On Evangelizing Through Love and the ORC

[High_On_Math 399]

Thesis on Evangelizing Through Love and the ORC

By Nina

 

The world is filled with countless souls, each of which is a precious creation of God.  Yet today, there is a disturbing lack of empathy, and in some cases, even hatred, for those destined for the void.  This is especially the case in the Orenian Revised Code.  This is not what we as believers are called to.  The Church today must strive to share God's truth, grace, and mercy with the people of the world by overcoming our fear of evil by placing our faith in God's goodness.

 

The Holy Scriptures tell us to spread the truth with love, not hate.  The Canticle of Faith, verse 8, “And you shall give your fellows the abundance of the spirit, which is my word,” commands us to spread God’s truth to others.  It does not, however, command us to force those who hear the word to accept it.  Furthermore, the Canticle of Patience, verse 9, tells us that we must not, “raise a hand in wrath.”  This does not condemn all violence, but it does condemn violence inspired by hatred.  Thus, when we must take action against the evils of this world through violence, we must remember not to do so out of hatred, but rather out of love and the desire to do good.  Finally, the Canticle of Humility, verse 8, declares that no one is perfect except for God, and that because of this, we cannot assume ourselves to be better than others.  The verse does not say, “don’t judge yourself compared to other Cannonists, but feel free to judge yourself compared to the evil heathens.”  It simply says, “You shall not judge your own virtue…”  Thus, we are commanded not only to refrain from judging our goodness in contrast to other Cannonists, but to also refrain from judging our goodness at all, even in contrast to pagans, atheists, and the like.

 

In contrast to the loving pursuit of Truth that we are commanded to partake in, the Orenian Revised Code (ORC), contains laws that seek to forcefully impose belief rather than to lovingly convince unbelievers.  There are two distinct categories of laws contained under CH 205 - On Injury Against the Faith.  One subset of laws seeks to regulate the promulgation of false teachings.  These laws are fair and just, as they seek to prevent the tragic loss of souls to the void through proscribing speech that seeks to turn others away from the truth.  These laws are 205.01, 205.05, 205.06, and 205.07.  The second subset of laws is, at best, a futile attempt at bringing unbelievers to god, and at worst a tool for inadvertently turning individuals away from him.  These laws seek to legislatively mandate a belief in God.  I ask you, can a human-made law commanding pagans to believe in God truly change their heart?  Surely, these laws can only promote a life of lies, where pagans will only pretend to be believers.  This is far worse than allowing pagans to openly admit their beliefs, for it prevents us from learning of their need for truth and evangelizing them with love, and it also promotes a life of deceit - in other words, a life of sin.  These laws are 205.02, 205.03, and 205.04.  In lieu of these laws, new laws should be proposed that legislatively mandate religious training for atheists and pagans, that they might have a clear and compassionate instruction to teach them of the flaws in their thinking.

 

The Scroll of Spirit, Epistle to the Godwinites, verse 3, says, “Verily, brother, the Lord God has given no compulsion in faith,” yet we are taking it upon ourselves to force others to have faith.  This is not what God intended for us.

 

Perhaps a much greater fault in the Orenian Revised Code is its repugnant treatment of “abominations”.  In the Epistle to the Elves, Owyn admonishes the elves for only selectively treating God’s creation with respect,

 “The Lord is the Lord GOD without peer, but you have reserved your worship for his worldly creations, and divided the world into what is holy and what is profane. 

8 This is a sin of remarkable folly, for there is no holiness in creation but with the Lord, and no profanity but for what is without Him. 9 All things are the Lord’s creation, and what is profane cannot be holy.”

Owyn goes on to remind the elves that,

“Verily, brother, the Lord GOD is in all things, and He is eminent above them”

And that,

“GOD is in all creation, and divinity comes not from the verdure nor the beasts of this world, but are breathed into them by Him.”

Now, “abominations” are not created ex nihilo by iblees, but are Descendents or other creations of God cursed by him.  Does God leave things that are cursed by iblees?  I surely hope not, for all four descendant races have been cursed, and so we would all be hopeless abominations.  For if God left all things touched by iblees, would that not imply that the power of iblees is greater than the power of God?  

