The term orthopraxy comes from the Greek for "correct action / activity" and is used to emphasize the correct conduct, particularly with regards to religious activity. This is contrasted with the idea of orthodoxy, which is about having the correct sort of belief.
On Sunday, my pastor Jeff told one of Jesus' parables in the course of his sermon. It was about two brothers whose father owned a vineyard. One day the father asked both brothers to go work in the vineyard that day. The first one said, "sure, of course, I'll go!" but then other stuff came up and he decided not to. The second one said he wouldn't work in the vineyard, but then he changed his mind and went anyway. So Jesus asks his followers the question: "Which brother did what his father asked?"
In the course of thinking about this today, I'm reminded again of the importance of orthopraxy. There are a lot of people out there who make really grand claims about the correctness of what they believe. They make a point of dotting all their theological i's and crossing their t's and will argue till they're blue in the face why they're right and you're wrong. Then there are others whose lives demonstrate the belief that's in their hearts. I think at the end of the day God is going to care more about what our actions and hearts say about our faith than the correctness of what we say with our mouths. And if someone is on a faith journey toward God, I would much rather encourage them to seek him wholeheartedly and trust him than argue theological orthodoxy.
But that's just me.
:)
No comments:
Post a Comment