Sarx

ATHER ANDREW, a friend and sometime reader of these pages, asks the right questions on his blog, Smoke and Incense: More Christians were martryed in the 20th and the first 9 years of the 21st Century than the entire rest of the history of Christendom. And yet Christians seem to be continually amazed and confused by the non-Christian behavior, attitudes, morals and ethics of non-Christians. Why are we surprised? He thinks it’s because we’re judgmental and self-righteous!

Christians from all sects and denomination have divorce rates at an equal or greater level than non-Christians. We have a higher abortion rate. Our leaders and laity are arrested for various felonies. Clergy preach one thing and are caught doing the opposite. And yet somehow we Christians expect non-Christians to behave better than us! Scandals erupt amongst hierarchs, priests are arrested for sexual abuse, laity are excommunicated for no canonical reason, and we use Communion as a weapon for political battles. And yet we are horrified when non-Christians break any of the 10 Commandments. We complain about the lax morals seen on TV and in the movies, yet we closely follow the stories of celebrities running around nightclubs pantiless.

And he goes right for the jugular, pinning it on the Orthodox (but he’s talking about all of us). See how they love each other?

Yet, I am treated more kindly by Evangelicals and Catholics than I am by other Orthodox. The first question an Orthodox Christian always asks another is, “What jurisdiction are you,” and based on the answer determine if they will fellowship with each other. If I walk into a room of Orthodox Christians, most of the time my priesthood is questioned and I am likely to be denied communion. If I walk into a room of Evangelicals, I am normally welcomed with open arms. If I walk into a room of Catholics I am treated with honor, seated with their clergy, and if it is a group of Byzantine Catholics, invited to receive communion!

As Ana used to often say to me: “Sometimes the pagans are better Christians than the Christians.” This cuts to the common Roman and Eastern lie that Christianity is primarily about Doctrine. It’s not. Orthodoxy is important… but not as important as Orthopraxis. I can easily see how many times heterodoxy leads to bad, wrong or even sinful praxis. But many times I’ve seen orthopraxy proceed with nary a doxy in sight and found the presence of Christ therein.

This cuts to the other lie, present among evangelicals and emergents, that Christianity is entirely about some headgame called “Grace”. There’s a change that has to happen in your life, things you have to do to claim God’s gift as your own. We have to love each other and love our neighbour as if he was God incarnate (because he is).

(PS: Orthopraxy has nothing to do with liturgics and everything to do with loving your enemies, blessing those who curse you, etc.)