Questions For The Priest

In attempting to formulate views of Christian doctrine, -- views which would accord equally with both orthodoxy and my own reason, -- several difficult contradictions, or problems, have presented themselves, more or less consistently. I’ve attempted to divide them into firm categories, but it should be understood that these issues are, for me, deeply intertwined, and only teased apart here somewhat arbitrarily, for the sake of convenience.

[The following is a truncated version, with several questions omitted, -- again, for the sake of convenience.]

1.)       1.) THE WILL OF GOD 

          We are told by some mystics that it is blessedness to receive all things as created by God, and as manifestations of His unerring will, but it seems clear that many things happen which are horrific or abominable in the sight of God, and not at all according to His will. Should the sayings of these mystics be interpreted, or perhaps reformed, to suggest that God’s will is evident, not in what happens, -- not in created things, -- but, in a certain attitude or response to what happens? 

2.)       2.) THE WILL OF MAN 

 If every good work is performed by the grace of God, -- if it is to Him that all credit is due, and must be rendered, -- then, how can we be free to choose what is good?

How can the abdication of one’s personal will be considered an assertion of that will; or a free expression of that will; or the only expression of that will desired by God?

If the will of man is in opposition to God’s will, and if freedom means only the ability to make foolish, uninformed, weak, hasty, short-sighted, or cowardly choices, then, is free will really a gift, -- or a curse?

If the journey of the fallen soul is analogous to the parable of the prodigal son, then, was it somehow necessary to lose God through disobedience in order to fully experience and appreciate His love; in the form of forgiveness; that “fatted calf”? (Is evil necessary to the highest good?) 

3.)       3.) RESIST NOT EVIL

 When Christ instructs us to welcome the abuse of enemies, and to give more than is wanted to those who demand more than is due, he does not say, “If they repent first”. He places no conditions and, rather, appears desirous that the gifts of forgiveness and charity be showered on those who are LEAST worthy of them (though, it may be, most in need of them); as if to emphasize the idea that the consolations of God are not given according to the measurable love we have for Him, but, according to the immeasurable love He has for us; not by works, but by grace. If we are truly called to return good for evil, -- not to condemn, but to forgive and forbear the iniquities of others, nor to love only those who love us first, as “even sinners do”, but, in order to “be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect”, to treat the most abject sinners no worse than we would treat the Most High God (“for whatsoever you do to the least of these, you do to me”), -- how can we reconcile this injunction with belief in a legalistic God, capable of rendering hellfire, or anything other than infinite mercy, in return for the crime of unbelief; a God who is merciful only to those who confess (or who make their confession in His name), and, evidently, nowhere near as forgiving as He asks us to be, or as He has exemplified in the person of Jesus Christ?

4.)   4.) SALVATION      

 In what sense, or how deeply, is the soul drawn into communion with Christ, and brought under the protection of His Holy Spirit, through contemplation of His holy life; -- and to what degree must we remain divided from God, who have yet to encounter “the inward man”, so as to be united by theophany with that power which gives unambiguous evidence of itself, in the performance of miracles and heroic deeds, in the absence of self-regard, and in the bearing of a supernatural equanimity?

Christ promises that, if we believe in Him, we will perform miracles as great, and greater, than the ones He performed. Who among us has this kind of faith? Who claims to believe? Who “takes the name of the Lord” (calls himself Christian), but cannot give sight to the blind, nor make the lame walk, -- as if to give evidence against the promise of Christ? According to the test which Jesus Himself has set down, it would appear that only a number of distinguished saints and desert fathers were possessed of genuine faith.

If John the Baptist was called by Christ “greater than all those born of woman” and, yet, even he was “less than the least one in the kingdom of Heaven”, how can we be so presumptuous as to imagine that the pearly gates lie open to us? Because we believe? But John believed, and was not content with calling Christ “Lord, Lord”. Rather, he did what was commanded; he lived in poverty, with enmity towards none, and died a martyr for the faith. Have we known anyone to do as much? Yet, in heaven, he is called “less than the least”.