Shallow Loss of Faith

Typical, isn't it? I only got into this religious leadership lark for the money, glory and opportunities for emotional blackmail and psychological manipulation. And I get to spend half the night in the Moot House after Pouring Out of Beakers, giving spiritual counsel.

Naturally what was discussed is strictly confidential. But then you're probably never going to meet Orik. So I feel that gives me liberty to tell you all about it and, when a few weeks have gone by, use him as a sermon illustration.

Now normally we'd call what has happened here a "profound loss of faith". But it's Orik we're talking about, so a "shallow loss of faith" might be more accurate. Frankly if you fell face-down in Orik's spirituality nobody need rush to call the life-guards. But that's not his fault - he's an Enviroment Officer for a local council so what can you expect?

See, Orik has been talking to Drayton Parslow. Never a good idea, and it always makes me feel like I've come into contact with some greasy surface myself. Drayton has managed to persuade Orik that, to have true faith, he has to believe - literally - in the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden. But he's failed to convince Orik that the story is in fact true.

I've reasoned with Orik. Isn't it the case, I asked him, that the story of Genesis 2-3 is repeated in many other metaphorical ways - be it the rebellion of Melkor in Ainulindalë or the power-hungry Flight from Death of Voldemort? Does something have to be literally true, I asked him, to have truth, beauty and power? And he just looked at me sadly and told me he was lost because he has no faith.

That's the oddest bit of it all. Although Orik claims to have lost his faith, he's not lost his belief that he will be judged. He's in the position of the Atheist who wished to God that he believed in God. Except in reverse - he's terrified of the wrath of a God he claims not to believe in.

I tried one final bit of sound logical reasoning. Isn't it the case, I asked him, that all rebellion against God, all our attempts to be the captains of our own souls - all our determination to run our own show against all the evidence - are sublimated and typified in the words of the Snake? But Orik just said that doesn't have any legs. I'm not sure whether that was a comment about my argument or the Snake.

Thankfully I remembered the old mantra about "belonging before believing", and that we are an Oasis of Fuzzy Thinking. And I got Orik to light a tea light, meditate on it and think about a waterfall. It worked. Which is to say, he's still convinced he's Going to Hell but at least he feels better about it.