Tradewinds Nov 2014 Final Web

Orthodox Christianity
Now, why do I relate this vignette to you? I tell it to you because it illustrates, in a concrete
way, something that’s crucial for us as Christians—and particularly as Orthodox Christians—to
understand. It’s important for us as Christians, living in this modern Western
culture, this bizarre and confused culture, to understand this thing.
It’s important because there’s a teaching, a doctrine of the contemporary worldview, that’s
very much at odds with our Christian understanding, with the understanding of the Church.
But for most people this contemporary doctrine is hidden. It’s unnoticed by most people,
and so they may fall prey to the lie upon which so much of the modern worldview, modern
culture, rests.
The lie is called “relativism;” and it says that any man’s understanding of reality, any man’s
“truth,” is as good as any other man’s.
Relativism was articulated by Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher who lived in the
nineteenth century, and whose thinking has been immensely influential.
Relativism says that there’s no final standard of truth: there’s no final reality. It says that
there’s no real truth. That there’s no transcendent beauty. That, ultimately, life is without
meaning. So we’re all free to interpret the world in any way that seems good to us.
Further, because life is meaningless, Nietzsche says—and he says this very plainly—while
morality and religion are okay for the little, inferior people, to keep them complacent; the
superior man, the man who really understands life, is not bound by such foolishness. Such
a man ought to spend his life in pursuit of the expansion of his personal power and the gratification
of his desires. Because that’s all that’s left to us in a world that’s meaningless and,
finally, absurd.
Fr. Seraphim Rose, a contemporary Orthodox monk, wrote a strident little book about this
whole topic, about Neitzsche and his teachings and their vast influence on this culture in
which we live, and the damage they have inflicted on people.
Nietzsche, incidentally, died by suicide.
Today, in this relativistic culture, in which all sorts of worldviews coexist; in a culture that
has become an emporium of world views—just pick the view that suits your fancy, or make
up your own—we are expected to tolerate (and even encourage) all sorts of things that (to
speak plainly) are outrageous and foul. Things that are forbidden by our Faith. Things that
our Faith tells us are abhorrent and damaging to our souls. Things that have been understood
in our Tradition from the beginning, for thousands of years, to darken our souls and
dull our spiritual vision. Part 3 Next Month
The
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Question of the Month
Email your thoughts to br549@modernmedianow.com and
we will publish the most interesting ones in our next issue!
Last Month’s Question:
Do you think people on flights from countries
that have ebola should be quarantined?
Do you think that ISIS is in the USA?
I do believe that there is ISIS here in America.
My mom’s ex-husband’s brother’s wife is
named Isis. She is probably not a terrorist,
but she does sell beads and other crafts at pike
place market, and she smokes pot. But that’s
not a crime anymore in Washington state.
Case, Houston
I think they are here. It is easy to sneak into
this country so who knows how many sleeper
cells are waiting to act. We need to wake up in
this country and start protecting what we have
beforeit is taken away.
Bob, Camden
8 Albemarle Tradewinds November 2014 albemarletradewinds.com