Titus 1
appoint elders in every town as I directed you— 6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 7 For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach

I invite discussion on the issue of whether the spiritual health of our offspring should impede our leadership in the Church.

I some parts of the world if a Church Elder has a child in rebellion, the matter is taken very seriously and the elders might all fast and seek God to bring repentance to the son or daughter. The leader must step down until the matter is resolved.

I have heard of this approach being employed with great effect.

This matter is not generally considered in the modern church - are we missing something - should we gather around those who are struggling with offspring who are wandering into sin and stand with them until we see matters resolved?

Any advice?

Americans are always taught disabled people are not normal. If you are blind, you are not normal because most people can see. If you are deaf, you are not normal because most people can hear. If you are epileptic, you are not normal because most people do not get seizures. You get the picture. But people also tell me because everyone has some kind of problem whether it is diabetes, cerebral palsy, PTSD, you name it - I am normal despite having physical, psychological, and social disabilities. Am I abnormal because doctors say so or is everyone normal, regardless of what genetic and acquired medical conditions some of them are dealing with? What does "normal" really mean if it has nothing to do with the definitions of medical conditions and being within certain ranges in medicine? I am being challenged to consider myself as a normal person knowing medically, I am abnormal in many ways.

... You might be a right-wing extremist. At least in the UK.

That's according to the UK's Prevent program, as reported here:


Other works listed include Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, Paradise Lost, and the poems of G.K. Chesterton.

Is this sinful/wrong? Just for educational purposes?

A rhetorical game that universalists like to play is to suggest that in the early Church there was from the beginning a robust universalist tradition running alongside the standard teaching that some are damned forever, and that the latter view simply became dominant at some point and pushed aside the former. Indeed, they claim, this non-universalist view is rooted in only a handful of scriptural passages, in illustration of which they will quote two or three of the best-known texts explicitly threatening everlasting punishment. They will then claim that there is, by contrast, a mountain of scriptural passages implying universalism. Origen, on this narrative, was simply giving expression to what was already clearly there in the tradition, indeed what was perhaps the dominant tendency in the New Testament itself. This is standard David Bentley Hart shtick, both in his book That All Shall Be Saved and in earlier work.

The whole thing is sheer fantasy. The reality is that from the Old Testament all the way through to the time of Origen, there is a loud, clear, and consistent emphasis on precisely the opposite of universal salvation – on the condemnation and perpetual exclusion of those who fail to repent of evildoing in this life. Origen and the very few orthodox writers who sympathized with him beginning only in the third century represented a novelty – and a tentatively proposed one that was immediately resisted as such – not some longstanding mainstream loyal opposition.

The universalist sleight of hand vis-à-vis scripture is accomplished via two main moves. First, when considering the scriptural evidence against universalism, the universalist tends to focus primarily on passages that on a natural reading threaten perpetual suffering. He then argues (not plausibly, but put that aside) that these passages don’t really entail such suffering. And then he claims thereby to have defused the scriptural evidence against universalism.

But that is to conflate the debate over universalism and the debate over annihilationism. If you take account of all the passages that indicate final exclusion of the wicked (bracketing off the question whether those excluded are annihilated or suffer perpetually) the collection of anti-universalist scriptural texts is massive.

Continued below.

Genesis 2:23 Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh;

Genesis 29:14 Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh.

In Genesis 29 we see that they are related, they are flesh and blood. In Genesis 2 we see that Adam and Eve are related, they are flesh and blood but there is a strong emphasis on them being male and female. As we read in Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 5:2

My question is: Were Adam and Eve brother and sister the same as Abraham and Sarah were half brother and sister? So that they shared the same mtDNA. A man carries an X chromosome for a woman. Women carry the mitochondrial for the man.

There is strong evidence in the DNA that Adam and Eve did evolve. Even many people believe the male and female in Genesis 1:28 is the same as we find in Genesis 2:23

Not only does the man get the mtDNA from the mother, he also gets the X chromosome from his mother. Brothers and sisters share their mother's X chromosome and their mother's mtDNA.

Did Adam/Eve have any mutations? Did God create Adam to look like he did not evolve?

