In my personal point of view, Gay marriage as well as unlawful Re-marriage by a straight couple is an eternal sin. (Let me explain why!)
It is clear in the Bible that living a homosexual life (acting upon the urges) is a sin , as well as divorcing your wife and re-marrying another.... but why did I call it an eternal sin??
I called it an eternal sin because its a life lasting trap (or chain of sin) --- Let me give you an example..
Assume you are a drug addict and dealer (you do heroin and sell it for profit)... can you go to church and take communion and say I asked God for forgiveness but at the same time go back and sell heroin and do it? Of Course NOTTT.. to Repent you must STOP the Sin...
Now going back to re-marriage... when you divorce your wife and get married to another unlawfully, you have committed as sin.. now how do you repent from this sin? you must stop it (which is to leave your new wife) ... But you have just married her and made a commitment to stay with her forever... Do you guys see where I'm going with this?? At the end you have put yourself in a position where its near impossible to repent. And that is why the Church will not allow you to re-marry because if they allow you to remarry they are pretty much encouraging you to live in sin, and pretty much losing out on your eternity.
The same goes if you allow gay people to merry you are encouraging them to sin for the rest of their life, or in other words damning them!!
I heard that there is a homosexual devil who possesses the homosexuals. But everything in the world now is the sign of the end times. Giving them right or denying them won't solve the problem. I think we need to pray and fast more seriously than before.
lol, binC, there isn't a certain devil that only posseses homesexuals, demons posses people who are away from God, so it doesn't really matter what you are, but homosexuals sure act like it. I will pray for these stray people.
[quote author=binC link=topic=9624.msg118704#msg118704 date=1283026837] But everything in the world now is the sign of the end times .... I think we need to pray and fast more seriously than before.
You're absolutely right binC!
In the Old Testament, the devil was free to roam around the earth as he pleased, explains how when Moses came down from the mount, EVERYONE (including Aaron the priest) was worshipping idols. He's that powerful. After the cross, the devil was tied up; however, in revelation, it says that in the end of times the devil will be free again.
I think that time is now!
Abouna Dawood Lama3y said that this generation has the most alhan knowing youth in church history.. (don't get too excited, keep reading).. 90% of these alhan geniuses sing without spirits. Are we really lifting up our hearts everytime we say "kyrie eleison" during the liturgy? We say we're christian; do our actions agree? Do we all really love God with all our heart, soul, and strength like the first commandment says? Most of us are actually worshipping the devil, or worse, making ourselves God (eg thinking we're the boss of our lives, doing everything we please) unintentionally! Our Lord says that if a person calls his brother a 'fool', he will not enter the kingdom of God. Such a small sin at a HUGE price (ETERNAL life!).. it's not worth it! We need to review ourselves EVERY SINGLE DAY. Fall 7 times, rise 7 times.
Wake up people!! Death is at any time. We need to unite as a church and fervently pray that our "flights be not in the winter".
what was taught in my church yesterday is that the 'time, times and half a time' where the devil has more impact on the world has not yet come.
trying to work out which demons afflict which sort of people (or, indeed, which work in a particular geographical location) can be a waste of time, or worse, a dangerous obsession. this is why our church doesn't teach on this topic.
instead we should pray and fast and share the message of salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ with those around us.
as saint paul says in the letter to the hebrews 'let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith'.
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." -John Adams
in daniel 7:25 there is a prophecy about a 'king' oppressing the saints for a 'time, times and half a time' and most sermons i have heard explain that in the end times there will be a specially difficult time of persecution. no-one knows how long this will be, but we know that it is in God's hands and He won't let us suffer more than we can bear. what i wanted to say is, there is no evidence i have seen that the devil is 'free' now, so we don't need to worry about it, but we should continue our lives of prayer, Bible reading and learning in church, so we have the information we need to tell the world about our great God who saves.
Thank you for your insightful replies.I enjoyed them .I understand the meaning of free will much better now.
Regarding the abolishing of slavery,You are right, Christians started the revolution. However, the church was too silent for many many ages. The church as an organization was complicit in the perpetuation of the system.As an organised body, it did nothing.Even in the UK, the church joined the visionary christians who rejected slavery as inhumane and sin at a later time.To the black West Indian or american, the church had been part and parcel of slavery. To the Native indian, the church stands accused of callous murder.In the view of those who bore the brunt of of harsh conditions as a result of slavery,discrimination,racisim, and ethnic cleanising,the church (that is now rightly speaking out against the HS), did too little too late, and I think they may be right.
