An Orthodox & a Pomergent Converse

Part of a conversation between an Eastern Orthodox and a Pomergent:

Karl:  So if we want the truths…, we have to look for them in an “uncontaminated” system.

robbymac:  However, good luck finding an “uncontaminated” source other than the Bible! Mankind and our sinfulness gets in the way too easily—hence the need for discernment.

Karl:  Ah, yes! But you and I already have the Bible and don’t agree.

So there has to be something else, something more than the mere words of Scripture or “discernment” (since I’ll assume that all of us take our faith seriously, pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance, etc).

We need a holistic interpretation and context for the Bible. And that doesn’t take “luck”—just eyes to see and faith that God is powerful enough to keep his promises to give us what we need in this regard.

Say, the Church, perhaps?

Three Dimensions of Spirituality

The spiritual life is a reaching out to our innermost self, to our fellow human and to our God.

— Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out

Something I read yesterday reminded me of a teachers’ inservice I attended last Fall. The guest speaker was Michael Carotta and he briefly described three dimensions of spirituality:

  • Vertical — the connection between you and God. This dimension follows naturally from Jesus’ commandment to love God first with your whole heart, mind, and soul. A person strong in this dimension is very comfortable with worship, prayer, and other religious-related things and activities.

  • Horizontal or outward — the connection between you and other people. This dimension follows naturally from Jesus’ commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. A person strong in this dimension is into helping others, community service, social justice, good works, etc.

  • Inward — the connection with yourself, the connection to your soul, the spark of divinity that is your essence. A person strong in this dimension is a little harder to identify, but they tend to find strength, energy, confidence, and peace from within, drawing from an inner source, often unknown to be deeply rooted in God.

Like having a preference for either a left or right hand, you have a preferred dimension of spirituality. But unlike handedness, there must be some kind of balance between the three dimensions. Too much dependence or channeling of energy in one dimension (or two) does not make a balanced, well-rounded, integrated person.

Since you are unique, you must find your own point of balance among the three dimensions. No two people have the same spirituality; no two people have the same balance point. Also, I strongly suspect that your balance point will most probably change over time too.

Time, prayer—especially prayer—and energy must be channeled into each of these three dimensions. They work in tandem. They feed and reinforce each other. It becomes a gestalt kind of thing, where the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Leave out one dimension, then you are shortchanging yourself. And most likely, you will burn yourself out, especially if your strongest dimension is in the horizontal one. By balancing all three dimensions in your unique way, you will be able to tap into the unlimited energy, peace, and love of God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Come to think of it, the three dimensions of spirituality in a way mirror the Trinity. Each person within the Trinity has a relationship to the whole Trinity or godhead, with the other two persons within the Trinity, and with Himself. And if we are made in the image of God, then it seems that there would be three dimensions of spirituality for us too.

It is also no coincidence that the three dimensions of spirituality are imbedded within the idea of Third in Line—God first, others second, me third.

So, reach out, stretch yourself, move out of your comfort zone into the other dimensions of spirituality, for you, for others, and for God. And don’t forget that prayer is essential for all three.

And the Rainbow Said

The sky was overcast and gray all day, threatening to rain, but never following through except for an occasional drizzle. In the evening, the clouds broke near the western horizon. The golden setting sun peeked under the clouds, making all that part of the sky warm and glowing. The sun appeared to say, “I was with you all day, even if you didn’t see me.”
Among the gray clouds still in the southeastern sky, a faint rainbow appeared. Just a portion was visible, as if to say in a whisper, “There is always hope.”

A Key to the Door of Heaven

To him who overcomes I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it. (Revelation 2:17)

From a chapter on heaven, C.S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain comments:

I am considering not how, but why, [God] makes each soul unique. If He had no use for all these differences, I do not see why He should have created more souls than one. Be sure that the ins and outs of your individuality are no mystery to Him; and one day they will no longer be a mystery to you. The mould in which a key is made would be a strange thing, if you had never seen a key: and the key itself a strange thing if you had never seen a lock. Your soul has curious shape because it is a hollow made to fit a particular swelling in the infinite contours of the Divine substance, or a key to unlock one of the doors in the house with many mansions. For it is not humanity in the abstract that is saved, but you—you the individual reader… Blessed and fortunate creature, your eyes should behold Him and not another’s. All that you are, sins apart, is destined, if you will let God have His good way, to utter satisfaction. …God will look to every soul like its first love because He is its first love. Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it—made for it stitch be stitch as a glove is made for a hand.

So Much Mercy, Yet Still There Is Hell

From a chapter on hell, C.S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain concludes:

The doors of hell are locked on the inside. …They enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self-enslaved: just as the blessed, forever submitting to obedience, become through all eternity more and more free.

In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell, is itself a question: ‘What are you asking God to do?’ To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven [because they choose not to be]. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does.

How ironic! Those that demand freedom, complete and total freedom from obedience and any sense of authority, end up the most un-free of all.