On Obedience and the Error of Compulsion

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De Oboedientia et Errore Compulsionis

 

On Obedience and the Error of Compulsion

 

By Father Florian

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Dear Brothers and Laymen, 

Among the gravest errors committed in matters of faith is the conflation of obedience with compulsion. I can imagine many priests that would force or coerce our faith onto others, shouting in jubilation that they had saved a man's soul and brought him onto the righteous path of the Lord. Yet what I would have to ask myself if I were faced with such a situation is: Would this man be a faithful and obedient servant? To that, I believe the answer is no. 

Obedience to the Lord, if it is to be meaningful, must be freely rendered. Where there is no freedom to refuse, there can be no obedience, only submission. And submission, though it may very well resemble faith in form, lacks it in substance. For the Lord does not require coerced fidelity, as coerced fidelity is no fidelity at all. He who is most high has no need to extract loyalty through threat, nor to bind the conscience through fear. Indeed, if the Lord desired such, He would have fashioned man otherwise. That He did not is itself revelatory. The mere existence of conscience testifies that the Lord wills not merely action and compliance but truth and willing, virtuous servants. Yet still, some of my brothers argue that divine authority necessitates compulsion, that the Lord’s sovereignty would be diminished were man permitted to refuse Him. To this I say: Authority that depends upon coercion is already weak. And who is anyone to say the authority of our Lord GOD is weak? His authority is not enforced by fear of punishment. It is sustained, as I have said, by the reality of truth. He does not command as a tyrant commands, but as reality itself commands: irresistibly to those who see it and yet never violently to those who turn away.

Verily, brother, the Lord GOD has given no compulsion in faith.

Spirit 1:3

Thus, when the faithful speak of obedience, they must take care not to speak as though GOD were a despot demanding proof through compulsion or even suffering. The Lord is not appeased by grief or placated by sacrifice or deeds offered under duress. He is honoured only when man sees the cost of obedience clearly and consents nonetheless. Naturally the Church, in her instruction and discipline, should reflect this principle. Take the example of a young man who comes to confession, distraught and unsure of whether or not he should join our Holy Mother Church as a priest. To this I say: The confessor (or the priest), though vested with authority, must never usurp the conscience of the penitent (or layman). He is not appointed to decide and certainly never to compel but to witness and clarify. When a penitent asks: “What must I do?”, the priest errs gravely if he answers with a command. In this example, to command that man’s vocation would mean to destroy it. A vocation chosen under pressure will bear not the fruits of obedience but of resentment, fear, or eventual apostasy. Faith compelled upon a man would certainly have a similar outcome. GOD desires sons and not conscripts. 

And to those of my brothers who would have the opinion that suffering or pain is what truly strengthens our faith and resolve, it must be said that obedience cannot be reduced to mere endurance of circumstance. There are many who suffer and yet do not obey. And there are many yet who endure and inwardly rebel. A man may be forced into martyrdom and yet curse the Lord in his heart, yet another may be spared suffering and still obey with quiet faithfulness. GOD judges not the spectacle or suffering of a man, but rather what he chooses to do with the freedom he is given. Whereas I say about this freedom: That to obey freely is not to act without restraint nor to dismiss the boundaries of virtue or law. Freedom does not negate law, quite the opposite in fact, it makes law meaningful. Where there is no possibility of refusal, law is nullified. Where there is no alternative but to comply, any virtue dissolves into inevitability. GOD, in granting freedom, grants also the possibility of sin. This is not a defect in creation, rather a condition of virtue. A world in which obedience is unavoidable would be a world without holiness, piety, fidelity, etc.

And as I have created for you the struggles of the world, so too do I create the struggles of the spirit. And as I have created the struggles of the world and the spirit, so too do I bring their remedies. For I have given you the pains of the world, and I have given you their cure. And you shall know the trials of this theatre of virtue and know that they shall strengthen you.

Virtue 5:5–8

Indeed, the Lord’s holy word itself clarifies. The trials and sufferings of the world are not instruments of forced compliance. What they are are arenas in which obedience may be freely chosen. GOD creates His "theatre", however, He does not dictate the actor’s consent. Indeed, even the saints, those most perfected in all the skies, are praised for their unwavering and, more importantly, willing faithfulness. Will any say that the saints or even the prophets were coerced or compelled into seeking out a life of virtue in the path of our Lord? Nay. They chose of their own accord without need of any compulsion, be it by the sword or something else. 

Let it therefore be held that for obedience to be truly virtuous, it must be free and that for authority to be truly divine, it must not depend upon coercion. The Lord’s sovereignty is not weakened by man’s freedom. Instead, it is magnified by it. For it is no great thing to command what cannot resist. It is a far greater thing to be obeyed by those who may refuse. Our Church must guard against every doctrine that exalts compulsion as piety. We must never coerce a man before the altar and force submission. Neither should we convert heretics or heathens by the sword. Only a man who truly believes, truly feels the Lord’s love, and truly wishes to give his life to Him, serve Him, praise Him, and pray to only Him, of his free conscience, will be a faithful servant and have GOD smile upon him. Faith that is compelled, that lacks choice, is no faith at all. What is truly faithful is the right use of this choice. And in this, the dignity of man stands, and the glory of our Lord GOD is truly heightened.