'Our entire life, the whole liturgy, and everything ceremonial are symbols. If you abolish the symbols, then you tear down the walls of your own house.'
'. . .When we abolish the signs, we lose our orientation. Instead, we should search for their meaning. The signs are not to be questioned. We are.'
-A Carthusian monk outside the Grande Chartreuse, in a Sunday afternoon conversation, as documented in Into Great Silence
18 April 2009
God Might not Have a 'Will' for Your Life
'What is God's will for my life?' As a friend has put it, if a twenty-first-century Christian were to journey through time to the ancient Israelite farmer and communicate such a loaded question, the poor Hebrew (after the initial shock) would have many questions of his own; such a strange notion would be cause for utter befuddlement. 'What does this stranger mean by "God's will"? Does s/he not know of the covenant?'
When God created the world, the ancient Hebrew and Catholic would say, God communicated His will to humanity. Namely, He told humanity: 'Go forth and multiply. Eat of any tree in the garden, but don't eat of this tree.' Speaking loosely, God had said: 'Here is the way I have created the world for you to live in it - now, go have fun in that order.' This was and is how God communicates His will for humanity throughout the ages; historically, the people of God - from the ancient Israelites to the Catholic Church - had always understood God's will as intimately bound up in God's covenantal action toward His people, in what He had ordained and established for His people. -God's 'will for your life'? God's will for your life is to love the LORD your God with your whole being, to live faithfully in Him, to love your neighbour as yourself, and to obey and serve Christ in His Church. This is God's will for your life.
We of the twentieth- and twenty-first-century Western world have largely superimposed our understandings onto the reality of God. The 'God's will for my life' philosophy had begun to arise quite a bit earlier than now, but it is accentuated by our cultural context of expansiveness. We enjoy our endless freedom and open choices but seek to go about 'divinising' them in some way. In many ways, this strange behaviour has nothing to do with the choices themselves but with the recognition that God is not typically seen as having anything to do with our choices; our historical/technological empowerment has been a sterile and philosophically agnostic enterprise. In a world in which we can be journalists or firemen, live in a condo in Boston or a house in Denver, we want to 'include' God in some way. Many - if not most - Western Christians play into the language and philosophy of God having an 'individual will' for 'my' life that goes beyond God's historical revelation. Yet this reveals more about our own unfamiliarity toward God's historical will for our lives (or perhaps our subconscious disbelief toward its comprehensive nature) than it reveals about God Himself; that is, God's will for humanity and humans - as it has been historically revealed - is not 'good' enough, is not comprehensive enough, for our liking.
The notion that we must all have a burning bush or even a modest 'peace' (as in emotional) about the choices of our lives is a recent development in the West. Not even the oft-cited mystics, to the best of my somewhat well-informed knowledge, ever supplanted God's covenantal Word with emotional connectedness or signs. In fact, in Holy Scripture, Jesus Christ our Lord warns, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.' The sign of Jonah - as it becomes fulfilled in the sign of the Church - has always been: 'Repent and be baptised, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.' God's will is to go about saving humans and humanity; God may not have as much concern over your choice of insurance provider as you yourself might have about the matter. Perhaps He is concerned if you are concerned, because He has shown immense concern about His creatures, but He has not necessarily geared the stars in their circles toward your choosing SafeAuto over Progressive. Perhaps if we were to truly embrace the true goodness of God's creation, as it has been historically understood - His desire for us to romp in the Garden, in His gracious covenant with His people - perhaps we would please God and live in healthy relationship toward Him and even manage to be healthy creatures in the process. To expect anything beyond this is to risk being highly presumptuous: no mortal will ever know the full extent of the mind of God.
This is not to say that there is nary a burning bush or wet fleece to be found, nor is it to say that God does not work graciously with our silly understandings of things. This is simply to say that God has already revealed His will, and we shouldn't make it an object to go searching for 'extra' signs. God is definitely gracious with our misunderstandings and works them toward His desire to save the world, whatever these misunderstandings may be (in this particular subject and in many others). God works all things together for our good, for those who love the LORD. And no one would deny that throughout history God has communicated with His people - and to particular persons - in extraordinary, supernatural means. The history of the Church is full of these blessed realities.
