The Victory of Reason by Stark

[JM]

I'm listening to the audio book now and it's excellent! It will give teeth to your arguments against those who are overly mystical and rely or place apophatic theology above reason and revelation.

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[BryanJohnMaloney]

What do you specifically mean by "apophatic theology"?

 

[JM]

What do you specifically mean by "apophatic theology"?

"Apophatic theology, also known as negative theology, is a form of theological thinking and religious practice which attempts to approach God, the Divine, by negation, to speak only in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness that is God."


The End of Negative Theology | Stephen H. Webb

 

[BryanJohnMaloney]

"Apophatic theology, also known as negative theology, is a form of theological thinking and religious practice which attempts to approach God, the Divine, by negation, to speak only in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness that is God."
The End of Negative Theology | Stephen H. Webb

Okay, you can reproduce the technical definition. Are you familiar with how it was used by ancient Christians?

 

[JM]

Okay, you can reproduce the technical definition. Are you familiar with how it was used by ancient Christians?

Yes, yes of course I am. I attended St. Nektario Greek Orthodox Church for two years when I first became a Christian 20 years ago.

 

[ripple the car]

Yes, yes of course I am. I attended St. Nektario Greek Orthodox Church for two years when I first became a Christian 20 years ago.

I'd love to hear your whole Christian journey story someday, because I, too, looked into Eastern Orthodoxy for a while, about two years total, at least. There are some really good EO folks on here, but I never joined. Learned a lot from them, though, and was glad to have met them.

 

[JM]

One day I'll sit down and write it all out but for now...

I was raised in an atheist home, my dad was a strong atheist and told me religion was for woman and children. I followed his lead and would knock Christianity and other religions relentlessly. When I was a youth I participated in boxing, judo, karate and wrestling and it was through my karate training that I was introduced to Buddhism and its meditation practices. I set up a small shrine in my bedroom and practice meditation faithfully for years.

Around the age of 19 I had a chat with a friends mother about religion and God in general and we went back and forth for 8 hours! I pretty much tore her arguments apart and I felt proud. With this (sinful) pride I began reading the Bible to gain more information so I could defeat Christians using their own scriptures, problem was, I became a Christian from reading the Gospel of Matthew. I became convinced Jesus Christ was God in the Flesh! By the time I got to Romans I was what is known as a Calvinist.

Not knowing any better I began attending a local Anglican parish where they told me I was a Calvinist, I was shocked and horrified, not understanding what they meant. This entire time I continued to read my Bible and eventually left the Anglican parish due to liberalism. I stopped by a Roman Catholic Church for a short time but ended up in a Greek Orthodox Church but never became Orthodox. The Greeks were more interested in promoting Greek culture, I get it. Plus, I had and still have the persistent conviction of Calvinism.

After a few years of bouncing around I ended up in a Baptist Church, my wife was raised Baptist, and stayed there for 15 years. When my children left home for school I got the itch to visit other churches again and spent most of 2017 in an Anglican Parish but they have gone off the deep end now with liberalism. 2018 I was attending a historic black Baptist church but that didn't workout. In 2019 I visit Roman Catholic parishes all over the city and even a Roman Catholic Shrine but it's not for me. I attended the RCIA program but was ushered into the Alpha Program soon after. It was just Protestantism. It was a waste of time. James White has stated a few times on his program that those who convert to Catholicism often regret it 10 years later because the ideal doesn't match up with the reality. That has been my experience with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. It's just pure Romanticism on the part of late in life converts.

I have been back at the Baptist church for 3 months now and resigned to stay.

That's the short version.

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[ripple the car]

One day I'll sit down and write it all out but for now...

I was raised in an atheist home, my dad was a strong atheist and told me religion was for woman and children. I followed his lead and would knock Christianity and other religions relentlessly. When I was a youth I participated in boxing, judo, karate and wrestling and it was through my karate training that I was introduced to Buddhism and it's meditation practices. I set up a small shrine in my bedroom and practice meditation faithfully for years.

Around the age of 19 I had a chat with a friends mother about religion and God in general and we went back and forth for 8 hours! I pretty much tore her arguments apart and I felt proud. With this (sinful) pride I began reading the Bible to gain more information so I could defeat Christians using their own scriptures, problem was, I became a Christian from reading the Gospel of Matthew. I became convinced Jesus Christ was God in the Flesh! By the time I got to Romans I was what is known as a Calvinist.

Not knowing any better I began attending a local Anglican parish where they told me I was a Calvinist, I was shocked and horrified, not understanding what they meant. This entire time I continued to read my Bible and eventually left the Anglican parish due to his liberalism. I stopped by a Roman Catholic Church for a short time but ended up in a Greek Orthodox Church but never became Orthodox. The Greeks were more interested in promoting Greek culture, I get it. Plus, I had and still have the persistent conviction of Calvinism.

After a few years of bouncing around I ended up in a Baptist Church, my wife was raised Baptist, and stayed there for 15 years. When I children left home for school I got the itch to visit other churches again and spent most of 2017 in an Anglican Parish but they have gone off the deep end now with liberalism. 2018 I was attending a historic black Baptist church but that didn't workout. In 2019 I visit Roman Catholic parishes all over the city and even a Roman Catholic Shrine but it's not for me.

I have been back at the Baptist church for 3 months now and happy, God is good, and I feel I'm back where I belong...finally.

That's the short version.

Yours in the Lord,

jm

Thank you for sharing, JM. God bless you, friend. That's quite a journey.