Importance of History
A famous poem is centered on 6 wise blind men, and while each touches a different part of an elephant they make an eloquent argument that he knows how the elephant looks. But, we (the reader) knows the argument is wrong as we see the whole elephant.
The poem ends with the profound observation i.e.,
This comes to mind whenever someone quickly and blindly discounts the importance of history, or an appreciation of the ancient Church. Strong arguments are made by many Christians on who is Jesus and which Church is real ... but without at least an understanding on how history unfolded from the days of the Apostles to today's modern world, we run the danger of being like the men of Indostan who eloquently argue who's right and who's wrong, without realizing the danger of distorting the truth that was Jesus Christ.
So, what do we do as Orthodox Christians? What is our responsibility?
A post by the Techie Layman explains this dilemma that many of us feel. What do we do when we hear brothers and sisters who are from other non-Orthodox Church argue on concepts such as the Rapture and Immaculate Conception ... both of these are good examples of beliefs that undoubtedly originated more than a thousand years beyond the days of the Apostles and early Church leaders.
And yet, in our modern world these are beliefs that are held by the overwhelming majority of those who call themselves Christians. Does popular belief imply that the Truth has changed? Clearly not, as Christ himself clearly stated in the Gospel (i.e., Mathew 24:5) and reiterated multiple times by St Paul and other early Church leaders.
So, as Orthodox Christians we indeed have an evangelical responsibility, and need to correct with patience, love and humility. Which is often easier said than done, as such a discussion quickly degenerates into an argument.
This is among many reasons of the true sense of urgency of establishing Indian Orthodox churches for our community that are able to educate and be living examples of those apostolic teachings ... every person who leaves our Church or are "lukewarm" Christians not only weakens our community, but also adds to our failure as Orthodox Christians.
This is the importance of history - not because that automatically makes our Church teachings correct, but more importantly so we can understand what a blessing it is to be members of a Church that (among others) are part of the One, True, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, and also learn from the challenges and sacrafices made by those early Church fathers and mothers and apply it to our modern world. The blood of the martyrs and the sacrifices of all those who participated in the creation of the Church needs to be taught, explained and acted upon even with the absence of mega-churches, TV channels and wealth. May we all meditate and truly understand the words of Christ as we contemplate what it means to be Orthodox,
The poem ends with the profound observation i.e.,
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
This comes to mind whenever someone quickly and blindly discounts the importance of history, or an appreciation of the ancient Church. Strong arguments are made by many Christians on who is Jesus and which Church is real ... but without at least an understanding on how history unfolded from the days of the Apostles to today's modern world, we run the danger of being like the men of Indostan who eloquently argue who's right and who's wrong, without realizing the danger of distorting the truth that was Jesus Christ.
So, what do we do as Orthodox Christians? What is our responsibility?
A post by the Techie Layman explains this dilemma that many of us feel. What do we do when we hear brothers and sisters who are from other non-Orthodox Church argue on concepts such as the Rapture and Immaculate Conception ... both of these are good examples of beliefs that undoubtedly originated more than a thousand years beyond the days of the Apostles and early Church leaders.
And yet, in our modern world these are beliefs that are held by the overwhelming majority of those who call themselves Christians. Does popular belief imply that the Truth has changed? Clearly not, as Christ himself clearly stated in the Gospel (i.e., Mathew 24:5) and reiterated multiple times by St Paul and other early Church leaders.
So, as Orthodox Christians we indeed have an evangelical responsibility, and need to correct with patience, love and humility. Which is often easier said than done, as such a discussion quickly degenerates into an argument.
This is among many reasons of the true sense of urgency of establishing Indian Orthodox churches for our community that are able to educate and be living examples of those apostolic teachings ... every person who leaves our Church or are "lukewarm" Christians not only weakens our community, but also adds to our failure as Orthodox Christians.
This is the importance of history - not because that automatically makes our Church teachings correct, but more importantly so we can understand what a blessing it is to be members of a Church that (among others) are part of the One, True, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, and also learn from the challenges and sacrafices made by those early Church fathers and mothers and apply it to our modern world. The blood of the martyrs and the sacrifices of all those who participated in the creation of the Church needs to be taught, explained and acted upon even with the absence of mega-churches, TV channels and wealth. May we all meditate and truly understand the words of Christ as we contemplate what it means to be Orthodox,
By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Comments
A friend of mine spoke to a few marthomite friends here and he said politely that the Orthodox church is the "fullness of the faith". Immediately an argument broke out.
As the saying goes:
"Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words."