Wednesday, June 08, 2005

One day left! One day left!

Tomorrow is The Last Day. Not of the world, of the school year! I should really start packing and cleaning. Yah. That would be helpful.

I have been "thinking" a lot lately ... ooo, you know what that means! Disaster! LOL. No, I am not changing my major to philosophy, but I have been turning over in my mind the mantra one hears over and over again, especially in a university setting: "What is true for you is not true for me, it's all relative." Which I reject, of course.

What are the qualities of truth? It would be rather futile, not to mention exhausting, to try to list them all. However, I would like to expand on two characteristics of truth, which are in and of themselves interesting because they are seemingly contradictory:

First, truth is unitive. Anyone who has ever been involved in a great cause could tell you this. Those who fought for civil rights in the middle of the twentieth century, for instance, can relate the intense feeling of communion and close filial ties with others who were involved in the struggle. They experienced a union with their fellow men. They knew the justice of their cause; they knew that it was true and right. This effect can not be achieved in the lives of those who know they are working for a lie. In the Soviet Union, for example, there was very little true unity, especially in the higher Party ranks, Stalinist propaganda aside. Those in the Party knew full well that the "workers' revolution" was quite a farce, as the peasants starved and the elites lived comfortably. Stalin maintained obedience to his lie, not through the unitive enthusiasm of his underlings, but through the threat of violence and reprisal. This was his only weapon. It has been observed that many will die for a cause they believe to be true; few, if any, will freely give their lives for a cause they know to be a lie. Truth binds and unites men, both to each other and to truth itself.

Another chief characteristic of truth is that it is divisive. Hold on! Didn't I just get through talking about how truth unites? Yes, but it also divides, by its very definition. To say something is "true" is to automatically divide that which directly contradicts it into a separate category, that which is "false."

For a very simple example: If it is a true statement that my socks are white, then it is necessarily false that they are black. Or green, or yellow, or whatever. This is something that the moral relativists - "what is true for you is not true for me" - do not understand. A relativist might reply, "But what if your socks are checkered? Then both "The socks are black" or "The socks are white" would be true statements."

I would answer: No, this is not the case. In that situation, it would not be proper to say that the socks are either black OR white, but simply that "the socks are checkered." An inability to call things by their proper names, even when the proper name is obvious, is another unfortunate quality of postmodern society ...

The divisiveness of truth also has interesting religious implications (HA, you knew I would get around to this!) One sees in many people a denial of religion but an emphasis on spirituality. Often you will hear people say that their "spirituality" involves finding out "truths," but that there is no one "truth"; all beliefs are equal in terms of veracity. These "spiritual" people, suffice it to say, are not actually seeking the "truth," since they do not countenance the divisive element, which divides into true and false. Rather, it would be more appropriate to say that they are searching for "guideposts for being a good person" or "knowledge" or "transcendence" or a "profound spiritual peace." It would be ridiculous and arrogant for me to say, "Oh, you wicked, wicked people, trying to find transcendent experience and rules for being a good person!" Still, one should not confuse this with a search for truth.

I will finish by noting a concrete application of this dual nature of truth. Many Christians feel hurt by the Catholic Church's restriction of Holy Communion only to those who are both in full communion with the Church and free of mortal sin. After all, if one is baptized into Christ, shouldn't one share communion with all other Christians?

Unfortunately, Christianity has become quite fractured since the first rupture, about a thousand years ago, when unity between the western part of the Church and the eastern part was lost. The west, which retained allegiance to the successor to Peter, is the Catholic Church we know today; the east is the Orthodox Church of today. Of course, the Orthodox churches - Greek, Russian, etc. - are fully little "c" catholic (that is, "universal") churches; they have valid holy orders, they believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, they have all seven sacraments.

A more serious division came during the Reformation, out of which the Protestant "ecclesial communities" - Lutherans, Methodists, Anglicans, Baptists, Presbyterians etc - were birthed. Of course, one refers to them as churches in casual conversation; but one can not call them churches, technically, because of the sacramental deficiencies. Members of these communities can not be admitted to Holy Communion because there is no "unity in the truth," even with regard to what they would be receiving; I believe some very, very High Church Lutherans and Anglicans believe in the transubstantial Presence of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Lord in what once was bread; most Lutherans, evangelical Anglicans, and other Protestants do not. Can you help me out here, Shannon, as far as the Anglicans go? I hear different things different places.

It is certainly not a personal thing, or a way of saying that the Holy Father doesn't love you, or that the Catholic Church considers you a bad person. There is a lot of ecumenical exchange, especially with evangelical "bible-based" Christians, who are great partners in the pro-life cause; and I can imagine why they would feel terrible that they can't receive the Sacrament along with their fellow Christians who are Catholic at the huge events like the Mass for Life, which is during the March for Life in Washington. But to ignore the important, fundamental differences between us would undermine the meaning of communion itself; it would create a false unity. True communion can come only among those in true unity, to those who "have no divisions among them" (see Corinthians 1:10). And true unity can only come through the truth, proclaimed and accepted by all who receive.

I love tying everything together at the end :)

6 comments:

  1. Bravo! Bravo!....

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  2. Yeah, we're right wing Anglicans, but we're suffering from "sacramental deficiencies" anyways! (Wow, I feel inadequate now...)

    Um, I in no way know enough about Anglicanism as you know about being Catholic (I mean, only been in the club for less then a year) but I'm sure if you really want to know I can ask around on Sunday if we have time.

    ...Or you can come some Sunday you don't feel like driving into Cleveland and you can ask...

    :hint hint nudge nudge:

    Actually, from what I could make out from the back of St. Mary's at your Confirmation, communion didn't look/sound all that different. And we're definately with the REALLY OLD grape juice vs. regualar grape juice... Hmmm...

    Well, at least you haven't become an art history major! ;)

    (Thought you might find the following funny...

    "There has never been an administration, I don't believe in our history, more intent upon consolidating and abusing power to further their own agenda."

    -- Hillary Clinton, in a pot-calling-the-kettle-black moment, bashing Pres. Bush at a Democratic fundraiser.)

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  3. Yars! I want to go to your pretty church again! And Betsy hasn't seen it yet, you know. She is a Deprived Child! Let us weep for her, and the rectify the situation. :)

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  4. PS You are not inadequate! You are highly skilled, talented, and gifted! :)

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  5. Yay! I feel so much better now! ;)

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  6. Yes, you must come to my church! (And hopefully before well-acomplished good looking piano guy leaves for mission trips in South America/seminary!)

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