I've noticed a difference between those who cling to belief and those who aspire to be discipled in The Way.
Those who focus on praxis and aspire to kenotic love and solidarity can tolerate the gap between their aspiration and their lived experience. They receive forgiveness more as a starting point than the final solution. Freed of shame, they can look at their shadow and begin the work of integration. And attempting to be an agent of love in the world is a discipleship; failure is assumed.
On the other hand, those who trust in belief systems find the gap between how they see themselves, often informed by original sin/total depravity, and what a holy god demands as intolerable. They need a final solution; a praxis or process like discipleship is inconsequential due to the shameful difference between who they are and who they need to be.
Those who focus on praxis and aspire to kenotic love and solidarity can tolerate the gap between their aspiration and their lived experience. They receive forgiveness more as a starting point than the final solution. Freed of shame, they can look at their shadow and begin the work of integration. And attempting to be an agent of love in the world is a discipleship; failure is assumed.
On the other hand, those who trust in belief systems find the gap between how they see themselves, often informed by original sin/total depravity, and what a holy god demands as intolerable. They need a final solution; a praxis or process like discipleship is inconsequential due to the shameful difference between who they are and who they need to be.
