Orthodox Christianity

What Time Is It for Your Child?

family time child orthodox christianby Fr. Athanasios Papagiannis –
John weighed seven pounds, seven ounces on the day he was born. His first days of life were highlighted by bouts of crying and long periods of sleeping. On the drive home from the hospital, a few days later, John’s mother glanced down, looked at her new baby, and for a moment she smiled.

Then she looked ahead.

“Honey,” she began, as she stared at her husband, “I know we decided to keep our careers so that we can be financially secure, but now I’m having second thoughts. I want to give our son the most attention we can. I want us to reconsider having me stay at home with him.”

Her husband shook his head in frustration. “We discussed this, remember?” he shot back. “We can’t afford to have one of us at home all the time. It doesn’t make sense.” For the next few minutes the proud new parents shared their thoughts and uneasiness of leaving their child in the care of someone other than his parents. Conversations like the one above are common among new parents. Every parent wants the best for their child, yet mapping out how to exactly deliver that parenting has become more and more difficult. [Read more…]

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It’s Ok to Fail

Failure is necessary as part of the learning process prayer gets us through itby Fr. Gregory Hallam –
We live in a culture in which high achievement is prized above all things. Celebrity culture canonises the saints of “can do” leaving most of the rest of us feeling pretty miserable that we are not as rich, as famous, as high achieving as these public icons. A certain amount of “moral failure” can be tolerated in most; unless you are a politician that is or a celebrity on the slide of disfavour. This is mostly hypocrisy though since many are far less inclined to apply the same moral standards to their own behaviour and lives. What is certainly not recognised is the positive aspect of failure, and, indeed, it’s universality.

First, let’s tackle universality. For every 1 winner there are 99 losers. As they say “it matters rather how one plays the game.” Next, none of us is perfect. We need to cut each other a little slack; we need to practice mercy. It’s OK to fail means it’s OK to try even if you don’t succeed. [Read more…]

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Frank Schaeffer Slides into Political and Religious Apostasy!

Frank Schaeffer leftist by Dr. Don Boys –
Frank Schaeffer is a pathetic figure. Son of famous, dedicated Christian leader Francis Schaeffer, he has declared his distaste for his father’s activities in the service of Christ. Frank has apostatized from his and his Father’s theology and politics as revealed in a recent television interview to promote his new book while at the same time bashing Christian authors for making gobs of money with their books! In that interview he declared that “Nobody is damned or going to Hell,” Christians are haters for being critical of abortion and gay rights; and “salvation is a journey.”

He added, “Atheism may be absolutely correct, or Buddhism may be. I could be completely wrong about theism.” Moreover, Dawkins, Hitchins, and Harris “could be right”! He declares that “Right Wing Christians” are “far more dangerous than the Dawkins [atheist] group.” Question: Why hasn’t Frank’s church brought him up on charges of heresy? Is his pastor as big a phony as he is? [Read more…]

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The Pursuit of God’s Peace in an Anxious World

God Trinity Light of World by Fr. Joshua Makoul –
The world in which we live is an anxious one, rife with fear and doubt. Economic markets rise and fall, employment fluctuates, conflicts erupt in unexpected places, and each year seems to bring a threat of some new virus that threatens mankind. We are all continuously faced with events outside of our control. As time passes the future takes on greater uncertainty. Indeed, it is often our struggle with uncertainty that plagues our spiritual life and gives birth to fear and worry.

Our society today has seen a dramatic spike in what psychologists call anxiety disorders. Many who struggle with these conditions wrestle with trusting, with uncertainty, with not having control. Not all who struggle with fear and worry, however, have a “disorder,” for such struggle is universal and comes with living in the world. There are many secular treatments and potential remedies for anxiety. As Christians we have all these, and much more, at our disposal in our fight against fear and anxiety. To the challenge of not having control, we have the ultimate answer and solution: God is in control. Those who deny God’s existence or who do not turn to Him in their lives, deny themselves the greatest treatment for fear, anxiety, worry and doubt. Our God offers us something that the world cannot give us, and that is His peace. [Read more…]

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Wall Street Occupiers Urged to Target Churches

Frank Schaeffer leftist by Mark Tooley –
Franky Schaeffer is the son of the late, highly influential evangelical thinker Francis Schaeffer​ , who helped shape the modern conservative evangelical movement. The son boasts he was himself a co-founder of the Religious Right. But he since has denounced Christianity as “stupid,” writes bitter tell-all books about his parents, and ferociously attacks conservative religionists as the virtual root cause of all American evils.

