Mopac

It is not written in vain that only a fool says in their heart that there is no God.

If you really truly believe that The Truth doesn't exist, there is something fundamentally wrong with you.

If you say there is no truth, you are wrong.

That is what an atheist is doing when they say there is no God.

That is why is is not right (unrighteous) to say "there is no God".

Well, that is a very common opinion that mostly comes from ignorance of The Orthodox Church.

So I would tell you that there may be more to it than you realize based on your surface level acquaintance. Spiritual advancement is a very front and center thing in the church, actually.

The tradition is good, and there for a reason, but even as the scriptures say,

"know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers"

 A lot of it might look strange, but there is a reason for all of it. None of it is done without purpose. 

I believe that closer you examine the interpretations of the various churches, it is very clear that The Orthodox Church has the truth, and there is something missing in these other churches. 

And just to make something clear, we have talked before about the whole determinism/freewill debate before. I was expressing what made sense to me personally, but The Church actually teaches a doctrine called "synergism", which is probably closer to how you understood the debate, and is really probably the correct position.

Commies... commies everywhere. 

No, I am Orthodox Catholic, though I am very involved in protestant and nondenominational churches. 

Big difference between Orthodox Catholic and Roman Catholic.

The Bishop of Rome went renegade from the rest of the church, and when the protestant churches through good discernment broke off from the Romans, they didn't really quite make it back to Orthodoxy, so they are incomplete churches.

Don't get me wrong, I love em all.

There are not many orthodox in the west, but a lot of protestants who go to seminary end up finding themselves over here after getting an education.

There are a few hurdles though, because it is very alien to many protestant churches in appearance, and on the surface looks like Roman Catholicism.

Stephen doesn't understand how this is very relevent to the subject though, because he hasn't read any of the writings of the saints. He prefers to debate heretics, schismatics, and heterodox Christians. But really, it takes a lot for someone to lean not on their understanding, and Stephen very much resembles a gnostic heretic, that is, someone who places their faith in knowledge rather than The Truth. There is a difference.

I think of the thousands of years of church writings from the church fathers, saints, monastics, theologians, etc. And I can't help but marvel the shame that most people, even professed Christians are wholly ignorant of alll those who came before them. 

Protestant and so callled "nondenominational" churches have lost a great deal by abandoning the ancient tradition of venerating the saints.

I don't see how talking about someone's shirt is any less of an inanity than talking about the weather.

Of course you should be sincere though. If you aren't good socially, weather is a good common launching point. In fact, I hardly ever bring up the weather, people usually do it to me.

I have not always been very sociable. Putting myself in positions where people would naturally come to interact with me is how I developed in that regard. Before that, I pretty much just sat in bushes while thumbing through prayer beads or something. I was pretty content to be alone. I had to make a conscious effort to even care enouhh to interact with people. I pushed myself to do that because I realized it was the right thing to do.

Me? I don't wear images on my shirts, and I tend to see that is something younger people do. It would personally not talk about the images or writings on someone's shirt, because I would not want give them the kind of attention that would keep them in that phase.

If that sounds like really alien thinking to you, that's fine. I'm not being a hater. I'm just saying sincerity to me is not the same as sincerity for you or superdudz. Also, what is sincere at one point in your life may not be sincere at a later point.

But yeah, I do agree with you that being sincere is the most important thing. 

How bout dat weather?

I suppose that conversation starter doesn't make much sense to people who live on the internet... but you'd be surprised at how that leads into more interesting conversation.

I knew this autistic hippie girl who used to form sentences by turning the dial on the radio, and she once said that you become the mask you wear.

Do you become the mask you wear? I don't know. Sounds almost like fake it till you make it. I don't really know about either of these attitudes.

Islam thinks Mary is part of the trinity, and that Mohammed is the comforter that comes after Jesus.

The comforter is The Holy Spirit, The Spirit of Truth. That is the third in The Trinity, not Mary.

Strange how Islam lacks The Spirit of Truth, eh?

This is how they mock a Christianity that no one believes in except for maybe the most obscure of heretical sects.

Morality is based on reality? It is universal?

