I am about to become a monk ama

Author: Mopac

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#31
Castin
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@Mopac
So your presence on this forum will soon be coming to a permanent end? That's a shame. Will you miss discussing/debating in an open forum setting?

Out of curiosity, do you speak any Greek or do they speak enough English that you can get by?
#32
Stephen
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@Mopac
Also, good nonks don't talk much, they tend to pray in their rooms.
So is to pray inside alone  different to praying outside alone.


How old are you?

Do you have children?

What is it that you are  actually taught?

What is it that you actually learn ? 
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#33
Mopac
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Skipping dinner to address this topic again. I have a blessing to skip dinner on partial fast days(Wednesdays and Fridays we eat vegan. Also technically Monday, but I don't feel like posting Monday)
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#34
Mopac
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@Castin
I'd like to add something to a previous answer I gave you.

One thing I like about being in a monastery is that I feel that I can be myself. I feel more myself in a monastery than on the outside.


Truthfully, I don't really like to debate. On the whole, I don't think I will miss discussions all that much. Some people here are interesting to talk to, but I prefer to interact with people in the real world than through text.

I understand Greek better than I can speak it. Obviously, I would have to get better at it over time. I can follow the church services, but it is hard to understand the readings.

I think it is also important to note that everything here is done in biblical Greek, not modern Greek. Even people who are Greek sometimes struggle with the language. Despite this, they all seem to be of the opinion that church in modern Greek sounds ugly. 

Most people here speak English.
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#35
Mopac
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@Stephen
Old enough to know better

I do not have any children. I had one child who miscarried.

We are taught hesychasm.

We learn to unlearn. To strive for purity of heart.

#36
Stephen
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@Mopac
How old are you?

Old enough to know better
Stop being childish 


Do you have children?

I do not have any children. 

So Genesis 9:7 means just about nothing to you then.
 


What is it that you are  actually taught?


We are taught hesychasm.

But doesn't the lord teach you that?  Do you have to join a monastery to comprehend Matthew 6:5-8




What is it that you actually learn ? 


We learn to unlearn.

 Ah yes, you not only  leave your shoes at the door, you leave your own mind as well.



To strive for purity of heart.

Yes well.  According to the scriptures, that can never happen can it. We all have bad hearts full of inherited sin, don't we?  Or has the slate been wiped clean by Jesus'  rather cannibalistic, "blood sacrifice"?



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#37
Mopac
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@Stephen
Let me give you a better answer for what we learn.

We learn the science of sciences. 

Also, the Orthodox Church does not teach that we inherit sin. Rather, we inherit the mess that is cause by the sins of those in the past. The Roman Catholic Church and certain protestant groups that splintered from them teach that we have inherited sin. This teaching is not orthodox. 



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#38
Mopac
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My phone will be cut off on November 16th, so if you have any questions, at thst time I will no longer be available to answer questions.
#39
3RU7AL
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@Mopac
I envy you.

Best wishes my friend.
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#40
Mopac
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@3RU7AL
Salvation is open for all, you do not have to be a monk.

If that was the case, who could be saved?

My witness is to Christ, and the original and only true church that teaches enlightened Christianity. 

I will pray for you.
#41
Stephen
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@Mopac
My phone will be cut off on November 16th, so if you have any questions, at thst time I will no longer be available to answer questions.

But I have asked you many questions over your last two threads and you haven't really answered anything. Is all you have done is evade and talk about everything but what I have asked.

Your just another Christian fraud  and  no different from the few other christian frauds here   that believes they are privy to  some ancient arcane knowledge.  You are not.


Let me give you a better answer for what we learn.  We learn the science of sciences. 

With the aid of the  telescope and a microscope even our children today  can, and do, and have,   learned about the planets and microbes .  We are more advanced now since the church stopped  torturing and burning  and drowning our free thinkers and philosophers. 

And what they learned they freely pass on and teach our children what it is they have discovered and learned through years of dogged research without church persecution and torture and interference in the hope that our children will be able to build on what they have passed down.

The church on the other hand has  impeded and stalled and set back mans capabilities by hundreds if not thousands of years  for one reason only,  the control of knowledge. 

Would you like to know where I got that belief from?  Your own fkn scriptures you arrogant prig!



