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\nWith your
\npermission, I am interested to find out more information about your spiritual
\npersonality before becoming an Orthodox. Who were you before discovering
\nOrthodoxy and what was your view on life and its purpose?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\nI was raised in a very devout Baptist family in
\nAmerica. The rural culture of that time was quite anti-intellectual, and as a
\nteenager I became an atheist (although I told no one). Eventually at the end of
\nmy military service I came to believe atheism was even more intellectually
\nbankrupt and returned to the church. My faith became central to my life. The
\npurpose of life was to know God better and to live out what His will for my
\nlife was. After university I went to seminary for a Master\u2019s degree. I was ordained
\nas a Baptist minister, but my heart was in the academia. I completed my Ph.D.
\nin Koine Greek and New Testament. I went on to teach in a Baptist University
\nfor 14 years. Over the years my faith became more \u201cintellectualized\u201d and less a
\nmatter of the heart. The purpose of life became more about professional and
\nacademic goals, rather than my earlier goal of knowing God. I went through the
\npainful ordeal of a divorce, which led me to resigning from the University. I
\ndo not blame being a Protestant for that; I had to accept full responsibility
\nfor my own moral and spiritual failures. It was at that time I was offered a
\njob teaching English in St. Petersburg, Russia. I left America and lived in
\nRussia for three years. I married my present wife in St. Petersburg in 2007.
\nShe was raised in a Communist home, but had joined a Protestant church years
\nbefore I met her. We were not in church when we married, and spirituality,
\nsadly, played no part in my life. I think at that time I probably could not
\nhave given any purpose for my life other than the immediate concerns of each
\nday. We came to America in 2008. My old life in America could not be recovered.
\nI became quite despondent because I now had a job I did not find fulfilling and
\nvery few of my old friends. Life had lost its purpose. My wife eventually
\nstarted going to church\u2014one of many Baptist churches in the area. Later I
\njoined her, and eventually we found our place among the faithful there. I was
\nasked to teach a group in Sunday School and again committed myself to knowing
\nGod and doing His will.<\/span><\/p>\n\nWhich was
\nthe main reason why you have made the decision to convert to the Orthodox
\nChurch? What exactly have you discovered in Orthodox spirituality?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\nIt is very difficult to say what the main thing
\nwas that led to my conversion. First, my decision to become Orthodox was based
\non what I found attractive in Orthodoxy; it was not because I was unhappy with
\nmy Protestant church or life in general. At the time we had no plans to live in
\nRussia again, but my interest in Russia had been rekindled when I read a book
\non the \u201cOctober Revolution.\u201d I started reading more on Russian history. I also
\nordered a conversational Russian course. For some reason, I kept reading
\nRussian history and trying to learn the basics of the language. Then I came
\nacross a book called \u201cThe Art of Prayer,\u201d which was a compilation from writings
\nof several Orthodox elders (mostly Russian). The majority of the writings came
\nfrom Theophan the Recluse and secondly Ignatiy Brianchaninov. I couldn\u2019t put the
\nbook down. I would read their prayers and teachings every morning before work
\nand before I went to bed at night. They were, obviously, from a time and a
\n\u201cworld\u201d very different from mine, but I knew the life they had in the Spirit
\nwas one I wanted. Something within me resonated with what these men wrote.
\nTheir spirituality was not about increasing the things you did or the number of
\npeople you influenced. It was \u201cputting your head inside your heart.\u201d It was
\nfocusing on the inner life, which would eventually result in exterior changes,
\nbut those were not the point. It certainly wasn\u2019t what Protestants call
\n\u201cantinomian,\u201d but neither was it focused on listing what was permissible and
\nnon-permissible behavior. I was brought up in a very legalistic atmosphere, and
\nit had always been difficult for me to overcome that. So when I had failed
\ncompletely morally and spiritually I considered myself a failure and had left
\nthe church\u2014and God. In the teachings of these Orthodox thinkers, they simply
\nplaced life on a different and deeper level altogether. There was an honesty
\nabout failures. As one monk said in response to the question on what he and the
\nother monks did in a monastery: \u201cWe fall down, and we get back up; we fall
\ndown, and we get back up.\u201d I found that very refreshing.<\/span><\/p>\n\nI then found an Orthodox Church about 40 minutes
\naway from my home and started attending Saturday night Vespers. I did not
\nunderstand a lot of what was going on there. What I did understand was that
\neverything there was about God. I sometimes smile when my Protestant friends
\nask me, \u201cWhat was it that attracted you to the Orthodox Church?\u201d I tell them,
\n\u201cThe fact that the Orthodox Church was not trying to attract me.\u201d They were
\nfriendly; they were caring. But worship wasn\u2019t about me. So I would have to say
\nit was the profound readings from those old Russian writers as well as the
\ntheocentric focus of Orthodox worship that were the primary factors that led to
\nmy conversion to Orthodoxy.<\/span><\/p>\n\nCan you
\nsay that becoming Orthodox, you have lived the most important or the deepest
\nspiritual revolution?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\nYes, I would say that my becoming Orthodox has
\nbeen the most significant \u201crevolution\u201d in my Christian experience. The last
\ntime I went to my Protestant church I left thinking about the positive things I
\nhad experienced. The music was profound and enjoyable; the sermon was a great
\ninterpretation of a biblical text; the greetings from others were very genuine.
