|
The Orthodox Pages
|
||||
Back
   |
|
|||
|
|
Good Morning Pater. My question is about free will and right and wrongs according to the teachings of the Church. If we for example don’t fully agree with the rationale behind something in our religion can we exercise our free will but still be a good Orthodox Christian? I know the two contradict each other but I thought God created us to have our own free will? Many thanks
Answer to Question 521 Can we exercise our free will but still be a good Orthodox Christian? What is a good Orthodox Christian? Christianity is not a religion, it is a way of life; it is living a life in Christ who is the only truth. By everything that we do we must imitate our Lord, and only by following his way of life and teachings can we truly be called a Christian. Christ is our guide for what is right and wrong. It is not just being a good person and doing good deeds. There are many who do these things that are not Christian.
But you ask “can we exercise our free will?” In everything we do we must exercise our free will otherwise we stop being human and become robots. The Orthodox Church has never imposed ruled that are forced upon people. Christ said “if” you want to be perfect, giving us the choice to follow his teaching or reject it. The Church has rules not because she wants you to be obedient to her, but in her wisdom and experience knows what is salutary and beneficial for the soul to proceed to holiness. Therefore the question is not whether I can do what I want, but rather do I trust the Church and believe she can lead me to salvation?
Many people consider the rules of rather the canons of the Church as infallible in the same way the doctrines of the Church are. This is a gross misunderstanding: the canons, even though they were produced by the same councils that gave us the doctrines, are only rules for guidance. They guide and prevent men from falling into error and heresy, and assist the penitent to re-find his way back to God. But we must not make the mistake in thinking that the canons are the Christian Faith, they are not punishments that condemn sinners to a lifetime outside of the Church, but are to be used to guide the people to lead a righteous life pleasing to God, thus helping them find their way to their salvation.
We can liken the road from earth to heaven as a very long motorway. On our journey, we might be tired or need to refuel our vehicle, so for a while we come off the motorway to find a suitable motel or fuelling station. Having come off the motorway we become sidetracked from various things and cannot find our way back to the motorway. We need assistance and this is where we need the canons, because the canons are like road signs that direct us in which way to follow, thus helping us return to the motorway.
Same member thank you Pater. So if I understand you correctly, if someone wants to exercise their free will in something although the guidance from the Church is something different than what the person wants to do, it is ok as long as we acknowledge it and get back on the right path?
Reply This sounds like a trick question, what is this thing that the person wants to do? If one is a good Orthodox Christian then he or she will freely submit to the will of the Church because he/she trusts the Church will always have their good intentions in mind
Same member there are a lot of examples. I will private message you. One of the most simple ones is not following the Church’s fasts... we try our best but are not exactly doing as we are supposed to. There are many more examples.
Reply The Church prescribes fasting, but she does not impose it on anyone. It is a tool which if properly adhered to will help us grow spiritually. Fasting is not at all an act of religiousness because we what to appear to others as religious. It is not a “little suffering” which is somehow pleasing to God. It is not a punishment, which is to be sorrowfully endured in payment for sins. On the contrary, fasting for a Christian should be a joyful experience, because fasting is a self-discipline, which we voluntarily impose upon ourselves in order to become better persons and better Christians. Fasting is essential for us to regain control over our bodies. We live in a society where the Biblical idea of fasting is completely ignored and forgotten. “Gluttony has become a way of life for a fallen man and, it affects every area of life, leaving us wide open to all types of temptation. We all eat too much, and fasting is the only way to end this unnatural obsession with food. Fasting puts food into its proper perspective. We must eat in order to live, but we shouldn’t simply live to eat.” The saints teach that for us to purify our hearts we must begin with the control of our bodily desires through fasting. As long as the flesh rules - purity of heart will not exist. Fasting for us Christians is our entrance and participation in that experience of Christ Himself by which He liberates us from the total dependence on food, matter, and the world. By no means is our liberation a full one. Living still in the fallen world, we still depend on food. But just as our death—through which we still must pass—has become by virtue of Christ’s Death a passage into life, the food we eat and the life it sustains can be life in God and for God. Part of our food has already become “food of immortality’—the Body and Blood of Christ Himself. But even the daily bread we receive from God can be in this life and in this world that which strengthens our communion with God, rather than that, which separates us from God.
|
|
||
