{"id":1066,"date":"2015-10-04T19:34:37","date_gmt":"2015-10-04T19:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/?p=6638"},"modified":"2015-10-04T19:34:37","modified_gmt":"2015-10-04T19:34:37","slug":"the-orthodox-of-western-stock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/?p=1066","title":{"rendered":"The Orthodox of Western Stock\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We want to offend no one with the following notes, but it will be likely that such things could occur\u2026 hopefully, for readers\u2019 benefit! We are living a crooked life which is not on the path of Salvation, Orthodoxy, but on the one of damnation through the spirit of this world! We are playing with so many modern toys, most of the time and on any occasion. In the last 20 years or so, several working \u2018gears\u2019 \u2013 material and religious as well \u2013 changed dramatically, for the worse. \u00a0If we looked into history, carefully, the discovery will be that the dramatic turning away from a life close to Christ and His Church started some 200 years ago, when the first global experiment, the so-called French revolution, occurred. With that political change and with all the other ones that came to pass during the twentieth century, mankind started to descend on a very steep ramp towards the pits of hell.<\/p>\n<p>Nowadays, there is so much change in ALL our relationships! Blessed Seraphim Rose, in his talk on the <em>Orthodox World-View<\/em>, said these: \u201c<em>Life is a constant search for \u2018fun\u2019 which is so empty of any serious meaning that a visitor from any 19th-century country, looking at our popular television programs, amusement parks, advertisements, movies, music\u2014at almost any aspect of our popular culture\u2014would think he had stumbled across a land of imbeciles who have lost all contact with normal reality.<\/em>\u201d This very clear message was given to us at the beginning of 1980\u2019s, but since then, our \u201cland of imbeciles\u201d changed into the land of the demoniacs!!!<\/p>\n<p>The following chunks of spoken or written words or loose ideas could be expanded so much, regrettably\u2026 But, it has to be a spiritual and personal exercise to fix such \u2018deviations\u2019! This \u2018assessment\u2019 was done in contrast with that normality, still of this fallen world, that used to be present in countries where the Orthodox Faith reigned uncontested through Disciples of Christ who just wanted own Salvation! The mentioned \u2018deviations\u2019 are not to be looked at as in a silly Inquisition, but as a signal to show to ourselves the departures from normality. Let us look into these, in no specific order:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The word <strong><em>\u201cplanet\u201d<\/em><\/strong> when referring to our earth is so widespread, that the soil under our feet became almost \u2018undistinguishable\u2019 in a \u2018scientific\u2019 discussion, from the planets with such pagan names given as Mars, Venus, Mercury or Jupiter. Therefore our <strong><em>\u201cplanet\u201d<\/em><\/strong> could be swapped with a \u2018similar\u2019 one, according to our great science and technologies capable to produce \u2018exquisite\u2019 devices to take us on some \u2018new\u2019 earths\u2026 \u00a0Please, check on this \u2018reality\u2019 to identify the gross super-exaggerations about travel into cosmos: astronauts, after a few weeks in space, need to retrain and to readjust themselves to our earthly conditions for about\u2026 three years!!! \u00a0By the way, the <strong><em>\u201crelativity theory\u201d<\/em><\/strong> is a lie, too!<\/li>\n<li>The use of word <strong><em>\u201csex\u201d<\/em><\/strong> instead of gender or instead of intimate relationships is not just so common, but completely irreplaceable! This is very strange, because in Orthodox countries this specific word was imported as a way of \u2018distraction\u2019, rather than being identified as a common verb or noun\u2026 Likewise, the word <strong><em>\u201chomosexuality\u201d<\/em><\/strong> was considered by Orthodox and normal people as a term used to reveal a certain debauchery, rather than naming a thing that no one would dare to talk about, out of shame\u2026 The perversion is so deeply instilled into this society that a nice word like \u2018gay\u2019, meaning \u2018full of joy\u2019 or \u2018happy\u2019 has now such immoral meanings! We can check with Holy Scriptures and discover that \u2018knowing\u2019 one another could be a good way to express oneself, referring to intimate relationships\u2026<\/li>\n<li>The