A Ramble about The Hunger Games

I recently re-read the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Even though it is written for teenagers, I am still of the opinion that it's not really fit reading for kids. The scenes of brutality, brutal murder, and the realistic descriptions of severe trauma and post-traumatic stress syndrome, I believe, are really more than kids should have to handle. But that is just my opinion. Aside from this, it is a thought provoking series of books that I would recommend to adults who can handle such graphic scenes.

The Hunger Games trilogy takes place in a dystopian future where all that is left of civilization in North America is a country called Panem (the inhabitants not knowing anything about the rest of the world or that there are or were other land masses), which is separated into thirteen “districts” plus a central capitol district. In order to punish those districts for a failed rebellion against Capitol rule, once a year two “tributes” are selected by lottery from each district in order to compete in a brutal, survivor like reality show called “The Hunger Games.” Each tribute is expected to assassinate the others until there is only one left standing, who is crowned the winner. The truly horrific part of it is that all the tributes are children between the ages of twelve and eighteen.

The story of the trilogy centers around a girl named Katniss Everdeen from district twelve who volunteers to be a tribute in order to spare her sister's life. Already a capable hunter who poaches game to feed her family, she is then dragged into the surreal world of the capitol for a week or two before she is made to fight for her life, and also the life of her fellow tribute from twelve, Peeta. Throughout the books, she has to constantly deal with, not only the arena combat and the horrors within from other tributes and the game masters who throw new and fiendish ways of torture and death at them, but also the nightmares and PTSD which results. In all, throughout the books, she face the arenas three times, twice as a tribute, and once while fighting her way through the streets of the Capitol in another rebellion against the government. She is brutalized, and becomes brutal herself. At times, towards the end she buries herself in morphine addiction. Often she just tries to run and hide, and she can never seem to feel safe, even at the very end when it is all over and she has begun to rebuild her life with Peeta.

In the books, there were many other “tributes” who had “won” the Hunger Games from years previous, and also suffered through both the emotional scars of the arena, and the ongoing torment from Panem's dictator who coerced them to do what he wanted through threats to their loved ones. One prominent character, Katniss's mentor, tried escaping the torment through moonshine after the Capitol murdered his family. Another, a tribute from a seaside district, was forced to prostitute himself for the dictator who held the life of his only love over his head. The only former tribute who seemed even remotely free was one who had no one left and had detached herself from everything and everyone.

After I finished reading them, I picked up my copy of volume one of The Philokalia (Faber and Faber, 1979) and began to read from St. Isaiah the Solitary, who was a monk at Sketis in Egypt in the late fourth century. Among other authors, he also describes the spiritual life of the practicing Christian as a constant battle against demons, and gives practical advice on dealing with it. He writes:

“If you find yourself hating your fellow men and resist this hatred, and you see that it grows weak and withdraws, do not rejoice in your heart; for this withdrawal is a trick of the evil spirits. They are preparing a second attack worse than the first; they have left their troops behind the city and ordered them to remain there. If you go out to attack them, they will flee before you in weakness. But if your heart is then elated because you have driven them away, and you leave the city, some of them will attack you from the rear while the rest will stand their ground in front of you; and your wretched soul will be caught between them with no means of escape. The city is prayer. Resistance is rebuttal through Christ Jesus. The foundation is incensive power.” (p. 22)

He also writes:

“I entreat you not to leave your heart unguarded, so long as you are in the body. Just as a farmer cannot feel confident about the crop growing in his fields, because he does not know what will happen to it before it is stored away in his granary, so a man should not leave his heart unguarded so long as he still has breath in his nostrils. Up to his last breath he cannot know what passion will attack him; so long as he breathes, therefore, he must not leave his heart unguarded, but should at every moment pray to God for His help and mercy.” (p. 25)

As I was reading from the Saint, I realized that life in this body for the practicing Christian is akin to the Hunger Games. Those living in Panem, whether they realize it or not are slaves of the dictator. Some are willingly complicit and even profit from it. Most don't want to be, but suffer under it and obey for fear of losing what little they do have. The only way out is through death. From the time Katniss volunteered to be a tribute, she went into it believing that she wouldn't make it back out. Her main attachment to that world was her little sister, and the reason she volunteered to begin with. Because of her attachment to her sister, she never ceased to come under attack from some direction as people used her and abused her for their own agendas and selfish ends. She could never let her guard down, or could ever feel safe about letting her guard down.

Our spiritual enemies are even more insidious than the ones she faced, and they do not stop. Ever. Not while we're in the body. If they do retreat, it is often just to get us to drop our guard long enough for them to attack in force and wedge their way in. The practice of His Truth requires constant vigilance, and the truth is that, even if we are successful in most of them, the assaults can leave a person dazed, confused, and off balance. They can cause depression as well. Our enemies want us as far from Jesus Christ as possible. They want us acting according to our passions and desires, and not according to Christ at all. They are immortal, and don't get tired or take breaks. The only thing which restrains them from a completely devastating assault is the hand of God, who only permits them to attack enough to keep us from dropping our guard and to harden us in this kind of warfare.

