The biggest critics of Zionism are the Jews that didn't go. They're not all bad... In fact, I'd like to learn from them. They've maintained traditions - specifically symbolic meaning - that I think are key to understanding.... something.

Antisemitism is dangerous not only because it can lead to violence, but also because it doesn't stop with the people calling themselves Jewish. Christians are a kind of Jew. I would argue that Christians are the true Jews, and Paul wrote some stuff that would support that - but of course, I understand that non-Christian Jews would disagree. So anyways, pointing out the false Jews has to be nuanced - the point is to course correct, not hurt people.

I forgot to mention that a few weeks after I bought the OSB I saw the prayers in the back and I said a few of them and then I learned the Jesus Prayer and one day I saw walking around my home saying the Jesus prayer and I begain weeping (I don't really cry I've been very stone like as far as emotions since I was like 15 or so) but I wasn't really sad I just felt over come with love (something I didn't know how to feel because I had numbed myself to it) that's what really started my journey I would say.

Well... Good! I feel compelled to relay that my critique has usually been met with hostility, especially from the Orthodox crowd. I recently came out of a phase of really loving everything EO, but the same pattern always occurred :

I would ask a question (online), and the first reply would be something hostile, some variation of, "you protestants are evil!" That's the gist of it, not a real quote. To which I would reply, "no, I'm not a Protestant, I haven't found a denomination I like, and that's why I'm here."

Then someone more mature would answer my question with a verse while apologizing for the other person's behavior.

Then I read the verse, and the surrounding few chapters, or the entire book in Ezekiel's case (if there's one book that might cause brain damage, its that one), and look up some online commentary, and finally return to the chat and say something to the effect of, "that's not what this says."

Then a bishop joins the thread (these things seem to all be run by bishops), and debates in an openly hostile way. And at that point I'm just done with it...

And this happened, in that basic pattern, several times... until I stopped the entire pursuit of all things EO.

So... That's what happened. If it went that way for me, its going that way for a lot of people. I hope you can do some good with this.

Oh, and I just have to point out... That last quote from that saint (Kosmas? I can't see it) - anyone telling you to curse a person is not a saint.

Best wishes.

The inherent pride of the position of pope is no different than the pride of a bishop believing he is special by virtue of apostolic succession. Sin isn't greater or lesser ; sin is sin. Its error. Jesus said to call no man "teacher." An organized church on earth with a hierarchy is Antichrist, same as a human full of pride is Antichrist. Your saints were correct in pointing out the error of the pope, but incorrect if they didn't simultaneously point out the same error in their own church. Furthermore, if error in your own reasoning drives reasonable people *away* from Christianity (and it surely does), then you are making yourself a false prophet. Likewise, if a church's dogma is against the pursuit of reason and direct knowledge.

Its difficult to point out an error in a kind way, but it is meant with kindness. I try to write in a direct and efficacious way, with trust that the reader doesn't hear hostility in it. 🙏

Glory to God ☦️

(Not my picture)

#orthodox #orthodoxy

Hmm. I might have to just make do with his stuff on YouTube. Signing up to listen involves interacting with centralized identity thieves.

What are you eating today?

The angle I'm taking to approach God can be summarized as training myself to recognize the emergent phenomena that symbols represent. And that just started as a quest to learn how to write fiction... I can write dry prose all day, but good fiction is amazingly difficult. So far, it has really only leade back into dry prose.

Eh... I actually did think of Seraphim Rose while writing. I have a hard time with his writing because he calls Nietzsche a nihilist, which is an unfortunate misunderstanding.

Ya know what we're really fighting against? Its not fiat money. That's a symptom of the real disease.

The real disease is fiat thinking. AKA nihilism. Its saying to yourself, "I can't" - and then you think up some reasons.

Most people are nihilists, unfortunately. This is why a bunch of people voting on stuff seems to only turn nice ideas into garbage.

What's the opposite of nihilism? Faith. What's that? Its the acceptance of the knowledge that things work. The application of faith can be called 'skill' or expertise or "know-how." Cuz stuff works. That's it. In the spiritual sense, you know that stuff works because you can see the bigger picture.

Notice the word, "acceptance," above. Its not knowledge itself, its not belief, its not magic, and it's not horror or disgust or rebellion. You're not at war with the world, you're not at war with God, or science, or yourself.

