I know what you mean about family my immediate family and all of my families friends are Evangelical and the rest Catholic. So no matter what I do I make someone unhappy although the Catholics in my family are pretty nonjudgemental.
I would love to be Orthodox but I still am just inquiring here and there about it. It would be so so fun to be able to finally say I know the truth and be able to feel I have enough of the truth to start bashing all the heretics on CF. If I convert I will feel only Orthodox are Christians and the rest are going to hell(If I convert I am going to more Orthodox than the Orthodox). So maybe thats why God has kept me from going to anymore Orthodox services. Also I still don't agree with a lot of the Orthodox dogma so it's best if I don't attend right now(next liturgy is weeks away anyways).
An Orthodox elitist? Oh... convertitous!
Sorry man, but you can't bring that baggage with you. We cannot be Orthodox Christian and judge others salvation.
Forgive me...
__________________
To be a Christian:
Proclaim Christ risen from the dead!
To be a member of the body:
Join the community that proclaims the risen Christ!
Either Church = Spiritual = No one know who will be saved
or Church = Physical = Only some members of physical church will possibly be saved.
Thats how I see it.
Church Militant (those here on earth) = Those who are attempting to follow the Apostic Church toward salvation.
Church Triumphant (The Heavenly Church) = The heavenly host and those who have passed on before us and are awaiting the final judgement but have run the good race in hopes of salvation on that day.
One may be a member of the Church Triumphant without ever having been a member of the Church militant. We don't recommend trying it. After all Christ did leave us a path and a promise.
Forgive me...
__________________
To be a Christian:
Proclaim Christ risen from the dead!
To be a member of the body:
Join the community that proclaims the risen Christ!
This is precisely what my brother thinks about me.
They all think that we think that. It even gets repeated here on the boards (JACK), no matter how many times we say that it's not so.
We don't help much either by making ambiguous posts. JackLadder cannot talk to a Priest. He is here asking for our help. I'm not saying that all of us should teach... but at the very least try not to confuse the waters.
Most of us remember our early days. We did not understand, we should not expect a new comer to understand either. All in God's good time.
Forgive me...
__________________
To be a Christian:
Proclaim Christ risen from the dead!
To be a member of the body:
Join the community that proclaims the risen Christ!
i'm actually not living on my own yet. plus, my priest told me i should settle things with my parents first.
Yea, you definitely need to listen to him. Take what I say with a grain of salt... Even if what I say rings true to you, run it by your priest before you act on it. The last thing I would want to do is point you in the wrong direction because I don't have the whole picture.
someone else told me this same thing i think i am getting better at it. but we will see after this weekend.
As long as you do so under the direction of your priest. I do think it's important for you to assert yourself as a responsible adult, but your priest knows you and your situation.
__________________
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
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"No matter how "right" you may be on various points, you must be diplomatic also. The first and important thing is not "rightness" at all, but Christian love and harmony. Most "crazy converts" have been "right" in the criticisms that led to their downfall; but they were lacking in Christian love and charity and so went off the deep end, needlessly alienating people around them and finally finding themselves all alone in their rightness and self-righteousness. Don't you follow them!..."
-Father Seraphim (Rose)
"Personal opinions have no role in ministry of any kind. When we represent the Church, then we ought only say and do what the Church has asked us to do. All else is wasted energy and an opportunity for sin. It is when we lapse into personal opinions, even when we dress them in the language of the Church, that conflict will arise."
- His Grace, Bp. JOSPEH
About the Catechumenate I encourage and support all Catechumens to finish and complete the entire process before being chrismated by a canonical orthodox priest. Also, being 'chrismated' actually means "being received into the Church" . . .
Last edited by Gnostophorrion; 6th November 2009 at 02:41 AM.
We must learn to trust our priest in humble obedience.
My own priest would not receive me as a catechumen until my husband was a catechumen by my side. Reason: he did not want to alienate my husband and possibly ruin our marriage. As it was, my husband joined me in becoming a catechumen and was the first to be chrismated at our ceremony.
