When the Homily is about Immunology

Belief and the Cross

I am asked in comments to a recent post, why do I believe that we possess portions of the True Cross.

Belief is a funny thing and I have been thinking about it alot lately. First off, I have all but abandoned the scientific method as a means of discerning ULTIMATE truth. The scientific method is founded solely upon our "physical" senses and this is not the whole of who we, as human beings, are. I am a scientist (of sorts) and so everyday I am employing the scientific method...but when I approach God, it cannot be so. I cannot devise a series of tests in order to verify His presence or even His existence. Like I've said before, I do not bring a sample of the consecrated bread into the lab here and seek out the presence of human-God DNA.

So let me answer the question with questions of my own:

Assuming my readers believe all of the following, let me simply ask in regards to each, why?

That St. John, the disciple actually wrote the Gospel attributed to him.

That Jesus rose from the dead.

That the Ark of the Covenant ever really existed.

That the Jews were slaves in Eygpt.

That Moses saw and spoke to a burning bush.

That the Israelites, when bitten by poisonous snakes were healed by looking upon a statue of a snake.

Etc etc etc…

Now, if in the last portion of one of the gospels it mentioned that one of the disciples stole away with the true cross and that it was held in the possession of the Jerusalem church, would you then believe? Why?

You know many of the questions one may ask about my belief in the "true cross" could also be asked in regards to the belief we have toward the reliability of the Scriptures. All of the "scientific" arguments made by Christians on this point seem pretty lacking to me.

It comes down to authority (which, by the way, is ever present even in the scientific community.) Think about it, do you ever go to a museum and see a pottery shard with a sign in front that reads "Mesopotamia 6th century BC" and say to yourself “Oh B.S. I don't believe that!”

Not really...but why? Because we yield to the authority of the museum and the archeology which we assume was done well. We do not ask for the carbon dating data, or the field notes of the archaeologists...we generally trust.

Frankly, I trust the Church. She tells me that this little splinter of wood is from the Cross of Christ, and I submit to that authority which also tells me that that which is in this cup is the Body and Blood of Christ, or that those things, which are written in the Gospels, are a reliable account. I think that without making the Church an article of Faith, the Faith itself stands on precarious ground. St. Paul tells us why in I Timothy 3:15 (You all know that verse by now if you’ve read my blog much).

Authority. The major issue of contention which seperates Christianity. More on this later I suspect.

Does it matter if it is the True Cross? In a sense, the True Cross is a sacrament unto itself...keep in mind, we Orthodox do not limit the sacraments to the Big 7 we are all familir with. Sacraments are everywhere. And so, I would say YES, it does matter. What we did last sunday was profoundly sacramental and incarnational in nature...it was for us a physical touchpoint with God. Matter matters because the Sacraments abound!