Communal Dimension of Faith

[illuminaut]

 
Mark Galli, managing editor of the Evangelical magazine Christianity Today, said:

"It's a cliche now to call institutional religion 'oppressive, patriarchal, out of date and out of touch.' So what else is new? I feel sorry for those people who don't think there's anything greater than themselves. It must feel like a lonely and frightening

Comments

Re: In Whom Do You Put Your Trust?

[illuminaut]

If you note my emphasis, you will see the communal aspect as the crux of my agreement, not the institutionalized religion. You can absolutely have a community without institutional religion. Though it is more likely that an organized religion will be where you find such a community, there are spirituality centers and meet-ups all over this country that could fill the same role.

I would also agree that it is not the only way to "get the juice". 'All roads lead to Rome', afterall, or 'there are 70 paths to the Toarh' . You have a choice whether to walk the road alone or with peers/family or anything in between. But, if you do not experience the paths through the varying lenses, you are not getting a full, equilibrated experience. You are simply sticking with what is comfortable and easy.

I went from athesist to lone wolf to the communal, and I find the latter to be superior for providing the fullest sense of the touch of the divine on the world. That was my point. In the heart or eyes of another, I see god; in the joy of communing with my brethren, I feel god; in their advice to get back to my path, I hear god; and they in turn find these things in me. We are of benefit to each other in ways you will not find on the lonely path through the desert. There, theological history shows that you will find solitude, madness, and divine revelation, and that is good, too.

I can no longer JUST walk that path through the desert; to me, divinely inspired madness must be shared. Can you call an approach scientific if you do not explore many methods? Can you know the true nature of god without loving all his children and witnessing all his ways?

But, you are mistaken if you think that I believe anything is black and white: I both think that there is nothing greater than myself/my-Self and I am clergy in a small organized religion. They are not mutually exclusive.