"From its very beginning, Christianity has been the proclamation of joy, of the only possible joy on earth...Without the proclamation of this joy Christianity is incomprehensible. It is only as joy that the Church was victorious in the world and it lost the world when it lost the joy, when it lost its witness of it. Of all accusations against Christians, the most terrible one was uttered by Nietzsche when he said that Christians had no joy...'For behold, I bring you tidings of great joy' - thus begins the Gospel, and its end is: 'And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy...' (Luke 2:10; 24:52). And we must recover the meaning of this great joy."
- Father Alexander Schmemann, as quoted in The Orthodox Way (Kallistos Ware)
I concur. Christianity is about freedom and liberty, not bondage and legalism. I'm not preaching license, Romans 6:1 explains that fallacy, but Romans 8:1-2. Free from the law of sin and death. And THAT is something no other religion I've studied can do. The only reason I can imagine you aren't happy about that, is you didn't know about it. Good stuff this morning, TB.
ReplyDeleteRomans 6:1-4 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Romans 8:1-2 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death
STxAR, the above statement - which was likely written before 1983, when Fr. Schmemann passed away - is as relevant today as ever. I think too often we as Christians can focus too much on sin and the negativity and not on the fact of joy that God promises in Christ.
DeleteJoy? I’m receiving Joy of the gospel type just having your posts this past week which gave me something to comment about. Happy Father’s Day TB.!!!
ReplyDeleteKeep being the type of pistol that you are so your son(s) continue to be the sons-of-a-gun they should want to be.
Glad that they provoked thought (and joy!) FnB. It has been a really good exercise for me as well.
DeleteLast anonymous was FnB :- )
ReplyDeleteHappy Father's Day, TB. You all be safe and God bless.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Linda!
DeleteIndeed. The closer we are to Christ, the more joy. Simple as.
ReplyDeleteIt is true John - yet oddly enough, something that is actually seldom preached on. Or practiced.
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