The problem comes when we put the cart before the horse, when we begin grasping for signs and wonders to fuel our participation in the virtue of faith. Our faith is in Jesus Christ, who has redeemed the world and established His Church; our faith is in the God who has saved the world. We have been given a New Covenant and we are to live within that covenant in faithfulness and the bestowed peace of God. If God provides you emotional peace, praise be to God. If God comes to you in a whirlwind or a writing on the wall and tells you to do whatever, praise be to God, and you should definitely grapple with that and listen. However, to make this sort of phenomenology the object of faith is to supplant what God has already historically revealed to be His will for your life. Love God, serve Him, live faithfully, love your neighbour, serve and obey His Church. This is God's will for your life.
-r
When God created the world, the ancient Hebrew and Catholic would say, God communicated His will to humanity. Namely, He told humanity: 'Go forth and multiply. Eat of any tree in the garden, but don't eat of this tree.' Speaking loosely, God had said: 'Here is the way I have created the world for you to live in it - now, go have fun in that order.' This was and is how God communicates His will for humanity throughout the ages; historically, the people of God - from the ancient Israelites to the Catholic Church - had always understood God's will as intimately bound up in God's covenantal action toward His people, in what He had ordained and established for His people. -God's 'will for your life'? God's will for your life is to love the LORD your God with your whole being, to live faithfully in Him, to love your neighbour as yourself, and to obey and serve Christ in His Church. This is God's will for your life.
We of the twentieth- and twenty-first-century Western world have largely superimposed our understandings onto the reality of God. The 'God's will for my life' philosophy had begun to arise quite a bit earlier than now, but it is accentuated by our cultural context of expansiveness. We enjoy our endless freedom and open choices but seek to go about 'divinising' them in some way. In many ways, this strange behaviour has nothing to do with the choices themselves but with the recognition that God is not typically seen as having anything to do with our choices; our historical/technological empowerment has been a sterile and philosophically agnostic enterprise. In a world in which we can be journalists or firemen, live in a condo in Boston or a house in Denver, we want to 'include' God in some way. Many - if not most - Western Christians play into the language and philosophy of God having an 'individual will' for 'my' life that goes beyond God's historical revelation. Yet this reveals more about our own unfamiliarity toward God's historical will for our lives (or perhaps our subconscious disbelief toward its comprehensive nature) than it reveals about God Himself; that is, God's will for humanity and humans - as it has been historically revealed - is not 'good' enough, is not comprehensive enough, for our liking.
The notion that we must all have a burning bush or even a modest 'peace' (as in emotional) about the choices of our lives is a recent development in the West. Not even the oft-cited mystics, to the best of my somewhat well-informed knowledge, ever supplanted God's covenantal Word with emotional connectedness or signs. In fact, in Holy Scripture, Jesus Christ our Lord warns, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.' The sign of Jonah - as it becomes fulfilled in the sign of the Church - has always been: 'Repent and be baptised, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.' God's will is to go about saving humans and humanity; God may not have as much concern over your choice of insurance provider as you yourself might have about the matter. Perhaps He is concerned if you are concerned, because He has shown immense concern about His creatures, but He has not necessarily geared the stars in their circles toward your choosing SafeAuto over Progressive. Perhaps if we were to truly embrace the true goodness of God's creation, as it has been historically understood - His desire for us to romp in the Garden, in His gracious covenant with His people - perhaps we would please God and live in healthy relationship toward Him and even manage to be healthy creatures in the process. To expect anything beyond this is to risk being highly presumptuous: no mortal will ever know the full extent of the mind of God.
This is not to say that there is nary a burning bush or wet fleece to be found, nor is it to say that God does not work graciously with our silly understandings of things. This is simply to say that God has already revealed His will, and we shouldn't make it an object to go searching for 'extra' signs. God is definitely gracious with our misunderstandings and works them toward His desire to save the world, whatever these misunderstandings may be (in this particular subject and in many others). God works all things together for our good, for those who love the LORD. And no one would deny that throughout history God has communicated with His people - and to particular persons - in extraordinary, supernatural means. The history of the Church is full of these blessed realities.
The problem comes when we put the cart before the horse, when we begin grasping for signs and wonders to fuel our participation in the virtue of faith. Our faith is in Jesus Christ, who has redeemed the world and established His Church; our faith is in the God who has saved the world. We have been given a New Covenant and we are to live within that covenant in faithfulness and the bestowed peace of God. If God provides you emotional peace, praise be to God. If God comes to you in a whirlwind or a writing on the wall and tells you to do whatever, praise be to God, and you should definitely grapple with that and listen. However, to make this sort of phenomenology the object of faith is to supplant what God has already historically revealed to be His will for your life. Love God, serve Him, live faithfully, love your neighbour, serve and obey His Church. This is God's will for your life.
