Posted on 12/08/2004 11:08:38 PM PST by Mike10542
Not necessary for salvation, MarMema. Not needed. Misleading. Faith is what saves you; the Commandments we can't follow. For if we all had sufficient faith we could. You won't get it in the Church. You and I may find it if we are lucky -- in ourselves, but I am far from it. And the Church is doing nothing for me to reach it.
When you attend liturgy once a year you mean?
And how does this work with your tagline which says the church is pure Christianity?
You mean in the parish you don't attend? I must be confused.
God's Mercy is "what" saves us, Kosta.
Rituals are actions we do to help us pay attention to important things in life, to express outwardly what we believe to be important. To celebrate something, to show the meaning we place upon a thing which is not readily visible. Rituals also are extremely important bonding tools.
M: "God's Mercy is "what" saves us, Kosta."
I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life (John 6:47)
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him (Mt 6:5-8)
The Church doesn't give you faith, MarMema. The Liturgy is what they call "Sunday Worship" -- a ritual Mystery Supper for those who already believe and who come to adore and worship God, not to become religious.
Faith is between you and God. In the privacy of your soul. That is the most important thing in life.
All of the apostles and the first Christians were Jews. If this isn't good enough for you...don't let the door smack your butt on the way out.
Also check out this page for some interesting interpretation.
Hell, I'd be happy if the roofing guys would quit dropping nails in the road.
But do you have the complete knowledge of God, then?
Why do you ask such silly questions MarMema? Christ came to show us the way, not to reveal everything about God (not that we could understand it anyway). Ours is not to know Him completely, but to live the Gospels and follow in His steps -- by following two commandments which we cannot follow on our own.
When I say that in my mind Ortodoxy is the purest form of Christianity, I mean it from the hesychastic point of view, which is the basis of Orthodoxy.
I think you are confusing faith with religion, rituals with faith, church with parish, and so on. There is a diffreence: faith is of Spirit, everythe else is of earth, man-made.
To see what you will say in response.
Speaking for myself, I don't accept the millenarian or
apocalyptic notions of certain fundamentalist Christians
with respect to the Jews. There is biblical (and ecclesiastical) support for universal salation. I suppot
the state of Israel because it's an ally, a democracy, and
represents a progressive aspect of Judeo-Christian Western
civilization in the midst of an ocean of Islamic tyranny
and oppression.
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