Smorgasbord Religion

I remember quite distinctly the first time that I  saw the word "smorgasbord".  I was on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland on a summer vacation.  Walking along on a hot, humid summer evening I glanced up at a long white sign with large red letters shadowed in black shiny paint.  I asked my mother what it meant, and she explained that it was a style of restaurant in which many different types of food are served together.  One might find hot or cold dishes, cheeses, salads, etc. all together.  Being from a small town in Virginia, this was indeed a foreign concept in the mid-1960's.

It was not until much later that I figured out that this very Swedish style of serving food is a very American style of serving up church.  When one has ultimate choice, and no ultimate guidance this is what happens.  We are free to choose what church we want to go to, and we are also free to choose what we will believe as we worship within that church as long as we don't press too severely against the outside theological barriers of that church.  Or, if we do, we just move on to another church.  In other words, left to ourselves, we are free to design a theological belief system that  suits our own temperament, expectation, and experience.

As an eighteen year old, the old institution that had nurtured me was not meeting my self-perceived needs.  I sought out those people who I believed were leading a more pious  (and certainly more interesting) life.  What these people believed was what I would believe.  What these people read I would read.  The litmus tests for true faith that they accepted I would accept.  

I was cautioned by fellow like-minded students against pursuing a degree in Religious Studies at the University because I would be "corrupted" by heretical views.  Curiously enough, some of the language study and historical background of the ancient near east and judaism has served me most well during the rest of my life.  Wen it came time to go to seminary I could not attend one of the Baptist seminaries because they had rejected the infallible, inerrant Bible, not to mention the fact that they didn't have the proper premillenial, pretribulational view of the end of the world.  In fact, I had seen one professor at Southern Seminary in Louisville hold up a dispensational chart and mock it openly before his class.

So, off to Dallas Theological Seminary I went.  Despite being in the epicenter of what I thought was proper theology, I remember being quite offended by Dr. Robert Lightner's comment that home Bible studies were  just places where people ignorant of the scripture spread their ignorance around.  It was his opinion that only a seminary educated minister (dispensationally minded, of course) could guide people away from their ignorance.  Ironically enough, to some degree I have come to appreciate Dr. Lightner's thoughts.

I am picking on what happened  in two seminaries where I experienced these things first  hand.  But,  these types of experiences can be found the world over.  The same thing  happens exponentially as individuals work at picking and choosing what they will believe (to suit themselves) from among those seminary educated  (or not) protestants who have adopted one school of thought or another.

Then, depending upon which group, or which book, or which internet site suits you fancy, you can develop your own theological/spiritual position from the smorgasbord that you have drawn from.  You can even make your own smorgasbord and invite others to partake of it.  From there it is only a matter of picking which church suits you.  Or, you can start your own church.  This is why we have,  at last count, something like 23,000 denominations to choose from.

When people hear that I am Orthodox they immediately want to ask me about one of their hot button, litmus test topics--maybe it's Mary, or icons, or works versus faith.  Then they weigh what I have been taught in church against what they believe to be true.   Forget the fact that, in many cases, there is no basis in Biblical fact or church tradition for what they  believe.  Yet, they walk away justified in believing that they are right and I am wrong.

In reality, it is not winning an argument, nor is it about whether I am right and they are wrong.  It is more a matter of what is true, based on what the church has always believed and taught, and whether or not one will accept these things.  The eternal state of our souls is at stake.

I would propose that there is a better way.  It really doesn't matter what I think is right or wrong.  It's doesn't matter how persuasive I can be in convincing another person to believe one way or another.  The history of the Orthodox Church documents how God has worked in the last twenty centuries within  His Church.  Godly men, illumined by the Holy Spirit spoke, wrote,  and lived what was revealed to them. Other less holy men espoused other teachings.  When there was a dispute councils were held.  The first great council is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.  Many others followed, including some great ecumenical councils.  All sides were given a chance to speak.  Prayerful consideration was given.  Godly pronouncements were expressed.  The church continued on.  

The beauty of this system is that no one person, nor one group can ultimately impose its will on the entire church.  Even if for a time something false is endured, in the end it is found out and exposed.  This process has allowed the Orthodox Church to maintain consistent theology despite the passing of two millennium, spatially separated congregations, diverse cultures and languages, and political contexts.  It is a quite remarkable story.

So, leave the smorgasbord to the restaurants.  Come for spiritual nourishment to the great feast of Orthodoxy.