-r
13 April 2009
Bringing in the Sheaves. . .
Easter is upon us: Christ is risen! Allelulia!
Three more Treveccans - amongst a slew of other persons - were confirmed into the Church at the vigil. The pilgrimage home continues.
-r
07 April 2009
The Greenway
| I went to Shelby Bottom Greenway (or, as Judd calls it, 'Shelby's Bottom') on Saturday afternoon in order to write, pray, etc. People-watching came as a secondary but ultimately domineering activity. The greenway in East Nashville contrasts so starkly with 'dragon park' downtown; at the dragon park, every conceivable and embarrassing aspect of humanity parades around in front of you. It's glorious. I had actually tried to go to dragon park first, but she was already packed out to the point of no return, no room for me to write anywhere: a small birthday party flailing around in one section, balloons escaping the birthday boy's grasp; some teens at one corner standing in a circle; various children and exasperated parents blathering over the hill. There were several dogs, a few squirrels, and people of all ages romping everywhere. Dragon park is alive and takes on various expressions with the mess of humanity in her. In stark contrast, there is something sadly expected and expectable at the Greenway. It's not evil or bad; it's just East Nashville in her typical over-calculation and self-conscious sterility. She's somewhat androgynous and meticulously post-modern. Everyone who came out had one of two things in mind: bike-riding or walking a dog. There were lots of trendy cars and SUV's. When couples would show up, they would always be in the late-twenties age bracket or else over fifty. There were few kids and endless dogs whom their owners often treated like kids. Several persons offered me suspicious gazes, as though I existed as a potential threat. Again, nothing evil or bad - it's just East Nashville. I longed for someone to pop out of a station-wagon with a handful of balloons, or to show up with a bundle of embarrassing children. The Greenway just offered up a protected grin, telling me punctually about a wine-tasting event in a few weeks, and I grinned back - but I would have liked her to smile or laugh. Even so, the protected grin is part of the beautifully awkward human creature. -r |
30 March 2009
The wind-chime porch faces ocean; it stirs. The back-door cellar shivers.
Oh, don't know: it must be far past compline even, the moon slipping,
And somewhere down the evening slope the heavy conch is climbing
From retreating waves; the cellar winces, whispers,
Muffled by His own thick mould-ridden door, beside the coastal grass,
Beneath, behind the rustling shadow of the home
In which all gave of each in marriage, now asleep; the groan,
Unheard, murmurs with the conch shell's groping path
-Though, even so, the chimes of hurricanes in motion,
Men, drunken, sleep, begin to murmur in the house beside the ocean,
Conch unobserved this evening, no share of cellar-door's care spoken.
-r
Oh, don't know: it must be far past compline even, the moon slipping,
And somewhere down the evening slope the heavy conch is climbing
From retreating waves; the cellar winces, whispers,
Muffled by His own thick mould-ridden door, beside the coastal grass,
Beneath, behind the rustling shadow of the home
In which all gave of each in marriage, now asleep; the groan,
Unheard, murmurs with the conch shell's groping path
-Though, even so, the chimes of hurricanes in motion,
Men, drunken, sleep, begin to murmur in the house beside the ocean,
Conch unobserved this evening, no share of cellar-door's care spoken.
-r
28 March 2009
Last Things, First Things, and a Monastery
A. Last Things
Allegedly, we had a tornado blow through town to-day, despite my need to write a research paper. Human energy vibrated everywhere; all the persons in the apartment building lined the hall and made noise, and some of us congregated at my patio door to watch it blow in. The sirens went off, places and things became slightly violent for awhile, we retreated indoors, and eventually the other side of the storm blew in. We humans came out all right on the other side.
It's about time for things to be finished here. Despite almost losing my mind (literally) on a few occasions as well as wondering if I could keep on 'keeping on' in these nominally helpful studies, praise God our Father, the other side has finally blown in. There are still assignments to be finished - and there is always room for practise in the virtues of patience, courage, and humility - but I can already feel the gentler side of the storm easing this way. It will be good to complete this chapter.
B. First Things
Besides being an interesting periodical, it's about time for healthy daily rubrics. My mental processes have gradually unravelled, on and off again, in each semester, in the last three-and-a-half years. Part of the relief of the end of this chapter is the ability to have time to evaluate and affix a daily routine - prayer, work, writing, etc.; this will be a respite and a chance to refocus my energies. In this next chapter of life, hopefully, I can begin the practise of living in ritual health so as to be able to live healthily even in the stressful times.
