Dry Orthodoxy
The existence of dead, dry orthodoxy has been used as reason for the rise of many movements in the Church. To counteract the perceived staleness appeals to parachurch prayer gatherings, to the seeking of charismatic gifts, to the promotion of ancient and modern mystics, and more have been prescribed. Those things may sometimes have their merits but they have usually proved to be worse than placebos, leaving the Church in more dire straits than previously. Why is this? I came across a great quote from John MacArthur on why this is and I thought I would pass it along to you.
Lifeless, dry orthodoxy is the inevitable result of isolating objective truth from vibrant experience. But the answer to dead orthodoxy is not to build a theology on experience. Genuine experience must grow out of sound doctrine. We are not to base what we believe on what we have experienced. The reverse is true. Our experiences will grow out of what we believe.
(Quoted from Charismatic Chaos, p. 13 in Truth Endures, p. 53)
bry
2 comments:
Dry dead Orthodoxy.
The word orthodoxy has many valid meanings and connotations, but since you used a classic icon in the Byzantine tradition to represent your post, I assume the meaning you are attaching to orthodoxy has something to do with the Eastern Orthodox.
Dry and dead. Why don't you go catch the Divine Liturgy one of these weekends? After experiencing the wonders of it, I think you'd definitely conclude something other than dry and dead.
Sarah,
Good job recognizing the picture, but no, I was not trying to refer to Eastern Orthodoxy. I am addressing any form of orthodoxy that is lifeless. As a matter of fact, when writers are addressing dead orthodoxy today they are usually referring to fundamentalists, Calvinists, high church folk, etc.
I chose the picture because probably out of anyone reading this post, only you or your husband could possibly recognize such a picture! I couldn't come up with a better idea for a picture representing generic orthodoxy.
And as a side note, I have peeked in on some Eastern Orthodox liturgy in an effort to grasp Eastern thought vs. Western thought in terms of Christianity and have found some beautiful expressions of the faith therein.
bry
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