Quote by Patristic Saying

"A Good thing is not good if it is not achieved in a good way."

Patristic Saying


Source:


http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/athos_bal.aspx

a layman's thoughts - Is Christianity just another Ideology?

I had to think about this a bit and figure out is our faith really just another set of moral codes? Is it another ideology? If it is, then I would have to say as some of my friends already have said: "Why do I need the Church to be a good person? I can be kind and moral outside the Church just as well as if inside it, right?" After all, the intellectual argument goes like this: can't an atheist, agnostic, secularist, etc., be a good person? And if the answer is yes they can, then why do they need the Church?
   Christopher Hitchens once asked a crowd, discussing and debating God or no God, what is it that I as an atheist cannot do that a Christian can do? I don't think the debater against him answered that question and no one from the crowd fired back an answer either. So what are we to think now? If there is no difference between a Church attending Christian and a non-church attending atheist and, they are both good people by following morals and the mores of society,  then what is the difference between them? In other words, does it make me a better person if I attend Church then if I do not? If the answer is no and it does not matter, then we should conclude that the Church is not necessary for moral goodness. Because I can be good outside of the Church.
   I think if we pose the question like this, then it changes the game a bit: Can I be Christ-like or a "new" person without being part of the Body-of-Christ? The way the ancient Church understood what the Church is in relation to an Ideology was that it was a spiritual hospital for the formation of the "new" person in Christ and not an ideology or moral conduct code. And by being a participant in the mysteries of Christ or the Sacraments, a person begins to be more like Christ or as the ancient Church understood the process called Theosis. This then, logically, and more directly, mysteriously, transforms the person so they become other-worldly or not of this world. They are in the process of Theosis, a change in the inward man so they experience Christ's presence in the now and not only after death or in Heaven.
   This way or life of the Church changes it from an ideology to a participatory way of living in the Body of Christ which is the Church and the life in Him. The early Church therefore separated itself from ideology and looked instead to divine transformation and the early Church proves this through the lives of the Saints and Patriarchs.
   So when (God rest his soul) Christopher Hitchens asked what was it that he could not do and a Christian could... I guess the answer was and is that he could not become a Saint. He could not participate in the Life of Christ, which is not an outward moral code of living but a real living Sacramental life, Eucharistic life, and eternal life; a life to be lived now in the present.
   Now the big question comes: do all churches agree on the sacramental life of the Church as it was understood by the early Church? The clear response to this is a big no! And therefore, the staggering conclusion has to follow: all current churches therefore are incorrect or only one can be correct, one can be the truth, one holy, catholic and apostolic Church. We see and realize the current confusion of a fragmented idea of Church as it exists today in multiple-denominations and many others. Either the Eucharist is the Presence of Christ and real communion with Him or it is a symbol. Either the Sacraments are a mysterious unity with God or not. We can't have it both ways: Yes or No.The Church of Heaven cannot be divided and the Church on earth cannot be divided if it partakes of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There is no such thing as a divided Church as there is no such thing as a divided Trinity. The Church of Christ is visible, invisible, and indivisible... forever and ever unto the ages of ages.
  Furthermore, If we assume then that all the Churches are wrong, then what Christ said here is proved to be false... ¹⁸ And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18-19). ¹⁹  



In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and with the prayers of Saint Peter, the intercession prayers of St. Demetrios and blessed Elder Paisios of the Mount Athos. May we all be changed by the divine love of Jesus Christ to a good account before the awesome judgment seat of Christ unto life everlasting. Glory to God.

Women in the Priesthood and Same Sex Attaction- Bishop Kallistos Ware (audio)

Thanks to Ancient Faith Radio and Bishop Ware

http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/illuminedheart/metropolitan_kallistos_ware_on_gender

C.S. Lewis: The Long Terrible Story of Man

By C.S. Lewis

What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could "be like gods" - could set up on their own as if they had created themselves - be their own masters - invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history - money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery - the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.

The reason why it can never succeed is this. God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That's why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.

That is the key to history. Terrific energy is expended – civilizations are built up – excellent institutions devised; but each time something goes wrong. Some fatal flaw always brings the selfish and cruel people to the top and it all slides back into misery and ruin. In fact, the machine conks. It seems to start up all right and run a few yards, and then it breaks down. They are trying to run it on the wrong juice. That is what Satan has done to us humans.