I'm also becoming aware of the need to be faithful and finish work that is started. After finishing up this graduate work and taking a well-earned sabbatical (that is, with a hopeful restoration of healthy mental processes), I'm probably going to try to finish up the 'Reasons to Not Become Catholic' entry series, as well as the 'Masculine Principle' series, the 'Orthodox Economics' series, etc. This may or may not be done on Xanga, and it may or may not be a quick or efficient process. In any case, I'm not good at apologetics and really don't have a lot of interest in apologetic material, but with a few more considerations and a lot of editing, I've just about written an apologetic book with the 'Reasons to Not Become Catholic' entry series - and might as well finish it up. It would be good to bring things to completion.
C. and a Monastery
It's difficult to describe the mystical ways in which things sometimes mesh - the texture of a person's very existence meshing with a certain lifestyle, the simultaneous and subconscious offering and accepting of certain kinds of relationship, and so forth. I met up with friends last weekend at a vocational retreat at St. Bernard Abbey, having no idea what to expect. As it turns out, we lived with the monks as the monks do: we slept in our cells, woke up early to sing the Office, had meals with them, etc. I had the mystical experience of 'meshing' - noticing elements (previously unrecognised and/or unappreciated) that the lifestyle evoked in my person, and noticing in bold new ways how I could serve Christ and His Church in this capacity. Brother Jacob (one of the monks) pulled me aside from the group to talk to me, and he said that he was profoundly convinced (from his observing me that weekend) that I have a vocation to the monastic life. Very strange things.
This is not to say that I've made the decision to be a monk at St. Bernard, or even to be a monk at all. I presently have several debts upon which to make restitution, and it will be at least another year before I can join any monastery. Perhaps a saint or true disciple or whatever would 'let the dead bury their own dead', but I would rather be faithful to previous obligations before making new ones on such short notice. However, this whole event has intrigued me, to say the least; if I should prayerfully consider marriage or the priesthood as a vocation in the service of God (and I should), all the more I should prayerfully investigate a vocation that I have found initially appealing and within which I have been given a testimony of sorts.
-r
Allegedly, we had a tornado blow through town to-day, despite my need to write a research paper. Human energy vibrated everywhere; all the persons in the apartment building lined the hall and made noise, and some of us congregated at my patio door to watch it blow in. The sirens went off, places and things became slightly violent for awhile, we retreated indoors, and eventually the other side of the storm blew in. We humans came out all right on the other side.
It's about time for things to be finished here. Despite almost losing my mind (literally) on a few occasions as well as wondering if I could keep on 'keeping on' in these nominally helpful studies, praise God our Father, the other side has finally blown in. There are still assignments to be finished - and there is always room for practise in the virtues of patience, courage, and humility - but I can already feel the gentler side of the storm easing this way. It will be good to complete this chapter.
B. First Things
Besides being an interesting periodical, it's about time for healthy daily rubrics. My mental processes have gradually unravelled, on and off again, in each semester, in the last three-and-a-half years. Part of the relief of the end of this chapter is the ability to have time to evaluate and affix a daily routine - prayer, work, writing, etc.; this will be a respite and a chance to refocus my energies. In this next chapter of life, hopefully, I can begin the practise of living in ritual health so as to be able to live healthily even in the stressful times.
I'm also becoming aware of the need to be faithful and finish work that is started. After finishing up this graduate work and taking a well-earned sabbatical (that is, with a hopeful restoration of healthy mental processes), I'm probably going to try to finish up the 'Reasons to Not Become Catholic' entry series, as well as the 'Masculine Principle' series, the 'Orthodox Economics' series, etc. This may or may not be done on Xanga, and it may or may not be a quick or efficient process. In any case, I'm not good at apologetics and really don't have a lot of interest in apologetic material, but with a few more considerations and a lot of editing, I've just about written an apologetic book with the 'Reasons to Not Become Catholic' entry series - and might as well finish it up. It would be good to bring things to completion.
C. and a Monastery
It's difficult to describe the mystical ways in which things sometimes mesh - the texture of a person's very existence meshing with a certain lifestyle, the simultaneous and subconscious offering and accepting of certain kinds of relationship, and so forth. I met up with friends last weekend at a vocational retreat at St. Bernard Abbey, having no idea what to expect. As it turns out, we lived with the monks as the monks do: we slept in our cells, woke up early to sing the Office, had meals with them, etc. I had the mystical experience of 'meshing' - noticing elements (previously unrecognised and/or unappreciated) that the lifestyle evoked in my person, and noticing in bold new ways how I could serve Christ and His Church in this capacity. Brother Jacob (one of the monks) pulled me aside from the group to talk to me, and he said that he was profoundly convinced (from his observing me that weekend) that I have a vocation to the monastic life. Very strange things.
