When the Homily is about Immunology

All men are created equal

It's a lie. It's not true...at least not in the grander scheme of things.

Sure we are all politically equal (for do you think someone born - e.g. - without legs feels ontologically equal to someone fully equipped?)...well, at least at birth (but certainly not before birth). And the minute we start interacting with the world we begin the process of determining whether we retain political equality - not to mention ontological equality. Commit a crime and watch some of your political rights be taken away...and rightly so.

But our culture today seems bent on believing that "ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL AND FOREVER REMAIN SO." Furthermore this ultimately translates into a need for us to deny the existance of any hierarchy, moral or otherwise. And this is nonsense.

These blogging thoughts arise from a discussion I had with my Godson about the crazy things going on in New Orleans (Christ have mercy on them!) such as shooting one's sister over a bag of ice. The PC police are making it clear that we dare not judge people who are looting TV's or committing other crimes because we simply do not understand the extenuating circumstances of poverty and oppression and racism combined with an unfathomable disaster. The implication being that if I were in the same situation I might also loot a TV, and come to think of it I am pretty sure I could get a BITCHIN Plasma TV into my driftboat.

The assumption, as my beloved atheist often likes to make, is that we are utter slaves to our genetic predisposition. Christianize this and we come up with: we are all equally sinners. I cannot say this more clearly: This notion is a steaming pile of fecal matter! Yes we are all sinners...but...

To my Orthodox friends may I ask (and please forgive the potential irreverence here in advance): Would the Theotokos loot a TV? Would St. Seraphim of Sarov kill his sister for a bag of ice? Would St. John Chrysostom score a new set of golfclubs after breaking in to the flooded Big 5? Of course not, these Holy people are holy precisely because they have overcome the passions and are we not seeking to do the same? To my non-Orthodox friends I would simply ask: If we cannot ever hope to better ourselves OR if our better behavior is simply a product of our genes or our environment then why on earth do we bother TRYING to live the beatitudes and the commandments? Do we not struggle to love our neighbors? If the popular sentiment (ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL, which is read: ESSENTIALLY THE SAME) is correct then I contend we are wasting our time and we ought to give up trying to "run the race" (Heck ,what does St. Paul know anyway!)

And I'm not saying that we have a right to sit in judgment of looters, but by the same token let us not allow our recognition of our own moral failings become a shoulder shrugging excuse to refuse to call black black and white white.

The need for everyone to be equal is a big hinderance to many Protestants who examine Orthodoxy...precisely because protestantism borrowed much of its underlying thinking from the then blossoming philosophy of enlightenment. But, just because we WANT everyone to be pretty much equal doesn't mean that reality bears this out. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Jesus definately quantified sin for as you may recall he said that the Jews who handed him over committed the greater sin than Pilate.

Of course, GOD does the calculations, not us. In my own experience I have recognized that there are definately people who DO this thing we call Christianity MUCH better than I do and I am sure if we are honest we can all say this. We Orthodox endow such people with the title of "Saint"...part of the "All-Star" team if you will.

We are not equal...we are not the same...except in the context of God's love. But it is up to us to fully surrender to His love...and therein lies the struggle that we all engage in to different degrees...


...certainly to MY peril.