Excellent essay. I too am Eastern Orthodox and while there are some positive aspects of the church. They get countered with head shaking palm to face pronouncements. The idea that a good and unconditionally loving God (that's what we're taught) would condemn millions of his creations to suffering, torture and death, to get a leg up on the demiurge is not just lunacy but frankly disgusting. As I've said many time here, "God" is not "religion". Jesus said there are only two commandments in the new covenant, worship the heavenly Father in spirit and in truth and love your neighbor as yourself. Though I think this is a bad translation from the Greek. Better would be treat others as you want to be treated not the word love = agape in Greek which has a variety of meanings. That's it no footnotes, addendums appendixes do this and your ticket is punched. I believe God helps those that help themselves. Through prayer, mediation and quiet contemplation you can harness insight intuitiveness and strength. Then use your own life experiences and will to face life and all it's challenges. The issues with most western theologies is a continual stream of negativity. You can't do this, you can't do that, can't eat this and can't eat that, you can eat this, but not at this time, everything is you can't ,you can't, you can't. So what can you do? Blindly obey, wear a hair shirt and eat a vegan diet forcing thoughts from your mind. This is not what I believe Christ had in mind. Self discipline absolutely but our lives change moment to moment and we must be able to adapt. Be fair in your dealings, but never let yourself be used or abused. Russia is an amazing country. It's history is filled with great triumphs and horrific tragedies. God is with Russia and the people. Russia is the only western white nation that has not succumbed to the degradation, collapse and decline that much of the west has, she is the bastion of Eurocentric greatness left in the world. Despite all that's happened and the clowns in Russia you write about, Russia is still the vanguard of a resurrection of Eurocentric nationalism. May God by whatever name we call him and however we acknowledge him bless preserve and keep Russia.
>The issues with most western theologies is a continual stream of negativity. You can't do this, you can't do that, can't eat this and can't eat that, you can eat this, but not at this time, everything is you can't ,you can't, you can't. So what can you do? Blindly obey, wear a hair shirt and eat a vegan diet forcing thoughts from your mind.
It's very pharasitic and legalistic. Makes sense since Catholicism was basically just pharisitism in another guise. Paying to get into heaven faster ... how you-know-who-ish. All down to the tiny skullcaps that they wear on their bald heads.
Rather than digging high and low, where is the best Eastern Orthodox systematic theology? Where do I find the complete dogma of Eastern Orthodoxy. I would really like to cut to the chase and find a comparison with Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion and Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law?
You are, once again, too pessimistic. It's a typical Russian doomer trait I guess. I too might have been qualified as a Russian doomer, despite being French. But I don't agree with you. Russia is not cursed. Russia is a wonderful country. Except that its beauty isn't on the outside, but on the inside. The sincerity, the warmth of the people, their naive ignorance of most of Western tricks and manipulations. In France, people are corrupt, they have lost connection with the Divine. I am sure that it is the same in the USA. As of England, they seem to actively act in order to destroy this connection. None of that is the case in Russia.
Russia might look bad on geopolitical reports, economical analysis, or even on pictures. But none of that can really catch the atmosphere here, the genuine simplicity. Even I have to get accustomed to it. Coming from the West, it is hard to be as genuine as a Russian can be. But it's wonderful.
It seems to me as if Westerners were compensating their lack of inner beauty by trying make everything around them beautiful. But Russians don't feel this need, somehow, or less. And once again, what's beautiful in Russia, is the people. It's priceless and it overcomes every single one of your statistics or GDP per capita ratio.
I'd say that you're right over the target, Rolo, since you're taking so much flak; hitting too many sacred donkeys. Gmail got me on your metaphysics articles. I just finished reading your Metaphysics series so perhaps I'm a bit more primed and prepared for your articles. My interpretation was that you're suggesting Russian faithful should further explore their spirituality and perhaps bring forth a Renaissance in belief that frees them from the shackles of YHWH worship. Russians seem to have a deep sense of mysticism embedded in their culture. This change is not too far out of bounds; the seeds are there. Western-based theology definitely does not seem to work for them as a certain people has done their best to destroy the Rus since a certain kingdom of bandits was razed over a millenium ago.
