The Church gives us not a system, but a key; not a plan of God's City, but the means of entering it. Perhaps someone will lose his way because he has no plan. But all that he will see, he will see without a mediator, he will see it directly, it will be real for him; while he who has studied only the plan risks remaining outside and not really finding anything. - Fr Georges Florovsky
We have been given a wonderful tool, as taught to us by the Holy Fathers. It is this prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." Pray this without ceasing, with a firm desire to know God out of love for our Father, our friend, our comforter. Your mind will grow calm, your heart will grow in love, you will refrain from judgment and avoid sin, you will feel peace and contentment and satisfaction, and you will encounter truth.
Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. -John 16:26
Sex is not "a path to damnation" in Christianity; as the primal creative act, it is beautiful and sacred, our imitation of the Creator. It is an act with a goal and a consequence, and taken outside of that context (producing a child, not just enjoying ourselves without consequence) can have disastrous effects upon the father, mother, and child. Yes, there are single fathers and mothers who manage to get through their lives. I'm not going to say that they are poor parents. But I'm sure we all know people that had an "accident" that resulted in their lives becoming pretty difficult. Wouldn't it have been better if that child was born when the parents were certain of their love, and in an appropriate financial situation to support a family?
In mentioning the Song of Solomon, you see how sex isn't a path to damnation. When Mary Magdalene washed Jesus' feet with her tears and hair, that was nearly a sexual act in the context of their society at the time. Yet He says to her that her sins are forgiven, that her faith has saved her, to go in peace.
Sex is given to us as a gift to rejoice in, that we might find one whom we truly love and create with them as God created us out of love; what is not supported is the viewing of sex as something for our own ephemeral pleasure, devoid of its true context and ramifications. And this is not to say that sex cannot be pleasant! Just that we must be mindful of what exactly we are doing, what it means and why this gift was given to us.
It is unfortunate that the Western traditions of Christianity developed such an attitude of guilt regarding sex. To understand that we are sinners, that we miss the mark (the meaning of sin in Greek), and to comprehend that in the context of God's love and forgiveness for us results in humility. Guilt, however, is concerned with a person looking at their stature amongst others. It is about judging oneself and one's neighbor, saying, "Not even God is big enough to forgive me." Guilt seeks the love of men, not God, and deny's God's forgiveness. Approaching the gift of human sexuality with an attitude of fear and guilt is just as dangerous as having wanton sex!
Regarding violence:
Turn the other cheek, judge not lest ye be judged, love thy neighbor as thyself, do unto others as you would have them do unto you; as I have loved you, love one another--by this will all men know ye are My disciples. Forgiving up to seventy times seventy. Confessing our sins to one another, asking forgiveness of one another, and forgiving one another as the Father forgives his Prodigal Son. All the sufferings of Christ and the Apostles and the Martyrs, borne with patience in renunciation of this world's ways. Healing the man whose ear was cut off, a man who came to take Jesus to his death. Where is violence seen as virtue in these essential sayings?
Yes, people die in Revelations. Bad things happen. But in this world of choice, of physical matter, not all states of matter are pleasing. In a world of causality, all our actions have have consequences, and we will reap what we sow. And we cannot see the chain of causality, that incomprehensible spider web of order in chaos as all our actions come to full manifestation, in very real carnage and suffering. We can choose our ego, thinking that we know what is best for us in love of self and ephemeral pleasure, or we can choose to submit ourselves to God's will, that our Father in Heaven knows what we require to bring us to glory. God became man that man might become like God, and it is our choice to decide whether that is what we desire or not.
