Hellenic religion

[fyrOM]

Spartan what can one say. Wow. Every Greek I have ever met was fiercely Greek orthodox. Its amazing people are turning to the old gods. I didn’t think people were so tolerant. Although some of the non-standard religious activities have always been with us like some old granny doing whispering stuff to get rid of the evil eye ect.

[Mr Brandy]

...from scripture

1 Corinthians
1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Maybe our earthly lives are not long enough to thoughourly ever dissect this topic and we are faced with a choice of either making a leap of faith and "believing" or choosing to ignore and remain a non-beleiver.

I have encountered many different views on the validity of the faith and all I can say is that to the believer there is no sweeter gift then belief in God's kingdom and the salvation found through our saviour.

[fyrOM]

in the words of homer simpson
pagan pagan pagan

YouTube - ZEITGEIST - MOVIE (FULL VERSION) PLEASE SHARE WITH EVERYONE

[makedonin]

We are faced with believe, cause we have no way of knowing wheather there is God or not.

People believe in many things, even the scientists are believing in their theories. That is why for example they fight fiercly to preserve the Einsteins Theory when they are faced with things in the universe that they can't explain them at first.

Believe is a way of escaping the brutality of the physical existence, facing death, terror and all the rest of it.

Unfortunately, believe was meant to relieve us from those things, but instead it is mutating into another brutal thing made by man.

Believe gives one the feeling of security as long that believe is supported by many others (and as a rule, all great changes were brought by people who did not sujected to the rule of the majority), and starts to be open agression when the believe is chellinged by some other believe of a individual or group.

History has proved this in many instances.

The Religion on it's own was used and is still used to manipulate man on his fear for existence which rises from the simple fact of our mortality.

[julie]

I have been reading with great interest this thread and wondering how to succinctly state my view without writing books

Philosopher this comment - The Jew and the Hindu and the Muslim, etc, will all go to hell because of one thing: they don't believe in Christ.

You are a fundamentalist Christian that has great ego. Ego has no place in loving Christians. You condemn others that do not hold the interpretations and beleifs that you have. That is not a Christian. Fundamentalism has no place for living in unity and with compassion for others, including forgiveness, which is something our great saviour preached


Muslims believe in Allah, which is the same God that we believe in. Its the fundamentalist Muslims that are anti Christianity and inflicting pain on other the beings
Mohammed the prophet, beleived in the love and compassion that Jesus Christ preached and he preached the same.

As for the Buddhist faith, bring it on! Where would you like to begin
You have an interpretation of all religions and faiths, and condemn anyone that does not follow the interpretations you make from the so called holy Bible.

Jankovska, you are correct, religion as such is the basis of every war that has happened, and religion is ego based. Religion is all about control, and power, materialism and greed
Religion per se spouts that if you dont follow a certain set of rules devised by who knows what, that you will be damned
Then we are all damned, we are all sinners

Jesus Christ was a prophet that preached love and kindness and compassion and had no ego, unlike Philospoher. Therefore, your arrogance and lack of compassion demonstrates you are not a Christian with your blatant attacks on everyone on this thread

I do not hold the pieces of paper that you deem necessary to have faith and your arrogance is to be condemned.

Hindu believe in the higher self. Their greeting namaste. A beaiutiful greeting, - the higher sacred divine self within me sees and acknowledges the higher divine sacred soul within you. We are God, that is the divine sacred self
Hinduism is a beautiful gentle religion


Buddhism, is not a religion, but a philosphy, am surprised the pieces of paper you have attained have not provided you with that information
Sidhartha Buddha was a prophet who believed in Jesus Christ as being one of the greatest saviours in the Modern world
buddhism does not believe in supreme domination or ego, but in self. And in self teaches that loving kindness and compassion are something that each soul needs to achieve to achieve the act of reincarnation being heaven . Hell being where one is not.

God, the little grey haired man in the sky does not exist, WE are God, our higher divine self is God and that is what Jesus preached, to learn to love ourselves and others, we are the gods. And heaven is where we are right now, in our reincarnated souls, that keep coming back until we learn from the lessons we have made in previous lifetimes.

There is a supreme being or atom that exists. Because we believe that it exists. Our salvation is to learn to find our happiness from within , and not to have attachment. And certainly not to a book that is debatable, because it is. A book that is written with laws. A book that states God made a man and a woman and all humanity evolved from that. Scientists state facts. Evolution is how we came about as beings/ It is all open to interpretation
To live in the moment knowing that we are supreme beings, without ego, that can exist with love and compassion, or loving kindness.