As to Judeo-Christians, come on and apply the OT logically. IMO YHWH was the creator god of absolutely nothing and stole the credit of the true God of the universe. Science can even explain this. Supersymmetry suggests that there are 10 Dimensions of Space and 1 of Time. Are those dimensions necessarily empty? Even the OT confirms this expanded reality. Other "gods" are mentioned often in the OT (Ba'al and Astarte come to mind) as is the dark angel Lucifer and the Nephilim. If Adam and Eve began the human race, who did Seth and Cain marry to produce offspring? Their mom? Why is YHWH suprised multiple times in the OT? Go read Joshua and Judges and tell me you admire that god. The truth is that humanity is far older than 6,000 years. The Hindus are much more accurate describing rises and falls of civilizations. Gobekli Tepli is 12,000 years old; the Sphinx is 10,000 years old. Michael Cremo has written multiple published papers about anomalous archaeology and bodies, footprints, etc going back millions of years. For some reason, people work to actively hide and suppress this history (be hard to dehumanize us with Darwinism otherwise). Do a mind exercise some time of what an Ice Age would look like. The habitable zones would be much narrower and the seas shallower. 80% of the US lives on the coasts. So much would be buried by a 100 foot (roughly 30m) sea level rise.
When you venture in metaphysics and theology you are out of your element. God loves all His creatures unconditionally. It is the willed actions of created beings that brings the suffering . Human beings have free will and they can make bad choices that result in evil consequences. It is not more complicated than that.
Who is to say that America is blessed or Russia cursed? The veneer of success may be just that. All empires come to an end, even the American (and to you, Zionist) empire will collapse like a house of cards. In fact it is doing so before your very eyes. You should stick to writing about the more comprehensible arena of politics and the carrying out of policies through war.
You may feel angry, resentful and to a degree frustrated by what you see happening. The universe is unfolding as it will, by the actions of human beings also weakened by evil spirits. By the way, real politiks is ultimately bankrupt when it does not consider the spiritual and cultural forces that motivate individuals and nation states.
I don't know if there is God, but we live in the world were spiritual has a very definite link to material. Americans as a younger, more assertive nation are expressing their destiny manifest - "American dream", material wellbeing, messianic view on other nations and the force that joins our material with spiritual gives it to them. Russians are different, they don't like simple concepts and materialistic only views. Russians are immersed in a philosophy of a doubt, self-criticism, constant lamenting about was something right or not, like execution of the last royal family in Romanoff dynasty. The complexity of the Russian spiritual world has its benefits and drawbacks, but namely this is what allowed to preserve Russians as a nation for over a 1000 years. But coming back to the destiny manifest - as a nation Russians are getting from the Universe what they are asking for, and since suffering is as respected there as wellbeing - universe gives them suffering too.
Rolo takes a shot at USSR again and he really shouldn't. This was the happiest and most dynamic time in Russian history. Yes, repressions were there, lack of material abundance at times. But the overall experience people had was mostly positive, filled with desire for self development and for creation. In our family my wife's and my parents born in the 1930's coming from very humble backgrounds were able to make something of themselves because the Soviet system presented them with opportunity and they took the challenge. This is reflected in numerous polls today, majority of people in Russia view USSR in a very positive light, but don't think it is possible to come back to it.
Still I like this post by Rolo since he looks at a "problem" from a totally different perspective.
Currently, the USA has the world's largest prison population.
The birth rate among legal citizens is plummeting.
215 people die every day from Fentanyl.
The average length of a white man's life is going down annually.
While history shows that Stalin killed 20 - 60 million and the Collective Farm System was a disaster, America is self-destructing at an unbelievable rate.
- On birthrate. USSR started with 140 million population in 2022, when it was formed, and doubled to 280 million in 1991, after 69 years of existence, despite the devastating war of 1941-1945 that took 27 millions of lives. On the other hand we have results of the decades of post Soviet life. Ukraine is a classic example. After the dissolution of USSR population there diminished by 10 million, between 1991 and 2013, from 52 million to 42 million. I specifically take the year before the rebellion and separation of Donbass and Crimea to show natural decline during overall good conditions.
- Undisputed world champion for population incarceration is USA. Even under Stalin incarceration rate in USSR was lower than in US in mid 2000s - look at the stats.