A blogger for The Huffington Post, young Schaeffer is now faulting religious conservatives for facilitating Wall Street greed. He’s imploring the Wall Street Occupiers to “protest the root source of America’s tilt to the far unregulated corporate right.” For Schaeffer, the next logical step is to demonstrate “outside mega churches, Evangelical publishing houses, [and] religious organizations that lead the ‘moral’ crusades against women and gays and all the rest.”

Will the Wall Street Occupiers heed Schaeffer’s frenzied call and next park their tents, blankets and anti-capitalist placards in the parking lots of suburban mega churches? It seems unlikely. But Schaeffer’s demand fits with the crazy Left’s sometime fixation on demonizing opponents based on class and religion. [Read more…]

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Turning Fear Into Faith

faith Christianity worry fear by Ken Stevens –
That ugly and omnipresent thorn called worry! Since it’s a chronic, recurrent condition, it’s been called the “Worry Disease.” I think worry must be Satan’s best weapon against man. Our minds are incessantly preoccupied with our daily cares. During peace-filled, “quiet time” moments of prayer and reflection we confidently profess our faith to God and feel His peace. Yet, this is so often immediately forgotten, preempted by the next worrisome preoccupation. At time, it’s maddening! Too often our “old nature” chooses to worry rather than to trust God. Worry is a sin because we aren’t taking God at his Word.

Virtually everyone is stressed out today. We fear various problems and what they may do to us. For example, I have worked in pharmaceutical marketing and medical communications for 30+ years and have witnessed incredible changes in the health care landscape. I laugh out loud when I remember how in the past I used to complain about various working conditions. However, they were minimal compared to today’s constant stream of pressures. Now there are insecurities about the marketplace, the unrelenting ferocity of managed care, stressed-out clients willing to change their ad agency “on a whim,” and the constant barrage of economic and socio-political uncertainties. It seems every industry, both private and government, is beleaguered by economic crises today. [Read more…]

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Fr. Gregory: Aren’t Taxes Immoral?

Taxes are Immoral by Fr. Gregory Jensen –
“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

Does the government have a moral right to levy and collect taxes on its citizenry? Or is taxation merely a legalized form of governmental robbery?

While I’ve now and then heard people argue that taxation has no moral basis, I must confess that I find this assertion deeply troubling. As a matter of prudence, not everything which is immoral can, or should, be illegal. There are a variety of reasons for this chief among them is that as a practical matter the enforcement of a law can sometime cause more harm than good.

For example, the worship of God is a moral obligation both in the Scriptures and under at least some theories of natural law (see Romans 1). However as a prudential matter, a law that required people to worship God would invariably lead to social unrest. [Read more…]

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The Man Class – FOCUS

“Progressive polices have done more to exacerbate poverty than to alleviate it. They tear apart families and create a generational cycle of dependency. They do not fulfill the Gospel imperative to care for the poor. We must do better.” – Fr. Johannes Jacobse

Here’s an Orthodox effort that is trying to heal the effects of that Progressive policies are largely responsible for:
[Read more…]

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Facebook “Listening” Group Drags Culture Wars into the Orthodox Church

Culture Wars Orthodox Church facebook by Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse –
Progressive fads sweep through the culture like clockwork. Remember the impending global ice age in the 1970s that morphed into global warming today? How about the fight about abortion where anyone who dared criticize it was branded as a hater of women? Remember the Equal Rights Amendment and how convinced its supporters were that it was absolutely necessary for a just society?

None of these movements should be taken lightly of course but that doesn’t disqualify them as fads. There is always a strong strain of self-justification among Progressive Culture Warriors; a posturing that creates a facade of virtue and labels the critic as ignorant. Fellow travelers bask in that warm glow of imputed righteousness that they generously confer on each other. The rest of us can return to our caves.

That kind of arrogance informs the new Facebook group “Listening: Breaking the Silence on Sexuality with the Orthodox Church.” The tendentious title is the first clue something is seriously skewed. What silence needs to be “broken”? Who are the people breaking it? Is the Orthodox Church really silent on sexuality? [Read more…]

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