Faith is the soul’s response to a touch from God. Religion is the implementation of what faith demands.
Our religion is called Radix Fidem. You’ll search in vain in our documents or on this blog for any kind of prescribed orthodoxy or orthopraxy. We take the approach that those are details to be worked out between you and God.
We do offer teachings that typically help American Christians start on the long journey of faith, and these teachings sometimes help folks in other cultures, too. We offer the various ways we approach it ourselves, not as a model, but as clues to how you can approach the question of how to do religion. We offer a record of some of our thought processes and some of our actions in pursuit of faith. They constitute recommendations, but always with the warning that you truly must have your own inner drive. If these things we recommend don’t resonate with your own faith, try something else.
We know that faith works through our minds by helping us recognize the fingerprints and footprints of God. You’ll run across things to which your heart will leap with joy because it reminds you of your Savior. We have full confidence in His power and inclination to guide those in communion with Him.
He doesn’t need us, but loves to use us. Nothing is more blissful than to make ourselves available. A part of that bliss is sharing our faith with each other. If you tell us you are Christ’s, we’ll take you seriously. We will then look for clues that help us find a common ground for sharing faith. Mine are that you give evidence of respect for Scripture and that you can exhibit some communal warmth — love His Word and His people. Worshiping together comes first; working together is optional.
It depends on each of us to discern what God has called us to do. Then we must discern with whom we can do it together and where the boundaries are. Boundaries are essential for your identity in Christ; love isn’t just a feeling. You must do what Christ has called you to do, and love means first and foremost being faithful to your Lord. You cannot love someone effectively without a clear sense of who you are. If that means taking a path and actions someone can’t share, that doesn’t mean you don’t love that person. It means God didn’t intend you to walk the same path.
Don’t use mere emotional warmth as an excuse to pull someone off their mission. Compare notes, but never assume your path is the only right one for everyone. And don’t be embarrassed if the paths cross, and then later part again. That’s in God’s hands; you focus on obeying for yourself.
So we don’t debate religion, only compare notes on how it works for us in this life. And we exclude folks who can’t tolerate us, for as long as they can’t tolerate our choices. There’s nothing to gain from the standard Western approach of trying to unify through false uniformity. There is truly nothing in the world that we need to accomplish; we are striving to escape this world. We live with the fire of the Spirit to burn away the sins of his fallen existence.
Yet we know that the Lord is pleased to leave us here for a time, with a foot in both worlds. That’s only so that we can shine His glory to others who need to see it. Everyone deserves a chance to see His glory, the one and only thing that is anyone’s real interest. That’s the focus of our lives here.
You can belong to this online parish — Kiln of the Soul — simply by tolerating me as elder. You can belong to our religion — Radix Fidem — by embracing our unique approach to religion. It helps if you tell us about it, but that’s up to you. Announce it or don’t; you and the Lord can decide without our input. Otherwise you are free to hang around as much as you like.
What we really want to see is you prospering in the Lord by seizing your divine heritage on the way to our final journey Home.