- On war against peasants. Totally the opposite is true. USSR with its system of kolkhoz and sovkhoz (collective farm and state farm) actually preserved the rural way of life and rural settlements. Yes, there was an episode of a conflict between the central powers and peasants in the early 1930s when some have resisted entering kolhoz and started hiding grain underground where it was affected by a mold that made it toxic and many died because of that. But this was short-lived. By 1934 those who wanted to join kolkhoz, joined, those who didn't were left alone. My wife's grandma has never joined kolkhoz. She kept a large plot of land given to her family by Bolsheviks after the revolution and worked it until she physically could into the 1980s. Today small villages and settlements that existed for hundreds of years in Russia are disappearing by hundreds and thousands every year. This is specifically applicable to the poorer sandier lands in Central and Northern Russia. Communal farming that existed in Russia since the earliest recorded history that later was replaced with kolkhoz, that is a form of communal farming, gave those places a reason to exist. Now with agro coporations taking over this natural way of life is destroyed. Villages die off as their remaining seniors pass away and the root system that used to feed society at large is dying off along with them.
- When did average height of Russians diminished? Going to Soviet 10 year school in the 1970s I frequently heard term "accelerarty", e.g. kids that grown larger and more developed than what was considered normal for their age. This was our generation of big kids. I'm 6'2" and was considered average height back then.
- What's wrong with grechka (buckwheat)? Don't mix your taste preferences with politics.
I can write about the other points, but I won't, since your position is pretty clear to me. As Dmitry Puchkov (Goblin) says "Antisovietchick is always a Russophobe". I do believe that you fall into this category. I don't think you have much of understanding and appreciation of the complexities and nuances of Russian history, including its Soviet period. Alas.
Idk what to tell you. Delusional commie bs is as bad as religious fundamentalism. I'll defend the idea that the USSR shouldnt have been dissolved, but true believers like yourself would be shot for being too idealistic lol.
Not understood in The West is that the slow strategy of The Russian Armed Forces has brought a unified Russian State behind the Leadership and Vlad Putin, perhaps angry that he did not move faster on The Ukraine.
The actual method to bring the Russian State behind The President
Russia cannot lose this existential battle with The West.
If so, it's a sad and neglected myth. I exist because God willed it. You too.
One might say it was the high heels and lipstick on our grandmothers. Or, Grandad didnt pull out, but that tack is unprovable, undisproveable. Like your assertion.
The Old Testament was the Law and the Prophets, to the Hebrews. It's a history of what God did, and several broad hints as to his desires.
Modern Jews are not Hebrews. They refer to the Talmud , a compendium of rules that state what Man does, not what God does.
A very very large difference.
Jews in Roman times were. Not. Hebrews, they came out of Babylon utterly changed
Syncretic distortion gave rise to the Sanhedrin, and the Kabbala ( essentially divination, superstitious numerology)
Then the Roman's sacked Jerusalem, killed ONE MILLION Jews , so, no place left ffg o sacrifice, no Law. They long before killed all their prophets.
It's weird. You can pity them.
But fir damn sure the Hebrew Bible , if their foundation. is being wrongly employed.
This is not what grandma intended. But , here you are, spouting nonsense
It's always six million. Which sounds like a lot until you realize that 80,000,000 or so were sacrificed to the Jewish demons in WWII and the Nazis did not have the capacity to gas 6 million of anyone, particularly the slave labor that was making parts because all the good Germans were being killed on the Eastern and Western and Southern fronts. Only the Jewish-controlled media could create and maintain the myth of the "6 million Jews" over 80 years with such religious fervor. In fact, if the Nazis were serious about wiping out the Jews within their reach, the most efficient means would have been an immediate bullet to the head and bury them where they dropped instead of using valuable military transport to haul them across Europe to the supposed gassing death camps which were in reality forced labor camps with one crematorium each that could barely keep up with normal typhus deaths. There people starved to death in the last months of the war on Germany because no transportation was left to deliver food or anything else and the camps were at the bottom of the food chain.
