He learned from the person who made him a disciple, who learned from the one who discipled him, and onward and back until the first disciples learned from Christ Himself directly. It's the same way today in the Orthodox Church as it was in the first and second century when you couldn't just grab a Bible off your shelf and read the Scripture if you weren't as rich as Bill Gates. Having a Bible in the time of the Apostles and early Church was the equivalent of having a private jet today. We learn what sin is from the Church, which is the Pillar and Ground of the Truth. .
RIGHT, because what God says about it in his Word has NOTHING to do with it?
We have to depend on tradition by evil men that rape little boys and girls? We need to trust them and believe them and what they say SIN is instead of what God says in his Word what SIN is? – You actually believe this nonsense?
Chrismation is also called "laying on of hands" and it occurs in the book of Acts when the Samaritans first came into the Church. It's part of the Sacrament of Baptism in a way. And How can one have Communion without the Church? Communion is saying "I am one with the Body of Christ". How can you say that if you are not with the Body? And one cannot be Baptized by someone who isn't already part of the Church.
If you were dunked in water by a Buddhist priest it wouldn't be a Baptism into Christ. So no, you can't have those things apart from the Church. Certainly, a representative of the Church can bring it to you if you are unable to go to the place the Church gathers (which could be in a field in the middle of town in a place where there are no buildings or no money for a building large enough, for all the Orthodox Church really cares in the long run), but it is always done with representatives of the Church, and therefore is "in" the Church. The Church isn't the building. It is the people who gather inside the building, or around the rickety table they have set up as an altar in the Amazonian jungle, or whatever is used as the gathering place of the Church. Baptism is within the Church not because it is in some well-designed building. If you have the resources to build a well-designed building, then build it as if you were expecting Christ to personally grade the art, architecture, decorations, and layout as if He were the host of some HGTV show. But Baptism, Chrismation (the laying on of hands at Baptism, also called "Confirmation" in the west), Communion, Ordination, and even Marriage and Unction (calling upon the elders to lay on hands for prayer in case of illness) are part of the Church's functions as the Body of Christ. Anything that connects us to the Head of the Body of Christ will connect us to the Body, because the Head is part of the Body. Christ is the chief member of the Church. He is our ultimate leader, our Pope, as it were. He chose to act through the Church
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
You don’t need to be part of some Building in order to become baptized or in order to have a communion meal with like minded believers.
Confession (Confess your sins one to another),
First of all you need to KNOW what SIN is, and to find out what SIN is you must search the scripture, search God’s Own Instructions.
No. That is not what being taught by imperfect men means. Was Timothy being taught by God directly, or was he instructed by Paul? Was Paul perfect? No he was not. Paul was a human being. He did his best to struggle against his own sin, and in the end, he was able to say he ran the race well. But he was still a sinner. There is not a single perfect man in the world. You are not perfect, I am not perfect. Certainly, it would be preferable to learn from perfect men, but in the absence of perfect men, we must have faith that God will place people in our lives to lead us correctly. We must remember that it is God Who directs us to submit to those in authority in our lives, both in our spiritual growth, and in our civil lives. It is God Who appoints teachers, not men. God uses men to do great things in the world. He has done that since Genesis and will continue doing that for eternity.
Paul KNEW what SIN was.
Romans 3:20
Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Romans 7:7
7What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay,
I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Paul didn’t ignore God’s own instructions, what God said SIN was.
People don’t seem to care what God thinks SIN is.
This is true, which is why we must believe that God preserved both the written AND oral Tradition of the Apostles. We know how the written Tradition was preserved. What of the oral Tradition? Can you see it in your church?
Ok, so what did God preserve in his Written Word? What does his Word say SIN is? If you don’t know this, then “Traditions” mean nothing. Because if “Tradition’s” definition of SIN is/isn't is different from what God himself defined as SIN, than the Tradition itself – BECOMES SIN AS IT CONTRADICTS GOD.
From sin, from missing the mark, but more importantly, it is what a man is repenting TO. A man could stop sinning, but even being sinless will not bring salvation. He repents from sin into a life of love of God and neighbor.
First you need to know what God thinks/says SIN is.
Without this, with out the knowledge of what God says SIN is, you may think you are repenting, but you can be living just as sinful life as you did before.
How does loving God look like? Let me tell you how it doesn’t look like:
If one does not care what God thinks/says SIN is, and than continues in SIN… this person then does NOT Love the “Lord thy God with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all their strength, and with all their mind”
This has been asked and answered. This is part of what is taught in Catechesis in the Orthodox Church. We teach using the written AND oral Tradition of the Apostles.
Ok why don’t you show me where it is
written what SIN is.
From sin, from missing the mark, but more importantly, it is what a man is repenting TO. A man could stop sinning, but even being sinless will not bring salvation. He repents from sin into a life of love of God and neighbor.
First you need to know what God thinks/says SIN is.
Without this, with out the knowledge of what God says SIN is, you may think you are repenting, but you can be living just as sinful life as you did before.
How does loving God look like? Let me tell you how it doesn’t look like:
If one does not care what God thinks/say SIN is, and than continues in SIN… this person then does NOT Love the “Lord thy God with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all their strength, and with all their mind”
This has been asked and answered. This is part of what is taught in Catechesis in the Orthodox Church. We teach using the written AND oral Tradition of the Apostles.
Ok why don’t you show me where it is
written what SIN is.
