Just Hold on and Climb!

A group of men raising their hands together in the air

I believe it is part of the ‘fallen’ human condition. Generally speaking, we do not like to take blame for our shortcomings, let alone our mistakes. Take any young child caught eating something forbidden. With total confidence in the ‘blame,’ a typical child with either blame the dog, claim that what was eaten was not…

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Being Saved is Hard Work

A group of people exercising at a park

The idea of working out our salvation is foreign to most Protestant Christians. We have been taught that salvation is a free gift from God. Nothing we can do can ‘earn’ our salvation, so there is ‘nothing’ to work out. That would be nice if it were true. Yes, salvation is a gift from God,…

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Be a child of faith, not a check box

children putting hands on each other shoulder

We all know that living the Orthodox Christian lifestyle is difficult. I won’t say it can be difficult. I will say it is difficult, if done properly. Between prayer schedules, fasting schedules, bible reading schedules, and services schedules, and not to mention the intricate system of sacraments and blessings, we have inherited a very complex…

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A Single Book is Never Enough

The Bible with praying beads on a table

As I wrote in “Our Own Church” yesterday, there are many other things that are not included in the Scriptures. We simply cannot limit our experience of God to one book, even if that book is the Bible. It doesn’t make everything true. In the same token it doesn’t make everything false. There must some…

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Zero to One Hundred in a Lifetime

I remember when I was young and ‘cared’ about cars much more than I do now. It seemed like every conversation about a car included “How fast is it?” Even in commercials the answer was in terms of zero to sixty. How fast could the car get up to speed in other words. It might…

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Rules are Tools

The other day I was at a party and was asked, “Can you eat this today?” It was Friday and the person asking knew I would be fasting on Friday. I replied, “I CAN eat anything I want. I choose not to eat certain things.” That is the essence of fasting. If you think we…

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Are We Killing the Church?

Location of St Stephen's Martyrdom

Sometimes I wonder what the effect of our indifference to the Church may be. It seems every time I turn around another ‘good one’ has turned away from fervent faith. Maybe he doesn’t leave the Church completely, but the comes when he frequents the movie theater more than the Church. The effects of this behavior…

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Holy Apostles Fast

Monastery of the Holy Apostles on the Sea of Galilee

Today we begin another fast on the Church calendar, this time in honor of the Holy Apostles. In preparation for the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29 and the Synaxis of the Holy Apostles on June 30, we are asked to pray and fast. It isn’t a strict fast like the Great…

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