Orthodox
[Orthodoxy
You don’t hear a lot of Christians use the word “orthodox,” just like you don’t hear a lot of Christians use the word “catholic.” Both of them are Christianese words. Problem is, when you use them, people think you’re talking about the denominations that call themselves Orthodox and Catholic. So rather than use the word “orthodox,” Christians will use the synonyms “correct” and “right” and “true.”
And while orthodox beliefs are correct and right and true, I use the word “orthodox” from time to time because it means more than that. It refers to the fact that all Christians, everywhere, agree these things are correct and right and true. Heretics will disagree, but that’s why they’re heretics—heretics are not correct and right and true.
There are certain Christian teachings that are true—well, I think they’re true, anyway—but not every Christian agrees they’re true. One rather obvious example is holy communion. Every Christian agrees that Jesus implemented it, and wants his followers to practice it as a way of remembering him. So communion is an orthodox practice. But not every Christian agrees as to how it should be practiced, or how often, or precisely what it means. We disagree about all sorts of things. And because of this, the only orthodox thing about communion is that Jesus implemented it, and wants his followers to practice it as a way of remembering him. Everything else might be correct, or partly correct, or overemphasizing one thing over another, or even wrong. An individual church might call their view “orthodox”—but since a large segment of legitimate Christians don’t agree, that’s incorrect; it’s not orthodox.
It’s useful to know what is orthodox and what isn’t. That’s because Jesus wants his church to be one. He hates it that we don’t get along with one another. He hates it when we forbid one another to worship with one another, and serve him together. The fact that we get along is meant to be proof that Jesus really is our Lord. The reality, that we don’t get along, is proof that he’s not. So we need to fix that problem.
And we start with common ground: We have the same Lord. We have the same faith. We’re all baptized in Jesus’s name, and each baptism counts—in God’s eyes, not necessarily ours.
And there are many beliefs every Christian shares in common. We agree on all the creeds the early Christians created before the church first split between Orthodox and Catholics. We agree about putting the scriptures first. We all pray. We all believe in prophets and miracles and that God interacts with humanity.
We don’t necessarily agree that Christians are free to disagree about everything else. Some Protestants do. (I’m one of them.) Certain control-freak Christians want to clamp down on every belief and make sure everyone thinks like they do, believing they know what Jesus thinks, instead of recognizing we are wrong and Jesus is right. Certain churches have an official position on everything—not because they want to provide guidance to those people who are looking for a biblical point of view, but because they think it’s their job, not the Holy Spirit’s, to straighten Christians out.
So we might agree in the orthodox areas, but not in others. And we might really disagree in those other areas. Really really disagree. We might reach a point where we feel we simply can’t continue talking: Either one side is gonna have to give in, or the other—and it’s not gonna be our side, ’cause we’re right.
Well, maybe that’s righteousness talking. But it’s certainly not humility, so that’s not a good sign. You can be righteous, and still be wrong. We need to focus, instead, on two things: We can agree on all the orthodox views. And ultimately, we all answer to Jesus, who gets the final say. Not us.