"BUT FROM THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE YOU WILL NOT EAT!!!!!" Genesis 2:17

 



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#42
Mopac
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@Stephen
It is written, "A prudent man concealeth knowledge" and again, "He that hath knowledge spareth his words."

It is also written, "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him"

Because to you the difference between heterodoxy and orthodoxy is arbitrary, to the point of you adopting a stance of "I don't want to know". I respond that scripture says, "Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish." And that "Fools despise wisdom and instruction"

As it is also written, "go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.", it would not be a wrong thing for me to ignore you all together, after all, "Only a fool says in their heart there is no God"."Scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge", and "A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not".

This all being the case, the intelligent thing to do would be to ignore you, because "He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot."

Surely, engaging you is a defiling thing.






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#43
Mopac
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No more questions eh? How often do you get to meet someone in a monastery and ask questions pertaining to that? I must leave for today. I'll maybe check in on Friday.
#44
Stephen
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@Mopac
It is written, "A prudent man concealeth knowledge" and again, "He that hath knowledge spareth his words."

 But it hasn't stopped the church "sparing their words" over the millennia, has it?  What you mean is I should shut my mouth while the church opens its gaping moutt and should sit and listen and not ask questions.


It is also written, "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him"

 I bet it does. What if the one asking the questions is not a fool? Does it say anything about that?
 

you adopting a stance of "I don't want to know".
On the contrary, I am here to ask questions because I want to know.  You just don't like what it is I ask.




Surely, engaging you is a defiling thing.

 Then don't. 

#45
Deb-8-a-bull
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I'm curious about,   AFTERLIFE  ACCOMMODATION. 

Being a monk for 3 years will surely have you in a better ummmmmm,  "apartment" after death then a person who only attends 100 Sunday services and calls them self a Christian. 

You know what I mean?

Like um.
A Christian  who has donated $130   surly isn't as "important" as a Christian who has donated  $10,030.48 
 
AFTER LIFE ACCOMMODATION. 

When Moe Moe passes.  Sorry to say that. 
You can just see the roof of Jesus joint from Mopacs after life apartment. 





#46
3RU7AL
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@Mopac
I admire your conviction.
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#47
Mopac
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@3RU7AL
Prepare for a lecture, one that is meant to be taken in its entirety. I recommend just reading it straight through. I think in dissecting it, the point would be lost. Get what I am trying to say if you can.


It is impossible to have conviction like mine if your foundation is reason. Reason by nature is relativistic. A house built on reason is a house built on sand.

The great error of western theology, that is, post orthodox western theology, is scholasticism. Scholasticism, the forerunner of your worldview, attempted through reason to prove Christian doctrine. With proper education, that is, the right information, and reason, one could see how Christianity is the truth. In the end, this elevated philosophy over Christianity. Eventually, philosophy abandoned Christianity, even making attempts to replace it.

This deification of reason eventually found its natural end in nihilism, that is, the rejection of an absolute truth. The doctrine that there are only relative truths. Everything that has come after is in some way, shape or form a grappling with nihilism. The embrace of idolatry even, which is fundamentally absurd.

Why is this? You can not find The Truth through reason. The Truth is not an idea. It is not matter. It is not math. It isn't like any created thing. Yet there is nothing more reasonable than The Truth, and without The Truth, reason itself becomes an arbitrary thing.

So if the type of conviction I have is not based on reason, where does it come from?

Epignosis.

You may be familiar with the word "gnosis", that is, "knowledge" or even "science". Epignosis is a different word. How can I put it in English? It is experiential, true, lived knowledge.

Living knowledge is something very different than knowledge in the static sense.

I alluded to this earlier. What is it that we learn? The science of sciences.

Where does it start? It starts with God. The Truth is God.

The Uncreated Truth is eternal, pre-eternal even, in that time itself is contingent on The Truth. Everything that exists is contingent on The Truth. Everything that exists is created, but The Truth is Uncreated. The Truth exists, but in a way that is totally singular. There is none like The Truth. While creation exists as reality, it is transient. It is relative. Everything that exists is contingent on some other existence, and ultimately The Truth. The Truth, however, is not contingent on any other existences. The Truth is not the sum of all existing realities, rather, all existing realities are contingent on The Truth. The Truth is The Ultimate Reality.