Like Katniss, when we really begin to renounce our selves, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus Christ, we then enter a brutal arena where it almost seems like everything is trying to scare us or destroy us in one way or the other. Staying alive in this case means staying focused on Christ, and remaining in Him, and in our renunciation of our selves, desires, possessions, and everything else which has to do with us. And the longer we go, the more of a target we become, and the more we must practice to remain in Him. As long as any part of us holds on to those things which we have renounced we are plunged back into the arena and are made to struggle.

St. Isaiah also says:

“So long as the contest continues, a man is full of fear and trembling, wondering whether he will win today or be defeated, whether he will win tomorrow or be defeated: the struggle and stress constrict his heart. But when he has attained dispassion, the contest comes to an end; … Do not think then, then, that you have died to sin so long as you suffer violence, whether waking or sleeping, at the hands of your opponents. For while a man is still competing in the arena, he cannot be sure of victory.” (p. 26)

Katniss was eventually freed from the Hunger Games, but she still had to deal with the emotional and psychological scars for the rest of her life. It was only after the murder of her sister, when she had finally lost what she cared about most, that she was able to begin rebuilding her life, and do what needed to be done, though not without tremendous pain.

Our Hunger Games as practicing Christians don't ever end. And if it feels like they have, and you've been left alone, be on your guard because the enemy has just maneuvered themselves to bring you down from both sides. When you feel the most safe and secure is when you're in the most trouble. Ultimately, the only characters ever truly freed from the Games were those who died, or those who had nothing left to lose. This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and to attain freedom in Him, when we are dead to everything else.

A Ramble about Being a Reverend

Within the last several years, the couple that owns and runs the Trinity Broadcasting Network ran afoul of the IRS. As it turned out, in order to avoid paying the taxes on their wealth that they were supposed to, among their other infractions they ordained every employee of their “ministry” as clergy. In other words, everyone from the janitor to the cameraman to the cooks could claim the title of “Reverend.” Within the US, and as far as the US was concerned, they all had the legal right to marry, bury, baptize, preach and all the other functions which clergy serve regardless of their education, training, discipleship, or spiritual maturity.

When I left the bishop with whom I served in California, I went to work for a local Walmart. While I was there, I met a couple and we became friends. As they were planning on getting married, I then began to take them through some discipleship and pre-marital counseling. By that point, under the aforementioned bishop I had already been trained for weddings, and had done a decent number of them. At the time, we had planned on me doing the wedding, but having left my bishop, and thus the organization which ordained me, I wasn't legally able to do it. Lo, and behold, I found that there were a number of organizations out there over the internet willing to oblige me and license me as a minister under their organization enabling me to legally perform a wedding. Oddly enough, when I received my certificate, there was that title again, “Reverend,” though technically all I did was agree to their particularly loose statement of faith. No education check. No interview to determine if I was even qualified. Nothing. And so I received the piece of paper allowing me, or anyone else who signed up, to legally join two people for the rest of their lives.

The term “Reverend” originated somewhere in the middle ages, and originally referred to the long tunics or cassocks worn by the clergy of the Catholic Church. When was took the habit of the clergy one became “reverend.” In modern usage, it means a person who is respected or honored for their devotion to their religious profession. As a result, it came to be a priest's or minister's title in the same way that “Doctor” is the title of a medical physician, even though “doctor” actually refers to someone who has spent eight years in school mastering their chosen specialty to the highest level regardless of the nature of that specialty. Thus the reason why medical doctors are chagrined these days because of nurses now able to earn their doctorate, and the title “doctor”, in nursing without being medical doctors.

In the Roman Catholic Church, traditionally, candidates for the priesthood would have to spend eight to ten years in Seminary for their formation and training, studying and dedicating themselves to fulfilling the work of Christ in the role of a priest. In mainline Protestant denominations, typically ministers must achieve at least a Master's degree in theology or divinity for their denomination to ordain them. Part of these studies are purely academic. Part of them, ideally, are meant to foster their own personal discipleship and devotion to Christ in practical ways. Part of them again are the various trainings for the Sacraments (or ordinances, as the case may be) and all the preparation and choreography which goes with them. But they are all meant to prepare the person, as much as possible, to be a guide and a shepherd for those seeking Christ, and those seeking to be disciples of Christ.

For myself, I spent two years in one Bible School, two years in a second, twelve months in vocational training for secular work, more than a dozen Master's level correspondence courses, one on one altar training with the aforementioned bishop in California, as well as my own studies in theology, history, and the Scriptures which have encompassed the last twenty years. Whether this is enough for that bishop to have placed his hands on me to ordain me, or for me to hold the title of “Reverend” is perhaps a matter of opinion. I am sure there are many who disagreed.

There are also those for whom God has given those specific gifts and wisdom where the title “Reverend”, though not earned in a school or through the dispensation of an organization or denomination, is entirely appropriate. From my own experience, there aren't nearly as many of these folks as many would like one to believe, but there are more than many who are formally ordained would like to admit. These are often the quiet masters and guides who may only disciple one or two people, but the impact they have through those few they disciple is enormous.

