Morality

Morality Can Be A Heresy

"When you moralize a social issue, then you have no hope in solving it. For example prostitution. When it is moralized, the women are all 'sinners'; we have to look down on them. But if we look at it from Christ's point of view, probably we would have to say that our first moral obligation is the safety of those women. And then we have a moral obligation to offer them a viable alternative, and to provide the possibilities of that alternative for them, rather than just writing them off as a bunch of sinful, evil people. When we moralize them, we can't really communicate with them anymore because we are really putting our foot on their head and shoving them down deeper down into the darkness. [Many people think that's what Christianity is about; a moral force] to control and manipulate people to follow [a] particular brand of morality. This is something that Jesus Christ never did, and which was never a part of his teaching. [Which is] to reach to people and offer them with a co-suffering love; to penetrate their hearts with a co-suffering love. To recognize yourself in their struggle. To recognize yourself in their passions. To recognize yourself in their inner human suffering. To try to lift them up and lead them to a transformation of their inner person." -- Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, Interview on The Standard, CHNU-DT TV, British Columbia, Canada, 2010 (YouTube Video).

Christianity is Not Morality

We are losing our faith in exchange for a fantasy. Our kids are being taught to live as prisoners rather than as free citizens. The hope of the Gospel is being reduced to the triad of hopes expressed in the United States Declaration of Independence – to gain life, liberty and happiness.

The Christian faith teaches that without Jesus, we have no hope. The sad story being taught in many churches today is similar to what any and almost all religions teach: be good, work hard and be nice, and maybe God will give you a prize. That is a fantasy built on half-truths that gives no hope. Christianity teaches that God does give a glorious prize of eternal life in Him, but that it comes by grace through faith in Jesus alone and not by works." -- Rev Dr. Jason Pettus, bgdailynews.com, Gospel of Christianity Differs From The Morality Of Religion, June 15, 2012

Christianity Cannot Be Taught Without Christ

"I looked back at the previous ten years and realized I had spent ten years trying to convince kids to behave 'Christianly' without actually teaching them Christianity. And that was a pretty serious conviction. You can say, 'Hey kids, be more forgiving because the Bible says so,' or, 'Hey kids, be more kind because the Bible says so!' But that isn't Christianity, it's morality. And that was such a huge shift for me from the American Christian ideal. We are drinking a cocktail that's a mix of the Protestant work ethic, the American dream, and the gospel. And we've intertwined them so completely that we can't tell them apart anymore." -- Phil Vischer, original creator of Veggie Tales, "It's Not About the Dream," WORLD magazine, Sept. 24, 2011, pp. 57-58

Letter of the Law

"I once asked someone: "What type of warrior do you consider yourself to be? Christ's warrior or temptation's warrior? Are you aware that the evil of temptation also has its own warriors?"

"A Christian must not be fanatic; he must have love for and be sensitive towards all people. Those who inconsiderately toss out comments, even if they are true, can cause harm.

"I once met a theologian who was extremely pious, but who had the habit of speaking to the (secular) people around him in a very blunt manner; his method penetrated so deeply that it shook them very severely. He told me once: "During a gathering, I said such and such a thing to a lady." But the way that he said it, crushed her. "Look", I said to him, "you may be tossing golden crowns studded with diamonds to other people, but the way that you throw them can smash heads, not only the sensitive ones, but the sound ones also."

"Let's not stone our fellow-man in a so-called "Christian manner." The person who - in the presence of others - checks someone for having sinned (or speaks in an impassioned manner about a certain person), is not moved by the Spirit of God; he is moved by another spirit.

"The way of the Church is LOVE; it differs from the way of the legalists. The Church sees everything with tolerance and seeks to help each person, whatever he may have done, however sinful he may be.

"I have observed a peculiar kind of logic in certain pious people. Their piety is a good thing, and their predisposition for good is also a good thing; however, a certain spiritual discernment and amplitude is required so that their piety is not accompanied by narrow-mindedness or strong-headedness. Someone who is truly in a spiritual state must possess and exemplify spiritual discernment; otherwise he will forever remain attached to the "letter of the Law", and the letter of the Law can be quite deadly.

"A truly humble person never behaves like a teacher; he will listen, and, whenever his opinion is requested, he responds humbly. In other words, he replies like a student. He who believes that he is capable of correcting others is filled with egotism.

"A person that begins to do something with a good intention and eventually reaches an extreme point, lacks true discernment. His actions exemplify a latent type of egotism that is hidden beneath this behavior; he is unaware of it, because he does not know himself that well, which is why he goes to extremes.

"Quite often, people begin with good intentions, but look where they may find themselves! This was the case with the "icon-worshippers" and the "iconoclasts" of the past: both cases were extremes! The former had reached the point of scraping off icons of Christ and placing the scrapings into the Holy Chalice in order to "improve" Holy Communion; the latter, on the other hand, burnt and totally discarded all icons. That is why the Church was obliged to place the icons in higher places, out of reach, and, when the dispute was over, lowered them so that we can venerate them and thus confer the appropriate honor to the persons portrayed therein." -- Elder Paisios the Athonite, The Letter of the Law