Nihilism is rejection of the existence of ultimate reality. As Yhe Truth is God, Nihilism and atheism are the same thing. So pervasive is this spirit of nihilism in the contemporary world that it is imperceptible to most people. Without even knowing it, the influence is there.

To a nihilist, the world of existing things is everything, and God is nothing. As the world is transient, unstable, ever changing, the end is death. It is an abyss, a grave.

A Christian is like the nihilist, but to the Christian, and I mean The Orthodox Christian, The world is nothing, and God is everything. Our faith is in eternity, and that eternity is the life of all life, the solid foundation. It is only through God that the world itself is even saved.

What is our religion? To choose Life Eternal over death. To abide in The Way. To live The The Truth. In making The Truth our identity, we by grace are made what it is by nature. We become immortal.

It is not a matter of words, consent, or confession but a matter of living. How do you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? How can you walk The Path if you cannot see it? Faith without works is dead, effectively no faith at all.

Purify the heart, and you will see God. When you see God, abide in Him.

The art of purifying the heart to see God is psychology in the truest sense of the word. 


Psychology comes from "psyche" which is Greek for soul and "ology" meaning study. It's soul science. Does modern psychology even acknowledge the existence of soul?

No one has a better understanding of psychology than the orthodox church. A great deal of what the church does is psychology. With faith, it works. That is all it takes, faith. Put it into practice. The church understands unseen warfare. We understand what demons are, and how to conquer them. All of this stuff has to do with living, not thinking.

Unite the mind with the heart we say.

To us, God is not an idea, The Truth is a person. This Person, The Son, is the most perfect image of The incomprehensible and uncreated God, The Father. This person is God with us, God incarnate. Our goal as Christians is to conform to the image of this person, to be transformed. That in doing so, we may be one with The Son even as He is One with The Father, that we all may be One.

Epignosis, that is, true science. What is someone who practices the science of sciences? A theologian.



What can I say? I am not parroting off stuff I have read. I am talking experience. I am not making any of this stuff up. If anything I said makes any sense to you whatsoever, or to anyone who reads this, I point to the church. The Orthodox Catholic Church. Everything you need is there. Come with humility and charity. If you do that, eventually what seems alien to you now will make sense. If you have to know before you can practice, you'll never know, because knowing comes with the practice.

Or as the scriptures say, "It is impossible to please God without faith". Whereas in the western understanding faith is simply intellectual assent, to us faith is belief in action. "Believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him".

If you want my conviction, you have to make a good start. You have to struggle. Then and only then will you know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

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#48
Mopac
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@Deb-8-a-bull
Rather I'd say that a monk who lives a relatively undistracted life will be judged more harshly for his failings than someone who has the world to distract them.
#49
3RU7AL
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@Mopac
Wise words of wise wisdom.
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#50
Mopac
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A little bit of an update.

It turns out I will not become a novice at a Greek monastery. Really, I am kind of grateful for this.

My bishop is getting a monastery started up, and he is putting a lot of effort into giving it a solid foundation with good leadership. It will be an English speaking monastery. This all has been brought to my attention, and so it is my intention to be a part of that monastery. It was a fruitful experience at the Greek monastery, but I from the start wanted to be a part of an English speaking monastery. I am grateful that this opportunity has opened up.

I am back out on the road again, but I will still answer questions if anyone cares to ask. There doesn't seem to be much interest in the subject here.

8 days later

#51
Stephen
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@Castin
He mentioned he will eventually cancel his cell service,
Well his battery hasn't worn down yet   . This thread was started -  I am about to become a monk -  29 days ago

And he's going strong  the last time I checked , this morning





#52
ludofl3x
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So why aren't you about to be a monk at the place you chose? I mean the topic is AMA, which as far as I understand means 'ask me anything.'
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#53
Mopac
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@Stephen
@ludofl3x
I decided against joining this monastery because it occured to me that for me to join this monastery I would have to do something that would dishonor my bishop back home. In the end, I did what I believed was right to do as someone under obedience.

Plans changed.

The current situation is that I will be part of the founding of a new monastery, one with the blessing of my bishop. The abbot has a lot of experience. My bishop, as a monk himself and a lover of monasticism, wants this monastery to have a good start. I was told last night as a matter of fact that I will start my novitiate around march.



