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Tag: #orthodoxy

Orthodoxy: God is the Only Object

Published by mhelbert on February 26, 2024
God Icon- Shutterstock 643534330

There’s one last thing that I want to muse about when it comes to orthodoxy. After this we’ll all take a break from that and pick on something else.
In the last post I talked about what my Correct Belief is not in: The Bible. Our Sacred Text was never meant to take the place of God. Neither are guns or country. In the first century, Jewish leaders put their faith in the Temple and the rites that took place there. Well, they found out how secure that was in 70 A.D. when Rome destroyed the Temple and put that entire system to the sword.
Stuff cannot be our God.
Here’s where I think that Correct Belief finds its true object.
God.
Period, end of story.
Perhaps not like you may think. I don’t think that belief IN God is adequate. Anyone can believe that God exists. James wrote in his epistle that the people believed “that God is one. Even the demons believe…and shudder.” Actually, when someone tells me that they believe in God I just shake my head. Those words mean nothing. I believe in gravity, also. What’s important is what I do with that belief.
That brings to what I think IS the Correct Belief. What it’s true subject has to be if we want to be faithful stewards of God’s love.
What we believe ABOUT God is paramount.
Who is God? What is God like? Show my God’s character and heart. These are the questions that we should be seeking answers to. Last year in our St. Barnabas Bible Study we spent several months on this question. What started out looking at how God’s wrath in the Bible can be an accurate description of God. Short answer, it can’t. The angry God that Jonathan Edwards preached about in an early American church in New England, doesn’t exist. From Edwards on the idea that God hates our sin so much that God can’t even look at us unless Jesus stands between God and humanity. That is a lie straight from the pit of hell. And, that lie has tied countless people into a bondage that suffocates the life out of their spirit.
Correct Belief, orthodoxy, starts at the Incarnation of God in Messiah Jesus. And, it ends with God sacrificing God’s self as Jesus the Son in order to defeat sin and death. The proof of this Correct Belief is the empty tomb. This is the Gospel. That the Kingdom of God is here, now. Jesus is the Messiah; the Christ; the Lord of all.
That is what we can know about God. That is the beginning of orthodoxy. That is where our Correct Belief finds its true object.

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There Is No Other! It’s All About God!

Published by mhelbert on February 22, 2024
About God, It Is!

Earlier this week I wrote about my passion for God. I also expressed a defense for my Orthodoxy. Then, I wrote a bit about the inadequacy of any kind of correct belief that finds its object in dogma, doctrine, or propositions. That’s the world of Systematics. At best that world is too small. At worst, well, it is destructive in more ways than I care to mention right now. Maybe some other time.
What I didn’t discuss was what my own orthodoxy is founded on. In what, or Whom, do I ground my ‘right belief’ on?
I’m glad you asked that question.
Let me start by sharing a couple of things that it is Not.
It is not grounded in the Bible.
Whoa! Say what?! I can see all of my fundagelical friends clutching their pearls and wringing their hands. Isn’t the Bible the inerrant Word of God? Isn’t the Bible the only trustworthy way that we can even know God? How can we know what’s true and good? More importantly, how can we know if we’re IN?
Don’t get your boxers in a bunch.
There is no one on the planet who loves the scriptures more than I do. I read, study, and dwell in them every day. I have an extremely high view of them. They are inspired by God the Holy Spirit.
What I don’t do is venerate them. I am not a bibliolater…I don’t worship them. The Bible is a book. Granted, it’s an ancient book filled with even older texts. But, it is a book. It’s a tool. At best, it’s a sign post that points in the direction of what is truly worthy of veneration and worship…God.
Most people view the scriptures as a working document that one can use in order to find their way in life. To them it’s a road map or a users’ manual. If they follow the directions all will be well with the world. If not, well, bad stuff happens. God will getcha if you don’t follow the rules.
It’s not only Christians, but so-called orthodox members of any religious movement may fall into that trap. Rules are meant to be followed. Rules inspired by God inhabit an especially important space where any sign of rule breaking or bending can have eternal repercussions.
Ok, not to be too crass, I call bullshit. At least in the case of the Christian Bible I can be fairly certain that it was not designed to be taken as a literal treatise on the Ways and Workings of the God-fearing Person. Nor is it a book of history or science or any of the other things that bibliolaters claim.
If the creation story didn’t happen just as it is written, how can we trust any of it?
The short answer is, in respect to science, you can’t. That’s not what the Bible is for. You folks are asking the scriptures to carry something that they were never meant to carry. So, stop it, already!
The Bible, at its best, points to God and God’s plans for the world. And, those plans don’t include the rules and regulations that so many people like to impose. Again, stop doing that!
Thirty plus years ago I began to realize that the Bible is a love story. Yeah, that’s right, a Love Story. The Lover in this story is God. The scriptures are full of stories about this love. God’s love sustains the world. It is what moves the Cosmos forward. It is the all-encompassing love of God that leads us to worship and adore God.
But, it is NOT God.
Orthodoxy, correct belief, can never be focused on anything or anyone other than God. Period. End of story.