You sound like a monotheist, though you still haven't realized yet that The Truth is literally The One God.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

The Son is The Word, Logos. The Most Perfect Image of God. The Truth.

The Holy Spirit is The Spirit of Truth.

If the mostnperfect image of God is the truth and it is activated by the spirit of truth, what does that make the father?

I know it tends to be lost in protestantism(not all churches), but the trinity actually means something.

The Ultimate Reality is God.

Belief in the threeness

Confession of the oneness of the creator of creation.

As old St. Patrick says.

I personally find the epistles to be very edifying and inspirational. Very enlightened writings.

They are also probably the best writings in the bible for coming to understand what the faith is about.

I think we are on the same page about that.

Definitions courtesy Merriam-webster...

Definition of definition

Definition of God

capitalized : the supreme or ultimate

Translation...

The Truth is God.

And thousands of years worth of writings from clergy, monastics, saints, theologians, etc. Back me up on this.

The Word of God is The Most Perfect Image of God. The Word is Truth. This is The Son in The Trinity.

The Comforter is The Spirit of Truth. This is The Holy Spirit in The Trinity.

So The Father is seen through The Son, and The Holy Spirit activates this.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

THE ULTIMATE REALITY.

So yes, The Truth is The Truth or

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

If you don't believe the truth is the truth, the holy spirit is not in you, and nothing makes sense.

You have to believe He is who he says He Is. Otherwise, you aren't getting it.

And that is what gnosticism or knowingism is at the core... "I know better!"

That is certainly the case.

What exactly are you asking?

Its pomegranate season you know.

I'm enjoying all these pomegranates 

I don't report posts, even though I probably could. There is a member who likes to call me and others clown a whole lot. I was reprimanded for doing the same thing.

I don't really care. But since moderation seems to be randomly enforced, maybe it would be good to know who the accusers are.

So I'll just go ahead and vote no for anonymous reporting unless someone can convince me otherwise. I'm really on the fence.

You don't believe that Jesus cured any lepers. That isn't the same thing as knowing that Jesus didn't cure any lepers.

If you don't like that answer, here is another.

That isn't what happened.

Now here is a question for you. Who are you to judge?

Your whole argument is a straw man. You argue against a god I don't believe in.

If you refuse to acknowledge that The Truth is God even after I pule the evidence up that shows this is what Christianity accepts as its God, you will be commiting the fallacy of invincible ignorance.

Besides all that, WWE posturing is not a valid argument.

Psychiatry is pseudoscience 

Pizza without cheese is good. I know cuz I don't eat cheese.

But a pizza with just cheese is not really a pizza, but a cheese pie.

The God I believe in is The Reality.

So you admit that my God exists by admitting that reality exists.

I guess nobody here ever heard the expression.... don't feed the troll...

Only men reference things ,duh.

But reality existed before man.

Definition of god courtesy Merriam-webster...

Clearly all of these gods exist.

But they are not ultimately real, they are contingent entities. The One God is not contingent.

Yes gods exist.

Are they ultimately real? No.

The One God is The Ultimate Reality.

The entirety of psalm 82 reads...

So in other words, the correct and honest answers are presumed, and anything that goes contrary to these assumptions is considered a sign of self deception?

You mock and scoff, but this is a legitimate answer to you question.

And unfortunately, it seems that this is the response you always give.

These psycho folk sure have a strange preoccupation with buttseks. 

Because your arbitrary sense of personal aesthetics has very little to do with what is truly moral.

Well, that's unfortunate.

The orthodox church uses greek texts as its bible, and it is closer to the textus receptus of the King James than the modern texts which are the product of "textual criticism".

It's kind of hard to fake these things when the orthodox churches all trace themselves back to the apostles. Right now it might be harder because of how displaced we are in time, but the gnostic writings, even specifically the gospel of thomas were written about fairly close to the beginnings of the church.

The Orthodox Church has kept track of these things fairly well.

And Stephen, you have to believe me when I say that your understanding of scripture is wrong, and it is impossible to correct you because you don't accept the teaching of the church as valid. In fact, you seem to think the church is up to no good.

Well, that is why I don't correct you anymore, because you don't believe me when I give you answers. You seem to already believe you know.