Now, unfortunately, this is more a matter of habit than decision. Seeing it and deciding is certainly one of the steps, but its not going to help unless you habitualize it. This is why cultivating a positive environment, free of mental thorns or pollutants (like swearing and envy) is so important - both for yourself and for anyone you are teaching or want to have a nice relationship with.

This is why fiat world, or clown world, is so degrading. It lacks any kind of mechanism for self control. Nihilism is the main input, so its the main output too.

Ritual can help, if you can preserve the meaning of it. Anything can be a ritual.. A walk can be purifying. Sorting your mail can be a daily ritual. Small actions combined with a mindfulness, sorting and clearing, accepting that things in the bigger picture will work. Stuff works. Its all copacetic, man. Or it can be.

It is absolutely not a coincidence that so many of us found bitcoin at the same time that we found God. We need both for the same reason. In a world of nihilism, the fiat world, we needed hope. 'Hope' is the rescue rope thrown down into the pit of despair, and we grabbed it and climbed up into the light of day - faith. Nihilistic people won't understand this, and they'll say, "but you can have faith in anything!" No, you can't. Faith isn't belief. You can believe anything you want, at least for a while, but faith is knowing that stuff works. Don't trust ; verify. They, the fiat brains, don't trust themselves ; can't verify themselves.

Anyways... Just giving myself a little pep talk.

#bitcoin #faith #fiat #thinking #peptalk #hope #ritual #optimism #nihilism

#asknostr

does anyone know of which variants of Christianity have some emphasis on the angels?

there is a variant stream of Judaism called "Elohist" that contends that the main actors in the story are the host of angels, "elohim" literally means "the people of light" and is hard to not notice the correspondence to the irish stories of the "Tuatha de Danaan" or "Aes Dana" the people of the light

it's not so much that i think there is a conflict between the angels and God except in as far as the fallen angels, but more that the role of the angels, and the leader who gets called "Lord" in the whole of the bible - except when this refers to Jesus (which i think is interesting)

also, i remember years back some kind of criticism of the iconography of Jesus representing him as quite pale skinned, most of the famous catholic and protestant paintings depicting him put him as either pale white or at most tan, and if you follow the logic, that Jesus is descended from an angelic leader or "Lord" then there is a whole mess of questions i have about this because Genesis and other apocryphal books clearly imply or straight up state that angels were making babies with human women, implying that they are both: a) physical beings and b) genetically compatible with humans

it has only been a scant few thousand years since all these stories were written but you can cite multiple cases even in short time windows of the total destruction, or near total destruction, of all references to old stories in text that have later been challenged by the discovery of other texts that survived the book burning

so, yeah, back to the central topic, I know Mormons have a fairly strong notion of humans and angels being connected and some others but what are the most well known denominations that are adacent to or low key say that angels and man are related and the history is all about this?

I know I will inevitably have people respond with stuff like this, which is why I explicitly stated I am not going to have back and forth debates on here, that is not my goal. My goal is to document, learn, grow in knowledge, and educate others on what I learn.

However, since I feel like I must — eternal salvation is only one type of salvation discussed in scripture. Every verse deserves its own exegetical analysis. There are plenty of other verses where it is talking about physical salvation from physical death in this life for example.

In a general sense, scripture cannot contradict itself. Whoever put together this chart to say we must do all of those things to be eternally saved/born again is absolutely clueless beyond comprehension. It is so clearly in contradiction to Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 4:5, and all of John’s gospel and Jesus’ teachings. Passages should be interpreted in context with the fact in mind that scripture does not and cannot contradict itself. So whoever finds their view being in contradiction from crystal clear passages, their interpretation is incorrect and must be consistent.

My bitterness still remains as I continue to learn and figure things out. But I am on my journey to uncover and rediscover the true nature of God’s saving grace and compassion.

False views have hindered my growth and I am choosing to not put pressure on myself and look inward any longer. I am on a mission to document true exegetical scriptural analysis to the best of my ability to have an archive of my own struggles and Biblical answers to them.

I am not here to argue with anyone, nor debate anyone. The purpose of it is to inform others and to serve as a reminder and education tool I can constantly look to so that I may renew my mind and rest in the promises of God.

We shall start with this, as the beginning theme of it all.

#faith #christian #bible #grownostr