Catholiscim - and Anglican faith - you state that whoever follows the Holy Bible will go to heaven , this is a joke. I condemn these religions that indoctrinate and brainwash and bow down to the head of a monarchy that reeks of sin. Bow down to a pope, that preaches in their services, to follow him because all others will be damned.
That condone acts of indecency and sexual abuse on small baby children. Disgusting hypocrital animals is what they are
I have been exposed to the Catholic faith. My former husband and sons father a Catholic that attended mass at Easter time. To condemn me being christened as a macedonian Orthodox non believer in their eyes. And my children who I christened in the Macedonian Orthodox Church
The Anglican faith, a joke of a religion, bowing down to the Queen of England, ha ha/ and commit buggery and rape and cover up the indecent disgusting acts of their priests that deserve to have their penises removed and fed to them.
How can you come on this thread and state that anyone that shares your interpretation of the Holy Bible is the only beleiver in Jesus Christ, or are these sinners forgiven in your eyes for they do so.
With the Jihad extremist, they have a hatred for Christians, we are the infidel and to be exterminated, their salvation is to kill the infidel and hey will go to heaven. How sad for the Muslims who are a gentle people and live in loving kindness. Because Christians condemn Muslims for those extremists

Man has mis interpretated the bible. So you will call me a Dan Brown prohet, women ARE to be revered, because it is from the goddess that brings forth life

You can preach your interpretation all you like, but do it in a non dergoatory way. I find you offensive in your attacks to my fellow forum members here, if you beleive you are a teacher fo sorts, then stop preaching and state your case without professing to have knowledge of all religions and philosophies, because you dont.
And pieces of paper that you have accumulated can be construed as toilet paper with your sinful arrogance

[Vangelovski]

Philosopher this comment - The Jew and the Hindu and the Muslim, etc, will all go to hell because of one thing: they don't believe in Christ.

You are a fundamentalist Christian that has great ego. Ego has no place in loving Christians. You condemn others that do not hold the interpretations and beleifs that you have. That is not a Christian. Fundamentalism has no place for living in unity and with compassion for others, including forgiveness, which is something our great saviour preached

Julie,

I will speak to this point, because it is a fundamental misunderstanding of God. God, on earth as Jesus, left NO room for interpretation or reinterpretation. He made it very clear in the Bible that the ONLY way to God (to Heaven) is faith in Christ. No amount of good works, no amount of faith in other gods can cleanse us of our sins. ONLY faith in Jesus gives us forgiveness and salvation. A short passage with Bible references below:

Only in Christ the Savior is a man freed from the liability of guilt, sin, and shame. Our right standing before our Judge is established on one thing only: the finished work of Christ crucified who shed His blood so we could live (John 19:30). We are released from our sins by His blood (Revelation 1:5). He has reconciled us in His earthly body through His death (Colossians 1:22). Jesus bore our sins in His own Body on the cross so that by His wounds we are healed (1 Peter 2:24). We are made holy through the offering up of Jesus’ Body as a sacrifice once for all (Hebrews 10:10). Christ appeared once for all to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Hebrews 9:26). God sent His Son to remove the wrath that we ourselves deserved (1 John 4:10). The penalty of sin that is rightly ours is absolved by grace through faith, not by any righteous deeds of our own (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The Bible teaches that there is no other way to salvation than through Christ. Jesus says in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Now how God judges those who have never heard the Gospel is not clear, however, His judgement is just.

So, calling a believer a "fundamentalist" is in reality calling them true adherents to God's law. It may in fact be God that you have issues with and not the believer.

One more point I'll touch on is the fallacy that the Christian God is the same as the Muslim "god".

Although the Muslim and Christian views of God have many similarities, they are not the same. Muslims and Christians agree that there is one God who is the Creator of everything in the universe. Both view God as sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, holy, just, and righteous. In these ways, the Christian and Muslim views of God are the same. However, there are also significant differences between Islam and Christianity’s view of God. While Allah possesses the attributes of love, mercy, and grace, Allah does not demonstrate these attributes in the same manner, or to the same degree, as the God of Christianity.

The most important difference, though, between the Muslim and Christian view of God is the concept of the Trinity. Christians believe that God has revealed Himself as one God in three Persons: God the Father, the Son of God (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.

God’s Son became a human being, Jesus Christ, to take away the penalty and power of sin by dying on the cross. After rising from the dead, Jesus went back to heaven to be with His Father. He sent His Spirit to teach men the truth through His Word, the Bible. One day, Christ will return to judge the earth; those who have trusted in Him will go to heaven, but those who have rejected Him must be separated in hell from the holy God.

Therefore, the belief in the Trinity is essential to the Christian faith. Without the Trinity, there is no incarnation of God in the Person of Jesus Christ. Without Jesus Christ, there is no salvation for sin. Without salvation, sin condemns all to hell. In Islam, Allah is not triune and does not have a son. Therefore, because of this key disagreement with the Christian faith, Muslims are not worshipping the God of Christianity.

[Risto the Great]

I have found and continue to find this discussion invigorating and urge all participants to not "cast the first stone" at anyone's beliefs. Let's keep going with it guys.

Has the Orthodox church missed anything with its interpretation of Christianity?

[Vangelovski]

Has the Orthodox church missed anything with its interpretation of Christianity?

