I'm starting a new thread because I don't want to divert the discussion within another thread, and this is some distance off the original topic.
Another participant recently wrote:
Oh and dont even get me started on my christian soap box, martyr martyr martyr. I dont mean to offend any christians in here, but I grew up catholic and pretty much hating myself, born sinner, shameful to be human, and all that. I think it is against the christian law to be "selfish" or what they should really say, it is against the law to be POWERFUL because then we might not NEED the church.
While I'm not exactly offended, I do want to point out that there is another way of looking at Christianity in general, and Catholicism--with its doctrinal emphasis on "works" as well as "faith"--in particular. Many theologians and psychological theorists have argued that it is only through service to others that we can realize ourselves. I don't think by "service" these thinkers have meant an unhealthy subordination to another's will. On the contrary, I think they mean an entirely healthy subordination of the individual ego to an idea, or ideal, of love.
In
Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl wrote: "But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue....As we see, a human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy, last but not least, through actualizing the potential meaning inherent and dormant in a given situation." One could easily substitute "salvation" for "happiness" in the above passage and have a fairly convincing explanation of salvation-through-works.
My point is simply that while many people have absorbed guilt and repression from Christianity, I believe that religion contains some gentler, more healing truths as well. I was raised Catholic, long enough ago to have encountered some truly frightening nuns. Too much attention was paid to getting us to kneel on cue, not enough to explaining what we were kneeling
to. It was not until I got older and read some of the great Catholic thinkers for myself that I got an idea that a very human, useful love is at the core of Catholic theology. The Church is a human institution, despite its protestations to the contrary, and it bears some very human blemishes of arrogance, ignorance, and self-protection. But underneath these flaws--sometimes far underneath--there is a core of love. What is the Incarnation but the ultimate subordination of ego to love? And how can any Christian religion truly teach that it is "shameful" to be human when, by definition, its core belief has to be that humans have been redeemed by God Himself? And if one calls oneself a Christian, of any denomination, doesn't that also imply a responsibility to learn from the greatest example of love ever offered? It is Christ's human moment, the moment in Gethsemane, that renders the whole story so meaningful. In that moment, He knows both who He is and what He has been called to do. He admits that He has a choice, and He chooses to serve.
I fear that many people will misread me as an apologist for the Catholic church. This is not true. I struggle with the idea of whether I should continue to call myself a Catholic when I disapprove so completely of the church's handling of recent events. However, I remain at least nominally identified with the Church because of what lies beneath its harmful, even sinful, surface.
Finally, I do want to say something about the idea of individual power. In many ways, power is the enemy of faith, because it puts the ego at the center of consciousness. I would say that most creeds seek to put God at the center of consciousness. Some people find it enormously comforting to believe that there is something greater than, and beyond, the self. In other words, perhaps it is at least as true that over-reliance on individual power means that we don't "need" God as it is that we don't "need" the Church. Humility is not the same thing as dependence, in my opinion. The sin of pride is not about failing to subordinate oneself to others, but about thinking one is completely self-sufficient and self-created. One can believe in God as greater than the self without losing one's individual will.
I'm reminded of the Serenity Prayer, so often invoked by 12-step programs: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." What I particularly like about this prayer is that it does not in any way excuse the individual from responsibility or the need to act. But it recognizes at the same time that wisdom, and even grace, may come from a source outside the individual.
I started and deleted this post several times. I feel very strongly that service is not subordination, symbols are not lies, and love is not weakness. I've tried to say what I wanted to say without attacking anyone else's experience. I hope everyone else here will do the same.
Best,
daylily
