More on Syria

     This Syria situation is all so wrong.  Even the state-controlled Russia media understands what is happening.  For reasons beyond my comprehension, the US government, ala Obama, are supporting the Syria rebels.  The Syrian rebels who are Muslim.  The media in the US does not tell us that Syria is a Christian country.  Syria is the home of Antioch, the headquarters of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, where Peter, Paul, and Barnabas worked out of.
     So why is the US government supporting Muslim rebels, and opposing an already established Christian government, when the US is supposed to be a Christian nation?  The Christians in Syria are already suffering terribly at the hands of Islamic militants and terrorists.  Things for the church will become considerably worse if the Muslims come to power in Syria.

Important Article on Syria

Here is a link to a very important article concerning the violence that is currently underway in Syria.  The news we are receiving in the US is misleading and stunted.

Please take the time to read and consider this.

Why go to church?

The question has been asked, “Why should we go to church?” and this question really goes beyond anything having to do with convenience or taste.  With a hearty rejection of evolution and the concept of reality as mere accident, most people embrace some sort of belief in the divine.  So the question then must be asked, “What does this divine being require of us?”  The objective truth of the historicity of the Eastern Orthodox Church strongly answers with “communion.”  God created man to be in communion with him.  He did not create man because he needed to do so.  God already enjoyed perfect union and communion within himself as the Trinity, three persons in one.  But God chose to create man so that more beings could enjoy that perfect union/communion.  Man’s sinful proclivities cause him to desire things that are contrary to and destructive to his person.  When we are involved in the worship of God in the Divine Liturgy, we are slowly being healed and brought back into right relation with God.  Going to church is for our benefit.  It is a sign of our immaturity and lack of understanding that we would resist being in a loving relationship with our creator and sustainer.  So to answer the question, “Why go to church?” we answer, “Because that is what we were made for, to be in union with God in the environment that he has established.”

Vanity

When we talk about vanity, it is not merely the “I am beautiful, look at me” type of mentality.  It certainly does include that, but it is much larger than that.  Vanity has to do with all the earthly, temporary, temporal things.  We spend so much time every day, focusing on temporal things.  We go to school so we can have a good job so we can buy nice things so we can keep ourselves occupied with things temporal.  We push our kids to work hard in school so they can get good jobs so they can buy nice things, etc. etc. etc.

            I challenge you to keep detailed track of how you spend your time.  Time sleeping, working, driving, time on entertainment, time on chit-chat.  Keep detailed track of how you spend your money: food, clothes, instant entertainment, cars, house, toys.

            Now give consideration how much time is spent in church, in prayer, and helping others.  I am afraid to say that if we are honest, we will (or should be) ashamed.

A Three Minute Lesson in Church History

AD 33 - Christ is crucified, then resurrects

AD 33-66 - All the books of the New Testament are written in this time period, being circulated within the churches of the known world

AD 33 - the Holy Spirit is given at Pentecost, an official Jewish holiday in which thousands of Jews converge upon Jerusalem in celebration.  The church preaches to these masses and the many respond, eventually taking the gospel with them back to their own cities, including Rome

AD 33 - the church flourishes in Jerusalem, led by the Apostle James

AD 34 - the church begins and flourishes in Antioch, on the edge of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).  This is the headquarters for the church led by Peter, Paul, and Barnabas

AD 34 - the church flourishes in Rome

AD 42 - the church flourishes in Alexandria, Egypt

AD 330 - the church flourishes in Constantinople

AD 998 – Prince Vladimir, of Russia, having embraced the Christian faith, sent envoy’s around the known world to find the most faithful representation of Christianity, with whom to align his nation.  Upon visiting the church in Constantinople, the prince’s representatives declared, “During the Divine Liturgy, we did not know if we were on earth or in heaven.”  At this point, the nation of Russia became a Christian nation.

AD 1054 - the Roman church under the Roman bishop (AKA the pope) decides to take the position of primacy and demands that all Christians are under his authority.  The other bishops (Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople) say no.  The Roman church breaks away from the other churches.

AD 1517 - A monk named Martin Luther determines that there are serious errors within Roman Catholic doctrine and practice and seeks to correct the errors.  The Roman church excommunicates him, thus creating the Lutheran church and the start of the Protestant Reformation.

