As far as mocking, mock away if you have the need. The location of Heaven is neither here not there in the Finished Work of Christ. I don't think there will be a geography test at the judgement seat of Christ. There are people who don't believe Heaven is a real place. Just a spiritual realm. I don't believe that. But you see, that doesn't make up my "stand back and mock" approach or "talk it over approach" to the Gospel of the Grace of God. If I were to say you must believe that Heaven is north for your salvation then it would be worthy of mocking and serious talking over. In the scheme of salvation, it means nothing, except an interesting discussion point over a glass of brandy, maybe.
If we claimed that, the argument would be relevant. That is not our claim. The two distinctions to hold onto are those between "ordinary" and "extraordinary" and between "esse" and "plene esse".
Any institution that derives their rules and regulations from men deserve to be looked at closely and examined under the microscope of God's Word.
Of course, we do not think we do that. Was Scofield (sp?) not a man?
And that institution is telling people with every sacrament, every doctrine, every tradition, that they are doing exactly that: churning out good Christians. Redemption cannot be taught.
No offense but that is NOT WHAT WE CLAIM. For crying out loud, read Dante if you want a fuller poetic reflection on our claims. The Archdiocese of Washington is producing some very fine articles which have been posted on FR, and a recent one was precisely directed AGAINST the notion that 'going through the motions' was anything other than a kind of idolatry.
Since you mention the heaven's place thing I will only see that to say that Ilike puzzles seems little tu-quoque-ish. (Brandy. mmmm!)
Once again, the materialist division between "real" and "spiritual" rears its modernist head. I think justice is "realer" than a rock in the eye.
You all complain that it is hard to pin us down because we seem to keep shifting our position. I think this SEEMING is so because the distinction between the simplicity of a thing and the simplicity of its explanation is neglected. God, we think, is utterly simple. But since we experience so few simple things and our language is formed around complexities, it takes a lot of words, provisos, and distinctions to express anything accurate about God.
But not everyone is called to that effort. While "God is Love," is a mystery inexhaustible by mere discourse, it is pretty much all one needs to affirm, with whatever level of coherence and precision one can muster -- be it never so small -- to "enjoy Him forever."
It is the materialism which seems to dominate post Reformation thought that views the Church was MERELY an institution. We view it as Body, Bride, an "army terrible with banners", as "mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won." We are rebuked ourselves for being materialistic in our Sacramental thought, but the rebuke often comes from those who see only the superficies of the Church.
Yesterday an "interdenominational" group met to witness, pray, and sing in front of planned parenthood. One friar was there, Fr. Steven, who is VERY bald. So he was wearing the Dominican habit of white tunic, scapular, and hood, AND a tan baseball cap to protect is fair and nekkid scalp.
I thought, "Yeah, that's about right."