But, you are wrong about the Bible being a "Jew" thing. The Bible is God's revelation of himself to his creature mankind. When I say God I mean Father, Son, and Holy Ghost who created the earth, the universe, living things, and mankind in six days, defining a day as one rotation of the earth before the earth was finished. Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses, the Judges of whom Samuel was last, David, Hezekiah, Josiah, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Minor Prophets, John, the Apostles, the disciples, et al., were the real thing, i.e., believers in the Redeemer, Messiah, Jesus the Son of God, very God and very man. Jesus denounced the Jews - the Pharisees, Scribes, Lawyers who were the government under the Romans, scheming, lying, envious - as children of Satan whose Talmud, their "traditions" were counter to the law of God. Jesus rubbed their noses in their hypocrisy. Also, while we are at it, do not mistake Roman Catholicism for Christianity. Salvation is a free gift for those God has chosen to spare his eternal wrath because Jesus' propitiatory sacrifice of himself has paid the infinite price for their salvation. Purgatory is a fabrication as is most of the Roman Catholic extra-biblical hype, and, I suspect, Eastern Orthodox hype as well since I see ornate costumes and cathedrals and incense censors and corporate organization claiming to act for others or whatever it means to be a "cosmopolitan".
In reality, every man is accountable to obey the law of God. Every man has direct access to God because Jesus is the intercessor for all mankind: pray to the Father in the name of the Son that the Kingdom of God be instituted on earth as it is in heaven. No, you won't get that Mercedes because that has nothing to do with furthering the Kingdom of God.
It was written by men moved by the Holy Ghost to write what God wanted said to man. Note that God moves through men to institute the Kingdom of God on earth. That is where mankind is headed, it will be done and it is up to Christians to institute. Someday Christians are going to get the memo that Jesus meant what he said: He is not returning in bodily form until Christians institute the Kingdom of God on earth and Christians have been given the power to do this. Jesus was given all power in heaven and earth and that is available to Christians as well through prayer to the Father in the name of the Son. Note that there is no kabalistic thesis in Christianity. The costumes and hierarchy and quest for earthly power are anti-Christian.
I offer the following not as a theological discourse, but only as one possible conclusion based on research that most people are not terribly aware of:
In "modern" Earth times, we start with the Vedas. They are from off planet. They are not a very serious rendition of a belief system. More like fairy tales for children. But that got the ball rolling as far as "our Father in Heaven," spaceships and spiritual powers were concerned.
Meanwhile, over in Egypt and the Mideast, the Old Empire was establishing their own version of a religious belief system. Only one God allowed here. But lots of "angels."
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah has been researched by remote viewers. They found a story of some citizens heckling a couple of off-world emissaries. They were quite justified; those cities were being treated like shit. But "God" decided to show them; he ordered the cities leveled, and they were, except for one Old Empire operative left alive to tell the story. "The wrath of God?" Sorry. It was just a couple of pissed off "angels."
The same researcher investigated the "death" of Christ. He found an imposter on the cross, and the real dude sneaking away to make arrangements for his "ascension." Ever hear of an abductee pulled up into the spaceship by a ray of light? Same idea. It must have been VERY impressive. There's no doubt that Jesus was a cool and wise dude. But no way was he going to die on Earth! ETs don't do that if they can help it. Earth is a spiritual prison. Visitors don't want to get trapped here.
Utter and complete bullshit and nothing new I might add. These detractors of the reality of Creation have been debunked over and over and over throughout the history of the Christian church. Extra-terrestrials are a self-defeating joke. Where did they originate if the creation account is to be abandoned? Evolution is not an explanation of anything, particularly origins. That speculation rebranded as a theory explains nothing, is consistently falsified by the reality of microbiology and astrophysics and is nothing more than the religion of secular humanists who want to believe a legal fiction called "government" is god simply because a collective can overpower a productive individual and either rob him or kill him at random.
Well, I personally am sorry that you are so fervent in rejecting the reality of ET and the discovery of an "immortal spiritual being" as the basic carrier of personality and experience.
The only true creative force in this universe is a nothingness that can be named Spirit. Spirit has existed in a divided form consisting of innumerable separate beings for trillions of years. Those beings are the source of all creation that we see feel and experience today. They created the stars, the planets, and biology. They created all the religions, all the cultures that we know of as well as thousands we are yet unaware of.
Do I think our knowledge of the long and convoluted history of Spirit is accurate and complete? No. But neither does the basic concept contain any inherent contradictions, as do all the "scientific" theories that do not postulate a non-physical cause for physicality. Can this "complete bullshit" theory honor elements of monotheistic theologies or the earlier polytheistic theologies? Yes, within reason. Is this "complete bullshit" theory easy to accept by anyone living on Earth today? No! And so the truth, as always, struggles for recognition like an earthquake victim trapped under tons of rubble.