The truth is that being a “Reverend” has more to do with one's own personal discipleship and commitment to Jesus Christ than it does with a piece of paper or a ceremony held by a licensing organization. I have met several and have been told of many more supposed “Reverends” who have gone through all the schooling and training only to be totally devoted to their own financial well-being; perhaps like the owners of TBN. History is filled with them. While the current bishop of Rome has all the earmarks of a true “Reverend”, and I would not balk at the traditional address of “your holiness” with him, there have been many, many who were more interested in their own stomachs, bank accounts, and sex lives. Far from being “Reverends”, they were not even practicing Christians.

Owning the title of “Reverend” carries with it the responsibility to not only know what it is you believe and being able to disciple others, but it also carries with it the responsibility to practice and be an example of your faith in Jesus Christ. You yourself are to be a disciple just as much as you are to pass on the discipline which you profess. Without this, you may be able to legally perform weddings and funerals, but you have no right to the title.

A Ramble about Asceticism

Several weeks ago, we visited and were welcomed by a Pentecostal church in Missouri for a few days. Given the number of churches I have been exposed to over the course of my journey, you'd think that it would be nothing new. I was expecting something similar to charismatic churches that I had visited or attended in California where I grew up. Instead it was something still new again altogether. To me, it was a paradox of charismatic practice and conservativism in dress and relationships.

When we talked with the pastor about other things, I remember he told us about other Pentecostal churches in the area, and even within his own association that went even further in their conservative dress and relationships. He called them “holiness” churches, and now that I think about it, I remember hearing something about it when I was in Bible School in Wisconsin. Being from California, I think it must be a southern States thing, because Californians, and folks from the west coast in general, just aren't as uptight about these kinds of things as people in the South seem to be.

The holiness churches forbid their women from cutting their hair, forbid them from wearing pants instead of skirts, maintain a clear separation between the sexes in terms of who ministers or prays for whom, and has a whole host of rules that both men and women must follow. What really kind of caught my attention is that they believe that if you don't follow these rules of conduct, you can't be saved.

I can think of a hundred and one things wrong with that statement, not the least of which is that salvation is a continuous relationship with God through Jesus Christ. But the thing I want to address here is that it is a complete and total misunderstanding of asceticism (among other things) and its appropriate place.

Asceticism is, put simply, the rules and hardships you place yourself under in order to assist with your practice of discipleship. In particular, it is meant to help maintain and cultivate the total renunciation which is part and parcel of being a disciple of Jesus Christ:

“If someone comes to me and doesn't hate his own father and mother and woman and children and brothers and sisters still even also his own psyche, he is not capable of being my disciple. The one who doesn't carry his own cross and come behind me isn't capable of being my disciple. … So then every person of you who doesn't renounce all the things of his own existence is not capable of being my disciple.” (Luke 14:26-27, 33; translation mine)

For example, it is easier to deal with the renunciation of one's possessions if you keep no possessions. Thus the reason for Jesus saying that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a sewing needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It is easier to deal with the renunciation of having more affection for spouse or children than for Christ if you have no spouse or children. Thus Paul's recommendation to the Corinthians that those who were unmarried should remain so. It is easier to renounce the pleasures of the body if you continuously afflict the body with punishments such as only getting four hours of sleep a night, continuous regular fasting, and so on. Thus the roots of classical monastic practices. Even the black clerical clothes which priests wear was meant to be a kind of asceticism because it was meant to remind the priest that he was to die to himself daily. Asceticism is meant to be a useful tool for these ends. But it is only a tool, and it is certainly not a requirement.

Even the Fathers of the Philokalia, as much as they encourage and explain the use and practice of asceticism make it clear that it is not a necessity for salvation, and asceticism practiced for its own sake is worthless. They also explain that it can itself be a snare or a trap because it can and often does lead to dangerous self-esteem and pride, when the practice of discipleship is to renounce one's self. This is the reason for the self-deprecating meditations which seem so extreme and self-judgmental. They wanted to ground themselves as far into humility as they could by reminding themselves of their own deaths, their own sinfulness, and the impending judgment by Christ at the resurrection. They didn't want to take a chance on allowing pride to take root and flourish. It was that dangerous to their own practice of discipleship. Asceticism was a tool to subjugate the body and mind, but for these Fathers, prayer and contemplation of Christ was far more valuable and necessary in drawing closer to Him and engaging in the process of salvation.

While asceticism may assist in this total renunciation which Jesus taught, it is not required. And it may not even be indicative that the person has in fact renounced all things to follow Christ. This kind of a renunciation is in the heart. It's when all of the things of your own existence no longer have any effect on you. It's when you are neither attached to or averse to anything; possessions, people, ideas, your own reputation, or your own psyche regardless of what you are surrounded by. Many monastics of various religions have written that one can be a monk in one's heart even though surrounded by riches, and one can be a worldling in one's heart even when fasting and wearing a monk's habit. While asceticism may make it somewhat easier, it is certainly not the defining characteristic.

The truth is that such churches which teach that some kind of outward bodily discipline is necessary for salvation totally misunderstand the teaching of Christ and the entire purpose for outward bodily discipline.