We had an interesting and thought provoking question posed to us this afternoon on our Parish Chat Thread
<< I am still debating whether we eat fish or not next week >>

I did respond stating that I had always been taught [ and this BTW, was whilst I was still in the UGCC ] that fish was meat [ because it had a spine and bones]

There have been a couple of very lighthearted responses but the original poster has just added this to the thread https://orthochristian.com/68722.html and the comment that clearly Fr Epiphanius, who was a canonist knows best.

We can't refer this to our Priest at present as he is away in Thessaloniki [ a Monastic Tonsuring and Diaconate Ordination].

Any comments or is this a difference between Greek and Russian Practice ?

Universalism is the idea that everyone goes to heaven. This idea is held by some Christians, based on statements in the Bible that God wants “all men to be saved” or that imply that Jesus came to save the “whole world” (1 Timothy 2:1-4; 1 John 2:2; etc.). But these statements are qualified by many other passages of Scripture. I will show that universalism is not a biblical doctrine.

First, let’s consider how the words “all,” “every,” and “whole” are used in the Bible. These words are not always all-encompassing. That is, they are not always to be considered in a wooden literal sense as in “every last one.” Sometimes these terms, just as we use them in modern English, are hyperbole. Consider these passages:

In Mark 9:23 Jesus said that “All things are possible for one who believes.” Are literally ALL things possible for the believer? I am confident that Jesus did not mean that just because I am a believer that I could be an Olympic athlete.

In Matthew 8:34 we see that, “All the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw Him, they begged him to leave their region.” It is doubtful that literally every last person, including women and children, left what they were doing and went out to see Jesus to complain. The point of the passage is that Jesus became a controversial figure and well known among many in the community.

In Mark 1:5 the text says that “all” the country of Judea and “all” Jerusalem were going out to John the Baptist to be baptized in the Jordan River, and confessing their sins. The meaning of this passage is certainly not literally “all,” but rather people came from every part of Judea to be baptized.

In Luke 2:1 it is written that “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.” Obviously, that means the Roman World and not the entire globe.

In 1 Peter 1:4:7, Peter said that “The end of all things is at hand.” Believers today mistakenly think Peter was speaking of the end of all things in the physical universe, which would be the literal meaning. But since the earth is still here, he must have meant something else. That something else was that the end of all COVENANTAL THINGS were at hand. The Jews did not have a concept of the end of the literal world. Rather, they thought in theological terms. Peter was reflecting the coming end of the visible fabric of Judaism—the great temple and with it the end of ritual animal sacrifices for sin—forever. Jesus had told them that this would happen in their generation (Luke 21:22, 32). This is reflected by all of the biblical writers. For example, the writer of Hebrews said, “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”

In Revelation 1:7 we find the statement that “every eye will see Him” at his Parousia. Futurists take this statement literally, and read into it that every single person around the entire globe will see Jesus, aided by modern television. But this statement does not demand that every last person would see Jesus, but rather, the statement is a superlative one about the encompassing majesty of Jesus at his Parousia. There are several things that qualify the statement. Obviously, it is qualified by living persons, not dead persons. Second, it is qualified by “those who pierced Him” and “tribes of the earth” which limit the statement to the Jews of the first century. It is also qualified by other passages such as Matthew 26:64 in which tells the Jewish leaders that is THEY who will witness his coming in judgment. It is still further qualified by history. Josephus related that chariots were seen in the sky over Jerusalem in about AD 66, and stated “those who saw it. . . ”—implying that not all saw it. This event was reported by other ancient historians and satisfies the visibility requirement of Revelation 1:7.

In 1 Timothy 2:1-4 we find that God wants “all men to be saved.” However, this does not necessarily mean that all men will be saved. Given the numerous passages on election, obedience, free will, and limitations of those who are saved, this passage is best understood as “all types of people, Jews or Gentiles and whatever their station in life.”

Continued below.

Video Talk

1 Peter 4:1-2 ESV


I believe this is speaking about Jesus Christ and his suffering on that cross for our sins. In his death on that cross he became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). And he put our sin to death with him in order that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, and that we might walk in obedience to his commands (1 Peter 2:24; Romans 6:1-23; Ephesians 4:17-24; Luke 9:23-26).