AD 1533 - John Calvin, a French lawyer, begins writing and questioning Roman Catholic doctrine and practice and is forced to flee to Switzerland, thus beginning the second wave of the Protestant Reformation, the Calvinists

AD 1536 - Menno Simons, a Dutch Roman Catholic priest, rejects the teaching and practice of the Roman Catholic church, including the teachings on the sacraments, thus beginning the third wave of Reformation, the Anabaptists, a more extreme form than Luther or Calvin

AD 1538 – The Anglican Church (known in America as the Episcopal church) separated from the Roman Catholic Church via the protestations of King Henry and his desire to re-marry for the fourth time.  The pope wouldn’t allow this, so Henry broke the churches of his country away from Rome and became the head of the church.

AD 1538 to Modern Day – From this point forward, the Protestant church has continued to splinter, especially in the US, constantly moving into divisions and even non-denominationalism.

* Take note that four of the five historical churches, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople (AKA the Eastern Orthodox Church) have been going since the beginning, united but wrinkled, flawed but being perfected.

Definitions

To have the ability and/or responsibility to define things, such as giving something a name, puts one in a position of power.  When God created Adam and put him in the garden, he gave him the job of naming all the animals.  As parents, we name our children, and the names we give them, in a very real sense, define them.  Nowadays, the US state and federal governments have taken the job (illegitimately I would argue) of defining life and defining marriage.  In 1973, the US government declared that unborn babies are not human beings and therefore can be killed.  They defined life.  The interesting thing is that their definition did not actually change reality.  The millions that are aborted each year ARE still humans.
 Today, the US federal government has started to define marriage.  On one hand, I could care less, because regardless of how the government defines marriage, it is not their responsibility.  Marriage is a sacrament instituted and defined by God, and the church alone has the responsibility to form these unions.  On the other hand, it greatly disturbs me that the government is doing so, because the manner in which they speak will move our culture.  Those in positions of power will have to answer for the influence they have upon the millions in America.

The Influence of Culture

Probably 99 out of 100, (or possibly higher), people don't take into account the controlling effect that culture has upon them.  The things that we think are excellent,entertaining, worth our time and money, are directly influenced by the culture in which we live.
Even more pertinent, and scary for that matter, is the religious convictions that we hold.  Regardless of ones particular religious beliefs, the things that the culture around us believes to be true, have an effect upon what we believe.  This is particularly true in regards to the end times.  Around 100 years ago, a small group of guys, who had no business teaching Bible, fabricated this business called Dispensational Premillenialism.  This belief system has taken hold of the American church at large, with very little biblical support, and too many people don't even raise any questions.

Practical humanist

Give some consideration to what we consider important.  How we spend our time and how we spend our money reveals this.  Unfortunately, we spent the majority of our time earning money and being entertained.  Some spend a sliver of time in church and even a smaller portion spend time in prayer.  If we truly believed that eternity was for real, that everything temporal is extremely short term and only worth a pittance, then we would certainly spend time and money differently.

Cool?

It occurred to me quite some time ago, just how fickle "cool" is.  If you have given any thought to "how" that word is defined and "who" defines it, it really is silly.  The people who define "cool" are usually the last people that should be leading anyone.  The senseless masses, that is, the majority of Americans, follow this ambiguous leadership.  Take the time and think about what is "cool" today and what was "cool" twenty years ago.  The whole thing should make you feel quite ridiculous.

A metaphor

This is not to be taken as derogatory against anyone else's faith... but here goes...
Protestantism is to Eastern Orthodoxy as an Internet chat room is to marriage.

Lunch

So I went out to lunch today with my boss and a co-worker.  It was awfully nice of them to do so.  We ate at a Chinese buffet, despite the fact that today is the first day of the fast of the Dormition of the Theotokos.  So i avoided all meat and kept the volume to a minimum.  But what really struck me, especially in the face of this fast was the sheer volume of food that we as Americans have at our fingertips.  Gluttony is a terrible sin in this country and I don't mean just eating large amounts.  Gluttony is about lusting after food.  As someone once said, "We should eat to live, not live to eat."

Before any more is said, I must clarify that of all the thoughts and ideas that come to me, I am not pointing any fingers.  I am guilty of far too many things to even begin to condemn anyone else.  So take any words that I share here with the idea that I am most likely guilty of these things as well.

Beginnings

I had the idea to start this blog due to the wide variety of thoughts that enter and promptly leave my mind throughout the day.  Some of them may be worth sharing.  We'll see what happens.