Ilovestmary, Screw you! All you Egyptians do is cast stones and judgment at people. It makes me sick all of you Egyptians make me sick, fuck all of you I hate every single one of you. None of you care to help but your all quick to jump in and get your pot shots. Go worry about looking good and making money, that all that all of you care about.
Ioannes, she thought you were serious, that's why she said that, she didn't know u were sarcastic. Please edit your last post before Father Peter sees it. Lol. Oh and btw Ioannes check your pm's.
Ioannes just take deep breaths, and if something really ticks you off just don't reply, because when you do reply it's causing you to sin, and the goal for everyone here is to try to cut the roots of sin. Just some advice. May God have mercy on us all.
[quote author=geomike link=topic=10278.msg125821#msg125821 date=1293747289] Ioannes just take deep breaths, and if something really ticks you off just don't reply, because when you do reply it's causing you to sin, and the goal for everyone here is to try to cut the roots of sin. Just some advice. May God have mercy on us all.
geo, in case you have not noticed I dont really care if I sin anymore lol! I am fighting a losing battle. I am in a church where nobody cares, and apparently nobody wants converts and that is completely unwilling to help teach me but more than willing to criticize me and anything I do. I am just going to be an annoyance until someone stops me. So go back to your pharmacy or your doctors office and worry about what you really care about, money and appearance. Isnt that what copts really care about?
I realize that Ioannes may have been a little sarcastic in some of his posts and I may have worded some things differently. However, I do support his viewpoint that it is very difficult for a convert to fit in to an ethnic Church, I say it like this because I would guess it is a similar difficulty in other ethnic Churches.
I converted to Coptic Orthodoxy a little over 10 years ago. I do not speak Arabic. I have lived in different parts of the United States my entire life and I have often felt not welcomed in various Coptic Orthodox Churches. I have also gone through a frustration of raising concerns and trying to serve and help various Churches I have attended to reach out. Often, I am not encouraged in this regard and I have heard members of the congregation and priests lay the blame at the feet of the non-Egyptian inquirer. "If they were serious then they would come more often." Or "I guess they do not really care about God." I very rarely hear individuals reflecting over what they could do differently to have a positive impact on this person or the next person who comes around.
Please forgive me if I have offended and also know that I do not mean to take this thread in an entirely different direction. I just wanted to speak from the perspective of someone who has had similar experiences to Ioannes and to let people know that, unfortunately his experiences are not unique.
Thank GOD! there is someone out there who actually understands! Unfortunately I am not as strong as you emiles. I have alot of animosity towards Egyptians now, not sure if that can change. Anyways who cares I'm just gonna do my own thing since it's obvious I am not welcome in the church.
I think this has to do more with diversity than it does with converts. What you have described is the same thing felt by Egyptians who recently emmigrated. They often feel they cannot engage with second generation youth. They often feel they can't speak English or they feel they will be attacked for not knowing English. And they are often correct. The problem is really magnified in New York, New Jersey and other churches where mass migration of Egyptian emmigrants congregate. The church has often made an "arabic youth" meeting or retreat to accommodate these people.
I guess the same is true for recent converts. The same difficulties are found. The only difference is that we don't have that many non-Egyptian converts. (Although this is slowly changing). I know in Boston we have a catechesis group for people who converted or who are interested in it.
Let us pray that the Lord of the harvest sends us more servants to address the concerns you mentioned. And that He may open our eyes to see how our brothers who are somehow different than us desire to have communion with us. And that He may grant us the wisdom and power to find ways to give them what they want. George
Comments
this is exactly what we have planned.
Screw you! All you Egyptians do is cast stones and judgment at people. It makes me sick all of you Egyptians make me sick, fuck all of you I hate every single one of you. None of you care to help but your all quick to jump in and get your pot shots. Go worry about looking good and making money, that all that all of you care about.
Fuck all of you Egyptians!!!!!!!!!!!!
That should do it
Oh and btw Ioannes check your pm's.
Ioannes just take deep breaths, and if something really ticks you off just don't reply, because when you do reply it's causing you to sin, and the goal for everyone here is to try to cut the roots of sin. Just some advice. May God have mercy on us all.
geo, in case you have not noticed I dont really care if I sin anymore lol! I am fighting a losing battle. I am in a church where nobody cares, and apparently nobody wants converts and that is completely unwilling to help teach me but more than willing to criticize me and anything I do. I am just going to be an annoyance until someone stops me. So go back to your pharmacy or your doctors office and worry about what you really care about, money and appearance. Isnt that what copts really care about?
I converted to Coptic Orthodoxy a little over 10 years ago. I do not speak Arabic. I have lived in different parts of the United States my entire life and I have often felt not welcomed in various Coptic Orthodox Churches. I have also gone through a frustration of raising concerns and trying to serve and help various Churches I have attended to reach out. Often, I am not encouraged in this regard and I have heard members of the congregation and priests lay the blame at the feet of the non-Egyptian inquirer. "If they were serious then they would come more often." Or "I guess they do not really care about God." I very rarely hear individuals reflecting over what they could do differently to have a positive impact on this person or the next person who comes around.
Please forgive me if I have offended and also know that I do not mean to take this thread in an entirely different direction. I just wanted to speak from the perspective of someone who has had similar experiences to Ioannes and to let people know that, unfortunately his experiences are not unique.
Please pray for me,
emiles
I think this has to do more with diversity than it does with converts. What you have described is the same thing felt by Egyptians who recently emmigrated. They often feel they cannot engage with second generation youth. They often feel they can't speak English or they feel they will be attacked for not knowing English. And they are often correct. The problem is really magnified in New York, New Jersey and other churches where mass migration of Egyptian emmigrants congregate. The church has often made an "arabic youth" meeting or retreat to accommodate these people.
I guess the same is true for recent converts. The same difficulties are found. The only difference is that we don't have that many non-Egyptian converts. (Although this is slowly changing). I know in Boston we have a catechesis group for people who converted or who are interested in it.
Let us pray that the Lord of the harvest sends us more servants to address the concerns you mentioned. And that He may open our eyes to see how our brothers who are somehow different than us desire to have communion with us. And that He may grant us the wisdom and power to find ways to give them what they want.
George