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In Fyodor Dostoyevsky's House of the Dead, he makes the poignant remark that no matter how far a person has fallen, he can never be made to forget that he is a person. In fact, there are many cases in which, "even in those in whom the image of God has long since been thoroughly tarnished, if you treat then like a person they will begin to act human again."

There is so much truth in this. I belonged to a very wonderful protestant sect for some time before becoming Orthodox, but one of the hardest things about going there was just how unapproachable their pastor in particular was, and how difficult it was to connect with the older men in the parish. The reason, they would all form these snap judgments and then speak to younger men in a very demeaning way. Years later, I've even tried to reconnect with some of these men, only because I have family who still go there and I'd like to be able to respect their choice to do so, and be part of their spiritual journey there, and strangely,found that they still have some sort of bizarre contempt for me, despite my best efforts to show them respect. Joining Orthodoxy, I found the opposite, in the Orthodox Church, our priest is warm and accessible, and he doesn't treat us like we're something he found on his shoe, he treats us like we are made in the image of God.

What I've seen in my life and in the lives of many others, is that men like my parish priest, and the older men in my parish, who treat everyone like they are image bearers of God, is that younger men see that and. In the majority of cases anyway, they respond by being transformed. They see that their pastor cares about them and doesn't look down on them, they see that older men respect and regard them, and they become better people because of it.

This doesn't just apply to churches. In all walks of life we can benefit from Dostoyevsky's wisdom here. If you love and respect people enough to treat them like human beings, you might be surprised how it affects em.

Let us all observe this, and learn from it.

#Orthodoxy #orthododoxchurch #orthodoxtheology #orthodoxchristian #easternorthodox #jesussaves #jesusstillsaves #christianity #dostoyevsky #fyodordostoyevsky

Description
In Fyodor Dostoyevsky's House of the Dead, he makes the poignant remark that no matter how far a person has fallen, he can never be made to forget that he is a person. In fact, there are many cases in which, "even in those in whom the image of God has long since been thoroughly tarnished, if you treat then like a person they will begin to act human again."

There is so much truth in this. I belonged to a very wonderful protestant sect for some time before becoming Orthodox, but one of the hardest things about going there was just how unapproachable their pastor in particular was, and how difficult it was to connect with the older men in the parish. The reason, they would all form these snap judgments and then speak to younger men in a very demeaning way. Years later, I've even tried to reconnect with some of these men, only because I have family who still go there and I'd like to be able to respect their choice to do so, and be part of their spiritual journey there, and strangely,found that they still have some sort of bizarre contempt for me, despite my best efforts to show them respect. Joining Orthodoxy, I found the opposite, in the Orthodox Church, our priest is warm and accessible, and he doesn't treat us like we're something he found on his shoe, he treats us like we are made in the image of God.

What I've seen in my life and in the lives of many others, is that men like my parish priest, and the older men in my parish, who treat everyone like they are image bearers of God, is that younger men see that and. In the majority of cases anyway, they respond by being transformed. They see that their pastor cares about them and doesn't look down on them, they see that older men respect and regard them, and they become better people because of it.

This doesn't just apply to churches. In all walks of life we can benefit from Dostoyevsky's wisdom here. If you love and respect people enough to treat them like human beings, you might be surprised how it affects em.

Let us all observe this, and learn from it.

#Orthodoxy #orthododoxchurch #orthodoxtheology #orthodoxchristian #easternorthodox #jesussaves #jesusstillsaves #christianity #dostoyevsky #fyodordostoyevsky