#54
Stephen
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@Mopac
I decided against joining this monastery
Well that didn't last long did it!!!? 

And  you kept that quiet too Mopac. You wasn't to shy about telling us that you had joined to become a monk, why the secrecy?

because it occured to me that for me to join this monastery I would have to do something that would dishonor my bishop back home.

What would that be?  And why would it dishonour your bishop?


In the end, I did what I believed was right to do as someone under obedience.

Can you explain that?

Plans changed.
 As do minds.



The current situation is that I will be part of the founding of a new monastery, one with the blessing of my bishop.

 New but the same you mean?




The abbot has a lot of experience. My bishop, as a monk himself and a lover of monasticism, wants this monastery to have a good start. I was told last night as a matter of fact that I will start my novitiate around march.

 Well what is the matter with the monastery you have been lodging in for free that last month?  Is the truth that you have been evicted? 


#55
Stephen
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@ludofl3x
 I mean the topic is AMA, which as far as I understand means 'ask me anything.'


 He ignores me most of the time when I do ask him anything.   In fact he gets quite paranoid and defensive. Here #115 &  #44





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#56
Mopac
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@Stephen
You can ask me anything, but you are not entitled to an answer.

If you look on the previous page, the last thing I posted before you resurrected this topic was that pland had changed.

Still fully intending on becoming a monk. It just has been delayed.



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#57
Mopac
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why would it dishonour your bishop?
The abbot would rebaptize me. We don't practice rebaptism. I was told if I got rebaptized I'd be excommunicated.

That is all I care to talk on that subject, as it is very scandalous.

Well what is the matter with the monastery you have been lodging in for free that last month?  Is the truth that you have been evicted?
I hardly was staying there for free, I was landscaping the entire time I was there. 6 days a week. I had stayed at other monasteries too before that one. Everyone works at the monastery, or it don't work.

I genuinely did not want to stay. It was overall a good experience. It really came down to honoring my bishop.
#58
Stephen
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@Mopac
Still fully intending on becoming a monk. It just has been delayed

 Yes you said. You will have a monk place of your own to run as I understand it.  With wifi   and running water, no doubt.


You can ask me anything, but you are not entitled to an answer.

 I am if my question arises from your scriptures and your comments. 

But I would rather you just simply say you didn't know when you don't know instead of fkn crying and whining like a little tart  and skirting the question for twenty billion pages before eventually saying  `I am not answering you' . 

 I asked you a perfectly reasonable question about the baptist, is all you have to say is -  `I don't know `. and that would be the end . No need for me to peruse you for  answerers that you  cannot give,  now is there? 


Although the Christ himself appears to indicate that  John was baptised.   I was just hoping to establish  if he was baptised before or after he met Jesus?

 Do you know or not? 


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#59
Mopac
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@Stephen
Stephen, you ask all the wrong questions. That is why you are confused.

What would really be better for you is if you submitted to a teacher in humility rather than try to figure everything out on your own. That teacher wouldn't be me. 



#60
Stephen
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@Mopac
Stephen, you ask all the wrong questions.

 That is a stupid thing to say. I have asked you a simply question. what is wrong with what I have asked.



That is why you are confused.

 I am not confused about anything. Your the one choosing solitary confinement , mopac. I am free to think for my self.



What would really be better for you is if you submitted to a teacher in humility

Another ridiculous statement.  Is all  " religious teachers " do is regurgitate what they have been told themselves . Look at this preacher teacher admitting to that very fact:

bottom two lines
"inmost parts are merely passing on the teaching of what i havereceived.     #20
https://www.debateart.com/forum/topics/4906-atheist-creed?page=1&post_number=20  <<<<<<< from a "qualified" Pastor & Chaplin, no less!!


And  these things "passed on"  can be dismantled within seconds. Why did Jesus not eradicate all leprosy instead of "curing " just a few lepers?  I know the answer to that question, do you?


rather than try to figure everything out on your own.

 I have done pretty well with the teaching I have received , Mopac. I can assure you of that.



That teacher wouldn't be me. 

 You'd make a worse teacher than that pompous penis ethang5 and the patronising prig Tradesecrete, put together. 

You are far too scared to be pushed or challenged. This is why you are preferring to lock yourself away with the beliefs of others and not a single original thought of your own.