Well not me specifically — but Dave Schmelzer’s.
I’m reading Schmelzer’s book, “Not the Religious Type.”
In it, (chp 3 I believe) he gives a great explanation of how M. Scott Peck saved his life.
I hate to steal his thunder but this explanation really hit home with me and thought it was worth sharing here. After you read it, you can go out and buy the book for yourself :-).
Peck (via Schmelzer) says our spiritual lives are a lot like our regular physical lives in development but the timelines don’t always match up.
Peck says our spiritual lives can be categorized into 4 stages.
Stage 1, the infant or the criminal stage. We do what we want when we want with no regard to others or the rules.
Stage 2, the rules-based stage corresponds with ages six or seven. In this stage we’re suddenly concerned about pleasing the parents (or God) and concerned about what the rules are (and how we can follow them and ensure other people follow them). We suddenly want to be sure we’re following the rules all the time.
Schmelzer writes, that the institutions that best serve this stage are the military and the church. Both offer discipline and boundaries — and most churches and those in them are in stage 2. (I would add that educational institutions as a whole are also very much stuck in the stage 2 mindset.)
Stage 3 is the rebellious teen years. We question everything we learned in stage 2 and thus begins the battle between stage 2 and 3. If you’re in stage 2 in a religious community everyone on the outside is either a lawbreaker (stage 1) or a rebellious libertine (stage 3).
Schmelzer also notes that the Republican party could be easily be viewed as stage 2 and the Democrats could be stage 3. Stage 2ers will heap scorn on stage 3ers by using words like “liberal” — and use it as a word that’s so shameful you don’t even have to say why it’s shameful. Stage 3ers will scorn stage 2ers by just spreading the idea that they’re all idiots for believing all that they do.
Unfortunately most people in stage 3 don’t realize there’s a stage 4, the mystical stage. Suddenly in stage 4 you realize that most of the things you learned in stage 2 are probably right, but they’re much more richer and more mysterious than you ever would have imagined.
Stage 2 says, “Ok as of 3 p.m. I believed in Jesus so I’m going to heaven no matter what.” Stage 4 however would say “I think I believe but what does ‘believe’ actually mean? Am I believing now? Do I have to continually believe? Am I saved once, or is it a continual thing?”
Stage 2 folks would then look at stage 4 folks with tons of suspicion and say, “They seem to be saying the same stuff, but every word out of their mouths is slippery. Why wont they just stand on the truth. What kind of tap-dancing cowards are these people?”
So there you go – how M. Scott Peck saved my life – or sort of. Or something like that. What does “saved my life” really mean? 🙂
Looking forward to the rest of the book.
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