so-called necessity of <strong><em>\u201csexual education\u201d<\/em><\/strong> for all children turned deadly to everybody\u2026\u00a0 Think about this: the \u2018professional\u2019 teacher, who is a stranger to students, openly has a lesson about such INTIMATE things with both girls and boys, in the same time! Is the teacher a relative to the underage audience? No! At any school, are boys and girls going to the same toilet? No! Is this particular \u2018reproductive system\u2019 use for reproduction, at a school age? No! Is this pornographic \u2018knowledge\u2019, as INFLICTED into these young people, useful for learning more about own development and growth? No! Finally, what is the most severe addiction, in this modern world? Pornography!!!<\/li>\n<li>The word <strong><em>\u201ckid\u201d<\/em><\/strong>, referring to own child, has a few interesting origins, but the most important one must be of spiritual understanding, because no one would want to be numbered with the goats but together with the sheep! Why would we want to be called with such appellative, if we know precisely that it is not the RIGHT stock?<\/li>\n<li>The <strong><em>\u201cdoctors from the West are much better and so well trained\u201d<\/em><\/strong> in comparison with the other ones, from an Orthodox country, for example! Right? Wrong!!! We do not need to go into details, but very shortly, the Un-mercenary Holy Doctors of the Orthodoxy are the only models for such a profession! Of course, not every medical student turns into a Holy physician like Saints Cosmas and Damian, but the problem is about the spiritual background in the West, where education turned upside down, and any reference to Faith would be straight away dismissed as a \u2026 sickness! Can we have any good doctors in the West? Maybe, we can, according to God\u2019s providence, but it is unlikely as only a tiny minority would want to become inspired by the \u2018illegal\u2019 Saints!<\/li>\n<li>Addiction to <strong><em>\u201cpain killers\u201d<\/em><\/strong> and running from pain, generally, is a characteristic common to all of us; indeed, this world is horrible because there are so many pressures on each one and we can\u2019t escape them, unless we\u2026 kill that pain inflicted? Not true, because the source of that pain would be still present around us. We know that the existence of pain has to be understood as being \u2018normal\u2019, according to our fallen world. If such pain stops us from any work, we must work harder, actually! It sounds strange, but what other option would we have? To become a patient \/ prisoner into a hospital \/camp?<\/li>\n<li>The expression <strong><em>\u201csolar system\u201d<\/em><\/strong> is so widely accepted that challenging this would be quite a \u2018journey\u2019 in any discussion, risking all different labels to you, from \u2018retarded\u2019 to \u2018medieval obscurantist\u2019. Identifying this earth as the place where Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took flesh for our Salvation, would lead to the right conclusion: it must be the very Centre of this visible world! Consequently, the \u201c<strong><em>solar system\u201d<\/em><\/strong> will disappear in a second from one\u2019s mind, unless one wants to worship the sun, instead of the Son of God. Copernicus and Galileo were among those people bowing down to astrology not just to astronomy! In other words, the \u201cheliocentric\u201d idea is not just a scientific model but firstly, a philosophical and religious one\u2026<\/li>\n<li>In politics and history and in all the other associated realms, <strong><em>\u201cfascism\u201d<\/em><\/strong> and <strong><em>\u201cnazism\u201d<\/em><\/strong> must be the worst terms in regards to political opinions. There is a reason leading to the source of this admonition by which one would be impossible to survive socially and politically in this world: the mentioned political systems were against \u201cdemocracy\u201d, and obviously <strong><em>\u201c<\/em><\/strong>communism\u201d is for \u201cdemocracy\u201d! But <strong><em>\u201cfascism\u201d<\/em><\/strong> and <strong><em>\u201cnazism\u201d<\/em><\/strong> have been defeated by the end of the WW2, some seventy years ago! In the meantime, communism took over half of this world, reigning with its sickle-and-hammer by crushing hundreds of millions\u2026\u00a0 But this is gone, too! Or, is it not? Separately, let\u2019s check our synonyms, as found in any Word for Windows: \u201ccommunism\u201d (<em>collectivism, socialism, communalism, Marxism, Leninism, Maoism<\/em>, with <em>capitalism<\/em> as the antonym) and \u201cfascism\u201d (<em>totalitarianism<\/em>, <em>despotism<\/em>, <em>dictatorship<\/em>, <em>repression<\/em>, <em>oppression<\/em>, <em>tyranny<\/em>, and with <em>democracy<\/em> as the antonym). Newspeak, according to the victors of WW2 is here and already changed your life!!! We rest our case!