I would say the Orthodox Church has added non-biblical components to its doctrine over the centuries, much like the Catholics but not to the same extent. Some of these non-biblical additions have the capacity to confuse new or immature Christians and can lead to a serious misinterpretation of the Gospal message.

I can understand how these additions evolved into the Church, but I think its something the Orthodox world needs to seriously reconsider and bring the faith back to its roots and its one and only absolute authority - God's word in the Bible.

Having said this, the Orthodox message is essentially salvation through Christ alone and this is the Biblical view.

[Philosopher]

I'm surprised this topic is still going. I log on and lo and behold, there is new posts.

For the record, I really don't care what religion anyone believes or doesn't believe in. As I stated in the beginning of this post, I defended the rights of the modern pagan greeks to worship their gods of antiquity.

People are free to believe whatever they want. I may not agree with someone's religion but I believe in freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. So unlike some of you on this forum, the real bigot is not me. Whoever wants to mock Christ and Christianity and the Bible--you are welcome to do so. In fact, I support freedom of speech--even though I don't agree with it.

Some of you, on the other hand, believe that I'm a bigot for merely exercising my religious beliefs. You should learn to be tolerant of beliefs you don't like, even "fundamentalism." Tolerance is a two way street.

In regard to the comment that the bible was written hundreds of years after christ, written during the time of Constantine, no scholar, no matter how liberal, takes this position.

In fact, the internal evidence of the new testament, the fact that the temple in jerusalem was still standing, proves that the bible could not have been written after 70AD, the year the temple was destroyed.

The temple is still standing in the Gospel accounts, the epistles, and the last book of the bible, Revelations. An impossibility if it was written after the fact.

[Vangelovski]

In addition to Philosophers comments on the timing of when the New Testament was written, the Old Testament was written progressively, as God revealed his Word to each prophet through history.

[makedonche]

I would say the Orthodox Church has added non-biblical components to its doctrine over the centuries, much like the Catholics but not to the same extent. Some of these non-biblical additions have the capacity to confuse new or immature Christians and can lead to a serious misinterpretation of the Gospal message.

I can understand how these additions evolved into the Church, but I think its something the Orthodox world needs to seriously reconsider and bring the faith back to its roots and its one and only absolute authority - God's word in the Bible.

Having said this, the Orthodox message is essentially salvation through Christ alone and this is the Biblical view.

Vangelovski
Excellent explanation, enjoying this immensely! Tell me how would somebody be viewed, in God's eyes, who who uses the name of God, the Church and Jesus, for his sole benefit? or moreso for the purpose of manipulating ordinary people in order to align them with his views or keep them suppressed?

[Mr Brandy]

Vangelovski - I would agree with everything you have stated in your post. To get back to Julie's criticism of The Jew and the Hindu and the Muslim, etc, will all go to hell because of one thing: they don't believe in Christ. One additional point I would like to make is that as the laity we need to resist the temptation to judge others even though what they believe is not consistent with our own. Any judgements need to be left to the Saviour alone - not the average parishoner.

[Mr Brandy]

I have found and continue to find this discussion invigorating and urge all participants to not "cast the first stone" at anyone's beliefs. Let's keep going with it guys.

Has the Orthodox church missed anything with its interpretation of Christianity?

Risto - I feel there is such a vast amount of spiritual wealth in the Orthodox church. The founder of our church is our Saviour Christ whom takes his place within the Holy Trinity but we are also blessed with the teachings and examples of the Mother of God. In addition to biblical teachings we also draw on the immense wealth found in the lives of the Saints who have led by example in their teachings of holiness.

[Vangelovski]

Risto - I feel there is such a vast amount of spiritual wealth in the Orthodox church. The founder of our church is our Saviour Christ whom takes his place within the Holy Trinity but we are also blessed with the teachings and examples of the Mother of God. In addition to biblical teachings we also draw on the immense wealth found in the lives of the Saints who have led by example in their teachings of holiness.

Mary and the saints are some of the confusing elements which I touched upon earlier. The Bible alone is the absolute and final Word of God which he has revealed to us.

The 'saints' as we call them, certainly provided a good example, however, they were human just like us. Any teaching they may have provided is only true as far as it accords to the Bible.

But what is the Biblical meaning of a 'saint'? Saints are the body of Christ - all believers. The Bible referes to 'saints' as everyone that has accepted Jesus and put their faith in him.

I'll use the Catholic Church as an example. In Roman Catholic theology, the saints are in Heaven. In the Bible, the saints are on earth. In Roman Catholic teaching, a person does not become a saint unless he/she is “beatified” or “canonized” by the Pope or prominent bishop. In the Bible, everyone who has received Jesus Christ by faith is a saint. In Roman Catholic practice, the saints are revered, prayed to, and in some instances, worshipped. In the Bible, saints are called to revere, worship, and pray to God alone.

[Philosopher]

Check out this link: YouTube - Gods of the New Age Part 1 of 13