Crying "Uncle"

At what point do we finally say, enough is enough?  Here we sit in America, an (arguably) historically Christian country, and watch it go to hell in a handbag. We continue down the road of depravity, and this path, unarguably, influences us and our children, in a very bad way.
When do we pack our bags and head for high ground?  At what point is enough, enough? Kind of like being punched in the throat, over and over again, eventually you must avoid that situation.
When do we cry "uncle" and leave?

Objectively speaking

As we all full well know, there is much talk in the news and everywhere else imaginable regarding the new law on gay marriage.  The all powerful and all arrogant US supreme court has decided that it can redefine marriage as being between two consenting adults, regardless of gender.
My first thought on this is this.  Why does the political entity known as the US law system think they have any say as to what defines marriage?  No human institution has this right.  God had defined marriage, clearly, as being between a man and a woman, and that settles it.
Secondly, whatever the US government says about marriage is really irrelevant.  Scripture and church tradition have always defined marriage as a sacrament between one man and one woman.  As the people of God, we don't care what the US government says in this regard.  God has spoken.
If the government tries to force is to endorse gay marriage, we will get out of the civil marriage business.  People are free to do whatever they choose. But gay marriage will always be wrong and the church will never endorse it or bless it.  We will simply recognize marriage as a sacrament between one man and one woman, only.
The answer is very simple.  The government should not be defining morality.

Celebration

On this culturally important holiday, I wanted to make a few comments that have recently passed through my mind.  I'm afraid that most people will celebrate this 4th of July without a whole lot of thought behind so much of it.  Why are we celebrating?  What are we celebrating?  What does our involvement in this celebration say about us?  Do we actually agree with what this celebration communicates?
Obviously, this holiday is not celebrated by any other nation, especially those of the Natives of this land.  I would suppose that they see this as a day of mourning, similar to the 9/11 situation, as of late.  Does our celebration of this holiday mean that we agree with everything that our country has done or believes?  Probably not and most people would not think in these terms.  But our celebration does mean that we rejoice at the formation and continuation of this nation.  And I'm not too sure that celebration in this regard is really that good.  We have legalized the murder of our own unborn children.  We have recently legalized gay marriage.  We have murdered countless thousands in illegitimate wars and operations.  Obviously, any kind of anti-American activity is out of the question.  That is not appropriate for a Christian.  We do not fight against flesh and blood.  But on the other hand, we should not actively support, encourage or celebrate the state of our nation either.
There really is no conclusion to this thought, just an encouragement to consider what we are doing and why.

The beauty of Orthodoxy

     In all my years of theological, doctrinal and spiritual study, I have come to understand something wonderful.  After many years of hard work in ancient languages, philosophy and hermeneutics, I finally came to the point of realization that just about any doctrinal position could be taken by the manipulation of logic, philosophy and Scripture.  This left me bleak.  This situation leaves one in a position of final authority.  This realization left me even more bleak.  Being the sinner that I am, I had no faith in my own ability to see and understand enough to feel myself on a solid foundation.

     Then I found the Orthodox church.  Jesus Christ established the church through the apostles and their successors, with the guarantee that it would be led by the Holy Spirit, forever.  The historic Christian church has existed since day one, moving and growing and healing people into free willed beings in loving communion with God.  We all have free will but we are all under the God established authority of the church.  This takes away the terrible problem of final authority.  That authority is found only in Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit led church, we can be certain that, upon our obedience, we will grow in our relationship with God.  We do not depend upon our own feelings, our own wisdom, or our own education.  God leads us through the church.

     That is beautiful.

A goal

The last several decades have formed the mind of popular culture to see religion and religious figures in a poor light.  Priests and television preachers and Christians in general, are mocked, held in contempt and mistrusted.
How about this for a challenge?  What could we do, as Orthodox Christians, to form the mind of popular culture to associate "Orthodoxy" with "love"?
Really, this is what God calls is to in Scripture, "they will know you by your love." (John 13:35)

Remember

Many people need to be commended on their recognition of, and response to, immodesty.  In our day and in our culture, immodesty is a huge problem and usually is not recognized or addressed.  But there are some groups, Christian or otherwise, that see immodesty as a problem.  This is a good first step.
It is sad that some people critique or mock the followers of Islam for their wearing of burqas.  This choice of attire is, for all intents and purposes, modest.  While the worldview behind it is all wrong, at least it's modest.
The next step though, in this line of thought, is the addressing of vanity. Far too often, someone may be modest, but incredibly vain. While of course it is bad to be immodest, it is just as bad to be vain.  Someone who is wallowing in vanity is really in the same mindset as someone who is immodest. 
This really is about the heart and not externals.  When the thinking is right, right actions will follow.  It is fairly easy to see what someone thinks about appearance by looking at how they attire themselves.

The center of things

The thought came to me today how do often, in our thoughts, in our actions and in our prayers, we practically function as if all reality can and should center upon us. 
When we pray, we typically ask for things that we think would be good or right.  We pray for things that we believe would make our situation better or more comfortable.
Both the foolishness and the arrogance of this is astounding.  What makes us think that we have any idea, whatsoever, of what would be best?  Our understanding is so extremely limited and narrow, that to presume anything but ignorance is crazy.
This is why the church teaches us to simply pray, "Lord have mercy."  When pursuing a new job, a purchase of a home/move, where to go to school, or anything else, we simply cry out to God to have mercy on us and do what He thinks is best.