CCCVIII – Course Correction

I’ve written before about how sometimes I like think of God as a bright point on an infinite plane, and we all position ourselves around this point. It helps me visualize the etymology of the word “Convert” which is something like “To turn around”.

Figure 1

I was talking about this idea to Hambone and illustrated a new wrinkle to this idea. In Figure 1, person A and B are at about the same place in their faith life, and have oriented themselves towards God. Person A and Person B have very similar beliefs, but person B is only slightly wrong on a certain doctrinal matter.

Figure 2

This can be a very subtle error, and person A and person B can grow in their faith just fine, each trying to get closer to God. In Figure 2, you can see that they might actually both succeed in getting closer to God.

Despite this, person B still bears a false belief, perhaps borne honestly. Introspection, fraternal correction, or otherwise some force is required to encourage person B to correct course. Person A remains aligned towards God, and so gets closer to Him. Person B is close but is aligned just a little bit away–if they persevere in this error, they will find themselves in the position of Figure 3.

Figure 3

In Figure 3, we can see that Person A is as close as possible to God but person B has maintained course and is now facing away from God. Person A and Person B started at the same point, but Person B was only off by a little bit. Now person B needs to convert and turn back towards God, their small, minor error becoming magnified by time and habit into a major falsehood.

This is why Heresies through the ages have been so effective. They very much resemble truth, and seem sensible. When followed through to their conclusion, they can only lead people away from God. It takes a constant effort of correction and evaluation to make sure one is still as closely aligned with God as possible. The trial of faith is one that takes our whole lives, unless God gives us a choice to face the trial of a lifetime all at once.

This is a hard teaching, even for me. This post is not so much an admonishment as a reminder to myself that the work of faith is never complete–sin and error are constant dangers.

AMDG