Comments on: “Enter through the narrow gate”: culture, tradition, and the Christian paradox of other-centered individualism http://hugoschwyzer.net/2008/05/27/enter-through-the-narrow-gate-culture-tradition-and-the-christian-paradox-of-other-centered-individualism/ Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:40:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Mermade http://hugoschwyzer.net/2008/05/27/enter-through-the-narrow-gate-culture-tradition-and-the-christian-paradox-of-other-centered-individualism/#comment-357194 Mermade Wed, 28 May 2008 17:10:35 +0000 http://hugoschwyzer.net/2008/05/27/enter-through-the-narrow-gate-culture-tradition-and-the-christian-paradox-of-other-centered-individualism/#comment-357194 Thank you, Hugo, for your insightful reply regarding my question. It was very helpful. The next challenge re: my spiritual journey (and seeking to enter through the narrow gate) is to slowly stop seeing the world from a "Focus on the Family" perspective, because I still do. I do not mean that in a political sense, because obviously, my views on social issues have changed substantially within the last two years. But deep down, on some level, I still crave solid answers. I still fear that I will be cast down into hell for doing certain previously forbidden things. It's easier (though it certainly not easy) to change your political views. It is even harder to change the way in which you view and treat others because it requires deep humility, which is the essence of what it means to enter through the narrow gate. I have a problem with my temper and pride. That is compounded by my yearning for black and white answers. I also still internally judge people all the time. So, in writing about my journey through blogging, I wish to stress to people that the ultra-right wing views of Focus on the Family, for example, are but a mere symptom of a larger problem. Ask any fundamentalist Christian why they think abortion is never morally justifiable, ever? Ask another Muslim extremist why a small sect of them believed blowing up another country's Trade Centers was morally justifiable? If the answers to life's greatest dilemmas/questions about what is and is not moral seems obvious to you and few others, then you should worry. I draw a paradox with my mother: As I mentioned in my latest comment re: parenting, the doctors could give my mother pills to see if they could correct her delusional thinking which was compounded by severe depression. Similarly, liberals can argue against the VIEWS of the religious right, but conservatives won't listen. Other liberals will praise you, the likelihood that Twisty Faster will change any conservative's mind is virtually nil since she, and other liberal bloggers, can only argue about the views of the religious right. They don't understand how they think. It takes a hell of a lot more work to change the way in which they view the world. My mother, for example, had to first realize by her own will that she was alienating her family members and damaging her kids because of her illness. In the same way, I have read Christian purity books which teach young women (and used to teach me) that Satan was literally in the car with Christian couple who wanted to make out, because he wanted them to "sin" and thus take the "wide path." So, I say to the liberals, be the change you wish to see in the world. Spend less time arguing with conservatives online and more time showing what it means to be a truly compassionate person as Jesus is. That is how change is made. And that, to me, is what entering through the narrow gate is all about. I wrote this long comment because this is my struggle re: entering through the narrow gate. I gotta leave the old Christian mindset behind and embrace a new one. And this time, I will not have the support of my family. And on a side note, Jesus asked questions, presented paradoxes, and even asked his own disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" It is ironic that many Christians believe that Jesus came to give us solid answers. He came not only to save humanity in spiritual sense, but also to provide an example for what it means to love God and thus love others. So that should be reason enough why I should stop seeking hard and fast answers for everything and begin walking through that lonesome valley, i.e. radically changing the way I view the world with much prayer and reflection. Thank you, Hugo, for your insightful reply regarding my question. It was very helpful.
The next challenge re: my spiritual journey (and seeking to enter through the narrow gate) is to slowly stop seeing the world from a “Focus on the Family” perspective, because I still do. I do not mean that in a political sense, because obviously, my views on social issues have changed substantially within the last two years. But deep down, on some level, I still crave solid answers. I still fear that I will be cast down into hell for doing certain previously forbidden things. It’s easier (though it certainly not easy) to change your political views. It is even harder to change the way in which you view and treat others because it requires deep humility, which is the essence of what it means to enter through the narrow gate. I have a problem with my temper and pride. That is compounded by my yearning for black and white answers. I also still internally judge people all the time.
So, in writing about my journey through blogging, I wish to stress to people that the ultra-right wing views of Focus on the Family, for example, are but a mere symptom of a larger problem. Ask any fundamentalist Christian why they think abortion is never morally justifiable, ever? Ask another Muslim extremist why a small sect of them believed blowing up another country’s Trade Centers was morally justifiable? If the answers to life’s greatest dilemmas/questions about what is and is not moral seems obvious to you and few others, then you should worry.
I draw a paradox with my mother: As I mentioned in my latest comment re: parenting, the doctors could give my mother pills to see if they could correct her delusional thinking which was compounded by severe depression. Similarly, liberals can argue against the VIEWS of the religious right, but conservatives won’t listen. Other liberals will praise you, the likelihood that Twisty Faster will change any conservative’s mind is virtually nil since she, and other liberal bloggers, can only argue about the views of the religious right. They don’t understand how they think. It takes a hell of a lot more work to change the way in which they view the world. My mother, for example, had to first realize by her own will that she was alienating her family members and damaging her kids because of her illness. In the same way, I have read Christian purity books which teach young women (and used to teach me) that Satan was literally in the car with Christian couple who wanted to make out, because he wanted them to “sin” and thus take the “wide path.”
So, I say to the liberals, be the change you wish to see in the world. Spend less time arguing with conservatives online and more time showing what it means to be a truly compassionate person as Jesus is. That is how change is made. And that, to me, is what entering through the narrow gate is all about. I wrote this long comment because this is my struggle re: entering through the narrow gate. I gotta leave the old Christian mindset behind and embrace a new one. And this time, I will not have the support of my family.
And on a side note, Jesus asked questions, presented paradoxes, and even asked his own disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” It is ironic that many Christians believe that Jesus came to give us solid answers. He came not only to save humanity in spiritual sense, but also to provide an example for what it means to love God and thus love others. So that should be reason enough why I should stop seeking hard and fast answers for everything and begin walking through that lonesome valley, i.e. radically changing the way I view the world with much prayer and reflection.

