The middle lesson today, from the Second Letter of St. Peter, mentions a debate that was going on in the early Church. This passage reminds us of a profound truth about Christian doctrines. Christian doctrines don't appear out of thin air. Rather, doctrines are attempts to put into words the experience of many people in many places over many centuries. Doctrines are one way that mysterious inner events are expressed in words.
Doctrines emerge from experience.
And the words of doctrine help us to understand our experience. But the distinction is a real one. They can range from watching a sunset, to going to church, to the vision of the three disciples on the mountaintop. So if the sunset points me toward the theological understanding of God as the Creator of the universe, for example, then my experience becomes religious. If the still, small voice I hear within me tells me that I have a calling, and that calling means following a plan that God has for me, then the still, small voice will be more than a private experience.