A Ramble about "I"

I have recently been rereading The Gospel of Buddha. Those who have been reading my Rambles for some time will know that I have a great deal of respect for the Buddha and his teachings while maintaining a somewhat respectful distance where he diverges from what Jesus taught. This time around as I was reading, it struck me that the foundation of the Buddha's teaching hit upon something very similar and equally foundational in what Jesus taught and the writings of St. Paul.

The Buddha received enlightenment when he realized that self, the atman (or soul, or psyche), was an illusion, and did not in reality exist. The human being is a combination of physical parts, memories, experiences, sensations, consciousness, etc. with no one element of that combination comprising an individual self or soul. The belief in the existence of a self independent of those parts (the “I”, the doer of one's actions and the thinker of one's thoughts) was a delusion which led to desires, attachments, and aversions which led to actions produced by those desires, attachments, and aversions, which led to the consequences of those actions, which ultimately led to suffering.

The Buddha came from a Hindu culture and worldview which accepted the transmigration of the atman, or reincarnation, as a fact of life. The Buddha came to the conclusion that because of this reincarnation, the suffering driven by the attachment to the existence of one's “self” became a cycle which was continuously repeated without end. Reincarnation was then a cycle of suffering. The goal of salvation in this understanding was to break the cycle of reincarnation. He came to understand that when you remove the illusion of an individual “I”, it removes the foundation upon which those attachments, aversions, desires, and ultimately suffering are all based thus removing the foundation for the cycle of reincarnation which continues the suffering. This cessation of suffering he called Nirvana, an uncreated and indestructible state of being. The destruction of the illusion of self was the path which led to Nirvana.

The problem with the Buddha's understanding is his own assertion that, because there is no atman, there is no transmigration of the atman, thus no reincarnation. He then maintains that what reincarnates is one's own karma (one's actions and the consequences of those actions), and one's mind. The atman cannot because the atman doesn't in reality exist. However, the conclusion of this logic must be that, once the combination of elements which comes together to form the person ceases to continue in combination, that person, as such, ceases to be. Death claims him or her permanently, though the consequences of his actions, words, and thoughts continue to play out long after he is gone.

The Church has always taught that human beings have a fatal flaw which is variously called “original sin” and a “sin nature.” I have previously called it a “disorder” and a “malfunction” of the psyche. The Church has also always taught that all human beings will be resurrected from the dead (not reincarnated) to face judgment by Christ at the end of days. This fatal flaw means that, regardless of how you explain it, all human beings will be condemned unless they are rescued from it. (See my previous Rambles concerning “Spiritual Autism” for a further discussion of this fatal flaw.)

If we understand our fatal flaw, or at least a part of it, as being this delusion of “I”, then we need salvation from the suffering caused by that fatal flaw. We need salvation from the fatal flaw itself; salvation from the suffering caused by the consequences of our fatal flaw; and salvation from death and the judgment against us which follows as an ultimate consequence of our fatal flaw.

Neither Jesus nor St. Paul go so far as to say the atman or “psyche” does not exist, or that there is no “doer of deeds” or “thinker of thoughts” as the Buddha maintains. They say that the psyche must be executed, made dead, and replaced with God in the person of Jesus Christ as the “doer of deeds” and “thinker of thoughts.” It is this death and exchange which effects the transformation of deification, by God's uncreated energy through faith in Jesus Christ working through lovingkindness.

“The person who has more affection for father or mother than for Me is not worthy of Me, and the person who has more affection for son or daughter than for Me is not worthy of Me; and the person who doesn't take his cross and follow behind Me isn't worthy of Me. The person who finds his psyche will destroy it, and the person having destroyed his psyche for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:37-39)

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If someone wishes to come behind Me, let him deny himself and pick up his cross and follow Me. Because whoever might wish to save his psyche will destroy it; yet whoever might destroy his psyche for my sake will find it.'” (Matthew 16:24-25)

“And He said to him, some person was making a big dinner, and he called many and sent his slave at the hour of the dinner to say to those having been called, 'Come, because it has already been prepared.' And all of them, one by one, started to excuse themselves. The first said to him, 'I bought a field and I have a necessity to leave and see it; I ask you, have me excused.' And another said, 'I bought five yoke of oxen andI am going to examine them; I ask you, have me excused.' And another said, 'I married a woman and because of this I am not able to come.' And the slave appearing reported to his owner these things. Then, being angry, the house-master said to his slave, 'Go out quickly into the wide roads and alleys of the city and lead in the destitute, crippled, blind, and lame here. And the slave said, 'Lord, what you ordered has happened, and there is still space.' And the owner said to the slave, 'Go out into the roads and fences and compel people to enter, so that my house will be full. Because I tell you that n one of those men who had been called will taste my dinner.'” (Luke 14:16-24)

Look at who the owner of the slave invited to the feast when those who were first invited refused to come. Those who were first invited excused themselves because of their attachments to possessions or relationships and placing those things as more important to the calling to the dinner. The man who made the dinner then drew in people whom he believed had no such attachments. Immediately after this parable, Jesus becomes far more explicit:

“If someone comes to me and doesn't hate his own father and mother and woman and children and brothers and sisters still even also his own psyche, he is not capable of being my disciple. The one who doesn't carry his own cross and come behind me isn't capable of being my disciple. … So then every person of you who doesn't renounce all the things of his own existence is not capable of being my disciple.” (Luke 14:26-27, 33)

