all kinds of penance so as to help them find a way to heal themselves from the evils they did in the war they were in. That is, it is the recognition that soldiers, in the midst of war, will do all kinds of actions which will wound they spiritually and psychologically, and those wounds must be addressed lest they fester and become worse. Another change I saw in me was my awareness of the preferential option for the poor, how it is found throughout Scripture and the Christian tradition, even as many, especially those with wealth and power, did everything they could to silence that teaching.
It is because I have seen many changes in my beliefs, and with it, my practices, I have hope for other Christians, that they can also undergo such change. But I also know, for them to do so, they must take their faith seriously. Going to church, and proclaiming with everyone else Jesus is Lord is not enough – Jesus indicated this when he said not everyone who says Lord, Lord has the assurance of salvation. Many use Jesus as a kind of “get out of jail free” card for themselves, and their love for Jesus lies in the way they believe Jesus makes sure they will not face the consequences of whatever evil they do. That is not a serious faith, for, as Jesus said, those who love him will do as he said. Those who have a serious faith will struggle to follow him, even if it means what Christ expects appears to be is inconvenient to them. But, I know, many do come to the faith, many are serious about their faith, many want to live it out, and they start, like I did, with an imperfect (and often false) understanding of what is expected of them. I hope they, like I, will seek ways to learn more about their faith, and put into action what they learn. It is extremely necessary, now more than ever. For, I see Christians constantly being offered a false Gospel, an anti-Gospel message, by those in positions of power and authority, and their message seems to be spread far more than the authentic Gospel message. Those who truly want to take their faith seriously must rise up and resist the distorted version of Christianity, one which is as cruel and heartless as can be, for the Christian faith to exorcise the demon in its midst. I have hope this can happen. But I know, I must do more than hope, I must do what I can to help share the authentic Christian message, both in word, but also in deed.
* This Is Part LXXI Of My Personal (Informal) Reflections And Speculations Series
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