Sometimes I wonder if those who have been embraced by Holy Orthodoxy for their whole lives realize what they have? After receving the mysteries at an Orthodox parish in St. Paul, MN, we were engaged in conversation with a delightful parishioner ... who soon launched into a monologue on this "great new Bible Study" he was part of. He went on to say how the participants didn't really deal with "theology" or "religion" but just studied the Bible. 400+ he told us, of "every denomination." Turns out it was the Bible Study Fellowship, which is apparently the rage in some places. I bit my tongue: even as a Lutheran Pastor, I viewed such things with alarm.
It serves the "I can read the Bible and believe whatever I want to believe" philosophy that permeates much of today's society. The Bible is viewed outside the Church, and anything goes.
One wonders. Of course, this often happens in any "tradition." Many times those who have "grown up" in the tradition haven't really learned it. Sort of taken for granted, they may not realize just what they have ... until one lately come points out the value and treasure of it!
The lovely bride and I were wondering, as we returned home from vacation with family, why no one really, seriously asks why we became Orthodox. After all, the move from the Lutheran pastorate wasn't made on a whim, or because of some political situation in a parish or synod.
I suspect that part of it is due to the fact that today "Church" is what you make it. In my family, there are Lutherans and Reformed and Evangelical -- in spite of the fact that we started Lutheran. No one bats an eye. Perhaps it is the "Well, at least they are going to church" syndrome. So, to become Orthodox is viewed as going to "another denomination."
I think that part of it also has to do with the fact that to become Orthodox, one must ask serious questions. One deals with the Truth, as Fr Gregory Hogg points out. For my family, it would mean asking very serious questions about where they are, and it would be costly to leave friends made over many years. It would also coming into a discipline far different from what they presently experience.
Of course, one wonders just who takes these things seriously in our age?!!
We have seen the true light, we have received the heavenly spirit ....
Ezekiel
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A more pious, I hope, version of the 'at least he's going to church' syndrome is my take: I have great respect for anyone who 'takes these things seriously', whether I agree with either their questions or answers. Orthodox, Lutheran, Muslim, atheist, agnostic, pagan, Buddhist, etc. Now, their beliefs, motivations and understanding may be silly, but they have at least committed themselves and axcercised their will - that's something difficult to do in the face of the mesmerization of consumerism, 'science' and the academy.
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