 

We must forsake our hatred for the cursed, and instead show them love, for nowhere in the Holy Scriptures is it written that they are condemned to the void.  Through love and kindness, we may yet revive their souls.

 

Yet the Orenian Revised Code treats the unfortunate cursed with less respect than that of beasts and plants.  For while beasts and plants are afforded protection by virtue of being property of persons, so that someone who does not own the beast or the plant cannot attack it without reason or permission, “abominations” are utterly unprotected from assault.  They are afforded no rights under the Orenian Revised Code.  How then, are we to show them pity?  How then, are we to treat them as members of God’s creation?

 

On the individual level, each and every one of us must strive to become a better testament to God’s mercy and grace.  But some laws of the ORC impede this effort by mandating judgement rather than mercy, and hate rather than love.  These laws are in fundamental conflict with God’s will for us, and we must now choose if we shall follow humans or God.

[JoanOfArc 4586]

Spoiler

The following letter is public:

To Nina, a child of God,

 

I write this letter to you that you may find peace in knowing the Church of Canon read all letters sent to it. As I lack the skill with a pen and paper over voice, I beg your pardon for my writing style for letters.

 

To firstly state,  the foundation and basis for in which the Orenian Revised Code was written, was in indeed, the Church. You may see God's humble grace and mercy throughout all of the Orenian Revised Code. From condemnations of the dark arts that may be seen as beneficial to the upper echelons of society among other things to the due process of the law allowed forth by it-- it is a law code hundreds of years in the making. Even if the Orenian Revised Code was not written with the intention of the Church, myself and previous Metropolitans have had the opportunity to amend injustices presented by the Orenian Revised Code. The Emperor personally appoints the Metropolitan of the Holy Orenian Empire to this duty-- to verify and check the law code is up to the standards of the Church. Of which, I believe it is.

 

Secondly, you claim to speak with authority of the Scripture. While I do doubt this comes out of a place of self-absorbed authority, it is nevertheless not a place a layman should come from. Now, saying this, The Canticle of Humility is correct because no one is better than God, but that does not mean baptized Canonists and apostates / heathens are on equal footing. Canon Law of the Church, for example, only applies to the baptized. Baptized members of the Church are apart of God's Kingdom, and all that are not are not consider God's children. They are subject to treatment however deemed fit by the State, which shows them incredible mercy by not outright slaying them on sight.

 

And child, you are absolutely required to spread to word! Yes, through love, but if the State wishes to enforce it through martial arms-- that is a blessing! The sword can bring the faith where it needs to be as we have seen time and time again with the early Lucienist movement spreading through protection of holy land of Balion and the Owynist movement's righteous fervor of Crusades with examples ranging like the White Rose. There is a precedent in the Church for these things.

 

Abominations range include creatures like the Kha or Houzi or Musin- which are, by all accounts, twisted creatures by demonic forces. Do you believe animals should be treated akin to descendant-kind because they talk like humans? Well, you do not need to ponder that question-- because the Church leaves it up to the state and priesthood to decide. And at this time, the Church decides to treat them like roaming animals. May they be able to obtain human souls in the Heavenly Skies? No man of the Church knows the answer-- and if they do, let them be anathema.

 

Regarding the Orcs (being the race and not the law code itself), Orcs usually are kept out of human society with the mere fact they are perpetually exiled from human settlements for their crime of killing Ex. Horen. While there are still those Orckin who are able to be stable, this is the reason for their poor treatment. They are guests in the Empire,-- allowed to be there by grace of the Emperor. Nothing more.

 

I write to this to state facts, child, so do not feel anger in my writing. If you wish to talk more about this topic, send me a letter and I will write back to you. My thoughts are jumbled, but alas, it is a curse of my letter writing.

 

May Sts. Lucien and Adrian bless this Holy Empire,

Cardinal Gawain, FSSCT

Metropolitan and Cardinal of Providentia