I advise you to be tolerant and willing to look. This idea has proven workable and is being supported by the work of several researchers. It might not be perfect, but it is better than what we had.
God did bless America, but the blessing was also a curse. The prosperity led to depravity and abandonment of God. It is now the Great Babylon.
God wants us to become better people. It is hard to do in good times. When people struggle and sacrifice, they experience growth and transformation. Trials and suffering do not represent the lack of God's blessings, but often God's support of us. He can change everything for our good through Him, even when He isn't the source of our trials.
Because no man could bear the infinite and eternal punishment due to those who disobey God. Only God himself, in the person of Jesus, very God and very man, tempted in every way as man yet without sin, i.e., disobeying God the Father in any way, can bear the punishment due sinners. Jesus was literally born to save God's elect from the eternal burning wrath of God the Father who maintains perfect justice. There is one punishment in varying degrees for unredeemed sinners, eternal burning agony, consider it to be like having an indestructible yet complete sentient body in solitary confinement within a blast furnace.
BS. Jesus suffered the infinite wrath of eternal punishment precisely because his followers could not ever be paroled from that punishment. The suffering is because Adam, living in a paradise with a perfect woman, deliberately disobeyed God and in the process of thinking to become God himself, caused a genetic change in all his progeny which introduced death and decay into the Creation. That is slated to end on Judgment Day which comes AFTER Christians do their homework and fulfill the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 to make disciples of the nations and teach them to obey the law of God. I do not see any "civil government" in that picture. I see ever man acknowledging that God is sovereign and God's law alone is perfect for mankind. God's law is that given in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy minus the sacrificial, ceremonial, and dietary parts since the advent of Jesus, Lamb of God, Messiah, very God and very man. Yes, queers are to be stoned the moment they go public with their demon possession. The moment they go public they are demanding that (1) everyone else accept their perversion as "normal" and (2) they be allowed to prey on the children of everyone else.
Satan is real and God releases Satan onto apostate people. Disobey God and get the "government" you deserve in this fallen world. Obey God and eventually end the worldwide death and destruction. Yes, MOSSAD and the CIA and practically every government institution in the USA are Satan's disciples. I would say ditto for those demons who call themselves "government" in Europe as well.
Fir those who have had more women than you've had grilled cheese sandwiches, I recoil from attacking ordinary decent homosexuals. Speaking for a friend....
The culture poisoners however.....
What I didnt say to our threadhost is , we condemn ourselves with our words.
The sin is what comes out of the mouth, not that which goes in. Jesus said it better.
But I say , the old remedy for heresy was expulsion but for blasphemy , death.
No I think God said this... heresy
God is a shittalking poopyhead... blasphemy.
It takes no courage to utter blasphemy now.
In this western enlightenment paradise.
Salman Rushdie had it coming , still does
In fact , we all have it coming ( pace Clint Eastwood)
You me everyone.
But when I hear blasphemy spoken , I know, when that person dies, angels sing in chorus and kittens are born. Cuz justice is done. Ha ha. Maybe.
Not being an ayatollah , I'm happy to wait. I've read the Koran and wasnt moved but 5am call to Muslim prayer in Berhlehem was so beautiful I cried. I cant be Muslim but theres ssd something of God there.
Screw you Rushdie. However long it takes.
It takes no courage to bait Christian's.
Without bravery, how smart can one be?
Answer , it wont matter.
Maybe we are just thrashing around as our host chums the water.
Rollos reasoning recapitulate the antipathy between Greeks and Jews. They sure didnt like each other. Pogroms and massacres first from one , then the other.
Greeks believed Gods were capricious. cruel, petty , and with all the faults of men.
Energetic placation and sacrifice as an insurance policy, transactional negotiation with maniacs, then, get on w life. The greatest flowering of humanism, of the arts and the mind, we are still behind them in this.
Hebrews not so. Believing God spoke to them, and them alone , they were too tough a nut to crack. Hellenizing psuedoJews ? Herod Antipas, Herof the Great, may have ruled Judah
May have ruled Judah but in camouflage. The Macabees were the Trumpian MAGAreaction to Helenized Israel.
Fanatics. Populists, die hard types.