So, by God-given faith in Jesus Christ, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer like our old lives, but now in righteousness and holiness, and in obedience to our Lord and to his commands (New Covenant). And now we have been set free from our slavery to sin so that we can now walk as slaves of God and of his righteousness, and no longer for human passions.

1 Peter 4:3 ESV


Now “Gentiles” is a term that was used to speak of non-Jews, but it was also a term used to refer to non-believers in Jesus Christ, although many Gentiles became believers in Christ. So we can safely substitute this word “Gentiles” for “unbelievers.” But biblically speaking an “unbeliever” is anyone who does not walk in obedience to the Lord and who walks in sin, instead, regardless of what faith they profess with their lips.

So, we, as followers of Jesus, are not to live as though we are unbelievers. We are not to be living in (practicing) sensuality, sinful passions, orgies, drunkenness, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. And idolatry is the worship of anything or anyone in place of or over and above God. And idolatrous worship is the giving of our passions, hearts, time, affections, devotion, loyalties and obedience to anyone or anything above God.

1 Peter 4:4-5 ESV


Now, when our lives change, and we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and so we are now living to God and to his righteousness, in obedience to our Lord, the ungodly, including many who profess faith in Jesus Christ, will malign us, and they will mock us, and they will reject and even scorn us and treat us with disdain, and they may even accuse us of wrongdoing when we are following the Lord, and when we are doing what his word teaches.

And this is because many people profess faith in Christ, but they never died with him to sin, and they are not living to him and to his righteousness, for they have bought into a lie which is telling them that they don’t have to repent of their sins, and that they don’t have to obey the Lord, and that no works are required of them (but read Ephesians 2:10). But they will be judged by God according to their works, as we all will be judged by God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

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Praise the “I AM!”

An Original Work / February 24, 2012

Jesus, my Savior, full of compassion,
Glorious in power, mighty in strength;
Gracious Redeemer, mighty deliv’rer,
My heart adores Him. Praise to His name!
Perfect salvation my Lord provided
When He died for my sins on a tree;
Crucified my sins; conquered in vict’ry,
When He arose, so I could be free!

I am so thankful for His forgiveness;
Grateful that He chose to pardon me,
Giving me new life full in His Spirit,
So I can serve Him; His servant be!
Walking in daily fellowship with Him,
Obeying Him whate’er He commands;
Forsaking my sins, living in freedom,
I will endure with Him to the end!

He gives me peace and calm reassurance
In times of sorrow, or in distress.
His grace is sure, and oh, how sufficient
To meet me in my need for sweet rest.
Oh, how I love You, Jesus, my Savior.
My heart longs for You where’er I am.
Your word is precious; speaks to my spirit;
Brings comfort, healing. Praise the “I AM!”

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Hey folks. Post something nonpartisan that makes you feel good about society or people.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 7:1 ESV


All of God’s promises have conditions (stipulations, requirements). But too many people are pulling many of these promises out of their context and they are applying them broadly to anyone who makes a verbal profession of faith in Jesus Christ, regardless of whether or not they ever died with Christ to sin, and regardless of whether or not they are living to God and to his righteousness. And this should not be! So, please, if you read a Scripture with a promise of God, look further to see who it applies to.

We, as the Lord’s people, are those who are his by God-given faith in him, which results in us being crucified with Christ in death to sin and us being raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer like our old lives, but now living as slaves to God and to his righteousness, in walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands (New Covenant), and no longer living as slaves to sin. So we now walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh (Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Titus 2:11-14).

For we are called to be God’s holy people, not just as a status we wear, but in practice, for we are to be holy in all our conduct (1 Peter 1:14-16). And to be holy is to be separate (unlike, different) from the world, for as followers of Christ we are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ, our Lord. So, we are not to partner (unite, join in with) with the world. We are not to be like the world. We are not to do the ungodly things that they do. And we are not to be likeminded with them nor to share in the same attitudes.

