Christianity is not reading about a safari. Christianity is going on safari.
Christianity is not about indoctrination. Christianity is about exploration. We explore the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God at the holy places that define the escape route through the hostile desert of godlessness from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh to freedom with God and his holy family in the promised land [The genius of the living God himself produced this living and breathing allegory!]. The Church is the tour guide.
Thus, we do not become Christians head first. We become Christians feet first. The head follows the feet.
To rescue us, God built an escape route from godlessness to paradise, defined it with holy places, made a map of them, established a Church, entrusted the map to the Church and gave the bosses of the Church the mission of facilitating the escape - not frustrating it, not filtering it and not fouling it up. The map is the corpus of the divine trust. The bosses of the Church are the trustees of the map and we, the peasantry of the Church, are the beneficiaries of the trust. As trustees, the bosses of the Church owe the peasantry fiduciary duties. They perform them in accordance with the articles of the trust. The bosses were put in charge of the logistics of the escape. They are supposed to be the grease for the wheels of the escape and not an obstacle in its way. If the bosses of the Church gets in the way of the escape, the peasantry of the Church goes around it, over it, under it and through it. Only by passing from holy place to holy place that define the escape route can we be sure that we are heading in the right direction. The escape is the needle of the compass that always points in the direction of paradise. The escape from godlessness to paradise is primary. Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect (Matthew 23:13) (Matthew 23:24) (Matthew 6:33).
Jesus is the escape route. He is the bridge between the world of godlessness and the world of paradise. He is the way, etc. He is the conductor through which runs the current of salvation that arises from the potential difference between the sourness of godlessness and the sweetness of paradise. On the near side of his bloody wounds is the sourness of godlessness. The sourness of godlessness is the engine that pushes us to its exit. On the far side of his bloody wounds is the sweetness of paradise. The sweetness of paradise is the engine that pulls us to its entrance. But there is a gap between the exit of godlessness and the entrance of paradise - an abyss. At the gap, "a great leap must be made from time to eternity". We make the great leap through his bloody wounds. Through his bloody wounds goes the escape. The escape starts in godlessness, passes through his bloody wounds, and finishes in paradise.
At a holy place that helps to define the escape route a close encounter with the living God takes place. During a close encounter with the living God, a connection is made between earth and heaven. Through the connection, the light of paradise illuminates the darkness of godlessness. No one walks away from a close encounter with the living God unchanged. No one walks away from a close encounter with the living God empty handed.
Examples of the holy places upon the earth at which close encounters with the living God take place are the Mass, Confession, the other sacraments, works of charity, acts of kindness, prayer especially the rosary, Eucharistic adoration, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, fasting, the gathering of two or more together in God's name, bible study, suffering, the hour of death, etc.