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There Is Only One Who Captures My Passion

Published by mhelbert on February 19, 2024
I am what I am and that’s all that I am

A whole bunch of years ago a co-worker who followed my blog told me that when I wrote about myself; my passions; my heart that the writing was much better. I allowed some of the ‘me’ that I keep bundled up in the corner to peek out. She said that when I wrote about technical stuff like the Church and theology the writing just wasn’t compelling.
I took that to heart. Of course I want people to read what I write. That’s why I write it! Her comments sent me down a road of constant concern for how I present myself through these little blog thingies.
A problem that I found with this is that there are things that I am passionate about that don’t necessarily reveal anything other than my thoughts on various topics. They’re not some kind of heart revealing story that may be anywhere near what my co-worker spoke about.
But, they are things that I am passionate about.
I am passionate about God. Who God is. What God speaks to me. Where God leads.
I am passionate about worshiping this God. The act of sharing my heart with God is irresistible.
I am passionate about sharing this God with others. Not in the way evangelicals do. But, in ways that I think may actually introduce the God I love to others. ANY others.
In all of this, I am passionate about Orthodoxy. Not the Eastern kind. The word ‘Orthodox’ is made of two Greek words. Ortho, meaning straight, right, or correct. And, Dox derives from a word that means belief. So, literally, Orthodox means Correct Belief.
Now, as a disclaimer, I am making no claim at all that what I believe is all correct. Nor is it my belief that everyone else follows what I think. I’m just an old white guy with some opinions. Nothing more than that.
As an open disclosure, I find my way to Orthodoxy within a fairly large community. There is my local parish and the people who attend there. They get to listen to me and respond to the things that I think. We don’t always agree. But, that’s ok. I am part of the larger diocese of Ohio as well as the Episcopal Church in the U.S. Again, we don’t always agree, but I find that the larger church does have some guardrails in place that help me to not go flying off of the road. I am in constant dialog with the Academy and the Scholarship that comes from it. Greater minds than mine have wrestled with the same things that I do. I avail myself of that. And, my community includes the ancient Church and Church Fathers who produced our framing documents defining Orthodoxy, the Creeds.
All of that to say, when I write on technical issues that affect faith and the Church, I stand on a fairly firm foundation. That foundation allows my passions to gain their footing and present to the world.

There are many others who make claims to a form of orthodoxy. They, like me, define orthodox as correct belief. Their right belief, however, is in dogma and doctrine rather than the Scripture, the Church, and the Tradition. Many of them reduce God to a series of systematic attributes. They call that Systematic Theology. The church I came from used a particular book as their sole education to theology. Reading the book, they said, was all that was necessary to be orthodox. If you read the book and believe what the writer said, you’re good to go. The problem with that is that people who write systematic theologies are usually old, white guys who are trying to justify all of the money that they wasted on education. Yeah, I’m looking at you, Wayne Grudem. God for them becomes little more than bite-sized bits of scripture texts taken out of context. These ‘theologies’ offer nothing that may actually bring life to people. It’s sterile academics at its worst. Probably, a lot like my co-worker thought of some of my blog posts.
Because of my passion for God, I will continue to push back against those who would put God into a systematic or doctrinal box. Too much of that has been done over the centuries. And, millions have suffered because someone said, “This is the only way to serve God. Follow these rules. Memorize these propositions. Do what I say. Not what I do.” If that’s to technical or doesn’t reveal who I am, so be it. I can only write the words that express what I am passionate about.
This IS me.
Deal with it.

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Is There Truly Only “One Way”?

Published by mhelbert on December 10, 2018

If you have known me long enough, then you know that I question pretty much everything. Yesterday at church the Priest stated that he was a “good little rule follower.” As I sat in the pew I thought, “Oh, you poor, poor man.” You see, I’ve never met a rule that didn’t really, really want someone to come along and push against it. I know, it’s a tough job. But, someone’s gotta do it.

So, it’s know surprise when I push back against theologies that claim to be “the only, true way.” To be honest, most religious sects do make those claims. But, I’m only really familiar with neo-Calvinism. I was well-steeped in a theology that made/makes truth claims that, well, simply cannot be sustained. There are other ways to look at “Truth.” I have provided  a link to a podcast with Pete Enns. Pete is a kindred spirit and someone whom I respect as a scholar. Pete’s guest in this episode is someone who came out o neo-Calvinism and landed in Eastern Orthodoxy. I’d encourage you to take 42 minutes to give this a listen. 

Here is the link to “The Bible and Orthodox Faith” 

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