TITL,
Thank you for the link to a marathon article ;). I do not mean to say, HS is a natural process in humans. I was just asking how we should react if some form of it ( as a result of whatever mutation or disease) were naturally acquired. Of course, the existance of HS activity in animals ,if true ,(at least according to experts),can not be used as justification for humans to engage in it.
Lets say homosexuality is natural. People cannot help it, it's in their gene or whatever. Why then would God condemn them? Why would it be, like you said, "abominable in the sight of God"? Would He accuse someone for something they cannot change? It doesn't make sense
We can ask the same thing for many things (that we like to engage in) that are not pleasing to God.There are people who would tell you,it is in their genes to have multiple partners.
As for Ezekiel and Hezekiel, 'H'ezekiel is the 'h'ydrogenated form of Ezekiel. :D
But WHICH Church do you mean? Which Orthodox Church oppressed the Native Americans? I thought that the model of Orthodox activity in Alaska was positive and took a servant attitude towards mission among the Native Americans?
It also has to be said that slavery is not man's greatest problem, though it is an evil and those who practice it will be judged. For most of the history of most of the world people have lived functionally as slaves and most societies have accepted the practice of slavery. It is only modern times that consider it the worst of evils. In fact the ancient Greeks said 'All men are slaves'. And we are.
I think the issue of slavery is much more complicated than often presented in modern times.
Fr Peter, I am in no way refering to any orthodox church.The churchs I have in mind are the same churchs that are now speaking out against same sex marriage in the US. I think,they should. I do question the fact they had not rejected and had spoken out about past grave deeds that go contrary to church teaching as much as they are doing it today. Native Americans may readliy embrace the Orthodox churchs,since they do not see them with suspcion. I hope,their mission succeeds.
Modern time slavery is considered evil,because the system targeted people mainly based on their race and skin colour. That slavery continued to exist in the form of racism and discrimination. I could be mistaken,but I do not think, this form was ancient practice. The kind of slavery that is recounted in the bible had nothing to do with outer pigment appearance of a human being. It equally affected many kind of races.In th real sense of the word, yes we are all slaves as long as we earn our bread by working for others.
I am extremely lazy so I am all for slavery, haha just kidding I am not really that lazy.
What I hate are the arguments used to defend homosexuality. The whole "I was born gay" argument doesnt fly with me. Some, like the heretic Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, claim that it is like any other disorder or birth defect. The difference is that God does not condemn downs syndrome, or people born with no legs etc. He does however condemn homosexuality, so it is not likely that God would play the cruel trick of creating someone to be condemned. This is liberal theology though, you have to defend everyone's truth.
California is a hell hole and I cant wait till it falls off into the ocean
don't worry, california will probably ;) remain until the earth and the seas are rolled up like a scroll and we meet each other in the new jerusalem. may God have mercy on us all and prepare us for the day of His coming.
Comments
It is clear in the Bible that living a homosexual life (acting upon the urges) is a sin , as well as divorcing your wife and re-marrying another.... but why did I call it an eternal sin??
I called it an eternal sin because its a life lasting trap (or chain of sin) --- Let me give you an example..
Assume you are a drug addict and dealer (you do heroin and sell it for profit)... can you go to church and take communion and say I asked God for forgiveness but at the same time go back and sell heroin and do it? Of Course NOTTT.. to Repent you must STOP the Sin...
Now going back to re-marriage... when you divorce your wife and get married to another unlawfully, you have committed as sin.. now how do you repent from this sin? you must stop it (which is to leave your new wife) ... But you have just married her and made a commitment to stay with her forever... Do you guys see where I'm going with this?? At the end you have put yourself in a position where its near impossible to repent. And that is why the Church will not allow you to re-marry because if they allow you to remarry they are pretty much encouraging you to live in sin, and pretty much losing out on your eternity.
The same goes if you allow gay people to merry you are encouraging them to sin for the rest of their life, or in other words damning them!!
I hope this helped!
But everything in the world now is the sign of the end times .... I think we need to pray and fast more seriously than before.
You're absolutely right binC!
In the Old Testament, the devil was free to roam around the earth as he pleased, explains how when Moses came down from the mount, EVERYONE (including Aaron the priest) was worshipping idols. He's that powerful.
