The Christian Path of Antithesis: Continuances, Mysteriums, and Paradoxes I (Lapointe).
In the time of Antiquity, when literacy rates were extremely low (5%–>below), and the General preoccupation of the average Individual was with making a Living
(Which unless in certain areas of Government or Religious Scribe/Practitioner),
The only possible reason for a Person to learn to read was to participate in
Exegesis of their heritage through Holy Texts (i.e. Torah, etc.). This in
Combination with little additional literature provided little impetus for anyone to
Engage in any intellectual pursuit outside of what their own specific means
Required. Literacy and access to Literature remained an exclusive privilege to a
Diminutive Community. Formal Scholastic Institutions were not established yet,
In the Modern Sense. Thus, to summarize, education, if pursued at all, was
Pursued almost exclusively through the central Religious text(s), but primarily
Through Oral-Recitation. Oral-Recitation was the Primary, and remains for some,
means of passing down the vestiges of a History.
In Contemporary Society, this Split continues, even with multitudinous access to
Historical, Theological and Literary Resources. The adamant refusal to acknowledge
Any material or knowledge outside of the Holy Written text (to be consumed through
Limited private reading, but primarily through Spoken Exhortations by a Speaker/
(Ordained) Minister) is a curious position that ultimately resulted in a collective
Mindset that is blindsided to the Passage of Time, of which the very Text and
Tradition is housed in and intrinsically connected to. This is specifically in reference
To the Laypeople. The Great Irony however is with the explosion of pedagogical tools for
Pastors and Laypeople alike, it is the Scholars who provide the vast majority of the
Materials, particularly when it comes with the voluminous translations of all Holy Texts
In Contemporary Society. Additionally, the divide between the Congregation and the
Clergy becomes an unhealthy Symbiotic Relationship forcing the Congregation to do
Two Primary things:
1.) Be apart of a Congregation/Church Institution
2.) Be prepared to “Give Up” Themselves/Pieces of Themselves/Materials (i.e. Time,
Money)
The Schism becomes this: Your relationship to God MUST exist and be established
In order to partake in anything that is Of Him or By Him to be bestowed onto you.
And in order to get to God, you must go through [said intercessor: Jesus, the Virgin
Mary, etc.]. But before even them, you must come to [insert location], to join
[insert Church] to be apart of [insert Congregation].
This is the Paradox. A Godly Relationship that ranks above and before all relationships of Faith, but comes {After} the Institution of the Church, interconnecting the two by
Dependency on the Holy Text of which an additional dependency is established
Onto the Minister.
An Inherent Fallacy. Minister as additional Earthly Intercessor.
Yet another failure on the part of a Tunnel-Visioned Constituency pedaling their way
Towards a Decadent Dissociation from the Faith being inadvertently used to
Destroy their own Community.
~~ Lapointe ©2015
Noir_Aeternus's //Modus et Flumina// 