“I was co-crucified with Christ; and 'I' no longer live, yet Christ lives within me; and what I now live within the meat, I live by the faith which is the Son of God's who loved me and surrendered Himself over me.” (Galatians 2:20)

“And may it absolutely not happen for me to brag except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world was crucified to me and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14)

“Be mindful of this within you which is also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the shape of God, didn't conclude being equal to God a prize to hold onto, but emptied Himself taking the shape of a slave; having come to be in the image of human beings; and being found in the outward appearance as a human being He humbled Himself having become obedient to the point of death, and the death of a cross at that.” (Philippians 2:5-8)

“Or are you ignorant that, as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus, we were baptized into His death? We were therefore entombed together with Him through the baptism into death, so that just as Christ was awakened from the dead through the glory of the Father so also we should walk by means of a newness of life. Because if we have become grown together by an image of His death, but also will we be of the resurrection; knowing this that our old human being was crucified together with Him, so that the body of the fatal flaw would be nullified, for us to no longer be slaves to the fatal flaw; because the one who died has been acquitted from the fatal flaw. And if we died together with Christ, we believe that we will also live together with Him, knowing that Christ being awakened from the dead is no longer mortal, death no longer has ownership of Him. Because what died, died to the fatal flaw once for all; and what lives, lives to God. Thus also you: factor yourselves to be dead indeed to the fatal flaw yet living to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:1-11)

(all translations mine)

St. Paul, in no uncertain terms, maintains that those who have received baptism into Jesus Christ have been joined to the death of Jesus Christ. Those who have been baptized into Jesus Christ have therefore died and the fatal flaw no longer maintains ownership over them. They receive a release from the fatal flaw through baptism because those who have died are thus acquitted from it. The psyche is thus removed from the equation through being joined to the death of Jesus Christ in baptism.

“Therefore then, brothers, we are debtors not to the meat to live according to the meat, because if you live according to the meat, you intend to die; yet if by the Spirit you make the practices of the body dead, you will live. Because as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Romans 8:12-14)

When the psyche has been removed from the equation through death, all that remains is the meat (being the body), and the Spirit (being the indwelling Holy Spirit). We then may choose to continue in the delusion of “I” through the obedience to the meat, or we may choose to continue in the truth of this death through obedience to the Spirit, thus ensuring our transformation and deification. This is the basis of St. Paul's theology of practice throughout his letters in the New Testament and is for him, and thus for us, a foundational teaching.

“If you died together with Christ from the elements of the world, why as living by means of the world are you submitting to rules and regulations? Don't cling to nor taste nor touch (all of which concern things which break down by consumption) according to the commands and teachings of human beings. … If then you were awakened together with Christ, seek the upwards things, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God; be mindful of the upwards things, not the things upon the ground. Because you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God; when Christ your life is made visible, then you will also be made visible together with Him in glory.” (Colossians 2:20-21, 3:1-4)

Whether the individual self begins as real or not is irrelevant. The belief in a “self” is a real and serious impediment to discipleship and salvation. In Christ Jesus we believe that the self has died and is therefore no longer a factor, and we are to keep this as a factor in how we process our thoughts, words, actions and interactions with everything and everyone else. Self is the biggest impediment or obstacle to the process of one's salvation. In order for salvation to progress it must be removed from the equation. Either way, we must believe that it has been removed as a factor—belief implying the actions expressing that belief. As baptized Christians, we must believe in the death of our selves with Christ. Without moving past this, we can't really move forward towards the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. If we don't believe (producing the actions which mark that belief) we died with Him, we become lost in our own disorder or error, and our progress towards deification is stunted at best.

A Doctrinal Statement of the Ancient, Pre-Nicene Church

This is a snippet of some of my studies lately, a doctrinal statement of sorts for the Ancient Church. I intend to eventually expand it with quotations from the Church Fathers. With all the theological bickering in the Church today, most denominations and churches don't realize what that pre-Nicene Church actually taught and believed, and, more disturbingly, many don't care being so wrapped up in their own modern interpretations. Many might be amazed at how much the Ancient Church really taught and understood regarding the Trinity, the Deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit, and more.

For this study, I have been using A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, edited by David W. Bercot. This is a topical index of the Ante-Nicene Fathers compiled by Philip Schaff in the late nineteenth century, which itself is a compilation of all the legitimate existing writings of the Ancient Church from the first to the fourth centuries.

