Rod Dreher gets all uppity, here, searching as he does the innermost thoughts and secrets of the human heart:
So many times I’ve heard Catholics and Orthodox both, when talking about the scandals within these churches, quickly dismissing the deep and complex evils embedded within the lives of the two churches by making some easy reference to the wheat and the tares, or complaining that the media doesn’t see all the good things the church does, etc. That sort of thing. And it’s true! But these are statements that the people who make them typically haven’t earned the right to make, because they have never seriously looked at and thought about the kinds of things that exist within these churches (and all churches) that would lead someone to lose faith. Tom Breen has done that. That he could not only hold on to his faith, but actually find his faith by so doing, is a testament to the man’s character, and to the grace of God.
Nice riff on the human will cooperating with the spirit of God there Rod. I'd be more impressed by an involuntary conversion like that of Saul of Tarsus, which no one in any denomination seems very interested in talking about.
And just why isn't it a testament to their character who lose faith? Perhaps because for you that's impossible a priori? Because for you it is in principle impossible for the faithless to look seriously and think seriously and reach the conclusion not to believe?
Isn't the point of both experiences that human character is not absolute and not eternal and completely contingent, and something of a mystery to us? Isn't the point that it's not a conclusion?
Like it or not, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18), you and me, and everyone else, serious or not.
And just why isn't it a testament to their character who lose faith? Perhaps because for you that's impossible a priori? Because for you it is in principle impossible for the faithless to look seriously and think seriously and reach the conclusion not to believe?
Isn't the point of both experiences that human character is not absolute and not eternal and completely contingent, and something of a mystery to us? Isn't the point that it's not a conclusion?
Like it or not, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18), you and me, and everyone else, serious or not.
