Do you believe there is a God? Yes No. Maybe.
Do you believe there is only one God? Yes. No Maybe.
Do you believe God is All-Mighty? Yes. No. Maybe.
etc etc etc.
Belief-O-Matic does a good job in pin-pointing actual belief despite nominal affiliations.
http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Quizzes/BeliefOMatic.aspx
Georgia: How long can one live in denial? We have to face whatever problems really exist. Below is an excerpt from an interview with Sister Gavrilia (a tonsured Greek nun and spiritual daughter of the well-known Mother Gavrilia (1897-1992), the “ascetic of love” of Greece).
RtE: Many Orthodox complain of the times, of the moral decline, and wonder what we can do to stop it. Here in your book, Mother Gavrilia says, “In our country social morality has changed and tends to resemble that of northern European countries. We cannot stop the trend, however. The ancient Greeks say, ‘Should destiny bear you something, bear it and bear yourself well, for if
you resent it you will cause grief to yourself and destiny will still bear you on.’Whether we like it or not we will swim with the current.” In the West we want to start a campaign, to do something about it. How would you look at that counsel of the ancient Greeks without feeling that you are somehow betraying Christianity by not stepping out and doing something?
Sister Gavrilia: No, no, you are not betraying it. What we should do at the same time, which is not written here in the ancient Greek proverb, is that we must pray fi rst. But in the West, we want strikes, petitions. We should first kneel and pray for the groups of peoples, the youth, the doctors and nurses, all of the “endangered species” of our time. This is the one thing we don’t do. We should celebrate holy liturgy for them. Next week I am invited to a liturgy sponsored by the Greek Medical Association. They have holy liturgy together, they pray together, because they are Christian doctors – we are not yet in a complete desert. So, if we want to comment on this sentence about destiny, I think the context of her quote was on youth and promiscuity, and it is a very good example.
Regarding the Church:
]]>Sister Gavrilia: There is something I would like to add – because your journal’s readers are often converts they should keep in mind that the Church is a heavenly institution but the people who work in the Church are humans like you and me, everyday people. We should never be stopped by the disenchantment that will come. Disenchantment must come because this is a fallen world. I insist on this. God wants us to overcome the disenchantment and go on. We must never stop. I will tell you in closing an example that Mother Gavrilia used to give. “The Church is like a huge ship full of sailors, biting each other on the throat, tearing hair, punching, but the wonder is that the ship is coming into port because Christ is at the helm.”
Second, the article is about the the nation of Greece, not the Church. I have no real idea if the poll is accurate or not (some are, some aren’t) but that secularization affects Greece like it has all of Europe seems indisputable from where I sit.
]]>I do not really know how much GOA has to do with this reality. The situation is probably the same in all Orthodox countries and much worse in the West.
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The evolutionary worldview emerged because the Western world rejected God. The rest of the people rejected God because they have been taught to believe in evolution. Whenever a person embraces evolution, he simultaneously (even if unknowingly) eliminates creation as an option regarding his origin. Many people are searching to find their way in this fallen world. The Lord calls us one by one and we should not expect everyone to be like us.
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What you probably mean is that the real problem lies with those of us who claim to believe (myself and GOA included), yet live “normal” lives. Salvation does not come from “normality”, but from our ability to do God’s will and to reflect the divine. There are only two roads in this life – the road of salvation or the road of losing the soul. I am not certain that I am on the road of salvation. I am still searching and hoping to find “something” to do and feel that my work is blessed.
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]]>Father Gabriel: The most attended rubric on our web-site is: “Advices of the spiritual father…” According to statistics, that column was visited by 1,828 visitors from the beginning of this month until today. After that one, the most attended column is: “Spiritual advices”- 918 visitors. Often, I would sit and look at the people who are contacting me over the Skype program. As soon as I recognize someone who needs my advice and help, I will start to talk with that person, no matter what time of day or night it is. I am connected to the Skype and I am helping as much as I can; I am giving advices, I pray…It is interesting that I feel lightness and peace during those conversations. I feel that my missionary work is blessed. Then, from somewhere, my thoughts and answers are coming, just as some invisible force is whispering to me what to say. http://manastir-lepavina.org/duhovnik/index_eng.php?read=4226
This sad article outlines what is a simple reality. The GOA is completely disconnected from the reality on the ground in Greece and instead hawks ethnic nostalgia as culture and Church. Riots and cultural decay in Greece are to be ignored and replaced with Festivals, basketball tournanments and a vision of being Greek that embraces material wealth over a spiritual inheritance. The more you think about it the more I believe the GOA is in complete fantasy land. Nothing matters to 79th Street but the fantasy of being Greek and as long as you can sell the fantasy and host a big party….. reality does not matter.
]]>“Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.
And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise.
For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. (1 Corinthians 15:12-19)”
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