Orthodox Christianity Q&A

I will be taking a brief break the forums from August 1st until August 15 in honor of the fast of the dormition of the theotokos.

So until then I will answer questions about Orthodox Christianity to the best of my ability. Serious inquiries only(it is worth at least suggesting, right?).

By Orthodox Christianity I mean The Orthodox Catholic Church. Otherwise known as The Eastern Orthodox Church.

I am a member of The Orthodox Church of Antioch in The United States. Our church's HQ is in Damascus on the street called straight, the very street Saint Paul had his blindness removed after his vision on the road to Damascus. It was Antioch that Christians first were called by that name(it originated in those who did not believe mocking our sacrament of Chrismation, but we made the name ours). Before then and even after, we professed to follow The Way.

Why do you believe "your" religion is the only way

A religion is not "The Way". Jesus Christ is The Way. Jesus Christ is The Word of God, The Truth, as it is written of God that "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth".

And so The Way is to abide in The Truth.

But there is more than one way. There is a right way, but also "there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

God lovesssssssssssss it when you guys do the don't eat certain things at certain times for him thing . 

Picture him.

I'll give you seven seconds ,  picture him seeing you not eating for him mopac . 

Seven 

And a six

And a five 

And four 

And three 

Two 

And a one. 

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 

He loves it right ?

Can you FEEL that God wants ya doing this moe moe.

Anyway, fasting to a degree is good for us. 

AWARD : ONE GOLD STAR.  TEAM : THE ORTHODOX*

A  ( For )  and  ( Against ) score update. 

(AGAINST) 36419037554643231179696946329917425329937894231298902647439749142981653657905098745141678758583939928567792910485769709909092992379354913108963582533967745161826586927152. 

The point of fasting is to train oneself in temperance and the resisting of passions. It is a time to remember  that man does not live by bread alone, but by the word of God.

 

It is in particular a time of prayer, because fasting withiut prayer is the fast of demons, we say, because demons do not eat.

So you are wrong, we do not fast to please God as if God takes pleasure in people depriving themselves.

You say. 

The point of fasting is to train oneself in temperance and the resisting of passions. 

So im like 

( that sounds good , I'll start warming up ) 

Then you say.

It's time to remember that man does not live on bread alone .

So im like 

( ok I'll take note, I'm still keen on this .

Then you say.   

You add to the last bit. We dont kive on bread alone BUT BY THE WORD OF GOD 

So I'm like. 

( i knew this was going to happen , we were going  to fast , you and i . And the next thing you know Gods involved.) 

Do you like god better then me? 

Then you say

Fasting without prayer is for demons , because demons dont eat .

So I'm like .

( smart arse ,  I am not a complete idiot, of coursei i know demons dont eat. ) 

So I say you fast for God. 

You say you don't .

Then you say .  As if God take pleasure in people depriving themselves.

I say .  That is a completely different post all together.

I then wave my fist in anger and say . Curse you moe moe , curse you ( i dont really ) 

I then bring to attention. That You wouldn't be so smug if God didn't do the book for you. 

You got lucky . You got realllllllll lucky. 

Good day sir.

I fast everyday. I workout everyday. I am disciplined in what i feed my body everyday. And i view myself in the mirror with my beautiful body bc of it... does that make me a demon? 

I also collect stamps. 

ATTENTION :;::;:;:;:  ATTENTION ;:;;::;::;::;:;:;;:  ATTENTION.

WE GOT  US A FAST OFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.

EVERYBODY .

FAST OFF. 

FAST OFF 

Plenty of people fast for many different reasons. Part of it for us is to build temperance, but even more important than that for us is to draw closer to God. So prayer is an important part of fasting for us.

Which is proof that man does live by bread alone because there is no such thing as the word of god.

Trouble is; all this fasting, temperance and resisting of passion nonsense is human derived ritualistic stuff.

If there were an omni-sensible God  it would be far to rational to really appreciate it.

It would probably, respectfully patronise your efforts, but chuckle to itself when it new you weren't looking.

It actually is very consistent with loving the truth.

Have you ever observed the behavior of addicts? Addictions have a way of compromising our honesty. That is why stilling the passions is so important. It is an integral part of purifying the heart(nous).

The truth is that like every other animal that evolved on this planet you will die. Do you love the truth? Do you have any evidence to refute that claim. The imaginations of primitive humans are not evidence.

Okay well thanks. You didn't call me a demon which is what i misconstrued from reading what you wrote. I hope you have a fun time with this fasting thing if it's important to you. 

In Greek mythology, a muse was a source of inspiration. What does it mean when you add the prefix "a" to muse?

Amusement is not really why we do what we do. 

Fasting is like a prescription you get from the doctor. The doctor can prescribe, but it is up to the patient to follow the doctor's instructions.

Just do your fast and praise your god. Like i've always said... i think whatever you believe is true. Oh... i liked that last comment... minus the last sentence, but it was pretty deep overall.  

One reason we fast at the same time has to do with combating pride. There is a reason we do things the way we do. We live as a community. We do these things together.

If you have any other questions, it doesn't have to be about fasting,  unless that is really what interests you.

No. That was interesting. I didn't know Christian's have a fast time too. Sounds like a good time to me. It really does good things for your health, add in that you have a holy moment doing it, sounds cool. I would suggest fasting everyday... intermittent fasting. You will honestly notice how good it makes you feel if it works for you. I personally got into it younger, before i realized the health benefits. I use to feel guilty being a glutton while there are people suffering. I started seeing the ugliness in fat people bc it just showed me they only care about themselves. I've gotten a little less bigoted in this regard bc i get everything has a story behind it, but i still see ugliness when people are shoveling food down their throats. I've always found it disgusting both in listening to people eat or watching. As much as i have narcissistic traits, i do have a weird intense empathy too. I give more respect to your belief bc you put yourself in a situation to glorify god, that's cool... but also keep in mind that fasting is something that some have no choice in bc they have no food to eat... feel close to them too. 

Mopac,

As is explicitly shown, you are still RUNNING AWAY from our Jesus being a serial killer when He enacted His Great Flood, killing millions of His creation, and especially innocent zygotes, fetus,' babies and children as proffered in the the thread and post number below:

And you are supremely proud of that.

We fast a little over half of the year. Most every Wednesday in memory of the betrayel of Jesus, and most every Friday in memory of Jesus crucifixion. Besides that we have several great fasts such as Lent, the time leading up to Christmas, etc.

Asceticism is part of what it means to be Orthodox. It isn't just for monks! That said, not everyone takes part in these things, which is kind of a shame. Our faith is not legalistic though, it isn't conforming to these prescriptions of the church that justifies.

Yeah it's just believing in primitive woo woo.

.

Oh well, as we can see, our FAKE Christian monikered as Mopac cannot accept that our Jesus was a serial killer as shown in my post #21 to him. This is why it takes big cojones to be a TRUE Christian like myself, where I just have to accept the biblical fact that Jesus was a true serial killer when being Yahweh God incarnate in the Old and New Testament writings.  Whereas, a Christian, in name only, that cannot accept this Jesus fact, is a FAKE Christian, like mopac wholeheartedly represents.   

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