On the Slough of Despond and the Village of Morality

What can the iMonk and similar types learn from knowing they are in the Slough of Despond? Two things:

1. They are not in any unique or unusual situation. What they are experiencing is typical and common. The Slough of Despond is one of the two most common stumblingblocks or detours of the faith once one sets off down the road (yet before one actually enters the Way through the Wicket-Gate). There are two stumblingblocks (or detours): the Slough of Despond and the Village of Morality. Notice the Slough of Despond-stuck iMonk sees enough to poke sticks at the Village of Morality people, and vice-versa, but they are both stuck and not on the Way. This is why I pointed out that the very fact that the Village of Morality resident Frank Turk didn't ban the iMonk from commenting on his sight was evidence that they have more in common with each other than either of them have with a Christian who has gone through the Wicket-Gate and entered the Way proper. The Christian who enters the Way will be banned by both the iMonk and Mr. Turk.

2. And this is the second thing: they have yet to enter the Way. I.e. they have yet to go through the Wicket-Gate. This will be the most difficult thing for them to accept about themselves and their situation. It is hard to accept that you are stuck not only at a common stumblingblock but also one that is merely one step away from the very beginning point of the Faith. They will not want to entertain the thought that they can be so long a Christian and yet be so short a distance down the road. But entering the Way proper is rare.

For both the Slough of Despond types and the Village of Morality types the main thing to see is that Christianity is about being on the Way. It involves action and effort. It's not about plunking yourself down by the side of the road and calling yourself a Christian. It's about striving on a 'way' -- the Way. Staying on that Way; walking on that Way. Climbing that Way. Crawling along that Way. Fighting forces that would draw you off or oppose you along that Way. But you have to enter the Way to begin with, and being stuck in the Slough of Despond or smugly righteous as a resident in the Village of Morality means you have yet to enter the Way.

Understand too that it is the Puritans here who are schooling you. The Puritans understood the Faith and practiced the Faith. They didn't make of the faith 'family time' in the local church. They didn't turn Scripture upside down by determining when God says "fear God" he really means "fear man". They were spiritual soldiers who knew what it meant to enter the Way and walk the Way, and they knew what the goal is, and that it's not attained by the self-absorbed despondent or the smugly self-righteous; and that it involves action and effort and not sitting on your ass.