]]> By: Noumena http://hugoschwyzer.net/2008/05/27/enter-through-the-narrow-gate-culture-tradition-and-the-christian-paradox-of-other-centered-individualism/#comment-357109 Noumena Wed, 28 May 2008 13:24:26 +0000 http://hugoschwyzer.net/2008/05/27/enter-through-the-narrow-gate-culture-tradition-and-the-christian-paradox-of-other-centered-individualism/#comment-357109 I'm not a theist, much less a theologian, so I can't and won't comment on those aspects of this. But this post reminds me a lot (unsurprisingly*) of one of the longest-running debates in Western political philosophy, that between `individualists' and `communitarians'. As their names indicate, individualists emphasise individual action and the dangers of uncritically embracing a tradition, while communitarians talk about the importance of tradition to give meaning and structure to our lives and our essential dependence and interdependence with others. So in response, I can see a Catholic or communitarian pointing out that we can never really go it alone -- whatever `it' is. We need the emotional and often material support of our friends and family. We need relatively economically and politically stable environs to engage in such pursuits as theological reflection. We need our particular cultural and religious traditions to provide the conceptual tools with which we engage in this and other intellectual pursuits. Even when Thoreau left Concord he never left the intellectual tradition of Locke, Jefferson, and Paine. * Unsurprisingly because it often manifests as a debate between Protestants on the one side, Catholics on the other. I’m not a theist, much less a theologian, so I can’t and won’t comment on those aspects of this.

But this post reminds me a lot (unsurprisingly*) of one of the longest-running debates in Western political philosophy, that between `individualists’ and `communitarians’. As their names indicate, individualists emphasise individual action and the dangers of uncritically embracing a tradition, while communitarians talk about the importance of tradition to give meaning and structure to our lives and our essential dependence and interdependence with others.

So in response, I can see a Catholic or communitarian pointing out that we can never really go it alone — whatever `it’ is. We need the emotional and often material support of our friends and family. We need relatively economically and politically stable environs to engage in such pursuits as theological reflection. We need our particular cultural and religious traditions to provide the conceptual tools with which we engage in this and other intellectual pursuits. Even when Thoreau left Concord he never left the intellectual tradition of Locke, Jefferson, and Paine.

* Unsurprisingly because it often manifests as a debate between Protestants on the one side, Catholics on the other.

]]> By: Nav http://hugoschwyzer.net/2008/05/27/enter-through-the-narrow-gate-culture-tradition-and-the-christian-paradox-of-other-centered-individualism/#comment-356167 Nav Tue, 27 May 2008 16:15:45 +0000 http://hugoschwyzer.net/2008/05/27/enter-through-the-narrow-gate-culture-tradition-and-the-christian-paradox-of-other-centered-individualism/#comment-356167 One of my favorite song lyrics is from "All This Time" by Sting ... "Men go crazy in congregations, they only get better one by one." I happened upon it in high school and have kept it with me ever since. I think there is a place in a spiritual community for some people (not everyone, perhaps), but at the end of the road, there is only you. Thanks for a great post. One of my favorite song lyrics is from “All This Time” by Sting … “Men go crazy in congregations, they only get better one by one.”

I happened upon it in high school and have kept it with me ever since. I think there is a place in a spiritual community for some people (not everyone, perhaps), but at the end of the road, there is only you.

Thanks for a great post.

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