This is not to say that I've made the decision to be a monk at St. Bernard, or even to be a monk at all. I presently have several debts upon which to make restitution, and it will be at least another year before I can join any monastery. Perhaps a saint or true disciple or whatever would 'let the dead bury their own dead', but I would rather be faithful to previous obligations before making new ones on such short notice. However, this whole event has intrigued me, to say the least; if I should prayerfully consider marriage or the priesthood as a vocation in the service of God (and I should), all the more I should prayerfully investigate a vocation that I have found initially appealing and within which I have been given a testimony of sorts.
-r
13 March 2009
Free-time, Watchmen Morality, and Catholic Converts
A:
In a conversation with a friend this past Sunday, it occurred to me how much I'm going to enjoy being post-Treveccan. There are so many essays/articles I want to cook up, so many aspects of history and theology upon which I want to reflect, and I'll have time this summer (and this fall!) to write and read and think about them. It's difficult to explain how odd my situation is, and I haven't even been aware of it as a 'situation' until this last Sunday. Most of my friends go home after work and read, or do laundry, or work on their house, or write essays/articles that they find interesting. This whole concept is unimaginable to me, since I've spent my entire adult life at the university and typically working a job to at least strive to pay the university bills. Laundry is something that somehow miraculously gets done between schoolwork and work. The notion of coming home from work at 3:30 and having nothing 'due' is incomprehensible. And the notion of working as an academic, working in a field that I enjoy studying and teaching, is an idea too good to be true (. . . you mean to say that *most* people don't work two full-time jobs??)
B:
Quick clarification: Watchmen is good as far as the story, faithfulness to the book, etc. That's all I was trying to say. I did not necessarily mean it is a 'good' movie, because it isn't. I wouldn't recommend anyone see Watchmen at the movie theatre, and I'm almost ready to say that there is very little good to be had in it altogether. Basically, read the book; the book has the real meat and element of beauty that adequately engages the frank inadequacies, human fumblings, and hard questions of [post-]modern characters in a [post-]modern world (it primarily engages this reality through its deconstructing the superhero mythos). The graphic novel is dark and, well, graphic, but the movie is just about the closest thing to a visceral orgy that you can have (literally and figuratively). Whereas in the book Rorschach chains up a criminal to a stove and then sets the building on fire - dark and horrifying, but nothing is shown of the criminal's death - the movie zooms in upon Rorschach planting a meat-cleaver in the criminal's head over and over. And there are two fairly graphic sex scenes, three (I think) in total. Connect this to a general 'condensation' of the powerful message of the book and the already intrinsically dark, violent, and disturbing themes of the material in question, and my advice would be: read the book.
C:
Again yesterday, upon discovering my 'denominational affiliation,' someone at work asked me (with surprising alarm) why so many students at Trevecca - especially (he noted) history students, and theology students, and music students at Trevecca - become Catholic. Well, there are probably a number of reasons and responses; as Chesterton notes, the Church is a city with a thousand gates, and no single person enters Her from exactly the same angle. Some of the reasons may be considered 'good reasons,' while others may be impugned by those who witness the decision. However, one of the most obvious and general answers - especially as it pertains to history, theology, and music students - has seemed quite self-explanatory to me: if a person who is serious about the testimony of the Christian faith s/he has been handed actually studies the history of Christianity, or studies the Holy Scriptures, or studies the development of music in the history of oft-scoffed-at 'Christendom,' it is not surprising if s/he may in fact see how spontaneously-generated and insubstantial protestantism and its derivatives are.
At least when conceivably 'ignorant', for example, the protestant can look at the state of affairs and conclude that the Church really is merely the 'Roman Catholic denomination' alongside many other denominations; after all, all these groups presently coexist. However, it is exceedingly difficult to justify standing outside the Church and simultaneously calling oneself a Christian once one actually realises (historically and scripturally) that one's own historical inheritance of the faith is an incomplete and alternate rendition of that-which-always-came-before; it is difficult (as a Nazarene pastor) to off-handedly snub theology that is scripturally, doctrinally, and logically solid . . . and that 'somehow' has a Life to it that manages to solve many of the needless theological dilemmas the Nazarene denomination seems unable to address within itself. And when you are finally given the faith to believe that the Sacraments - particularly the Eucharist - are the definition for the quite historically verifiable terms 'sacrament' and 'sacramental,' it becomes clear that the protestant pieces are at best 'CatholicLite' and at worst something unrelated to the Catholic Church altogether. At this point there is no thought of grafting 'Roman Catholicism' into protestant faith; the suggestion becomes laughable. It becomes clear then, at least in the very definition, that all roads (and measures and definitions we have been handed) lead toward Rome.