What I will not be doing right now, if ever, is trying to prove these doctrines from Holy Scripture, although they certainly could be. I will not be doing this for two reasons. First, every denomination looks to Holy Scripture to prove their various teachings even when one denomination's teaching conflicts with another. Often, they are following a tradition of Scriptural interpretation, either Reformation, Catholic, Orthodox or otherwise without even knowing where the interpretation really comes from. My stated objective is to look as these subjects through the lenses of the ancient interpretation, one which is almost two thousand years old, and not one which has sprung up within the last few hundred years. Second, and related to this, while the Ancient Christians used the Holy Scriptures, they did not understand or practice the Reformation teaching of “Sola Scriptura” (Scripture Only), the recognized canon of Scripture not having yet been set by Church Councils. They relied just as much on the sacred tradition of Apostolic teaching passed down verbally as much as written, which itself included which books were considered to be Holy Scripture and which were not. I will also not delve into which translation of Holy Scripture they used as most of them spoke the language in which the New Testament was written as a birth tongue, and they used whatever translation of the Old Testament Scriptures was available in their language. Most of the time, this was either the Greek Septuagint or a translation into Syriac or Aramaic, Hebrew having been a dead language for many centuries.

I don't think that the importance of understanding what they understood as the Apostolic Faith can be overstated or exaggerated. Their writings record a Church which was devoted to Jesus Christ, demonstrated power daily in miracles and testimonies of faith, and brought the Gospel to the entire known world all while maintaining a unity of faith which lasted for hundreds if not a thousand years. Many today, ironically, would call their doctrines heretical, maybe even dangerous. Maybe that's why there's such a difference in their Church and in the Church of today.

I. God

The Ancient Church taught that God was not born or made. He is without beginning and without end, immortal and incorruptible. He cannot be seen or comprehended. He is incapable of being divided, and He is the only one with no equal. He is infinite, completely omnipotent, completely omnipresent, and completely omniscient and is incapable of being measured or contained. He is above space and time. No one is capable of fully knowing Him but Himself. He is neither male, nor female, though He is always referred to with masculine words. He is fundamentally good, and cannot cease from being or doing good. He is dispassionate, not subject to human passions. He is not subject to change. He has no need for any name other than the designation of “God” or “Deity.” He created everything that exists, and by His power everything created continues to exist and subsist.

II. Jesus Christ

From the earliest time, Jesus Christ was referred to as no other than “our God” and “the Lord of all the world.” He was recognized in the Ancient Church, in every century of the Ancient Church prior to the Great Councils, as no other than God, Creator of the world, incarnated into human flesh. Prior to the Creation of anything, and prior to the incarnation, He was begotten, not created, from the Father. They taught that He was one with the Father in substance, being eternal and uncreated, while remaining distinct from the Father.

The Ancient Church taught that Jesus Christ was descended from King David. His mother, Mary, was a virgin. He is referred to as the Son of God because He was conceived by God in the womb of a virgin with no human father. He lived for thirty three years and then was crucified under Pontius Pilate. He died and descended into Hades where he preached the Gospel to those who had died. On the third day from His death, he resurrected from the dead. Afterwards, He ascended into heaven where He sits at the Father's right hand. They taught that He would return to resurrect all the dead and sit in judgment over all those living at His return, and all those who had died.

They taught that Jesus Christ was both truly God, and truly human (necessitating all bodily functions, needs, and frailties), containing the two natures within Himself. They also taught that He was sinless in His humanity.

III. The Holy Spirit

The Ancient Church taught that the Holy Spirit was also God of the same substance as the Father and the Son. They taught that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father through the Son (as opposed to proceeding from the Father and the Son). The Holy Spirit is imparted to the Christian immediately proceeding baptism through the laying on of hands by a presbyter or bishop, after which He resides within the Christian. Salvation is impossible without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

IV. Salvation

The Early Church taught that Salvation was through Christ alone. They taught that no one could enter into the Kingdom of God other than through believing in Jesus Christ, repenting of their sins, being baptized, and observing the commandments of Christ. No one is able to save himself by his own works. Salvation comes only through faith in Christ as demonstrated through one's obedience to Christ. Those who are not living as Christ taught were not to be considered Christians regardless of their profession of faith. It wasn't those who profess Christ, but those who obey Him, who would be saved. It was also understood universally that only those who persisted in their faith as evidenced by their obedience until the end of their lives would be saved. Willfully turning away from faith in Christ would cause a person to be lost. Those who would disown Christ would be themselves disowned by the Father. The idea that a person could be saved in such a way as to never be lost was considered false teaching. “No one is a Christian but he who perseveres to the end.” (Tertullian, 198 AD)

Those who continue in faith as evidenced by their obedience to Christ until the end of their lives would be, at the resurrection of the dead, made one with God (though not in His substance), deified immortal by His Grace into the same immortal, incorruptible body as Jesus Christ. This is the stated goal and end of Salvation. “Our Lord Jesus Christ, through His transcendent love, became what we are, so that He might bring us to be even what He Himself is.” (Irenaeus, 180 AD) and “God became man, so that man might be made God.” (Athanasius, 325 AD)

V. After Death

Following an ancient Greek understanding of the afterlife, the Ancient Church taught that once a person died, their soul went to Hades (also referred to as Abraham's Bosom), the realm of the dead, where the righteous dead were kept in paradise, separate from the unrighteous dead who were kept in torment. They taught that once a person had died, there would be no further chance for repentance or confession. Souls would not transmigrate from one body to be reborn into another, but would be kept and held until the resurrection, when everyone would raise from the dead to be judged by Christ. Those judged righteous will be deified. Those judged unrighteous would be condemned to eternal suffering in Gehenna. Afterwards, there will be no more death, and no need for Hades.