Christ teaches us how to bring the Kingdom of Heaven down to Earth, into the interior of our heart (the Kingdom of Heaven is within you), to transcend suffering -- even rejoice in it -- and bear our crosses on a pilgrimage, forgiving those who mock us, spit at us, even kill us: as Christ forgave those who did the same to him. Not to escape away in a rapture, but to bear persecutions and sufferings as the Martyrs did, that i
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The Church gives us not a system, but a key; not a plan of God's City, but the means of entering it. Perhaps someone will lose his way because he has no plan. But all that he will see, he will see without a mediator, he will see it directly, it will be real for him; while he who has studied only the plan risks remaining outside and not really finding anything. - Fr Georges Florovsky
We have been given a wonderful tool, as taught to us by the Holy Fathers. It is this prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." Pray this without ceasing, with a firm desire to know God out of love for our Father, our friend, our comforter. Your mind will grow calm, your heart will grow in love, you will refrain from judgment and avoid sin, you will feel peace and contentment and satisfaction, and you will encounter truth.
Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. -John 16:26
Regarding sex:
Sex is not "a path to damnation" in Christianity; as the primal creative act, it is beautiful and sacred, our imitation of the Creator. It is an act with a goal and a consequence, and taken outside of that context (producing a child, not just enjoying ourselves without consequence) can have disastrous effects upon the father, mother, and child. Yes, there are single fathers and mothers who manage to get through their lives. I'm not going to say that they are poor parents. But I'm sure we all know people that had an "accident" that resulted in their lives becoming pretty difficult. Wouldn't it have been better if that child was born when the parents were certain of their love, and in an appropriate financial situation to support a family?
In mentioning the Song of Solomon, you see how sex isn't a path to damnation. When Mary Magdalene washed Jesus' feet with her tears and hair, that was nearly a sexual act in the context of their society at the time. Yet He says to her that her sins are forgiven, that her faith has saved her, to go in peace.
Sex is given to us as a gift to rejoice in, that we might find one whom we truly love and create with them as God created us out of love; what is not supported is the viewing of sex as something for our own ephemeral pleasure, devoid of its true context and ramifications. And this is not to say that sex cannot be pleasant! Just that we must be mindful of what exactly we are doing, what it means and why this gift was given to us.
It is unfortunate that the Western traditions of Christianity developed such an attitude of guilt regarding sex. To understand that we are sinners, that we miss the mark (the meaning of sin in Greek), and to comprehend that in the context of God's love and forgiveness for us results in humility. Guilt, however, is concerned with a person looking at their stature amongst others. It is about judging oneself and one's neighbor, saying, "Not even God is big enough to forgive me." Guilt seeks the love of men, not God, and deny's God's forgiveness. Approaching the gift of human sexuality with an attitude of fear and guilt is just as dangerous as having wanton sex!
Regarding violence:
Turn the other cheek, judge not lest ye be judged, love thy neighbor as thyself, do unto others as you would have them do unto you; as I have loved you, love one another--by this will all men know ye are My disciples. Forgiving up to seventy times seventy. Confessing our sins to one another, asking forgiveness of one another, and forgiving one another as the Father forgives his Prodigal Son. All the sufferings of Christ and the Apostles and the Martyrs, borne with patience in renunciation of this world's ways. Healing the man whose ear was cut off, a man who came to take Jesus to his death. Where is violence seen as virtue in these essential sayings?
Yes, people die in Revelations. Bad things happen. But in this world of choice, of physical matter, not all states of matter are pleasing. In a world of causality, all our actions have have consequences, and we will reap what we sow. And we cannot see the chain of causality, that incomprehensible spider web of order in chaos as all our actions come to full manifestation, in very real carnage and suffering. We can choose our ego, thinking that we know what is best for us in love of self and ephemeral pleasure, or we can choose to submit ourselves to God's will, that our Father in Heaven knows what we require to bring us to glory. God became man that man might become like God, and it is our choice to decide whether that is what we desire or not.
Christ teaches us how to bring the Kingdom of Heaven down to Earth, into the interior of our heart (the Kingdom of Heaven is within you), to transcend suffering -- even rejoice in it -- and bear our crosses on a pilgrimage, forgiving those who mock us, spit at us, even kill us: as Christ forgave those who did the same to him. Not to escape away in a rapture, but to bear persecutions and sufferings as the Martyrs did, that i