The Romans who took over both groups sunborned Greek worship as a skin suit, in the name of ORDER, then , fed up w Jewish recalcitrance, sacked Israel , tore down the temple , killed. 1 million Jews and not one Christian zdx( at that time , killing Christian's came later)
The Alpocalypse was the prophecy foretelling the sack of Jerusalem. Believing it, Christian's fled, and the Faith was then grafted in wherever they fled to. There is no Apocalypse coming for us, it came , and is done. No rapture.
The writing style of the 4 gospels changes utterly , with John.
Why ?
Because post-sack , John was free to speak , the other 3 were at risk of sudden death by enraged Jews, so , were circumspect.
Indirect. Just the facts maam.
Prosaic details , like what yr flirty grandma was wearing when she caught Grandads eye.
But Gods hand guided All these ancient people, AND your hottie grandma
Is this what the priests say? The Rus were slaughtered to speed up the 2nd coming? I've never heard such an interpretation.
In the 1850s onward. Russia became nihilistic and began modernizing. The intelligentsia gave up their intellect and substituted it with rationalism - as Tolstoy well described. The country turned its back on God. If you know your Bible, then you know this is the one thing God can't forgive (because a person who does not believe Rolo Slavski exists cannot be forgiven by Rolo Slavski.)
And has Russia returned to God? Not really. America largely abandoned Him in the 1960s and that's when things began to sour for the American empire and its people.
What is the mystery here? You seem to be saying "Give me stuff! Give me dominion!' But every religion in the planet says 'chastise yourself first, or karma will do it for you.'
If it is official it should be easy to come across; but when I search, this is not the case. Perhaps it is veiled in Russian and clothed in cyrillic - so I cannot easily bring it up. Is there some sermon or pronouncement from Kirill I could run through an auto-translator? Could you name the year this became the position of the church and when they started promulgating this idea?
You will have to forgive me a little, for when I find people hostile to the church they often interpret things briskly and passionately and with little charity - and that often translates into a complete misunderstanding or rewording of what priests have actually said. So, in my experience, there is plenty of cause for doubting you. Not out of some deliberate deceit, but out of ferver for your claim.
What I do know is this: suffering in both the Catholic and Orthodox orders are invariably depicted as chastisement or means of refinement. I have never seen it used with the idea of hastening some end via mass Blood Sacrifice. How could it? A pillar of the church is that Christ's sacrifice was sufficient. It's why there is no animal sacrifices in Christianity. The only sect I am aware of today that thinks of expediting the Second Coming are the Evangelicals you mentioned; for they have notions that letting the Jews populate Israel and build a temple there is necessary to bring this about - but this you already know.
>f it is official it should be easy to come across; but when I search, this is not the case.
Ask your priest.
The only other explanation is that Russians deserved it for being sinful. Which I believe you cited earlier. That's masochistic cuck-thinking thats unfalsifiable for one and secondly makes no sense. God didn't punish the Protestant Americans, did he?
Wherever did you get the idea that God isn't punishing Protestants? Do you believe the War among the States and all the gratuitous wars since are not punishment for abandonment of God, for believing our prosperity was the work of our own hands, for creating levers of power and then allowing demons to grab those levers? Sure both good and evil people can plant, but God gives the soil, the weather, and the increase. God created Satan for the express purpose of punishing apostate people. Whether Satan is pissed because he is asexual or for whatever reason he hates mankind, the fact remains Satan is God's punisher. The travail of Job was to perfect Job's faith and the faith of his exceptionally good friends, not to suggest that God arbitrarily kills and brings misery to his chosen people.
You lose sight of the fact that we inherit Adam's rebellious nature. No one is innocent, not even in the womb. "Conceived in iniquity" is how David described himself and mankind after the fall. We all deserve eternal punishment for our cosmic treason.
The Orthodox Church teaches that the reason the godless Bolsheviks took over was the people had forgotten about God and their faith was weak. That said, those who refused to submit to the worship of godlessness and were martyred are the Church's crowns. Constantinople fell for the same reason, materialistic considerations for earthly gains, and weak Faith. This brought the rise of Islam.
The reason America does so well is because it precisely does not worship God, but a protestant conception of Him that actually worships Satan, ie Israel, and enjoys earthly benefits for doing so. Orthodox play the long game. Americans the short.