VI. End Times

The Ancient Church taught that there would be a great tribulation, and a great cataclysm over the whole world, and that there would be an anti-Christ that rose up and persecuted the Church. After this, Jesus Christ would return to transfigure those living and raise the dead immortal and judge them. Then He will reign in Jerusalem for a thousand years. After this, the present heaven and earth will be destroyed and a new heaven and a new earth will be created.

VII. Spiritual Gifts

The Spiritual Gifts were evident, frequent, and common within the Church of the first three centuries. They were so common in point of fact that Christian apologists would use the knowledge of them to prove the validity of Christianity to pagans who were well aware of the miracles performed by Christians. This was regarded as the point of the Spiritual Gifts. Different Spiritual Gifts were manifested to different Christians. Some had the gift of prophecy and foreknowledge. Some had the gift of healing. Some had the gift of demonstrations of power. And yes, some had the gift of speaking the Gospel in languages they couldn't have otherwise known. Aside from this are recorded gifts of teaching, counseling, understanding, and others. Exorcisms were well documented, and were mostly performed by the laity of the Church as a volunteer service. Healings were mostly performed on unbelievers as a witness of the truth of the Gospel, and more often than not, members of the Church were not themselves expected to be healed from diseases and infirmities which plagued everyone, although prayers were offered when one became ill.

The writers of the Church also record that the displays of the Spiritual Gifts became more and more infrequent by the middle of the third century, although not unknown. After this point, they are generally only displayed in history by those Christians considered to be particularly Saintly and those remembered as Saints. One quotation reads “For if it happens that there are no longer any unbelievers, all the power of signs will afterward be unnecessary.”

VIII. Creeds

Ignatius of Antioch (105 AD):

...Jesus Christ, who was descended from David, and was also of Mary; who was truly born and did eat and drink. He was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate. He was truly crucified and died—in the sight of beings in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. He was also truly raised from the dead, His Father raising Him to life—in the same manner as His Father will also raise us up, we who believe in Him by Christ Jesus.

Irenaeus (180 AD):

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them. And in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation. And in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord. And we believe in His manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father to gather all things into one, and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race—in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, God, Savior, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, “every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and that , and that every tongue should confess” Him. And we believe that He will execute just judgment towards all, so that He may send spiritual evils and the angels who transgressed and became apostates—together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men—into everlasting fire. And we believe that He will, in the exercise of his grace, confer immortality on the righteous, the holy, those who have kept His commandments, and those who have persevered in His love—some from the beginning and others from the time of their repentence. We believe He will surround them with everlasting glory.

Tertullian (213 AD):

The Church acknowledges on Lord God, the Creator of the universe, and Christ Jesus born of the virgin Mary—the Son of God the Creator; and in the resurrection of the flesh. The church unites the Law and the Prophets into one volume, with the writings of evangelists and apostles, from whom she drinks in her faith. This she seals with the water of baptism, arrays with the Holy Spirit, feeds with the Eucharist, and cheers with martyrdom. Against such a discipline thus maintained, she admits no deniers.

We … believe that there is only one God, but under the following dispensation or “economy”, as it is called: that this one only God also has a Son, His Word, who proceeded from Himself, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. We believe Him to have been sent by the Father into the virgin, and to have been born of her—being both man and God, the son of man and the Son of God, and to have been called by the name of Jesus Christ. He suffered, died, and was buried, according to the Scriptures. And after He had been raised again by the Father and taken back to heaven, He has been sitting at the right hand of the Father. We believe that He will come to judge the living and the dead. And He sent also from heaven from the Father, according to His own promise, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the sanctifier of the faith of those who believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

IX. Holy Scripture

Old Testament Scriptures, canonical and deuterocanonical, which were accepted and used:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1&2 Samuel (1&2 Kings), 1&2 Kings (3&4Kings), 1&2 Chronicles, Ezra, 2 Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (including additions), Tobit, Judith, 1, 2, & 3 Maccabees, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel (Including Bel and the Dragon, Susanna, and The Song of the Three Jews), The Twelve Minor Prophets, Martyrdom of Isaiah, Book of Enoch, Assumption of Moses

Attestations to various books by name or citation: Peter, Jude, Barnabas, The Didache, Polycarp, Hippolytus, Cyprian, Methodius, Clement of Alexandria,Tertullian, Origen, Melito, Lactantius, Apostolic Constitutions.

The Ancient Church accepted and argued that the reasons why the deuterocanonical books and several “pseudepigraphical” were excluded from the Jewish canon at Jamnia in 90 AD were 1) the Early Church was constantly using them to prove that Jesus was the Christ, and 2) the Jewish leaders hid from the knowledge of the people, as much as possible, any passages which contained any scandal against the elders, rulers, and judges.

