Beautifully deep article, sir. I love your writing style, too, because it's incredibly easy to read AND communicates profundity understandably at the same time.
I think the idea that the purpose of life is to become holier everyday is somewhat lost in Protestantism; at least this has been my experience. As a Protestant, life was like this: "I've accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I should do my best from now on. Hopefully I become a better person overtime, but I'm not going to sweat it because I'm already saved."
The Catholic and Orthodox perspective seems to be articulated by St. Paul when he writes to the Philippians: "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."
In spite of what this looks like to Protestants, St. Paul and the Catholics and Eastern Orthodox are not denying that we are saved 100% by grace. Without this gift of God at the beginning of our journeys of redemption and throughout our lives, we would be utterly lost. So sola gratia (as one of the five solas of the Protestant Reformation) is something ALL Christians can affirm.
What's lacking in some strains of Protestantism is the acknowledgement that we need to COOPERATE with God's grace in order for His grace to have any effect in our lives. Which is exactly what the Apostle is getting at when he says "work out your own salvation."
All of our longings throughout life and all our experiences of truth, beauty, and goodness point to the destination for which we were ultimately made: eternal union with the Divine, who is the source of all Truth, Beauty, and Goodness.
And union with God is found by taking up one's cross and following Christ. So the pursuit of holiness is truly the answer to all that we long for and all that we were made to be.
Praying for you today, brother. Please pray for me!
Thank you for the thoughtful reply, Josh. And I’m glad you resonate with the writing style. I’m not good at many things, but God has given me the gift of making the complex accessible, so I’m trying to honor him :-)
We’re in agreement. This sentence especially stood out: “So the pursuit of holiness is truly the answer to all that we long for and all that we were made to be.”
Yes, nailed it. Lots of wisdom packed into that sentence (see, you can do it too :-) ).
To me, the Protestant view misses the fractal logic of reality. It extracted the Bible and cast aside everything else. But once you see the patterns, and the way God made reality, you can’t possibly reduce it to the Bible alone. Nor would you want to. Full participation means FULL participation, and God gave us so many ways to join the divine dance, in addition to scripture.
Keep up the great work on your end. I’ll try to do the same.
I get the sense you are correct, sir. It DOES seem like Protestantism misses the fractal logic of reality, even in the Bible!
One of my favorite things as a Presbyterian was Biblical typology, because it shows how the Old and New Testament are interconnected. Some Protestants are under the tacit impression that the Bible was written by a schizophrenic God who decided to be really mean in the first Testament and then really nice in the sequel.
That's not the way it is at all, but if you lose sight of Biblical typology, it make sense you would eventually slip into thinking that.
Unfortunately, it doesn't make sense for Protestantism to really go full gung-ho on typology, because this appears to prove the Catholic faith. They're happy to affirm explicit Christological typology, but are unable to see the connections between the Steward Eliakim in Isaiah 22 and St. Peter, Mary and Eve, Mary and the gebirah of the Old Testament, etc.
Sorry, I realize this subject is tangential in regard to this article. Protestantism vs. Catholicism is just something I've been thinking a lot about lately because I'm a Protestant and will probably become Catholic within the next six months or so.
Typology is super interesting and a great way to study the Bible, especially to see, like you said, how the OT and NT connect.
The blind spot I see in the Protestant view is that it limits these patterns to the Bible. The Bible didn't create these patterns; the patterns created the Bible.
When I dug into Christianity, especially the Eastern Orthodox perspective, and symbolism, I saw that Christianity was making a far larger claim about reality. The fractal patterns extend beyond the Bible into nature, film, myth, and our everyday lives.
Once you see it, you can't unsee it. And that's why I started Fractal Faith, to attempt to translate what I now see.
Congrats on your journey into Catholicism, Josh. I think you'll unlock many more ways to grow closer to God. Praying for you.
Thank you, sir! I really appreciate the prayers. I can use them. I'm enjoying the newsletter and look forward to reading more about the recurrence of fractal patterns throughout reality. That's the kind of thing I'm all about!
