The Orthodox view of God is different.

[OrthodoxyUSA]

Original Sin , Why Christ Came, Died and was Resurrected : "On the Incarnation"

Forgive me...

 

[moses916]

yeah, westerns are all about God is judge, rather than God is love, we make the choices which may lead us to joy or torment, God gave us free will to choose, anyways i strongly second O-usa's encouragement to read the following works posted above!

 

[Servus Iesu]

I'm Western. I read St. Athansius' On the Incarnation and found it to be one of the most marvelous things I've read in quite awhile.

Not to debate, but there seems to be a tendency among Eastern Orthodox to group all Catholics and Protestants together collectively and label them as 'Western'. "Western Christianity believes this..." or "Western Christianity views the world in this manner..." This is a gross over-simplification.

Roman Catholics do not believe in the total depravity of man or the forensic justification doctrine of Luther and Calvin. While it is true that Luther and Calvin started from an Augustinian philosophical approach, they went much further than Augustine ever did in what they taught.

Finally, it must be stated that the pre-eminent teacher, theologian, and philosopher of Roman Catholicism is St. Thomas Aquinas and not St. Augustine. It is true that St. Thomas borrows heavily from the works of Augustine but he largely put aside Plato for Aristotle. This means that his whole philosophical approach is quite different than Augustine's.

Traditionally, Scholasticism as opposed to Augustinianism has pride of place in Western Catholicism.

 

[88Devin07]

My father teaches that God is not only the judge, the redeemer, etc... But he is also our daddy, and wants to have a personal relationship with us.

Is this a correct view of God? That God is all those things, including a judge?

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

there seems to be a tendency among Eastern Orthodox to group all Catholics and Protestants together collectively and label them as 'Western'. "Western Christianity believes this..." or "Western Christianity views the world in this manner..." This is a gross over-simplification.

We are well aware of this... and I might say that we are only attempting to melt the iceburg a little at a time...

That was the purpose of my putting this statement in the OP

If you don't believe this don't be offended. Not every western Christains believes this way. However this is the point I wish to refute.

 

[Marjorie]

I don't think we would want a post on OBOB explaining to us what the Eastern view of God was. It's condescending.

In IC XC,
Marjorie

 

[gzt]

We definitely believe God is our Judge. Every day, we pray, "Suddenly the Judge shall come...".

I don't think the "Eastern" concept of God is in opposition to the "Western" - perhaps it is in opposition to pop Calvinism, but not immediately, the Catholic or even most Protestant conceptions, at least not on this point. Leave out any mention of the West, simply say what the East believes about God. Discuss St. Athanasius.

 

[Marjorie]

To say that East > West is to say that there are two different "sister Churches"-- because the Orthodox Church is not Eastern or Western but universal.

Many of our greatest saints were Westerners.

In IC XC,
Marjorie

 

[gzt]

True dat. I prefer to say "Orthodox" over "Eastern Orthodox" for that reason, but when talking shorthand about things dating back to the year 400, you know, in the year 400 there was an East and a West like that.

 

[gzt]

Well, we shouldn't say East > West then, but can talk about East and West and differences, recalling that both had great saints and we're talking about differences just as we talk about differences between 16th century Russians and Romanians...

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

I don't think we would want a post on OBOB explaining to us what the Eastern view of God was. It's condescending.

In IC XC,
Marjorie

As a former beliver in this specific western theology I feel comfortable explaining it and how it is different from Orthodox Theology.

I was raised on this Theology.... I know it as well as anyone... I questioned it for 30 years.

I am not attempting to be offensive.

I was asked a question on another thread and I am not going to duck my obligations to explaining based on everyones feelings.

Forgive me...

 

[Marjorie]

Would you like a former EO to explain what we believe?

In IC XC,
Marjorie

 

[gzt]

If you are going to describe what you formerly believed, you should probably attach a label less broad than Western. From what I recall about your past, Catholics and most Protestants would give the same sort of dismissal to your former views as you give here, except without the East/West rhetoric.

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

Would you like a former EO to explain what we believe?

In IC XC,
Marjorie

I don't understand but....

Change of title and content...

Happy now?

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

.

 

[Marjorie]

The problem is just that people on CF often view us as people who think that we have a completely different view of everything because we set up strawmen arguments for the other side. To some extent this is true, but I believe that there *IS* a very, very big gap between Orthodoxy and anything else.

The issue is that we aren't able to let people see that when we categorize the Western God as Jonathan Edwards's view.

Like gzt said, it's better to talk about our view (like your edited post) then to try to explain what others believe, because then you get bogged down in "no that's NOT what I believe" instead of, "well, I pointed that out to show you that WE believe..."

Make sense?

In IC XC,
Marjorie

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

The problem is just that people on CF often view us as people who think that we have a completely different view of everything because we set up strawmen arguments for the other side. To some extent this is true, but I believe that there *IS* a very, very big gap between Orthodoxy and anything else.

The issue is that we aren't able to let people see that when we categorize the Western God as Jonathan Edwards's view.

Like gzt said, it's better to talk about our view (like your edited post) then to try to explain what others believe, because then you get bogged down in "no that's NOT what I believe" instead of, "well, I pointed that out to show you that WE believe..."

Make sense?

In IC XC,
Marjorie

Makes sense.. I'll buy you guys a drink later...

I'm just tired of the games. Think I'll take a break.

 

[Yiannis550]

Hey guys check this amazing article from Father John Romanides, one of the greatest Orthodox Theologians of our Times. He talks about the differences of East and West and about the historical facts that led to them.
http://www.oodegr.com/english/dogma/diafores1.htm

 

[Servus Iesu]

Orthodoxyusa,

Listen... I'm not offended by what you have said. In fact I wasn't specifically addressing your statements. I was just observing that it seems like often times EO group every faith and sect of the west together collectively when this cannot be done.

It isn't my intention to shut down this thread or anything. Go ahead and continue talking about the Eastern perspective. I have no problem with that and I think Eastern philosophy has many merits. All I am saying is that Catholics and Protestants shouldn't be lumped in together as 'westerns' no more than Orthodox and monophysites or nestorians can all be lumped together as 'easterns'.

Ryan

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

Orthodoxyusa,

Listen... I'm not offended by what you have said. In fact I wasn't specifically addressing your statements. I was just observing that it seems like often times EO group every faith and sect of the west together collectively when this cannot be done.

It isn't my intention to shut down this thread or anything. Go ahead and continue talking about the Eastern perspective. I have no problem with that and I think Eastern philosophy has many merits. All I am saying is that Catholics and Protestants shouldn't be lumped in together as 'westerns' no more than Orthodox and monophysites or nestorians can all be lumped together as 'easterns'.

Ryan

Agreed, thanks for the comment.

But I'm gonna cool off first....

*I'll have a "flaming heretic"! Make it a double...*

anything for you Ryan?