Christianity and Its Discomforts

Christianity for many people is the elephant in the china shop. Although they may no longer attend church, neither can they complete ignore the Christian faith, what it stands for, or its two-thousand-year history.

Perhaps they attended church as a child, and if they were raised Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, remember what is was like to participate in the Eucharist or Divine Liturgy. If they grew up Protestant, they may recall particular hymns or moving sermons. They may continue to believe God exists, so even if long ago they distanced themselves from organized Christianity, such people may remain haunted by hope.

Some may have trouble making sense of Christianity. Demonstrating that it makes as much sense, and perhaps more, than any alternative is, of course, the purpose for this website. Others, however, may find within themselves an entirely different obstacle, which has to do with what Christianity requires of us.

It is not enough merely to give mental assent to its claims. Many people who call themselves Christians believe its basic tenets. This, however, does not make them Christians. Central to orthodox Christianity—orthodox referring to what the principal traditions in the church regard as true—is the need for repentance.

Christians in the West know little about Eastern Orthodoxy—not to be confused with the meaning of orthodox in the previous sentence—so we will quote from published Eastern Orthodox sources. One states, “To repent means to be fully aware of our sins … and of their consequences . . . all that insults God and excludes us from His love . . . all that disturbs the soul's peace and tranquility.” Quoting an ancient source, another states, "To repent is not to look downwards at my own shortcomings, but upwards at God's love . . . not to look backwards with self-reproach but forward with trustfulness . . . to see not what I have failed to be, but what by the grace of Christ I might yet become.”

The outcome of repentance is a deep appreciation for God’s goodness as well as gratitude for God’s love, which in turn prompts love for God. Repentance brings with it a new attitude and different perceptions of, and behavioral choices in relation to, other people: “We love because God first loved us” (I John 4:19).

Many find this call to personal repentance starkly offensive. They sense a harshness in the word and may reduce it simply to feeling sorry. This, however, is not the same as remorse and conversion. As suggested above, remorse does not mean getting stuck. It means reckoning with one’s faults and frailties, and moving on. What Christians mean by conversion is a change in a person’s overall disposition, realignment of the mind and so basic assumptions about life, a more insightful understanding of human nature, and a steadfast determination to become ever more like who and what God revealed in Jesus as redeemer, as the Christ.