Tag: theology

Posted on

Erosion

This is what I found when I looked up ‘eroded landscape’ on google image search. I chose it because I liked it. It reminded me of the Anasazi world in the ‘Timelapse’ series.

My heart and will feel eroded. So does my courage. But I guess it is God’s will, to teach me gentleness, kindness and humility. So when God tests us or takes something away, it is to be a corrective measure, rather than a punitive measure.

I do pray for the world. I pray there will not be a 3rd World War. I pray there will not be a market collapse.

God bless all of you.

Advertisement
Posted on

If we remember our sins, God will forget them

If we remember our sins, God will forget them. Thus said the wise and holy St John Chrysostom. If you watch this video, you will see a glimpse into the Orthodox mindset.

Although I am a sinner, and unworthy of being in the least way a messenger of truth, I still admire and strongly advocate the Nicodemus Hagiorite and Gregory Decapolite YouTube channels.

I have spoken at time to the founder of these sites by email. He tells me not to despair. He is quite a kind and soft spoken guy. His name is Constantine Zalalas. He lives to teach others about Orthodoxy.

God bless us all.

Posted on

Boxing day blog

Now, it is true, I do not do a very professional blog. I did cancel my 10 dollar a month subscription, as I didn’t generate enough of a following. What person could possibly be interested in an unremarkable guy who can only do 10 half push ups?

I have no idea what I am doing. Theology? Maybe I got a little knowledge on Orthodox theology, or maybe that is my pride talking. Sure wish I had enough skills to have a job.

I would say ‘faith without works is dead,’ as said in James 2:17. This is the reason I do not believe in Justification by faith alone. I would call it a heresy, along with the heresy of charismatic speaking in tongues and the theory of evolution.

But it wouldn’t matter, as I have no way to verify what God thinks. I just put forth what I’ve been told by the Old Calendar movement among the Orthodox. I have no idea what God is or is like, all I know that I’ve experienced both heaven and hell in my own body, with my thought processes. Sometimes I am disciplined, maybe manic, so I experience heaven; most times I am depressed, so I experience hell.

I would wish I could hold onto heaven or a concept of wellness for longer while on earth. Maybe the reward is all stored up for me in heaven. But as one of the Saints said ‘how can I know whether I’ve pleased God or not?’ This is what greatly troubles me.

As I cry out with Job, ‘when is my day of reckoning? When will God release me from this burden? When do I stop depending on medication?’ I suppose these are questions from my sinful human nature, which doesn’t look at things from a transcendent perspective.

Sure hope everybody else’s boxing day is superb…

Posted on

God will save us

I was discussing with my wise spiritual father about who would go to heaven. He said, ‘God can save whoever He wishes.’ And this is true. The people who you think would be least likely to go to heaven will be in heaven, while the people you’d think would most likely get into heaven will be bound and cast out by the angels.

So we should never judge anybody, because secretly that person could be crying out in secret to the Lord, begging Him for the strength to repent.

Makes you think a little, doesn’t it?

lastjudgment

Posted on

Theosis

Following on from my earlier post, I’d like to not only talk about the nature of hell, but also the concept of theosis.

Theosis means deification, which as St athanasius states is ‘a state of perfection greater than those experienced by Adam and Eve before their fall.’ There are 3 levels of walk in the Orthodox faith: purification, illumination, and deification. Adam and Eve were created at the 2nd stage called illumination. They had no sin, but they were not yet united to God. They would of been united to God had they taken of the fruit of the tree of life before their fall.

Purification is the first stage Orthodox Christians go through on our ascent of the ladder of divine ascent. It means the healing phase. Illumination is like the vision of God. Deification is the final stage, that of union with God, where they are like angels in heaven on Earth.

For those who reject the Lord’s commands through the Orthodox Church, God does not punish them as such. In the bible, Jesus describes hell as ‘the weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Why would he say ‘gnashing’? Don’t people gnash their teeth when they are extremely angry? In this case, it would be apparent that people in hell despise God so much that they grind their teeth in anger, never wanting to experience God’s presence as light and warmth.

It reminds me of what I’d think a protestant would feel in the afterlife. He might believe and loyally serve God in this world, as a pious protestant, but when he gets to heaven and sees the virgin mary sitting at the right hand of Jesus, he’d think ‘That’s not doctinally correct to venerate mary! That’s not part of my religion! I don’t like heaven very much! I hate heaven because of mary!’ So then heaven would become hell for that protestant, due to the theology he believed in during his lifetime.

There are no bars surrounding hell. Sinners and demons can leave hell anytime they want. All they just have to say is ‘Lord! Have mercy on me, a sinner!’ But as sinners are egotists, why would they want to leave hell, or bless the Lord? Egotists never stop blaming God.