You do know that people read a post like this and get immediatey turned off.....because it more or less suggests that you have to "study" Christianity as if it were some university course you need to graduate from.....with, of course, the implication that you also might fail.
I might hazard that by "people get turned off" you mean that YOU get turned off.
That's ok, I get turned off also when I read "just relax and trust Jesus" when the scriptures tell us "study to show yourself approved" and "work out your salvation with fear and trembling."
Yes, I suppose that what I have said does turn some people off, being as they would like an easier sofetr gospel, kind of like spiritual aspirin.
We live in an era when people watch tv and don't read thick books. Be that as it may, Christianity is not primarily nor necessarily cerebral. Of course, if one has been gifted with intellect, one is answerable to God for what they have done with it.
Well, guess what. There are many, many, many Christians in this world (people who have heard about Jesus and have given their hearts to Him) who can't read, can't write, who have learning disabilites, or who simply just aren't all that bright.
I covered this in my previous post. My post was about more than intellect, it was about action. The simple understand intuitively that truth walks and nonsense talks.
And there are also many more who don't have access to churches, don't have access to bibles, or don't have access to priests.....not to mention the "Orthodox version" of all these.
I believe you were looking for the 'small o' there.
Factors such as oppression, poverty, illness, lack of intellect, or lack of exposure and resources, etc... could conceivably keep allllllll these Christians from knowing the "right" way then
Oppression has made it clear which is the "right way:" self-sacrifice, true faith, and reverence for the scriptures- whether found in written word, icons, or living letters. Eastern Orthodox Christians have experienced oppression as a fact of life for the past 10 centuries.
Ortho= right or straight
Doxa= glory or praise.
Eastern Orthdoxy is not about theological definitions, it's about giving God glory as He deserves and as the Church understands (as the bible expresses it in totality)
So you think that allllll these Christians aren't gonna have a "proper" Christian life just because they're not following the "right" religious rules Orthodoxy has come up with?
Sounds like you have some misconceptions about Orthodox Christianity- perhaps even some prejudices.
The center of Eastern Orthodox Christianity has always been the simple and the pious, those who embrace the Way, not just 'the explanation.'
We do not have the dependence on preachers to spoon-feed the latest doctrine or feel good mantra that is SO prominent in 21st century American Christianity
.....oh boy.
Jesus is all you need bud, 'cause Christianity is not a religion....sorry to break it to ya.
In point of fact, Jesus is NOT all I need, I need the Father, and I need the infilling of the Holy Spirit. I need the company of innumerable angels and the spirits of righteous men made just. I need the fellowship of suffering and the prayers of the saints. I need my brethren just as they need me. So happens that all of my brethren are NOT Eastern Orthodox.
Sorry to break it to
you, but your explanation of Christianity does NOT cut it. You say that Christianity is not a religion- I won't even enetr that old argument. What Christianity is not is a slacker Kingdom where we just need Jesus and to feel ok about ourselves in some post-Freudian therapeutic sense.
What I want, and pray for, is a life that is empowered by God, led by the Spirit, informed by the Fathers and Mothers of ages past and this one as well.
I want a stout Christianity that demands of me my life, not a Christianity that is attached to my life.
I'm quite certain that we have both now misrepresented what the other was saying- but I wanted to address the
objections you raised as they relate to contemporary paradigms of what Christianity in fact is all about.