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God forgive him, but not me, because I could not beware

For who deceives me once, God forgive him; if twice, God forgive him; but if thrice, God forgive him, but not me, because I could not beware. — 1611 Tarlton’s Jests [English "modernized" to make it readable] Yesterday I pointed out that several events had led to the loss of the concept of truth in our society, among them were philosophical ideas, the realization that some viewpoints had... [Read more]

Fool me twice . . . rethink your approach to truth

Yesterday I quoted from a book by a priest whom I know. In it he said: Let me submit to you, therefore, that the great spiritual battle of our time is not a struggle between believers and atheists. Rather, it is a struggle between pride and humility. We expect and even demand humility in almost all other areas of life–what really matters is what is objectively true, not what any of us might happen... [Read more]

store

Fool me once . . . read a good book

One of the answers to being fooled by inappropriate theology or by other religions is to read a good book that gives you a quick grounding and compares Orthodoxy to other religious systems. I was actually planning a different post for today, but this book deserves a strong recommendation. Best of all, for those who hate long or difficult reads, it is paperback; it is cheap; it is written in understandable... [Read more]

guidelines

Dem bones, dem bones, dem miraculous bones

Can you point to the Scripture which relates the tale that what was contained in an ossuary brought someone back to life? That was the question with which Father Orthoduck left you all. The answer is found in 2 Kings 13: Elisha died and was buried. … Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders;... [Read more]

Dem bones, dem bones, dem holy relics bones

OK, It is time for Father Orthoduck to answer the questions from the day before yesterday. Tomorrow, he will make a point with the final answer. What is an ossuary? “An ossuary is a chest, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. . . . A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed... [Read more]

The center of Orthodox piety

I have been thinking about Orthodox basics lately. My mind has roamed from liturgics through catechism through living out the Orthodox Christian life in a practical way (orthopraxy) through Holy Scripture, the Ecumenical Councils, and Holy Tradition (orthodoxy). In fact, I began to realize that my mind has not really been roaming through basics as much as it has simply been flittering about without... [Read more]

To Obey is better than Sacrifice – Keith Green and works

Thinking of Easter Song and the bells got me thinking about Keith Green and the songs that he sang, in general. Keith Green’s theology came out of the old Pentecostal Holiness tradition. Many forget that the early Jesus People movement was not simply reacting against what they saw as sterility in worship and/or dress, but to sterility in the Christian life. In fact, it is hard to call it a movement... [Read more]

Mystery is sometimes very mysterious

One of the standard Evangelical definitions of mystery takes all the mystery out of mystery. That particular definition claims that there is no mystery to mystery. In other words, the claim is that a New Testament mystery is only something that was mysterious in the Old Testament but that is no longer mysterious in the New Testament because God has revealed it to us. The claim is that Saint Paul only... [Read more]

trademarks

A non-theological appreciation of free will and the sovereignty of God

A person commented the following on my post yesterday: You know, the more I read and learn concerning Orthodox theology, the more I see an acceptance of paradox that even exceeds my native Lutheranism. My reply is that it has more to do with the idea of mystery, but rather than try to explain it theologically, watch the video below. It was originally posted in November of 2010 on YouTube. I have... [Read more]

Free will and salvation

I quoted both Patriarch Dositheus and Metropolitan Kallistos yesterday to point out to my Orthodox brethren that some of them go to the other extreme from Saint Augustine and almost end up claiming that our free will was, at best, barely damaged. But, both an approved Orthodox confession and a current Metropolitan who is a world-renowned Orthodox theologian both state two thing. One, humans still had... [Read more]

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