I have had a couple of recent encounters that left me some what frustrated. In fact these encounters left me more than frustrated, they left me feeling uneducated and somewhat less significant. I doubt that was the intention of the people I met, but it is the impression I had, which I admit could totally be my own perception, in fact it is my own perception. However, I need to be able to reason through the thoughts that have been suggested.
Basically, the encounter started with me sending an article I wrote to some guy I know. The article was about how to talk to a non-Christian. It highlighted, what I called "The C.S Lewis approach". Basically, if you want to talk to non-Christians keep away from talking about differences and disputations that Christians have among themselves; IE between the different denominations.
The response I got I perceived as aggressive. It pointed out that C.S. Lewis is the setter forth of a strange doctrine; which is the use of "mere" in "Mere Christianity". There is no such thing as "mere" Christianity the objection states. There is either a full truth or no truth.
The response went on to say that Christianity is Orthodoxy. And that the Body of Christ is the one true Orthodox Church. That the Orthodox Church has some sort of an exclusive right to the Christian belief.
I would like to respond back on two fronts. First the accusation against C.S. Lewis, that he is the setter forth of a strange or "heretic" doctrine. And that his writing is "pop" culture.
Any man is given a measure of wisdom from God. They can sit on it or they can exercise it. C.S. Lewis has chosen to work with the gift that God has given him; a mind that is adept at understanding and arguing philosophical topics. He wrote many books. And from what I know of him, he didn't have much of an easy life. He went through 2 world wars. He fought in the first and supported the second. He was an atheist who turned to Christianity. He lost his wife to cancer and ended up dying from cancer at a relatively young age of 64. Who are his critics? People who have not gone through half of what he has gone through and don't have much of his ability. His critics are like people who see others drowning and don't do anything to help, and when they see other ships coming in to help the desperate, they start criticizing the ships, "Oh this ship is built wrong", "This ship is missing a sail", "This ship has the wrong color", "The sailors of this ship are not skilled enough". Well at least these other ships are doing something to help. According to your claim, you have the perfect ship, but you're not even bothering to sail it and find drowning people and help them. So it's better for you to remain quiet.
Moreover, they criticize him on what? On things he has not stated. He has adamantly stated that he is not a theologian. That he writes as a layman. That his attempt is to be a help to people who are going through a same path as his. And that he did. He accomplished it with great success. I can tell you that because I have been touched by his legacy. And not me alone. It is very apparent that he has influenced many and many have found their way back to Christ because of his writing. What ground do his critics have to stand on? To his master he stands or falls; and God is able to make him stand.
To his critics, I say, first make sure you take what he intended to give and don't read something that's not there. Don't pick a math book and expect to understand human anatomy. If you want a good reference to theology, then go read your beloved fathers of the church; who might I say are most of the time sorely misquoted by you. Don't use them as a way to beat people over the head. What's your intention? Is it to prove that you are on the right and everyone is on the wrong? I wonder, which God do you serve? What does God want from you? Does he want you to argue and bicker about many points? Or does he want you to be an instrument of his peace. You have not, at least to me, been an instrument of his peace. You have been a heartache to me. But I have myself to blame. I got into these discussion with you in the first place. That's a mistake I will not repeat.
Am I saying that we should abandon the Orthodox doctrine? I sure am not even slightly proposing this. But just because you believe in something doesn't give you the right to accuse everyone who doesn't believe the same as you of being useless and less than you. Is theology your doing? Is it a truth that you have invented? Is it not a truth about God? If you believe that you know something about God, then enter into dialogue with others. Explain your point of view in a loving and respectable manner. Don't give off the impression that "if you don't agree with me, then you are an ignorant fool." This is extremely unfortunate. Even though you might be closer to the truth than others, yet you alienate people from even listening to you.
The second front is the idea of exclusivity or the fullness of truth that you claim to be in the Orthodox Church. Come on! even the orthodox church itself is broken in on itself, you have the oriental and the eastern. One says the other is heretic and vice versa. Even in the Coptic church you have people bickering amongst themselves about who is heretic or not. The word "heretic" is being thrown about so easily now. Even from lesser men to the greater. What's the matter with you? Shame on you. Shame on me, for sure because I'm a sinner. But shame on you, because you say you see, yet you are blind. You say you have the answers, yet you sow doubt in the hearts of the simple. You say you know the truth, yet you use it as hammer to beat people silly with it. What exclusivity do you have? What fullness do you have?