Sometimes older children in their late teens and early 20s can be instrumental in bringing their parents, relative, and friends into Orthodoxy, but that takes much patience, good example, and prayers. If one is not careful, however, one can alienate their friends and relatives from the Church, and that is not desired.
__________________ Virgin Theotokos, rejoice!
O Mary, Full of Grace;
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
For thou hast borne the Savior of our souls.
+ + + + +
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Glory Forever!
O Giver of Life, Glory to Thee!
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Julia you are in my prayers... I may not understand how it is... I am not a convert here... but surely looks taugh....I would not imagine how it is to feel at odds with your parents. Your priest seems to give you good sound advice
__________________ No one on this earth can avoid affliction; and although the
afflictions which the Lord sends are not great men imagine them
beyond their strength and are crushed by them. This is because
they will not humble their souls and commit themselves to the will
of God. But the Lord Himself guides with His grace those who are
given over to God's will, and they bear all things with fortitude
for the sake of God Whom they have so loved and with Whom they are
glorified for ever. It is impossible to escape tribulation in this
world but the man who is giver over to the will of God bears
tribulation easily, seeing it but putting his trust in the Lord,
and so his tribulations pass.
My Dad had issues with the closed communion thing too, and I live at home so he used to have arguments with it often. And yes I know what it's like for it to be every week too!
Lord, have mercy.
My dad too.
Not my mom because she gets closed communion as she is a conservative Lutheran. My dad is too, but he has never agreed wtiht he Lutheran stance on closed communion.
I know what you mean about family my immediate family and all of my families friends are Evangelical and the rest Catholic. So no matter what I do I make someone unhappy although the Catholics in my family are pretty nonjudgemental.
I would love to be Orthodox but I still am just inquiring here and there about it. It would be so so fun to be able to finally say I know the truth and be able to feel I have enough of the truth to start bashing all the heretics on CF. If I convert I will feel only Orthodox are Christians and the rest are going to hell(If I convert I am going to more Orthodox than the Orthodox). So maybe thats why God has kept me from going to anymore Orthodox services. Also I still don't agree with a lot of the Orthodox dogma so it's best if I don't attend right now(next liturgy is weeks away anyways).
My friend, (I do not wish to derail this thread in anyway & am only replying before reading on further) but if you become Orthodox & worship further along, you will probably actually see the greatest potential for hope for other Christians & many non Christians as you ponder the mystery of the blessed Trinity, transcend misunderstandings that lead to assumptions like universalism on one extreme to rigid predestination on the other, yet always remain sober to be accountable realizing the fear of the Lord. You will feel the truth but not feel that it is being lorded over others. Of course, the varying anxiety & sorrows we experience in life affect us deeply & I do not say this to trivialize these matters. There are many things we can still interact with other Christians on like donating (time, money etc.) to a food bank or homeless shelter as we would with good secular charities. You will see less & less "heretics" as time goes on. "If the Lord's being appointed for the fall & resurrection of many is understood in the right way, then the fall will refer to that of the passions and evil thoughts in each of the faithful, and the resurrection to that of the virtues and of every thought that enjoys God's blessing." (St. Maximos the Confessor, 2nd c on theology #44, Philokalia vol. 2).
Last edited by Lukaris; 6th November 2009 at 12:41 PM.
Sorry man, but you can't bring that baggage with you. We cannot be Orthodox Christian and judge others salvation.
Forgive me...
OUSA! So good to see you in these parts!
How are you brother?
__________________
It is truly meet and right to bless thee O Theotokos, the mother of our God! More honorable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim! Without defilement you gavest birth to God the word! True Theotokos, we magnify thee!
i think i am getting better at it. but we will see after this weekend.
As long as you do so under the direction of your priest. I do think it's important for you to assert yourself as a responsible adult, but your priest knows you and your situation. 
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