-r
In a conversation with a friend this past Sunday, it occurred to me how much I'm going to enjoy being post-Treveccan. There are so many essays/articles I want to cook up, so many aspects of history and theology upon which I want to reflect, and I'll have time this summer (and this fall!) to write and read and think about them. It's difficult to explain how odd my situation is, and I haven't even been aware of it as a 'situation' until this last Sunday. Most of my friends go home after work and read, or do laundry, or work on their house, or write essays/articles that they find interesting. This whole concept is unimaginable to me, since I've spent my entire adult life at the university and typically working a job to at least strive to pay the university bills. Laundry is something that somehow miraculously gets done between schoolwork and work. The notion of coming home from work at 3:30 and having nothing 'due' is incomprehensible. And the notion of working as an academic, working in a field that I enjoy studying and teaching, is an idea too good to be true (. . . you mean to say that *most* people don't work two full-time jobs??)
B:
Quick clarification: Watchmen is good as far as the story, faithfulness to the book, etc. That's all I was trying to say. I did not necessarily mean it is a 'good' movie, because it isn't. I wouldn't recommend anyone see Watchmen at the movie theatre, and I'm almost ready to say that there is very little good to be had in it altogether. Basically, read the book; the book has the real meat and element of beauty that adequately engages the frank inadequacies, human fumblings, and hard questions of [post-]modern characters in a [post-]modern world (it primarily engages this reality through its deconstructing the superhero mythos). The graphic novel is dark and, well, graphic, but the movie is just about the closest thing to a visceral orgy that you can have (literally and figuratively). Whereas in the book Rorschach chains up a criminal to a stove and then sets the building on fire - dark and horrifying, but nothing is shown of the criminal's death - the movie zooms in upon Rorschach planting a meat-cleaver in the criminal's head over and over. And there are two fairly graphic sex scenes, three (I think) in total. Connect this to a general 'condensation' of the powerful message of the book and the already intrinsically dark, violent, and disturbing themes of the material in question, and my advice would be: read the book.
C:
Again yesterday, upon discovering my 'denominational affiliation,' someone at work asked me (with surprising alarm) why so many students at Trevecca - especially (he noted) history students, and theology students, and music students at Trevecca - become Catholic. Well, there are probably a number of reasons and responses; as Chesterton notes, the Church is a city with a thousand gates, and no single person enters Her from exactly the same angle. Some of the reasons may be considered 'good reasons,' while others may be impugned by those who witness the decision. However, one of the most obvious and general answers - especially as it pertains to history, theology, and music students - has seemed quite self-explanatory to me: if a person who is serious about the testimony of the Christian faith s/he has been handed actually studies the history of Christianity, or studies the Holy Scriptures, or studies the development of music in the history of oft-scoffed-at 'Christendom,' it is not surprising if s/he may in fact see how spontaneously-generated and insubstantial protestantism and its derivatives are.
At least when conceivably 'ignorant', for example, the protestant can look at the state of affairs and conclude that the Church really is merely the 'Roman Catholic denomination' alongside many other denominations; after all, all these groups presently coexist. However, it is exceedingly difficult to justify standing outside the Church and simultaneously calling oneself a Christian once one actually realises (historically and scripturally) that one's own historical inheritance of the faith is an incomplete and alternate rendition of that-which-always-came-before; it is difficult (as a Nazarene pastor) to off-handedly snub theology that is scripturally, doctrinally, and logically solid . . . and that 'somehow' has a Life to it that manages to solve many of the needless theological dilemmas the Nazarene denomination seems unable to address within itself. And when you are finally given the faith to believe that the Sacraments - particularly the Eucharist - are the definition for the quite historically verifiable terms 'sacrament' and 'sacramental,' it becomes clear that the protestant pieces are at best 'CatholicLite' and at worst something unrelated to the Catholic Church altogether. At this point there is no thought of grafting 'Roman Catholicism' into protestant faith; the suggestion becomes laughable. It becomes clear then, at least in the very definition, that all roads (and measures and definitions we have been handed) lead toward Rome.
-r
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