Just correcting your "Well, let me share with you how the pros in the Russian Orthodox Church explain the unfortunate history of Russia in the 20th century. Apparently, God needed more martyrs in heaven, which is why he allowed the Bolshevik plague to descend upon Russia." That's not the explanation of the ROC so your essay starts out on a false premise. If Faith is weak, it creates a vacuum and other things fill it. Whether I believe this or not is irrelevant, it's what the Church says, and not what you said it says. Of course, the Church always welcomes martyrs, just, not lately, if the churchmen's reaction to a supposed plague is any indication.
Excellent essay. I too am Eastern Orthodox and while there are some positive aspects of the church. They get countered with head shaking palm to face pronouncements. The idea that a good and unconditionally loving God (that's what we're taught) would condemn millions of his creations to suffering, torture and death, to get a leg up on the demiurge is not just lunacy but frankly disgusting. As I've said many time here, "God" is not "religion". Jesus said there are only two commandments in the new covenant, worship the heavenly Father in spirit and in truth and love your neighbor as yourself. Though I think this is a bad translation from the Greek. Better would be treat others as you want to be treated not the word love = agape in Greek which has a variety of meanings. That's it no footnotes, addendums appendixes do this and your ticket is punched. I believe God helps those that help themselves. Through prayer, mediation and quiet contemplation you can harness insight intuitiveness and strength. Then use your own life experiences and will to face life and all it's challenges. The issues with most western theologies is a continual stream of negativity. You can't do this, you can't do that, can't eat this and can't eat that, you can eat this, but not at this time, everything is you can't ,you can't, you can't. So what can you do? Blindly obey, wear a hair shirt and eat a vegan diet forcing thoughts from your mind. This is not what I believe Christ had in mind. Self discipline absolutely but our lives change moment to moment and we must be able to adapt. Be fair in your dealings, but never let yourself be used or abused. Russia is an amazing country. It's history is filled with great triumphs and horrific tragedies. God is with Russia and the people. Russia is the only western white nation that has not succumbed to the degradation, collapse and decline that much of the west has, she is the bastion of Eurocentric greatness left in the world. Despite all that's happened and the clowns in Russia you write about, Russia is still the vanguard of a resurrection of Eurocentric nationalism. May God by whatever name we call him and however we acknowledge him bless preserve and keep Russia.
>The issues with most western theologies is a continual stream of negativity. You can't do this, you can't do that, can't eat this and can't eat that, you can eat this, but not at this time, everything is you can't ,you can't, you can't. So what can you do? Blindly obey, wear a hair shirt and eat a vegan diet forcing thoughts from your mind.
It's very pharasitic and legalistic. Makes sense since Catholicism was basically just pharisitism in another guise. Paying to get into heaven faster ... how you-know-who-ish. All down to the tiny skullcaps that they wear on their bald heads.
Where is a statement of Eastern Orthodox dogma?
Rather than digging high and low, where is the best Eastern Orthodox systematic theology? Where do I find the complete dogma of Eastern Orthodoxy. I would really like to cut to the chase and find a comparison with Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion and Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law?
Start here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=piVdrtgo7Xwhttps://www.brighteon.com/bcc97027-e522-4e87-bb2d-1b054dc14315
An Orthodox Appraisal of the Protestant Reformation and Their Teachings
You are, once again, too pessimistic. It's a typical Russian doomer trait I guess. I too might have been qualified as a Russian doomer, despite being French. But I don't agree with you. Russia is not cursed. Russia is a wonderful country. Except that its beauty isn't on the outside, but on the inside. The sincerity, the warmth of the people, their naive ignorance of most of Western tricks and manipulations. In France, people are corrupt, they have lost connection with the Divine. I am sure that it is the same in the USA. As of England, they seem to actively act in order to destroy this connection. None of that is the case in Russia.
Russia might look bad on geopolitical reports, economical analysis, or even on pictures. But none of that can really catch the atmosphere here, the genuine simplicity. Even I have to get accustomed to it. Coming from the West, it is hard to be as genuine as a Russian can be. But it's wonderful.
It seems to me as if Westerners were compensating their lack of inner beauty by trying make everything around them beautiful. But Russians don't feel this need, somehow, or less. And once again, what's beautiful in Russia, is the people. It's priceless and it overcomes every single one of your statistics or GDP per capita ratio.
You're kind of saying what I'm saying though.
