NSoC 7: Union and Division

(Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.)

See Notes on this series...
In this short chapter Merton tackles the pitfalls of individuality for both sinner and saint.

The person outside of God who lives for himself strives to set himself apart from others by trumpeting his distinctions. He, living in his false self, doesn't realize the concept of community or that man's reality is found in unity (as Merton partially quotes Ephesians 4.25). This person, who fosters division and lives in falsity, ultimately evokes an apparent eternal contradiction by an all-knowing God who must declare, "I don't know you."

The "saint" doesn't get a pass, however, for he is often guilty of what Merton calls "the disease [of] spiritual pride." The saint is stricken by this disease when he sees his own handiwork in some act of obedience God has equipped him to do or in surviving some trial God has brought him through. The thought of his own excellence and the admiration of others stokes a fire that can be mistaken for the warmth of God's spirit. Like the false self who distances himself from others, the saint, too, declares "I am not like other men." This man spirals out of control, doing more and more in God's name, shunning advice or authority, meeting resistance with cries of persecution, his martyrdom making him more and more unbearable, until he brings shame to the very God he professes to serve.

Merton declares that finding ourselves and isolating ourselves are mutually exclusive pursuits.

Quaff:
Read the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector for an example of the saint out of control.

In our In the Dust of the Rabbi study that I mentioned in chapter 4, Ray Vander Laan teaches an episode at the temple of Athena in Priene. The temple is in ruins, of course, with stone lying all about. He uses this to contrast the life of the believer, whom the Bible teaches is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Until studying this episode I always applied that teaching only to the individual (as in 1 Corinthians 6): I (singular) am the temple. However, Vander Laan (and the Holy Spirit) awakened me to the emphasis in 1 Corinthians 3: you all (plural) are the temple. This passage is concerns division in the church and fits right in this Merton chapter.

Query:

• How can I combat the urge to puff up with excellence when I actually get around to obeying God?
• How can I combat the urge to be a Lone Ranger believer when faced with potential conflicts with others?
• How do I let my guard down enough to connect with others on the journey of faith without compromising my convictions but without dogmatically defending them to the death?