From Mere Christianity ("The Shocking Alternative").

Thanks to :

http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/search/label/C.S.%20Lewis

 

 

 

Abbot Tryphon - LOVING OUR DETRACTORS

All-Merciful Saviour Orthodox Christian Monastery

LOVING OUR DETRACTORS
When We are the Occasion for
Another Person's Disdain
Because we are all brothers and sisters, we are responsible for the way we impact others. Often we are entirely innocent, yet by our very existence we become a source of great irritation and anxiety for other people. The only way we can change that is by loving them, and praying for them.
We don't offer our prayers that they see their errors in not appreciating us, and loving us, but that they may see that their hatred for us is bad for their soul. We pray that they be relieved of the burden of resenting us, or anyone.
...

If someone is awkward and socially blocked, their pain can be great, so we pray that they be relieved of their pain, not that they change their minds about us, or love and accept us, but that they find the inner peace that dispels their resentment for anyone.
Avoiding people who dislike us does not prosper our soul, for in avoiding people, or ignoring them because they dislike is, is not the way Christ would have us act. We love these people, and we pray for them, not to change their attitude about us, but that they find peace by seeing that their resentment is destroying their soul.

Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

posted:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/All-Merciful-Saviour-Orthodox-Christian-Monastery/104578182913886

 

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit: Then and Now - Joseph Torres

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit: Then and Now

Apr 6

Posted by Joseph Torres

Ever wondered about the “unpardonable sin”? Many believe this particular sin is so heinous once committed a person is forever cut off from the possibility of redemption.
This is enough to strike fear into the heart of any Christian.
Is this sin that big of a deal? Yes. But the real question is whether the sin in question is a one-time action.  After all, sin isn’t merely an act, but also a condition.
The passage in which Christ mentions the sin is unique in one way, and not unique in another. The unique sense is found when we think through the historical circumstance which triggered Christ’s mention of this sin. Here’s the passage:

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.
“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” (Mark 3:22-30, with parallels in Matt. 12:31-32, and Lk. 12:10)

The act in question that draws Christ’s strong language is unique. Jesus, the  Messianic King had appeared on the scene and was inaugurating the promised kingdom of God through the power of the promised end-time endowment of the Spirit. The Jewish leaders were watching the climactic moment of redemptive history and attributed it to the power of Satan. It was the equivalent of equating the work of the Holy Spirit, through the actions of God’s royal son, with witchcraft.  This specific sin is unique because the King isn’t on the earth any longer. We couldn’t commit it if we wanted to.
But the underlying condition that lead the Jewish leaders to make such a rash and damming judgment persists to our day as well. The problem wasn’t a single act, it was a spiritual condition that they (culpably) suffered from. They were witnessing the signs of the in-breaking of the “age to come” in front of their faces and suppressed it, choosing instead to blind themselves to the truth rather than “see.” This is a persistent hardness of heart that is hostile to the Holy Spirit’s convicting ministry to the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (Jn. 16:8). They loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. This kind of condition is irredeemable and unforgivable because it puts the person outside of the sphere in which forgiveness can he obtained. As N. T. Wright has put it,

To say such a thing ['This is the work of the devil.'] was to paint oneself into a corner from which there was no escape. Once define the battle for your liberation as the work of the enemy, and you will never be free. (N.T. Wright, Jesus And The Victory Of God, 454)

Where there is no repentance, and only hostility to God’s singular provision for redemption (“blasphemy”) there is no forgiveness. And there is no do-over, there is neither forgiveness now nor in the eternal statement, “they are guilty of an eternal sin.”


Thanks to source:

http://apolojet.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/blasphemy-against-the-holy-spirit-then-and-now/
 

Quote by N.T. Wright

To say such a thing ['This is the work of the devil.'] was to paint oneself into a corner from which there was no escape. Once define the battle for your liberation as the work of the enemy, and you will never be free.


(N.T. Wright, Jesus And The Victory Of God, 454)


Sources:


around the 1hr 37min mark
http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/aftoday/making_sense_of_the_difficult_sayings_of_jesus

http://apolojet.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/blasphemy-against-the-holy-spirit-then-and-now/