\nAs I put the keys in the car, I distinctly recall the thought that seemed to
\nburst in my mind: \u201cBut did you really worship God?\u201d I had thought about God; I
\nhad \u201cabsorbed\u201d information about God; I had listened to descriptions of Him; I
\nfelt good singing about Him, yet I could not get those Saturday night services
\nat the Orthodox Church out of my mind. Those daily readings from Theophan and
\nthe Orthodox Liturgy had completely revolutionized my spiritual life.<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow and
\nwhy in your opinion can Orthodoxy help people gain redemption?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\nSince I am still fairly new to Orthodoxy this
\nquestion is a difficult one. I will offer what I can at this early stage in my
\n\u201cjourney into Orthodoxy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\nHow? Orthodoxy can help people gain redemption by
\nthose of us who are Orthodox living out our \u201ctheosis\u201d before others. The Spirit
\nof Christ is within us. Life is about letting the character of God become
\nmanifest through us. That way it is never letting others focus on us. We know
\nby \u201ctheosis\u201d we don\u2019t mean we become gods in essence. The divine \u201cenergies\u201d are
\npresent, however, and it is our responsibility to live redemptively with others.<\/span><\/p>\n\nWhy? There is a lot of brokenness in relationships
\nwith each other but ultimately with God. In my opinion, we won\u2019t mend the
\nbrokenness by pointing them to a really cool religious experience or spiritual
\nhedonism. These things are superficial resolutions. The Orthodox people with
\nwhom I came in contact reflected an honest concern that did not point me to
\nthemselves or to their experiences. Their message was simple: \u201cCome and see.\u201d
\nAgain, I came out of a religious culture that emphasized telling people about
\nJesus and being ready for any question they might have. We had to win them! We
\norganize \u201cworship\u201d services with their emotional and spiritual comfort in mind.
\nOrthodoxy can help people gain redemption because it points them to God.
\nOrthodoxy does not try and point them to improved social relationships at
\nchurch or offer an attractive religious experience. Orthodox doesn\u2019t have those
\n\u201ctraps\u201d in its history or religious sub-culture. Orthodoxy is founded on the
\ntruths of Holy Scripture and how those truths were interpreted by the
\nEcumenical Councils and the Church Fathers. It is not about novelty. What
\nOrthodoxy offers is the Body and Blood of Christ to a world in need of the
\nredemption found only in Him.<\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n\n
\n
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\nConsidering
\nthat you are a convert to Orthodoxy, what would be the most important lesson
\nthat everyone of us should learn in the Orthodox Church?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\nI suppose that the lesson from my conversion is
\nthat if someone like me who came from a devout Protestant background, gained
\nordination and degrees in that tradition, and then squandered it all, can end
\nup Eastern Orthodox then I think anyone can. I would like Orthodox people to
\nhave confidence in the faith we share. For my Ph.D. dissertation I spent a lot
\nof time studying polemic in the ancient world\u2013that is, how individuals and
\ngroups from various philosophical and cultural backgrounds argued with each
\nother. Polemic was when things had reached the boiling point. My conclusions
\nare that not much was ever gained with those arguments. I had many conversations
\nand lunches with my priest in America before I converted to Orthodoxy. He never
\nlaunched into what was wrong with Protestantism or Protestants. He never
\ncondemned any of the weaknesses he may have seen. He always let me ask my
\nquestions and patiently answered them. It was always about what Orthodoxy stood
\nfor, not who it stood against. I am concerned with a trend I saw in some
\nOrthodox circles in America which focused on where we disagree with other
\nbranches of Christianity and deciding which ones are really Christian and which
\nare not. The disagreements are there, but I see no advantage in focusing on
\nthem.<\/span><\/p>\n\nIn Russia, I don\u2019t see that as much as I see
\nanother problem which many of the Russian \u201celders\u201d I have read pointed to: the
\nneed to stay away from superstitions and empty traditions. Orthodoxy has such a
\ngreat appreciation for tradition. I think that is wonderful. Traditionalism,