Beautifully deep article, sir. I love your writing style, too, because it's incredibly easy to read AND communicates profundity understandably at the same time.
I think the idea that the purpose of life is to become holier everyday is somewhat lost in Protestantism; at least this has been my experience. As a Protestant, life was like this: "I've accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I should do my best from now on. Hopefully I become a better person overtime, but I'm not going to sweat it because I'm already saved."
The Catholic and Orthodox perspective seems to be articulated by St. Paul when he writes to the Philippians: "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."
In spite of what this looks like to Protestants, St. Paul and the Catholics and Eastern Orthodox are not denying that we are saved 100% by grace. Without this gift of God at the beginning of our journeys of redemption and throughout our lives, we would be utterly lost. So sola gratia (as one of the five solas of the Protestant Reformation) is something ALL Christians can affirm.
What's lacking in some strains of Protestantism is the acknowledgement that we need to COOPERATE with God's grace in order for His grace to have any effect in our lives. Which is exactly what the Apostle is getting at when he says "work out your own salvation."
All of our longings throughout life and all our experiences of truth, beauty, and goodness point to the destination for which we were ultimately made: eternal union with the Divine, who is the source of all Truth, Beauty, and Goodness.
And union with God is found by taking up one's cross and following Christ. So the pursuit of holiness is truly the answer to all that we long for and all that we were made to be.
Praying for you today, brother. Please pray for me!
Thank you for the thoughtful reply, Josh. And I’m glad you resonate with the writing style. I’m not good at many things, but God has given me the gift of making the complex accessible, so I’m trying to honor him :-)
We’re in agreement. This sentence especially stood out: “So the pursuit of holiness is truly the answer to all that we long for and all that we were made to be.”
Yes, nailed it. Lots of wisdom packed into that sentence (see, you can do it too :-) ).
To me, the Protestant view misses the fractal logic of reality. It extracted the Bible and cast aside everything else. But once you see the patterns, and the way God made reality, you can’t possibly reduce it to the Bible alone. Nor would you want to. Full participation means FULL participation, and God gave us so many ways to join the divine dance, in addition to scripture.
Keep up the great work on your end. I’ll try to do the same.
I get the sense you are correct, sir. It DOES seem like Protestantism misses the fractal logic of reality, even in the Bible!
One of my favorite things as a Presbyterian was Biblical typology, because it shows how the Old and New Testament are interconnected. Some Protestants are under the tacit impression that the Bible was written by a schizophrenic God who decided to be really mean in the first Testament and then really nice in the sequel.
That's not the way it is at all, but if you lose sight of Biblical typology, it make sense you would eventually slip into thinking that.
Unfortunately, it doesn't make sense for Protestantism to really go full gung-ho on typology, because this appears to prove the Catholic faith. They're happy to affirm explicit Christological typology, but are unable to see the connections between the Steward Eliakim in Isaiah 22 and St. Peter, Mary and Eve, Mary and the gebirah of the Old Testament, etc.
Sorry, I realize this subject is tangential in regard to this article. Protestantism vs. Catholicism is just something I've been thinking a lot about lately because I'm a Protestant and will probably become Catholic within the next six months or so.
Godspeed, sir!
Typology is super interesting and a great way to study the Bible, especially to see, like you said, how the OT and NT connect.
The blind spot I see in the Protestant view is that it limits these patterns to the Bible. The Bible didn't create these patterns; the patterns created the Bible.
When I dug into Christianity, especially the Eastern Orthodox perspective, and symbolism, I saw that Christianity was making a far larger claim about reality. The fractal patterns extend beyond the Bible into nature, film, myth, and our everyday lives.
Once you see it, you can't unsee it. And that's why I started Fractal Faith, to attempt to translate what I now see.
Congrats on your journey into Catholicism, Josh. I think you'll unlock many more ways to grow closer to God. Praying for you.
Thank you, sir! I really appreciate the prayers. I can use them. I'm enjoying the newsletter and look forward to reading more about the recurrence of fractal patterns throughout reality. That's the kind of thing I'm all about!