And the world of unbelievers is not comprised solely of those who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ, but this includes all who have made superficial professions of faith in Lord who never died with him to sin and who are not now living to him and to his righteousness, but who are still walking in sin. We are not to be partners with them, either. We are not to be in close fellowship with them to where we begin to take on their attitudes, and their characters, and their behaviors, for we are to be holy people.

So, we don’t go by who says or who doesn’t say that they believe in Jesus. What we go by is how a person lives. Are they walking in the light of the truth of the gospel in obedience to our Lord? Or are they still walking in darkness (sin), doing whatever they want to do, without regard for our Lord and for his commands? And I am certainly not saying that any of us has to be absolutely perfect. But none of us should be living in deliberate and habitual sin. None of us should willfully be disregarding our Lord’s words.

And how do the Scriptures define an “unbeliever”? They describe an unbeliever as one who practices sin and who does not practice obedience to our Lord, nor does he practice righteousness. And they describe an unbeliever as one who is disobedient, and a believer as one who makes obedience to our Lord his practice. Therefore disobedience = unbelief, and faith = obedience. And this has to do with what we practice.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Therefore, we are to come out from among those who are walking in disobedience to our Lord and who are not honoring Christ as Lord, and we are to be separate (unlike, different) from them. Now, this is not saying that we cannot associate with the people of the world, otherwise how can we show them the love of God, and how can we share with them the truth of the gospel of our salvation? This is speaking of us not being in partnership with those who do not honor Christ as Lord of their lives.

We are not to take on their character, and their attitudes, and their way of thinking and believing and behaving. We are to be different from them in thought, in belief, in attitude, and in behaviors. We are not to engage ourselves in their ungodly behaviors and attitudes and thinking. It is to have no part with us. For we are to be holy in all our conduct. And then God will welcome us, and he will be a father to us, and we will be his sons and daughters. And this teaching is consistent throughout the New Testament.

So, since we have these promises, we are to cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. In other words, we are to cast off all hindrances (roadblocks) and all sins which cling so closely so that we can run with perseverance the race God has marked out for us to run (Hebrews 12:1-2). And we are no longer to walk in sin, but now in righteousness and in holiness and in walks of obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ, from now to eternity.

For, if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and walks of obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God, but we will die in our sins. And heaven will not be our eternal home.

[See noted Scriptures above]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

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Pray that management at my job at transport will stop mandating me and stop asking me to work overtime as I am feeling very weary Amen

In 1945, the first atom (fission) bomb was detonated. In 1952, the first hydrogen (fusion) bomb was detonated. But in between these two dates, the nation of Israel reappeared on the map in 1948, setting the stage for the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. This was the God of Israel saying to the world, "Do not fear the bomb. Fear Me."

A court document in the Dominion versus Fox News lawsuit was released on the 16th
unfortunately it quotes many Employees of Fox News and they use foul language
I think it is clear evidence Fox News acted irresponsibly but I would like someone to play devil's advocate
read at least some court document and defend Fox news.

Have financial struggles placed a strain on your marriage and if so, how did you resolve the issue? What advice is there for couples going into marriage, what are the best things to do financially?

I am reworking my book on the Covenant of God and hope to republish it in the near future. Here is the forward to it:


FORWARD

In the pages which follow, I offer to Orthodox Christians material which I hope will be helpful in your evangelization effort if you should find yourself someday in conversation with person who holds deeply to Calvinism and Covenant Theology. Most likely, this will be a member of a conservative Presbyterian organization such as the PCA or OPC.

There are many as different methods of evangelization as there are people. What might well be used of the Holy Spirit to bring the Gospel home to the heart of one individual might well turn another one off. Indeed, conversion stories I have read are filled with different experiences of how people came to Christ in different manners, through different approaches, and using different means. I hope this book will provide for my Orthodox brothers and sisters another tool in their efforts to evangelize and share the fullness of the Christian faith, which is the Orthodox faith, the faith of the Early Church.