New Testament Scriptures, Canonical and Deuterocanonical, which were accepted and used:

Canonical:

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts of the Apostles, Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1&2 Peter, 1,2, &3 John, Jude, Revelation (Apocalypse)

Deuterocanonical:

Shepherd of Hermas, Barnabas, 1&2 Clement

Attestations: Peter, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Muratorian Fragment, Tertullian, Origen, Victorinus, Methodius, Apostolic Constitutions

In nearly every case, the Old Testament used by the Church was the Greek Septuagint, and nearly every quotation in their writings is taken from the Greek Septuagint. The Ancient Church believed that the Scriptures were completely divinely inspired, and this belief in their inspiration by nature encompassed the Greek Septuagint so much that at times they defended the Greek readings as superior to the Hebrew texts. This belief in divine inspiration extended primarily to the Old Testament Scriptures, and then secondarily to the New Testament Scriptures, in particular the Gospels, and the Pauline Epistles.

They believed that there were no contradictions or absurdities in Holy Scripture, and that the Gospel and Apostolic Tradition could be defended from Holy Scripture. They interpreted the Holy Scriptures in the light of the Apostolic Tradition and the teachings of Christ. The idea of drawing doctrine from only Scripture however, ignoring the Apostolic Tradition was unknown among them.

X. Sacraments

The Ancient Church practiced at least four Sacraments as such: Baptism, Holy Eucharist, Anointing with Oil, and Laying on of Hands. These Sacraments were not displayed publicly to everyone, but only to those within the Church who had themselves received baptism. Sacraments celebrated by clergy who were themselves unworthy, outside of the apostolic teaching, or in sin were not considered valid.

Baptism: Baptism was not performed on a candidate until they had been instructed in the faith, and they had demonstrated their sincere conversion to the satisfaction of the church. Baptism was practiced with as much water as was available although full immersion was preferred. It was done in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit after the person made vows to the Lord and had renounced the devil. Baptism was universally understood to be for the remission of sins, and that all previous sins which had been committed would be washed away.

Holy Eucharist: The Holy Eucharist was celebrated with bread and wine. On Sundays, the church would gather and read from the Scriptures. The Presbyter would instruct the people, and then the Church would pray. Then the Eucharist would be celebrated. The celebrant would first give thanks to God, then would pray over the bread and wine, which would then change the elements into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The wine was mixed with water, and both had to be present symbolizing both divine and human natures of Christ, as well as reminding of the blood and water which flowed from Christ's side. The Ancient Church was explicit in their belief in the real presence of Christ in the consecrated bread and wine and explicitly condemned the denial of the real presence of Christ as false teaching. Only the baptized could partake of it, and only the Bishop or Presbyter could consecrate it. It is spoken of repeatedly and in every century prior to the Great Councils as both a memorial of Christ's sacrifice and as itself a sacrifice and is equated with Christ's sacrifice on the cross. It was expected that confession of one's sins to God either privately or in public confession and absolution by a presbyter would precede the reception of the Eucharist.

Anointing with Oil: Either immediately preceding or following baptism, the person being baptized was anointed with oil.

Laying on of Hands: After Baptism, the Bishop of the church would lay hands on the person in order to impart the Holy Spirit to him. It was understood that a person being born “of water and the Spirit” meant being baptized with water, and then given the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. It was generally agreed on that without the laying on of hands, a person wouldn't receive the Holy Spirit.

Aside from this was practiced Confession of one's sins, which was generally made to another Christian, in particular a member of the clergy. Absolution of one's sins was granted only by the Bishop or Presbyter either in private or at public confession.

XI. Church Government

In the Ancient Church, they recognized at least two orders of ordination: Bishop and Deacon, with the order of Presbyter emerging as separate from the Bishop towards the middle to end of the second century. In the late first and early second century the terms Bishop and Presbyter were used interchangeably. Bishops were consecrated initially by Apostles, and those succeeding them had to be consecrated by Bishops who could prove their own ordination succession from the Apostles. Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons were expected to not have been married more than once, but were otherwise free to be married or celibate as they were led.

Bishops, or the Presbyters chosen to represent them, had to be present for all Sacraments. Only Bishops could ordain Deacons, Presbyters, or other Bishops.

Deacons were ministers of visitation, preaching, and they assisted the Bishop and Presbyters.

Bishops who had obtained their position by means of money were held as invalid. No Bishop had the authority to add to or take away from the Apostolic Faith and those found to be doing so were held as invalid. The Sacraments held by a Bishop or Presbyter who was known to be sacrilegious or in sin were held to be invalid. All such clergy could be, and were expected to be removed by their congregations.

XII. Christian Living

The Ancient Church expected that all those professing to be Christians were to live according to the commandments of Christ as He taught in the Gospels. All those not living according to His commandments were not considered Christians. To be more specific by way of example, they practiced extreme non-resistance to violence committed against them, refused to attend the theater or coliseum shows, they stayed out of politics and refused to enter public office. Their women tended to be without cosmetics, or jewelry, or perfumes. They embraced martyrdom. As much as possible they tried to live at peace with everyone. They were opposed to capital punishment. They were explicitly opposed to both abortion and infanticide. Many lived celibate, although they certainly didn't require it of anyone. They didn't hold sins against anyone, but forgave them. They were known by their love for one another, and they were expected to live simply, humbly, and with sincerity, abandoning luxuries and the trappings of wealth. Homosexual practice was forbidden among them, and those practicing homosexuality were not considered Christians, regardless of their profession of faith.