Within the famous novel\/film a mother, Sophie, is forced to choose which of her two children she will save from the gas chambers at Auschwitz. \u00a0In a certain sense, the most gut wrenching aspect of the story is not that she chooses her son over her daughter in order to prevent them both from being killed. \u00a0The most gut wrenching aspect is not which child she choose, but that she had to choose at all. \u00a0She loved both of her children, which is exactly what made her choice so horrible. \u00a0<\/p>\n
When we imagine ourselves placed in similar\u00a0situations we desperately seek and actively contrive any loophole that we possibly can in order to avoid having to make choices such as these. \u00a0The church presents us with just such a choice. \u00a0It has been my strong conviction for some time now, that we cannot cling to both the gospel and Enlightenment values, no matter how much we care for both. \u00a0On that note, I have no doubt that essentially all of the “intellectuals” that I have critiqued over the past\u00a0few years feel a deep love and connection for both sets of values. \u00a0Indeed, it is precisely because of this love for both that they perceive with horror the seeming nonchalance of many who\u00a0abandon one or the other. \u00a0(Somewhat ironically, I’ve been accused of committing both of these sins.)<\/p>\n
To me, yesterday’s SSM memo strongly confirms my suspicions that there can be no substantial or lasting overlap between the gospel and Enlightenment values. \u00a0Neither camp bears sole responsibility for this incompatibility, it’s just the nature of the beast. \u00a0As in Sophie’s case, the most painful part of this incompatibility\u00a0is not limited to whatever choice each person makes, but the fact that they\u00a0are forced to choose at all. \u00a0I’ve felt the pain and stubborn resistance to this choice in my own life and I know quite well how trapped or morally blackmailed one can feel by choices such as these.<\/p>\n
It is so easy to intellectualize over the degree to which one must choose, or which choice ought to be made when such a thing must be done. \u00a0When it really comes down to actually making such a choice, however, the intellect tends to get drowned out by feelings of desperation and indignation. \u00a0This certainly seems to be what I am seeing in the Bloggernacle today.<\/p>\n
The point of this post is to say that many of these feelings\u00a0can and ought to be seen as expressions of love for the church, analogous to how Sophie’s feelings desperation and anger were of love for her daughter. \u00a0While I certainly would have preferred that a few\u00a0of these\u00a0people had made a different choice, it’s difficult not to sympathize with their frustration at having to choose at all. \u00a0I’ve been there. \u00a0It’s not fun at all. \u00a0All I can do is pray and hope for these people to find their own way of coping and navigating this difficult and painful decisions.