I have found that for most Christians, bringing the Covenant of God into a theological conversation results in raised eyebrows and a look of confusion. Only in the Presbyterian Church in America did I encounter people such as Scott Hahn, for whom the covenant and its principles eventually led to his conversion to the Roman Catholic faith. A few years later, my study of these principles, explained in Ray Sutton’s book, THAT YOU MAY PROSPER - Dominion by Covenant, led me to enter the Byzantine Catholic Church in April of 2001.

Unfortunately, at that time I misapplied one of the five working principles of a covenant relationship, one which Scott Hahn also missed. I think this came from my familiarity with the Western churches of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism and the manner in which they approach Christianity. Over the last several decades, a growing number of Evangelicals and Protestants have discovered the beauty and fullness of the ancient Orthodox faith.

In the Orthodox faith, a theologian is one who prays, and one who prays is a theologian. Theology is not approached in the same manner as it is in the West, as an exercise of mental acuity, clever dissertations on God, and intellectual exercises done in regard to Bible passages, often clouded by the prejudice and judgment of the one reading the text. It is instead, coming to know Christ/God through prayer, ascetic exercise, and the silence of the heart before God, or heyschasm. It is to experience God, not just to talk about the ideas your own mind or your own understanding of the Bible have formulated about Him.

I am newly chrismated into the Orthodox faith, and while Eastern Catholicism tries to be Orthodox, it is not at all the same. In entering the Orthodox Church, I made up my mind to sit down, shut up, listen, and learn. As such, I shouldn’t even be writing this book, but there is a problem I need to address. After my conversion from Protestantism, I wrote and published the initial draft of this book, with the goal of sharing with friends and others the covenant principles which had led me to enter into communion with the Roman Catholic Church through Eastern Catholicism. This book is available on the open market; therefore, it needs to be revised and republished in order correct the error I made in the discussing Sutton’s second principle of covenant – hierarchy.

Hierarchy is the principle of covenant headship. As you will see discussed later on, Christ is the New Adam, who is the human covenant head over the Church – not the Patriarch of Rome.

Everyone,

I'm a patriotic American monarchist finding it hard to feel at home in my country, especially now during the Biden administration. When you're a counter-revolutionary like me, it may be hard for you to approve of the American Revolution. I'm not a political junkie since I hate politics, but I enjoy political philosophy. So I'd love to hear your thoughts on this article. Don't worry. I won't run for office when anyone expects me to be a hypocrite.


God bless,
Bill

History has shown humanity some good men, mere men, not God incarnate, but just men (and women) who have been gentle, honest, generous, willing to die for what is right yet never willing to kill or harm. If you knew of such a man or women would you mourn their passing?

In July of 2020 I had a dream. In this dream I could see in the distance 3 smoke stacks. Closer I saw 3 business, office type buildings.
As I looked, I saw the 3 smokestacks crumble and fall over. Then the 3 buildings crumbled and fell over.
The first thing that came to my mind was that in 3 "units" of time the productivity of the nation would crash down, and the economic structures (possibly wall street and the banks) would also crash. We first looked for 3 months and all was well. We are now looking at three years, meaning early summer of this year.
Many years ago I had a series of dreams where I saw future Presidential Administrations represented by houses. One of these houses represented President Jimmy Carter. Years later it was presented to me that after a period (valley of decision) and confusion, the land would fall into darkness, tribulation, and trouble. If I understand the process of these dreams, the death of this former President is a sign of the impending troubles.
Today it was announced that President Carter has entered home hospice care. IOWs, the President has been sent home to die.
We are watching these events. And the coming summer.

It looks like the works of Roald Dahl are getting a make-over:

To maximize shareholder value, some banks have also adopted ESG investing practices that evaluate companies on how well they are managing relevant risks including climate risk and governance practices as compared to their peers.


Because of Texas’ large oil and gas industry, some Texas lawmakers have chosen to interpret this as an attack on the state, rather than a shift in the priorities and preferences of a functioning market. In 2021, legislators introduced Senate Bill 13, which banned banks that had divested from the oil and gas sector from participating in public finance markets in the state. A similar bill, Senate Bill 19, banned state and local governments from contracting with lenders that are limiting business in the firearms industry. Both laws took effect in September 2021.

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