Isn't such a stance, even if it's not how you or I would express it, made somewhat necessary by the fact that none of us can know with certainty who gets "saved" and who doesn't? (I may have inherited this idea from my discussions with Eastern Ortho…
[quote author=TITL link=topic=10853.msg131825#msg131825 date=1299026888]
I had a big reply ready several times and was about to click "reply", but then my mind flashed to Psalm 46
NO! I feel like I just lost a great opportunity! No more doing that o…
[quote author=lightening link=topic=10823.msg131821#msg131821 date=1299025828]
it sounds like narrow minded sectarianism, nothing else! the coptic church does not originate in england or the usa, or other civilized countries. so, why invade the whol…
Please, Waterandspirit: Read the Psalms. I had a big reply ready several times and was about to click "reply", but then my mind flashed to Psalm 46, and I remembered that I too am a spiritual infant, and need to be still. God tells us to be still an…
[quote author=pharoh123 link=topic=10823.msg131792#msg131792 date=1298949335]
I also never said that Protestants are more accepting
[/quote]
I'm sorry. Please forgive me, Pharoh, for interpreting the following quote from you as saying exactly that:…
[quote author=servant33 link=topic=10823.msg131716#msg131716 date=1298849154]
See how angry and frustrated it makes you when you see videos like this! And we are doing the same thing to them. And when all we do is fight and attack each other, the on…
I don't see anything, and I think videos like this are a distraction from important spiritual work. I do like the song, but it's a shame it is attached to this type of video. It really does remind me of when I was Catholic, and used to be embarrasse…
[quote author=dzheremi link=topic=10709.msg130687#msg130687 date=1297753404]
I'm still waiting for it to arrive in the mail, but believe it or not there's an entire chapter on this word (or rather the derivation of it) in Takacs' (ed.) "Semito-Hamit…
I am in a comparable situation, only there aren't any non-Chalcedonian churches here (the local Ethiopians and Eritreans, who are many, go to the OCA). I can't tell you what to do, but what I'm doing is praying a lot, reading a lot (in books and her…
I don't understand this. It seems like a stereotype. "Copts (or whoever isn't Protestant; you fill in the blank) alienate people with their exclusivity and harshness towards others; Protestants are the opposite, so welcoming of everyone all the time…
As another former Protestant, I think the best that we can say is that some people may come to Christ through Protestantism. Then again, some people learn to swim by being thrown into the ocean as children, and others learn not to play with matches …
Ohhhh, I sure have been there! I made it and did not die (which was a real possibility; I caught pneumonia TWICE during my last term, and at one point was running a 105 degree fever, so I had to go to the hospital and everything. I do not recommend …
Good points, Mabsoota. I feel like I should clarify here that I don't hold anything against the church I was told to leave. I did for a while, but not for years now. They were right to kick me out, based on their worry for my possible influence on t…
Can someone please clarify the point about the liturgy and personal prayer? Because from all I've read and heard, the liturgy doesn't have individualistic prayer because it's not the time and place to do that. It is communal worship. Have I misunder…
[quote author=dzheremi link=topic=10823.msg131523#msg131523 date=1298585931]
[quote author=TITL link=topic=10823.msg131517#msg131517 date=1298581925]
This probably isn't the thread for it, and since I didn't want to create a new thread (eh I guess I…
[quote author=TITL link=topic=10823.msg131517#msg131517 date=1298581925]
This probably isn't the thread for it, and since I didn't want to create a new thread (eh I guess I could of..), I thought, and hoped, Thoxsasi would be kind enough to let me h…
I thought the liturgy was meant as communal worship, not personal prayer time? I'm not Orthodox so I can't really respond directly to your question, but it seems to me that this woman and others who have that kind of thinking might be expecting the …
Perhaps you can join or start some (good) after-school activity, where you can get more practice using English and hearing it being spoken by native speakers. When I was learning Arabic, I found it hard to relate to a lot of the Arabs around me (the…
[quote author=minatasgeel link=topic=10653.msg131458#msg131458 date=1298485900]
[quote author=geomike link=topic=10653.msg131452#msg131452 date=1298479545]
you should learn it man, i said the same thing last summer, and i just found a website with a…
Relativism is a HUGE problem, from where I'm standing. Even my old Catholic friends, who you'd think would be the last ones to fall for such silliness, suddenly become very unsure of the existence of absolute truth when it comes to trying to get me …
Hahaha. Well, like I wrote, that's the least of my worries. I've got to get right with God, then deal with other people.
I agree with you and Marian, by the way (though I would not necessarily follow her way of looking for a spouse). I just wanted …
[quote author=TITL link=topic=10674.msg131329#msg131329 date=1298335194]
I'm guessing that Marian wasn't referring to converts in her post.
Converts wouldn't be treated the same as Copts from birth.
[/quote]
If this was in response to my post, tha…
Seems to me it's both. In fact, Muslims have bragged about that to me, apparently in the assumption that Christianity is somehow deficient because we stand by the principle that we are to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God that w…
Looking at it from the point of view of someone who is apparently unsuitable for marriage with the young ladies of Tasbeha (but isn't yet Orthodox anyway, so that's the least of my worries! :)), I must say in all honesty that my first reaction to th…
I don't know your FoC, but wouldn't he be interested to hear your honest feelings about the program? I don't know...do you think he would be mad, or regret choosing you or something?
I tutor fifth grade kids (10-11 years old) at the local elementar…
Okay, that's good to know. I've subscribed to the newsletter now.
Please do not become discouraged, Father Peter! You wrote that 400 people have approached you in the last few years about Orthodoxy, but you cannot help them as you'd like to due to…
Father, do you have to give a monthly donation to receive the newsletter? Sorry if that was written somewhere and I just didn't see it. I donated just now but can't commit to a monthly donation at this time.
I pray that God uses whatever any of us …
With regard to TITL's contention that marrying a non-virgin could be hazardous because we can't know whether or not they've truly repented -- she's right that we can't know, but shouldn't we use their behavior and attitudes to make a sort of educate…
Since this thread is not about Protestantism, I don't know why any of us should shift the focus to that, either with apologies or praises. Can we accept the idea that, as far as we can know, no one here is being intentionally offensive but people ar…