I am ignorant.

yousiegtennis

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SilentOne

I love this forum and also the forums on orthodoxchristianity.net which a couple members here including Fr. Farrington participate on. Due to time constraints, they're my main source for spiritual information right now. H.H's books are easy reads. yet they are full of much info, and if you can tolerate staring at a white screen, you can read most of his e-books online. An Eastern Orthodox book I've been reading and recommend is St. John Climacus' Ladder of the Divine Ascent. Excellent read, full of much contemplations and advice, though it should be noted that it was originally written as a letter to monks so some of the things he says may seem very hard.

epchois_nai_nan

C.S. Lewis is INCREDIBLE :D I've just started reading 'The Screwtape Letters' and it is amazing. I would start with 'The Screwtape Letters' because his other books like Mere Christianity and the Problem of Pain are pretty heavy and get dull, but their great to move on to later.

Obviously he was not Orthodox, he was Anglican, but he is very neutral and says very little that is controversial.

God bless

yousiegtennis

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socoolbishoy

if you want to know more about me, who would you talk to?!

my friends will give you a part of the story, but you will not fully know me!
you have to talk to me to know me... and you have to talk to God to know Him... if you keep on reading and not try to talk and build the friendship with God Himself, you will never gain anything but mere information, which really has no value!



neshkor Allah, akhadna el baraka!

yousiegtennis

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ilovesaintmark

Yousi,

You are not ignorant in Church matters.  You are in a learning phase.  Keep doing what you are doing.
For someone seeking the aspects of the Church, you are not ignorant, by any means.  You are thoughtful
in learning about your Mother.

yousiegtennis

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socoolbishoy

i am confused.

C'mon! tell us something out of the ordinary please!

God does not talk back (not directly at least) so if i talk to him (which i assume you mean prayer by that), how would i get to know him better?  and how would He tell me about the history of the church and other things relating to church matters and spirituality?

how do these authors know about God?! and how do they know these "successful" steps?!
either they speak about personal experience, which will come from living with God, and praying to Him, and actually tasting the life with God... or from a person who read about a person that read about a person, who knew a person who read about a person who was the brother of the person who knew the person who read about the person who experienced God through reading from a person that read about a person, and etc.!

who would you want to learn from?! and who do you want to be like? God responds but where are your ears? He responds but where is you mind? He responds but where is your thought?! focus on growing the relationship with Him, on a personal level, and you will feel Him respond... you will be able to talk to Him one on one... where do you think Saint Bishoy started? by reading about how to reach God?! they didn't have many books like that, and you'd have to be rich to actually afford one of these books, he started in his cell, when he focused on his relationship with God (with spiritual guidance, of course), and look at where his relationship took him, he use to have almost daily visits from The Christ, from saints, from prophets, and etc..

i'm nothing like St. Bishoy, so i'm assuming that God would not send specific people down from Heaven to earth to talk to me, i'm not saintly or anything.

well saint Bishoy... oh you mean the Great saint Bishoy... sorry I thought you were talking about me! lol jk... I responded to this above!

and if it has no value, why am i being encouraged by my priest constantly to read spiritual books (although he never indicates specific ones and that's why i am seeking suggestions here)?

go next time and ask your priest, and ask him,  should I read about God or should I exercise becoming closer to God?
many people were greater than any scholar who is on this earth with their knowledge... like origen, his knowledge can exceed any scholar about the faith, but what gain did that due to him? all this knowledge where did it take him? Arius, and many many more... where did this knowledge of God take them? studying will not take you anywhere, because while you look into the depths and focusing your eyes on the knowledge of God, the time will pass you without struggling, and when God asks you what have you done so that I would accept you... you will say I accumulated all the knowledge that this earth had about You (which is undo-able!), He will tell you, I do not know you! because you never sought Him, you sought information about Him!

i am sorry, i don't mean to argue but i struggle with this issue a lot and i want to understand...

lol its okay, whats a geek's entertainment?!

a debate! so its okay I understand!

to have a relationship with someone, they have to talk back to you...i don't understand how God would do that?

try Him and see if He talks or not... but really seek Him!



Neshkor Allah, akhadna el baraka!

yousiegtennis

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