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To: L,TOWM
If you think the Church should still be on the edge, try the Church: we Orthodox (who confess our communion to be indeed the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, founded by Christ in the Gift of the Holy Spirit to His Holy Apostles on the day of Pentecost) are quite out of the mainstream--we fast, confess our sins, use a different calendar than the rest of the world, use bows and gestures to try to get even our bodies to participate in the worship of God. We still have the mechanism Christians developped for staying on the edge when the Church ceased to be persecuted: monasticism. Indeed most of our spiritual tradition, even for ordinary laymen, is shaped by monasticism. One Sunday during Great Lent is devoted to St. John Climacus, whose notable contribution to the faith is a book "The Ladder of Divine Ascent" whose whole purpose is to instruct the reader in the kind of living in the world while not being of the world you seem to yearn for. Another Sunday of Great Lent holds up as an example of repentence St. Mary of Egypt, who abandoned the world in penance for her former life as a nymphomanical prostitute, and lived as a hermit in the desert. We have a whole class of saints venerated as "Fools-for-Christ" whom society at large saw as going over the edge, but whom the Church sees as exemplars of the Life in Christ.

I think you really need to go back to see what the Church actually looked like after the Peace of Constantine, rather than relying on protestant critiques of Rome's later abuses which accept the false papal claim to have been the head of the Church and use it to read the later abuses back to the time when the persecutions ceased.

439 posted on 02/06/2002 8:39:05 AM PST by The_Reader_David
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To: The_Reader_David
I'll pass. I prefer to be with Mike Comfort and Greg Koukl on the Santa Monica Boardwalk on Friday nights, evangelizing, offering "apologea" for the hope that we have, with gentleness and respect.

holds up as an example of repentence St. Mary of Egypt, who abandoned the world in penance, ... and lived as a hermit in the desert.Two observations. One, did she believe that Christ's atonement and her rebirth into a new woman that would "go and sin no more", were not sufficient? Two, how did that satisfy the Great Commission? Maybe its just me, but were I in a position to offer a suggestion, perhaps a greater service to the Lord would have been preaching the Gospel to her fellow "Ladies of the evening" and her "Johns". But, that's just me.

he mechanism Christians developped for staying on the edge when the Church ceased to be persecuted: monasticism

Must be tough to win souls when you are avoiding them. There are two signs on the way into my converted Bowling Alley churh building: "Give 'em Heaven" and "Win, Equip, Send". I'm not too sure if Win, Equip, Hide was what we were supposed to do.

BTW, I am sorry if I was overly rude in my prior post; that was inexcusable of me. I am sure that we will meet in New Jerusalem, since you do have a bold faith in our Redeemer. Then, we will, perhaps hear that both of us were right, just diferrently shaped stones, or that neither of us "got it". :-)

440 posted on 02/06/2002 9:01:40 AM PST by L,TOWM
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