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02 Aug 22
@medullah
On the subject of wearing crosses I look at it this way (watch the pelters fly lol). If your best friend were killed by a guy with submachine gun, you wouldn’t wear a scaled down image of a submachine gun around your neck from that day onwards would you? So why would you wear a cross bearing in mind it’s pagan origins?
Do you honestly think that’s an even comparison or even a logical one? Also what I said above.
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03 Aug 22
@kevin-eleven saidThe only one you said with any truth or understanding of is about gay people which is true of many. When I go to church it’s a non denominational one that just teaches the word of God and welcomes everyone as I had gay women that sat in front of me for a long time plus others both male and female, good correct churches are out there without the judgements only trying to save people. I also hate it when people use S and G as an example while they were destroyed for many many reasons that most of us have done at times not just being gay.
Hmm. Hadn't thought of it that way.
In America I think some Christians wear a cross to keep the gays away.
Or maybe "I'm Christian, therefore special."
Or "I'm Christian -- please don't hurt me."
Or "I'm a Republican."
🤷🏻♂️
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03 Aug 22
@kevin-eleven saidHe said that, not me.
Then aren't the Scriptures themselves graven idols?
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@divegeester saidI'm getting the impression that you might have put on your own oxygen mask first. 👍🏻
Believe the “correct” dogma, love the “correct” symbols and images, talk Christian faith talk, but do nothing to save your neighbours from a version of Jesus who will burn them in hell for eternity if they don’t love him back, or at least state a belief in those dogmas.
Sums it up.
03 Aug 22
@medullah saidI missed this...
@Philokalia
You are right about the extremes that this could be taken, and I have heard it claimed that this is partly to blame for the lack of Jewish art in the world. Your quote from the catholic encyclopaedia looks to me like and attempt by the catholic authorities to get themselves off of the hook. Go into one of their services and bowing before a cross is part of the ...[text shortened]... k from that day onwards would you? So why would you wear a cross bearing in mind it’s pagan origins?
I believe that bowing before the cross is completely fine..? Why would it not be? We are not worshiping a cross, but bowing before it.
In Orthodoxy, we do not bow before a wooden cross...
- We bow our heads during the readings from the Gospels
- We bow our heads when the host (of the communion) is walked by us; we bow our heads before the host all the time.
- We do kiss ikons, like how we kiss the hand of a Priest or Bishop, as a sign of respect and adoration
We do say prayers that ask Saints and the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary) for their intercessory prayers, a tradition that goes back to at least 250 AD, though likely far before [1].
The Theotokos is not a God; the Saints are not gods. But they are part of the cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1), and that they are in heaven praying for us.
You have heard people say that "our deceased mother looks down on us from heaen" - this is actually Biblical.
You have prayed for others, yes? You have asked people for their prayers, yes?
Is it wrong to ask the holiest human who has ever lived, the one whom God entered the world through, to pray for us? Or to ask a decased Saint to pray for us? It is not.
They will be the first to say that there is one, single God in the world, and that our prayers are for their own prayers on our beahlf.
Beneath thy compassion, We take refuge, O Mother of God: do not despise our petitions in time of trouble, but rescue us from dangers, only pure one, only blessed one.
(From [1])
Check out a little more at [2]. I am not sure we will ever agree on this, lol.
[1] https://ocl.org/the-earliest-known-prayer-to-the-theotokos/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_devotions
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03 Aug 22
@mike69 saidHow did you know they were gay? Were they having sex in church?
The only one you said with any truth or understanding of is about gay people which is true of many. When I go to church it’s a non denominational one that just teaches the word of God and welcomes everyone as I had gay women that sat in front of me for a long time plus others both male and female, good correct churches are out there without the judgements only trying to save p ...[text shortened]... ile they were destroyed for many many reasons that most of us have done at times not just being gay.
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03 Aug 22
@kevin-eleven saidIs it that hard for you to figure it out. They sat in front of me a long time you greet one another and after time you get to know one another.
How did you know they were gay? Were they having sex in church?
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@mike69 saidSo they invited you home to watch them have sex?
Is it that hard for you to figure it out. They sat in front of me a long time you greet one another and after time you get to know one another.
Also, I'm starting to notice a pattern: that you like to stick your nose into other people's underwear. Why is that?