Posted by rjklancko
on 10/15/2009, 9:44 am, in reply to "Re: Fr. Herbel Returned to OCA; Fargo AOCNA Mission Parish Disbands"
I agree withn your last stastement whole heartedly - amen
but as for the term orthodox, i will never be orthodox and in an unchristian manner i abhorr those who are orthodox for i have discovered that most of them are narrow minded, judgemental bigots and the anthesis of what a christian should be, i am a christian who is a member of the orthodox church and truly believe that if one wants to be a member of the eastern orthodox christian church they can never forget that the noun is christian and that the faith is based on what christianity espouses. using the term orthodox solely breeds elitism, ethocentricity, and enables people to hide behind rules and regulations created by politics and not true faith 9 notice i said 'not true faith' and not 'not the true faith'. we must cut through the legalisms and get to the kernal of the faith, we need to shed the externalities and get to the internalities. orthodox tern users many times get hung up on the externalities and never get to the internalities where the sweet meat lies. let us all remember that we cannot be anything unless we are christians first and this we must always avow and not have it just understood.
this is my knee jerk reaction to having heard 'this is the orthodox way' much too much and not ' this is the christian thing to do, or it is the christian way'
so let us change our paradigm and all expouse that we are christians and act as christians.
follow the christian ideals and do not wear an adjective - orthodox - on our sleeve. then when we leave the room let others ask, wow do you know what church they belong to?
be like that western hero of yester-year - we knew he was a cowboy on the right side of the law ( a christian ) but it took the last sentence to reveal who the masked man was ( just what church do they go to?) you will be judged by your deeds not by what you call yourself - amen
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