tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15860677.post1574825904159349341..comments2024-03-25T14:27:40.121-05:00Comments on Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength: Almost Persuaded ...Weekend Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10425001168670801073noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15860677.post-25580038151667338242007-07-27T14:18:00.000-05:002007-07-27T14:18:00.000-05:00The Bulgarian Orthodox would be happy to have you ...The Bulgarian Orthodox would be happy to have you (this side of the Bosphoros!). <BR/><BR/>I agree that the Eastern Church is more comfortable with mystery, something I admire because they don't try to boil a transcendent God down into accessible categories. They let God be God.<BR/><BR/>The beauty that you speak of is readily apparent ("the smells & the bells"): incense, acapella singing, candles, iconography, wide-open space in the sanctuaries, iconostases, crosses, etc.<BR/><BR/>I think part of the theology can be tied to tradition and to suffering. There is an apprecation of saints and martyrs of old that is not present in all other fellowships.<BR/><BR/>The emphasis on Resurrection (over and above the Incarnation) is something I also value. Both are important, but if I have to choose to emphasize one over the other, I think the Orthodox have it right!<BR/><BR/>Just some off-the-cuff thoughts from another who is very happy in his tradition yet admires much of what the Eastern Orthodox Church entails.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for sharing!Clayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15839961373029876401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15860677.post-89417145160050430512007-07-27T07:52:00.000-05:002007-07-27T07:52:00.000-05:00Hi AndreiaAnother Houstonian (like me)! I couldn'...Hi Andreia<BR/><BR/>Another Houstonian (like me)! <BR/><BR/>I couldn't find your denomination on your profile. <BR/><BR/>One of these days I may actually write a post on that but -- yeah. If someone finds it unbelievable or unreasonable that God would be truly present in this world through elements he created and where he has pledged himself to work salvation for us, then that's at least halfway down the road to saying God isn't really a presence in our world. So yes, non-sacramental churches give me the willies with a "God removed from this world" who seems nearly deist, and an abandoned world that seems nearly secularized. <BR/><BR/>It was like Anthony Flew said back when he was still an atheist: "Most of these guys are on my side, they just don't know it." <BR/><BR/>Or like when Zwingli said (against the sacrament of the altar) that "the finite cannot contain the infinite" -- well, congratulations Zwingli, that assumption disproves the incarnation. Care to take it back? Y'know. <BR/><BR/>Take care & God bless<BR/>Anne / WFWeekend Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10425001168670801073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15860677.post-41304480338777780192007-07-27T07:01:00.000-05:002007-07-27T07:01:00.000-05:00Deist or secularized, really???????Deist or secularized, really???????Andreia Huffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16826389170105845825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15860677.post-16926868503218500042007-07-26T10:43:00.000-05:002007-07-26T10:43:00.000-05:00Your comments about Orthodoxy made me realize how ...Your comments about Orthodoxy made me realize how little I know about that part of Christianity. And it made me realize why a good education should include info about various religions without people feeling that they are trying to be converted.LoieJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01977264499770654307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15860677.post-65430115586321607562007-07-26T09:22:00.000-05:002007-07-26T09:22:00.000-05:00Nice summary! I'm drawn to the East for many of th...Nice summary! I'm drawn to the East for many of the same reasons you are. As for who I'll be writing about, I guess we'll just have to wait and find out, won't we? ;-)D. P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/03476324247478513163noreply@blogger.com