So, today’s blog after
taking yesterday off is in regards to the second part of our Tollhouse cookies…
no wait. The Tollhouse Theology that’s better. I explained in the last blog why
Tollhouses are important to the faith and I want to reiterate that God is the
impartial judge and that the demons cannot drag someone to hell without God passing
judgment on that person. Only apostates and heretics are immediately sent to
hell because God has already passed judgement on them. Today’s blog will deal with each of the
tollhouses and give a brief description of what someone will face within each portion
of the journey. This will be taken from St. Theodora’s account of her ascension
to heaven, and I cannot claim all of this as my own thoughts. So please bear
with me, as I try and explain as best I can what the saint of blessed memory is
trying to convey through the figurative language she passed onto to Gregory.
She claims the first
torment, or tollhouse is that of idle speech. Therefore one must guard their
tongue in this life, for all idle talk and speech will be presented before the
judge (God) for the condemnation and salvation of the soul. All shameless songs,
foul speech, hateful words, wild cries and laughter will be brought before the
judge to accuse the soul of being idle in its time on earth. Your good deeds
and the prayers offered by the church will be given to you as satisfactory for
the committing of these offenses against God.
The second torment is
that of lying. All lies that you have spoken in the mortal life will be used to
accuse you of being a wretched soul. Any oaths you have broken, promises unkept
and so forth will be used against you to convince God of your unworthiness of
salvation. Again God knows all so he knows what you have done in this life.
This is not new to him. None of these are. He is giving you the chance to see your
sins as they are and how they have effected the life you lived by going through
the tollhouses.
The third torment is that
of speaking evil against your neighbor. Here St. Theodora says that all who do
this are themselves considered Antichrists. That they are the epitome of evil.
These are heinous because you have not seen the good, the pure in people who
are created in the image of God. You have accused them of terrible sins, of
horrible lies and made them out to be the worst of people. You have made
yourself lordly in your eyes and everyone else lowly. Therefore St. Theodora
says for us to not speak ill of anyone and to live our lives with humbleness
and respect. Reminding ourselves that each person is a mini-Christ, created in
the image of God.
The fourth torment is
that of gluttony. How often to we fast? Reject food? This will be tested here.
How much do we enjoy the pleasures of this world and focus on the things that
give us pleasure now instead of the pleasure that is eternal? All the times we
have not prayed before eating, not fasting before holy communion, and so on
will be brought to our attention at this point in the tollhouses they will accuse
us with the very goblets and dishes we ate and drank from. The demons will
rejoice in their ability to accuse us of these sins for we have felt the urge
to satisfy our pleasures instead of satisfying our souls before God. Once again,
the prayers of the church are lifted up for the passing of this tollhouse.
The fifth torment is
sloth. How much of our time are spending working, enjoying life, and not focusing
on God? Are we willing to sacrifice our reputation and our livelihoods for the
sake of the Kingdom? This is what God will ask of us in this tollhouse. How did
we spend our lives for his Kingdom? Did we pray? Did we attend Divine Liturgy?
Vespers? Compline? What did we reject because we were too lazy to get off our
butts and go and act on our faith. I
know this will probably be the torment that the demons will have the most to
accuse me of. I know that exercising my faith is my weakest point.
The sixth torment is stealing.
How much have we coveted the riches of others? How much have desired that which
is not ours? Have we been willing to take things that are not ours without any
thought to the repercussions of others? Have we taken that which rightfully
belonged to another and passed it off as our own? God will judge us here for
the things that we have stolen and taken because of our lust for the things of
this world.
The seventh torment is
riches. How much have strived for the rich things of this world? Nice cars,
nice houses, the ability to lord it over others that we have more than they do.
Do we hoard when we should give? Do we take bribes? Embezzle? This is what we
must be weary of in this tollhouse. God will judge us for those things that we
have acquired. How much did we desire the things of this life, and not the
riches of paradise?
The eight torment is usury.
Have we exploited those we have lent money to? Have we done evil to those we lend?
As you can see God takes mistreating others and the love of money very
seriously. Several of the torments or tollhouses as they are more commonly
called deal with the love of the pleasures of this life and not those of paradise.
I speak for myself when I say I would not want to risk my salvation and my
eternal soul on the pleasures of this life. I would reject them to the highest
degree if possible to be rid of the cares of this world. I do not have never
cared for riches or the pleasures of this world. And so usury, by exploiting
those I have lent money to is just sad to me and a horrible thought. Do not
give something to someone expecting it to be returned, but give freely just as
God gave his Son freely.
The ninth torment is
injustice. How have we treated those around us? Have we mistreated them harshly
because they are different than us? Have we cursed them when we should love
them? Have we spoken ill of them? Do we use false weights and measures to accuse
people of not being able to pay? Do we confine people to certain locations due
to the color of their skin? Do we harm our neighbors to be seen as great in the
eyes of our fellow man?
The tenth torment and the
torment I will stop with today, and finish with the other ten in another post
is that envy. Many of these torments or tollhouses can be summed up as envy,
but this one hits it head on. How much mercy have we shown? Or are we filled
with hatred for our neighbors, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ?
Are we unfriendly? God here will see into the portion of our souls that reveal
the deepest darkest envious portions and how we have either loved our neighbors
or have rejected them completely.
As you can see I have
asked a lot of questions rather than given straight and specific things for you
to understand today. That is what awaits us in the tollhouses of God, these
questions will be asked of us. How will we give an account for our
actions. We have completed half the
journey. In the next article, I will finish the journey and describe what will
come upon entering paradise. Please bear with me, and understand that as I writing
this I too am learning from this. This is actually one of the first times I have
studied in depth this great teaching of the church.
Amen.
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