Coffee-Hour Online

http://www.roacamerica.org/art-text_timeline.shtml They make some good points, but OUR patriarch still gets the holy light, etc...how come all these things happen that prove that Orthodoxy is the True Faith, when all this stuff is undeniably true that they accuse us of. Please somebody help me clarify.

I have no freaking clue on some of those points. Why point out that Greece was taken by the Nazis in WW2? That there was starvation? Why would it matter to Orthodoxy if the Pope went to the wailing wall and left a nice note? What does that stuff and more have to do with Orthodoxy on the whole and how we all simply wish to come to Christ in our process of being saved today? Further I don\'t see how changing a few things on the calender to align with the rest of the world out of mercy (less pascha) would anger God so much that he would punish us??? I have always thought of God as being merciful. Did not St. Anthony himself say instead of fearing your God Love him. Sure a few individuals made some bad decisions in history. We are people and are prone to mistakes. There are four type of people in this world. Those that have given up entirely on God and want nothing to do with him. Those that finger point saying I know I\'ve done wrong but look how bad this person is. Those that feel they have to work and earn salvation. And those that just humbly come and say I know I\'ve screwed up, please have mercy on me and forgive me. I hate to judge but it looks like finger pointers to me. I don\'t see how this solves anything nor how it would encourage corrective action if there were past wrongs. If something wrong was done by individuals we can fix things we can pray for forgiveness. Anyway I rambled again, sorry. I don\'t know if I answered your question or skirted around it. But I gave it the best as my humble words may try.

I know this is off topic, but I want to quote myself here. In my Oratorical Festival speech for this year, I talk on the topic \\"To be pleasing God, this is to be a human being. -St. John Chrysostom. How does one please God?\\" and related questions. Now, quoting myself, \\"...This is what is pleasing to God. Now St. John Chrysostom did not just say \'be pleasing to God,\' but rather he said that it is HUMAN to be pleasing to God. He didn\'t mean \'human\' the way we mean it when we say, \'well, I\'m only human.\' He meant what human nature was intended to be when God created us, before the fall....Using Christ, Who is pleasing to His Father [Theophany and Transfiguration], as our Example, we can draw the conclusion that it is human, it is natural, it is part of our nature, to please God and to do His Will, by loving Him, loving our brethren, and keeping the Commandments.\\" In other words, saying \\"We\'re human and prone to make mistakes\\" doesn\'t cut it. It is HUMAN to please God. Now, because we live in a fallen world, we have a tendency to sin (correct me if I\'m wrong, but I think that this is the Orthodox \\"original sin\\" similar to what the RC\'s call \\"concupiscance\\" or something like that. We don\'t believe we\'re actually guilty of Adam\'s sin). But that doesn\'t mean that we shouldn\'t try to live above our expectations as fallen creatures to what we were created to do and to be...pleasing to God. And, Nishizawa, I know they\'re not Orthodox, I\'m just saying that are there accusations true, and all this stuff. I know we\'re the True Church. \\"true Orthodox\\" is an oximoron, since Orthodoxy means \\"true belief.\\" I know we\'re the true Church, but I\'m just wondering about all those stuff they said.

Ya I heard that story about that monk before. And I know they\'re accusing us of heresy. The heresy of ecumenism. And that is a sin. We can\'t compromise the Orthodox Faith. I don\'t mind ecumenism as long as we don\'t compromise the Faith. As far as Prots and RC\'s go, I can\'t IMAGINE that any Orthodox bishop with a conscience would give them Communion. As far as the Copts go, to me it seems that we are saying the same thing in different words, and there are some places where we are permitted to give the Communion and vice versa, if there is no church of ours in that city, and only the other one. But that is only b/c we are SOO close in belief (one Nature, fully Human and fully Divine (Oriental) vs. one fully Human Nature and one fully Divine Nature (Eastern)). And, ya know, I don\'t exactly agree with everything that the EP does, but I\'m not gonna go break communion, b/c, as Fr. Hopko said (and I think he was quoting somebody), the greatest sin is schism. So it has to be REALLY serious to break communion. And I\'m gonna speculate here, about the cross appearing over the house where the O.C.ers were worshipping in Greece: Maybe God liked their cause as long as they were doing it within the Church (at that point, they hadn\'t broken communion yet), but then after they broke from the Church, that was wrong. That might explain the Cross. But as somebody said previously (forget who), all the miracles or no miracles doesn\'t mean anything.

Hmmmm, I don\'t know, sounds like you caught me on phrasing. I said my original statement based on apparent mistakes past administrators have made. Other points that had no meaning at all, that are accusations. For instance people starved to death in WW2? What does that have to do with our current relationship with God? Could their point be that since we aren\'t true Christians or something this means He would want us to suffer? Are we now dealing with some nut ball talking head on TV condemning everyone for the actions of a few? How about this for phrasing, tell me if it sounds better. Sin is not normal. When we do wrong its not a normal thing God intends us to do. For example its not normal for us to murder someone. Some in the past have made decisions that were and are not normal. For whatever reason a theologian may wish to rationalize, we as people do it. Heck I just heard of a Romanian Metropolitan taking communion at a Roman Catholic church. This is not normal behavior for Metropolitans. His reasons for what many would call heresy are obviously not normal. This other group is not acting in a normal true Christian way. Is this surprising of a group who choses to condemn rather than work to correct what they think is not normal? If one is so out of wack with what God thinks is normal its a downward spiral of logic from there as you no longer think in a manner that is what God normally wishes of all of us. OK not perfect, but better?