Dear ROLF of the HILL COUNTRY,
"Christ himself said that when he comes again, he won't hear everyone who cries 'Lord;' but only those who obey his commandments."
There is a certain bitter irony in the scenario of someone likely coming from a set of traditions that includes "Once Saved, Always Saved" lecturing about presumption those who come from traditions where we dare not presume.
Mr. Dreher is a member of Orthodoxy. He is more than welcome to offer any critiques, suggestions, hints, clues, innovations or other bright ideas to his new communion, fellow worshippers, and hierarchs.
But Mr. Dreher made a pointed, public, and execrable exit from the Catholic Church. From our perspective, he is an apostate. One hopes that he will not ultimately be damned, but one does not generally seek advice about how to run one's Church from folks who have apostasized from one's Church.
In fact, it isn't unusual if one doesn't really care much about what others say generally about running one's church if those folks aren't a part of one's church.
It doesn't really have much to do with who is going to Heaven, and who isn't, but rather the right of an organization to make and enforce its own rules, without interference from those who do not wish to commit to the organization through membership.
sitetest