That is what gnosticism is at its core. Knowingism.

Gnosticism is a heresy.

"God gives grace to the humble, but resists the proud."

I'll tell you what it means to me.

Faith without works is dead.

The church was aware of the so called "gnostic" scriptures, yes, even back when it was first written, and that is how they know, for example, that the gospel according to Thomas was not written by Thomas.

This stuff is not as new or revolutionary as you think it is. Neo-gnosticism is just as much of an error as gnosticism back then.

We got problems

I worship The Truth.

And sometimes loving people involves telling them what they don't want to hear. The Truth. I am called to suffer the iniquities and bear the sins of the wicked, not hate them.

I love you too.

Just as everyone who professes Jesus is different, so is everyone who denies God or gods.

I know my God is The Truth, which is how I know that atheism against this God is an invalid position. I know that people adopt invalid positions for different reasons.

I know that gods are created things, which is why I do not put my faith in them. I am a monotheist. Do gods exist? Certainly in some sense, but I only recognize One God as ultimately being sovereign. The Truth. So even though you and I are both theists, I am not a pagan, I do not worship created things as gods.

And forgive me if I am presumptuous about what you believe, because polytheists tend to have a lot of variation between them.

Well, that is not righteous discernment. Even if they viewed all theists as being the same, which I doubt, it would not be fitting for a lover of God to embrace unrighteousness discernment as well. I will not judge all atheists as the same.

Your idea of truthful is anything that undermines the faith. Gnosticism is a heresy, Stephen. For good reason. Knowledge is a created thing.

Also, even back in ancient times the so called gnostics couldn't agree on anything. The one thing they all had in common was that their faith was in what they thought was knowledge, their own understanding, and not The Truth.

The Roman Church is a renegade church. What makes more sense, that 4 patriarchs rebelled against 1 or that 1 patriarch rebelled against 4? The New Testament is written in Greek not Latin. They corrupted the Nicene Creed. They have killed millions of Christians. Hell, the first martyr of Orthodoxy in the United States was tortured and killed by Romans for not submitting to the pope.

Why is western Christianity so broken up and confused? Protestantism is a reaction against the evil Roman Church, and they haven't found their way back to Orthodoxy yet.

And no other Church has been tortured and oppressed like the orthodox church. If they aren't getting killed by Romans, it's Muslims, and if it isn't Muslims, it is atheistic communists.

The church of martyrs. Over 20 million Orthodox martyrs in the last century. Who cares?

And we also believe that God is the judge of man. There are many protestants and even Roman Catholics who receive the grace of Christ. Even those who are not Christian, God may show them grace. 

But the Church that has been handed down since the days of the apostles is Orthodox Catholicism. There is a lot there too, because this isn't a 200 or even 500 year old church. This Church goes all the way back to the apostles.

And while The Church in Rome was declaring their Pope to be Vicar of Christ, who is beyond criticism, infallible, and alone is worthy to have his feet kissed by emperors, performing their mass in languages that the common people couldn't understand...

The Orthodox Church was doing none of these things. Since the beginning, liturgy was performed in common vernacular, church and state were seperate domains, the patriarchs were understood to be human beings, not gods, and the only king over Christendom and indeed the while world is Jesus Christ.

But even then, even though I am an unashamed advocate of the Orthodox Church, God knows who are His, and The Church is not merely a human institution, but The Body of Christ, by and in whom are all things whether on Earth or in Heaven.

And Jesus went to the cross to save such as yourself. Jesus loves you, and so do I.

Well, I don't believe all atheists are the same. I think there are plenty who simply have been listening to and believing ignorant people.

Plus protestants make Christianity confusing with their myriad of heresies, and The Roman Catholic Church has done more damage to the name of Christ in their not so subtle attempts to make their Pope God.

Orthodox are a minority in the west, so their voice gets drowned out by those who have bad doctrine.

I blame Rome.

You only accept the bible as evidence for what God is, but you don't accept the bible as evidence.

How arbitrary.

What I can prove is that the bible teaches that The Truth is God, and even if you don't believe in the bible, The Truth exists.

Your argument from invincible ignorance might make you feel smart, but it is still a dumb argument.

I love you regardless.