<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>\u201cComfort\u201d<\/em><\/strong> instead of asceticism is not necessarily a sin in itself, but in the way it is accepted today shows the real impact upon one\u2019s path to Salvation: \u201ctake it easy\u201d or \u201cdon\u2019t worry\u201d and other similar expressions can make you too relaxed about important things! Associating pleasure with any action is a deadly comfort, but interestingly enough is that horrific dictators, like Lenin or Stalin, were so\u2026 ascetic in regards to food! Their <strong><em>\u201ccomfort\u201d<\/em><\/strong> was actually the killing of so many Orthodox!!! Our Wise and Faithful people must discern about asceticism and comfort not as opposing stances, but according to interpretations given by Holy Fathers!<\/li>\n<li>Are <strong><em>\u201cwhite\u201d<\/em><\/strong> lies acceptable, instead of either yes or no? Of course NOT, because playing with these things would lead to pretense, hypocrisy, sham and dissimulation! In the Matthew 5:37 we can read: \u201cBut let your word \u2018yes\u2019 be \u2018yes\u2019, and \u2018no\u2019, be \u2018no\u2019; and what is more than these is from the evil one\u201d. Sometimes, out of shame, one can have no courage to go about a certain \u2018tough\u2019 issue, but praying to God will succeed! Are we not sure?<\/li>\n<li>The use of word <strong><em>\u201clucky\u201d<\/em><\/strong> (from Luck, the devil, who asked for child sacrifice) or <strong><em>\u201cgood chance\u201d<\/em><\/strong> and a good <strong><em>\u201cfortune\u201d<\/em><\/strong> (from pagan goddess Fortuna), instead of God\u2019s providence, is so present in greeting one another with this \u2018good\u2019 exclamation\u2026 \u00a0As a rule, the mentioned God\u2019s providence has to be the much better alternative!<\/li>\n<li>Most of the time, there are <strong><em>no greetings, salutations or a simple \u2018good day\u2019<\/em><\/strong> coming from children, obviously under the spell of the atheistic schooling, today! Ok, one can say that it is not just this \u2018habit\u2019 but also so many distractions and absent mindedness! Of course, it could be true\u2026<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Fiddling with some \u2018mild\u2019 demonic characters <\/em><\/strong>to impress worldly rulers, and even <strong><em>cheating with iniquitous images<\/em><\/strong> could turn to be very detrimental to you and many others as well, simultaneously! In other words, it is a belief that God could forget you because there was no other option, at that time. Yes, indeed, the Lord forgets any sin if one realizes that an \u2018indulgence\u2019 is not to be repeated and that there is a struggle to overcome THAT threat to one\u2019s Salvation\u2026 \u00a0There are many professions and jobs where the mischievous sprites are present to \u2018help\u2019 obtaining a good look in the eyes of the bosses\u2026\u00a0 It is so hard to avoid these gremlins that jump to \u2018inspire\u2019 you! Meekness and gentleness could be the answer, along with silence and modesty. Obviously, the evil spirits will become even more daring but they can give up as well\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Well, let\u2019s stop here. There is much more happening around us, right now! Wars, invasions, earthquakes, floods, rapes, diseases, and again wars, invasions and killings! What do we do? Are we moving closer to end times? Yes, but each of us, individually, needs to fix own problems. Thoughts and words are starting points for actions. If we are surprised by certain sins committed, we must look back and identify the roots of these transgressions. Sometimes, these wrongdoings are heavily influenced by our daily routine\u2026 Let us try and change the routine to a practice of prayer, according to the Orthodox Church! Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We want to offend no one with the following notes, but it will be likely that such things could occur\u2026 hopefully, for readers\u2019 benefit! We are living a crooked life which is not on the path of Salvation, Orthodoxy, but on the one of damnation through the spirit of this world! We are playing with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}