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A Wanderer

yozefyozef
edited December 1969 in Faith Issues
I would just like to support this positive effort in developping such a coherence in our society, regardless of Religion or Sect, though i am from a different sect (Maronite) I see our mutual interests and same final destination.

G-d Bless,

Comments

  • Boricua_OrthodoxBoricua_Orthodox
    [glow=red,2,300]In the Name of the Father + and the Son + and the Holy Spirit+ . The One True God. Amen.[/glow]

    Youzef...... Welcome! Then Lord Jesus Christ says we(Christians) are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13). Lets continue to strive to imrpove society by our prayers, tears of repentance and good works for the glory of God!

    By the way...do u know of any websites dedeicated to St Sharbel Mahklouf and other lebanese (Maronite) saints? God bless you! ;D

  • yozefyozef
    Well I have a few websites... but I doubt it will reach to any conclusion you seek. What really struck me, is the quote you have on your profile... Very deep and I simply love it:"God became Man so that man can become God". The second part is what really strickes me. Can Man reach a higher self though, well what we call nowadays "Religion"?
    Hindus, Buddhists, Confusists, Judaism, Christians and Muslims (chronologically) have All stated that.
    Though I find this path (spiritual enlightenment) that humans should follow need to be the main aim; Somehow people seem to be more interested in the "banale" things of religion. Altough this conversation may go on for ever. I would love to hear replies from others to make a path of conversation of our own.

    G-d Bless.
  • mike_henainmike_henain
    so by what you said you are atheist?

    Mike
  • yozefyozef
    h?...Hein?
    Do you know what an Atheist is?

    You can't be any farther than the truth.

    By the way, just by your question you make an 'Atheist' sound wrong. While you still live the world of 'right' and wrong'; at least they beleive in something (which I doubt would get them far), they soon will be able to learn that we live in a world of 'natural law' governed by G-d.

    So to answer in a few words to your question, No I am not an Atheist.
  • unconditional_loveunconditional_love
    hey just our of curiosity, why do u always write God as "G-d"?


    Peace
  • Boricua_OrthodoxBoricua_Orthodox

    Thank you Yozef for responding to my inquiry concerning St Sharbel. I must clarify a very popular distinction for many here. In today's Western society many individuals describe themselves as "SPIRITUAL", but not necessarily "RELIGIOUS". What does this mean? It means to be religious is to adhere to an established set of beliefs,customs,rules and traditions believed to be "revealed" by a deity (a god ), in our case Christianity. To be "spiritual" is to be aware of an inner life thats identified as the "spirit" with its needs to be at peace and the practice of certain virtues ( love,peace,kindness, charity,etc,) without necessarilly adherring to a religion.

    This means that religion tends to be more communal or not as self- centered as "spirituailty" tends to be with its emphasis on self and its relationship with its surroundings. The positive side to being "spiritual" is a constant vigilance of one's inner life or good and bad habits. The negative side to this is a tendency to focus too much on one's self at the expense of others since the individual is more in the center of their inner life. This doesn't mean God is not central but it does mean my inner life is more private and emphasized on the road of self improvement and there are basic universal truths ( no murder, no stealing, no lying, etc..) but MOST truths are RELATIVE which means its opinionated or " your truth is not my truth and vice versa" since every individual is unique. This limits the chances of there being OBJECTIVE TRUTH as revealed by God. This is why as a "spiritual" person one can religious or not. Its based on practicality or "what can best work for me" thus the self-centeredness of "spirituality".

    On the otherhand, we are too familiar with being PHARISEES when it comes to being religious and not spiritual. We can go through the motions by going to Holy Liturgy, reading the Holy Bible and quoting the Saints WITHOUT spirituality. Many individuals go through "Cultural Christianity" or " I am Orthodox because I belong to a certain ETHNIC group". Religion without spirituality can be very communal but a "dead communality" if there's no personal conversion day by day of the individual. This entails spirituality. The Holy Bible and the lives of the Fathers and Mothers of the Faith have been teaching us this for 2,000 years!

    Just wanted to share a little bit of this. I hope it helps and its pretty precise in this wonderfully developign dialogue ;D. Again..welcome Yozef!
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