\nhowever, focuses on aspects of one\u2019s culture or ethnic heritage which may have
\nnothing to do with the faith. Likewise, old ideas and activities that are
\nrooted more in paganism than the Christian faith ought to be left outside our
\nway of thinking as believers. We must remember the mother of all virtues is
\nhumility. There is nothing about national or ethnic pride that leads to
\nspiritual strength or virtues, whether it be American or Russian pride.<\/span><\/p>\n\nIn
\nConclusion:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\nIn conclusion I can say our family now feels very
\npositive about our move to Orthodoxy and to Russia. Joining the Orthodox Church
\nin America was one factor that would ultimately influence us to move to Russia,
\nalthough we did not see it that way at the time. As I indicated earlier, I had
\nbeen studying the Russian language and Russian history but only because I found
\nthese interesting, not because I had any inclination to move back to Russia.
\nWhen we became Orthodox, we had no plans to return to Russia.<\/span><\/p>\n\nWhile there were various factors in our decision
\nto move, the one area that forced the issue was our continued sense of
\nalienation from the direction in which American culture was going in terms of
\nmorals and faith. The \u201ctransgender\u201d issue became the spark I suppose. It was
\nnot just the issue itself, it was the cluster of ethical issues which made it
\ndifficult for those of us who hold to traditional Christian morals to be
\ntreated fairly.<\/span><\/p>\n\nOf course we knew the story of how the couple who
\nran a Christian bakery and could not with integrity bake for a homosexual
\nwedding had their lives ripped to pieces. Now it seemed the decision was final
\nthat gender identification was more a psychological state than a biological
\nfact. A mother in a department store near where we lived reported her little
\ngirl being approached in an inappropriate manner by a biological man who
\n\u201cidentified\u201d as a woman. The store had let it become public knowledge they
\nwould not enforce rules on who entered what restroom. The crucial concept of \u201ctolerance\u201d
\nwas applied in a highly inconsistent manner by the cultural watchdogs.<\/span><\/p>\n\nWhen we started considering our move to Russia I
\nstudied contemporary Russia as much as I could. I studied how Russian students
\nperformed on standardized international exams as well as other aspects of
\neducation in Russia.<\/span><\/p>\n\nWe wanted our children to go to public schools
\nbecause we believed it was the most efficient way to learn the language. I saw
\nthat President Putin and his education ministers were unambiguous in their belief
\nthat gender identity and other issues related to sexual practices were not the
\njob of the schools or the government. One had the freedom to be homosexual in
\nRussia, but anyone who was openly homosexual did not have the right to teach
\nchildren or engage in public affection with his or her partner.<\/span><\/p>\n\nFurther, Putin was not afraid to be seen with the
\nPatriarch of Moscow in a joint statements on abortion restriction and other
\n\u201chot topics.\u201d In America our son had a homosexual teacher who openly talked
\nabout what he and his partner did on weekends or whatever. Whether rightly or
\nwrongly I saw a trend toward an increasing intrusiveness by the government in
\nAmerica to dictate what my children could and could not be taught in terms of
\nultimate values.<\/span><\/p>\n\nI did not find those values to be consistent with
\nwhat we believed as an Orthodox family. The trend was moving further away from
\nmany of the shared cultural values which I had grown up with in America toward
\nviews I hardly recognized as intellectually or psychologically responsible. In
\nRussia, the trend was in a very different direction. As strange as it seemed,
\nthe culture that we in America had once called \u201cgodless and immoral\u201d was moving
\ntoward one in which an Orthodox family could flourish. I couldn’t dictate which
\nway America would go, but I could decide where my family would go.<\/span><\/p>\n\nInterview
\nconducted by Tudor Petcu<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\nInterviewee:
\nHal Freeman<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\nSource: https:\/\/russian-faith.com\/story-us-christian-who-moved-russia-save-his-children-moral-decay-n1423<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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