Eastern Orthodox Denomination Q&A

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ric
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Post by ric »

Okay.

Do you believe in Sola Scriptura?
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John Chrysostom
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Post by John Chrysostom »

I do not, I believe that Scripture was given in the context of the Church and needs to be interpreted through the lens of Apostolic Tradition like we see in Acts 2 "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers." There was the apostles doctrine before the first letter of the New Testament was written.

I never got the doctrine of Sola Scriptura since it is also a tradition about the Scriptures that only came around about 500 years ago. And the canon of Scripture was decided upon by Tradition, the Council of Hippo, but then the Reformers decided which books would be in the Protestant Bible so how can the doctrine of Sola Scriptura hold when the very doctrine itself goes against Sola Scruptura and the men who came up with it decided among themselves which books would be included in the Scriptura of Sola Scriptura?
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Whitty Whit
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Post by Whitty Whit »

Do you believe you can attain eternal life? If so, how?

I read this in the thread earlier, but just want to make sure. Do you believe that we are inherently good or evil?
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John Chrysostom
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Post by John Chrysostom »

I do believe we can attain eternal life, by confessing with out mouth that Christ is Lord, through the indwelling and sealing of the Holy Spirit, through the acquisition of the Holy Spirit by mysteries or the means of grace, and by the healing of our soul and body so that we may partake of the divine nature of God.

I believe man is inherently good but that he has been corrupted by sin.
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Whitty Whit
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Post by Whitty Whit »

Ayn Rand wrote:I do believe we can attain eternal life, by confessing with out mouth that Christ is Lord, through the indwelling and sealing of the Holy Spirit, through the acquisition of the Holy Spirit by mysteries or the means of grace, and by the healing of our soul and body so that we may partake of the divine nature of God.

I believe man is inherently good but that he has been corrupted by sin.
How do you acquire the Holy Spirit "by mysteries", and what do you mean by "healing of our soul and body"? Am I correct in assuming you refer to the Lord's Supper when you say "so that we may partake of the divine nature of God?", or is that supposed to be symbolic?

How has man been corrupted by sin? How did sin originate? Did God create sin?
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Jehoshaphat wrote:I mean every election is basically just choosing what type of government we want.
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American Eagle
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Post by American Eagle »

Whitty Whit wrote:How did sin originate? Did God create sin?
I second this question and wonder if you have a sufficient answer, Ayn.
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John Chrysostom
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Post by John Chrysostom »

Whit: By the mysteries I mean the sacraments and other means of grace such as prayer and asceticism. Let me be clear I do not mean salvation through works. I believe that that the means of grace are how the Holy Spirit works in us to heal our souls and bodies and by that I mean we are cleansed of sin and become more like Christ. The Lords Super or the Eucharist, as we call it, is one of the sacraments but I didn't mean that when I said partake of the divine nature, I meant the doctrine of Theosis as mentioned above.

God did not create sin. Sin originated in the garden with Adam and Eve, before the fall they had been in perfect obedience to God but by disobeying and lying to God they could not perfectly enjoy a relationship with Him. In the same way their sin caused the whole of creation to suffer so when we are born into creation we suffer too and are corrupted because we live under the consequence of a universe that no longer enjoys a perfect relationship with God.

AE: I wonder if you could second that question a little more civilly please.
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Whitty Whit
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Post by Whitty Whit »

Sacraments such as? (others than the one you've mentioned)

Okay. So when you say man is "inherently good", do you mean, since man was created in a perfect state, man was good? Because when I hear "inherently good" I think of everytime someone is born, they start off with the purpose of "bettering the economy" or some well-meaning goal.
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Post by John Chrysostom »

Baptism, Chrismation, Eucharist, Ordination, Marriage, Confession, and the annointing of oil for the sick are generally the seven sacraments named in the Orthodox Church.