After the cross, the devil was tied up; however, in revelation, it says that in the end of times the devil will be free again.
I think that time is now!
Abouna Dawood Lama3y said that this generation has the most alhan knowing youth in church history.. (don't get too excited, keep reading).. 90% of these alhan geniuses sing without spirits.
Are we really lifting up our hearts everytime we say "kyrie eleison" during the liturgy?
We say we're christian; do our actions agree?
Do we all really love God with all our heart, soul, and strength like the first commandment says?
Most of us are actually worshipping the devil, or worse, making ourselves God (eg thinking we're the boss of our lives, doing everything we please) unintentionally!
Our Lord says that if a person calls his brother a 'fool', he will not enter the kingdom of God.
Such a small sin at a HUGE price (ETERNAL life!).. it's not worth it!
We need to review ourselves EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Fall 7 times, rise 7 times.
Wake up people!! Death is at any time. We need to unite as a church and fervently pray that our "flights be not in the winter".
trying to work out which demons afflict which sort of people (or, indeed, which work in a particular geographical location) can be a waste of time, or worse, a dangerous obsession. this is why our church doesn't teach on this topic.
instead we should pray and fast and share the message of salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ with those around us.
as saint paul says in the letter to the hebrews 'let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith'.
'time, times and half a time'
Can you explain this please?
what i wanted to say is, there is no evidence i have seen that the devil is 'free' now, so we don't need to worry about it, but we should continue our lives of prayer, Bible reading and learning in church, so we have the information we need to tell the world about our great God who saves.
i have to study a lot the next 2-3 wks, so will give u a link if u want to know more:
http://orthodoxsermons.org/sermons/2004-holy-week-st-mark-dc-part-3-eve-wednesday
Thank you for your insightful replies.I enjoyed them .I understand the meaning of free will much better now.
Regarding the abolishing of slavery,You are right, Christians started the revolution. However, the church was too silent for many many ages. The church as an organization was complicit in the perpetuation of the system.As an organised body, it did nothing.Even in the UK, the church joined the visionary christians who rejected slavery as inhumane and sin at a later time.To the black West Indian or american, the church had been part and parcel of slavery. To the Native indian, the church stands accused of callous murder.In the view of those who bore the brunt of of harsh conditions as a result of slavery,discrimination,racisim, and ethnic cleanising,the church (that is now rightly speaking out against the HS), did too little too late, and I think they may be right.
TITL,
Thank you for the link to a marathon article ;). I do not mean to say, HS is a natural process in humans. I was just asking how we should react if some form of it ( as a result of whatever mutation or disease) were naturally acquired. Of course, the existance of HS activity in animals ,if true ,(at least according to experts),can not be used as justification for humans to engage in it. We can ask the same thing for many things (that we like to engage in) that are not pleasing to God.There are people who would tell you,it is in their genes to have multiple partners.
As for Ezekiel and Hezekiel, 'H'ezekiel is the 'h'ydrogenated form of Ezekiel. :D
It also has to be said that slavery is not man's greatest problem, though it is an evil and those who practice it will be judged. For most of the history of most of the world people have lived functionally as slaves and most societies have accepted the practice of slavery. It is only modern times that consider it the worst of evils. In fact the ancient Greeks said 'All men are slaves'. And we are.
I think the issue of slavery is much more complicated than often presented in modern times.
Father Peter
Modern time slavery is considered evil,because the system targeted people mainly based on their race and skin colour. That slavery continued to exist in the form of racism and discrimination. I could be mistaken,but I do not think, this form was ancient practice. The kind of slavery that is recounted in the bible had nothing to do with outer pigment appearance of a human being. It equally affected many kind of races.In th real sense of the word, yes we are all slaves as long as we earn our bread by working for others.
What I hate are the arguments used to defend homosexuality. The whole "I was born gay" argument doesnt fly with me. Some, like the heretic Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, claim that it is like any other disorder or birth defect. The difference is that God does not condemn downs syndrome, or people born with no legs etc. He does however condemn homosexuality, so it is not likely that God would play the cruel trick of creating someone to be condemned. This is liberal theology though, you have to defend everyone's truth.
California is a hell hole and I cant wait till it falls off into the ocean
may God have mercy on us all and prepare us for the day of His coming.