Yes that is what I mean, I didn't mean to say man is good in that other way.
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Whitty Whit
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Post by Whitty Whit »

Ayn Rand wrote:Baptism, Chrismation, Eucharist, Ordination, Marriage, Confession, and the annointing of oil for the sick are generally the seven sacraments named in the Orthodox Church.

Yes that is what I mean, I didn't mean to say man is good in that other way.
Okay, and so you can attain eternal life by doing any one of those things?

Okay, just checking. :)
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Post by John Chrysostom »

No I'm not saying that, I'm saying these are the means by which the Holy Spirit works in us to perfect our human nature.
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Whitty Whit
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Post by Whitty Whit »

Ayn Rand wrote:No I'm not saying that, I'm saying these are the means by which the Holy Spirit works in us to perfect our human nature.
Oh okay. Sorry.

So what happens to people who don't marry? Is it possible to be "perfected" (or closer to perfection) by not doing that? Or is it necessary?

What do you think of "God's will"? How do people find it? What is it? What should we do?
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Jehoshaphat wrote:I mean every election is basically just choosing what type of government we want.
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John Chrysostom
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Post by John Chrysostom »

No, please forgive me if I came across as harsh.

No it's not necessary to be married, in fact Orthodoxy has a very long and rich tradition of monasticism.

I believe God's will is for us to live perfect lives of obedience to Him and lives of repentance when we fail. As for how people find God's will I think there are many ways to do that. Prayer being first among them; proscribed daily prayers and silent contemplation, reading Scripture, reading the Holy Fathers, reading the lives of the Saints, finding and being obedient to a Spiritual Father, participating in the life of the Church, partaking of the sacraments, practicing asceticism, and above all being obedient and humble before God.
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Whitty Whit
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Post by Whitty Whit »

Ayn Rand wrote:No, please forgive me if I came across as harsh.

No it's not necessary to be married, in fact Orthodoxy has a very long and rich tradition of monasticism.

I believe God's will is for us to live perfect lives of obedience to Him and lives of repentance when we fail. As for how people find God's will I think there are many ways to do that. Prayer being first among them; proscribed daily prayers and silent contemplation, reading Scripture, reading the Holy Fathers, reading the lives of the Saints, finding and being obedient to a Spiritual Father, participating in the life of the Church, partaking of the sacraments, practicing asceticism, and above all being obedient and humble before God.
I didn't think you were harsh, just apologizing for getting it incorrect.

Okay.

"finding and being obedient to s Spiritual Father". What is "a spiritual father"?
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Post by John Chrysostom »

A Spiritual Father is an older Orthodox Christian who has been ordained, usually a priest or a monk, who you go to for confession and guidance. My Spiritual Father is my parish priest. I also have godparents who sponsored me when I was chrismated, a part of being baptized, who I also go to for guidance and who help educate me in the faith.
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Dr. Watson
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Post by Dr. Watson »

When you say that humans are good but corrupted, how far do you believe that corruption extends into our nature?
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John Chrysostom
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Post by John Chrysostom »

Enough that Christ had to become incarnate so that we could be buried with Christ through baptism and be made alive through death by His Resurrection. Beyond that I'm not sure how to express the exact nature of our corruption.
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Post by American Eagle »

Ayn Rand wrote:AE: I wonder if you could second that question a little more civilly please.
:-k My post wasn't meant to be uncivil. I've heard that question answered in times past and it was never sufficient. I just wondered if you had a more thorough answer than the ones I've heard. My apologies if I offended you.
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John Chrysostom
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Post by John Chrysostom »

Apology accepted, forgive my assumption. Was the answer thorough enough?
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Post by American Eagle »

Not really. ;) It's not your fault, though. There isn't an answer that seems to cover all the bases. I think it just requires faith.
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Note: My past posts do not necessarily reflect my values. Many of them were made when I was young and (in retrospect) misguided. If you identify a post that expresses misinformation, prejudice, or anything harmful, please let me know.
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