Thought of this post when I read the following Babylon Bee headline
'God Will Never Give You More Than You Can Handle In Life,' Says Man Unfamiliar With God, Life
You really kicked a hornet's nest with this one lmao.I think a more appropriate question is which god loves russia.It's certainly not yahweh.
I'd say that you're right over the target, Rolo, since you're taking so much flak; hitting too many sacred donkeys. Gmail got me on your metaphysics articles. I just finished reading your Metaphysics series so perhaps I'm a bit more primed and prepared for your articles. My interpretation was that you're suggesting Russian faithful should further explore their spirituality and perhaps bring forth a Renaissance in belief that frees them from the shackles of YHWH worship. Russians seem to have a deep sense of mysticism embedded in their culture. This change is not too far out of bounds; the seeds are there. Western-based theology definitely does not seem to work for them as a certain people has done their best to destroy the Rus since a certain kingdom of bandits was razed over a millenium ago.
As to Judeo-Christians, come on and apply the OT logically. IMO YHWH was the creator god of absolutely nothing and stole the credit of the true God of the universe. Science can even explain this. Supersymmetry suggests that there are 10 Dimensions of Space and 1 of Time. Are those dimensions necessarily empty? Even the OT confirms this expanded reality. Other "gods" are mentioned often in the OT (Ba'al and Astarte come to mind) as is the dark angel Lucifer and the Nephilim. If Adam and Eve began the human race, who did Seth and Cain marry to produce offspring? Their mom? Why is YHWH suprised multiple times in the OT? Go read Joshua and Judges and tell me you admire that god. The truth is that humanity is far older than 6,000 years. The Hindus are much more accurate describing rises and falls of civilizations. Gobekli Tepli is 12,000 years old; the Sphinx is 10,000 years old. Michael Cremo has written multiple published papers about anomalous archaeology and bodies, footprints, etc going back millions of years. For some reason, people work to actively hide and suppress this history (be hard to dehumanize us with Darwinism otherwise). Do a mind exercise some time of what an Ice Age would look like. The habitable zones would be much narrower and the seas shallower. 80% of the US lives on the coasts. So much would be buried by a 100 foot (roughly 30m) sea level rise.
When you venture in metaphysics and theology you are out of your element. God loves all His creatures unconditionally. It is the willed actions of created beings that brings the suffering . Human beings have free will and they can make bad choices that result in evil consequences. It is not more complicated than that.
Who is to say that America is blessed or Russia cursed? The veneer of success may be just that. All empires come to an end, even the American (and to you, Zionist) empire will collapse like a house of cards. In fact it is doing so before your very eyes. You should stick to writing about the more comprehensible arena of politics and the carrying out of policies through war.
You may feel angry, resentful and to a degree frustrated by what you see happening. The universe is unfolding as it will, by the actions of human beings also weakened by evil spirits. By the way, real politiks is ultimately bankrupt when it does not consider the spiritual and cultural forces that motivate individuals and nation states.
<God loves all His creatures unconditionally
Yeah, but Yahweh/the Demiurge doesn't.
>You should stick to writing about the more comprehensible arena of politics and the carrying out of policies through war.
Nah. You people need educating.
I personally wholeheartedly agree with Rolo.
We glory in our backward ways🙂
I don't know if there is God, but we live in the world were spiritual has a very definite link to material. Americans as a younger, more assertive nation are expressing their destiny manifest - "American dream", material wellbeing, messianic view on other nations and the force that joins our material with spiritual gives it to them. Russians are different, they don't like simple concepts and materialistic only views. Russians are immersed in a philosophy of a doubt, self-criticism, constant lamenting about was something right or not, like execution of the last royal family in Romanoff dynasty. The complexity of the Russian spiritual world has its benefits and drawbacks, but namely this is what allowed to preserve Russians as a nation for over a 1000 years. But coming back to the destiny manifest - as a nation Russians are getting from the Universe what they are asking for, and since suffering is as respected there as wellbeing - universe gives them suffering too.
Rolo takes a shot at USSR again and he really shouldn't. This was the happiest and most dynamic time in Russian history. Yes, repressions were there, lack of material abundance at times. But the overall experience people had was mostly positive, filled with desire for self development and for creation. In our family my wife's and my parents born in the 1930's coming from very humble backgrounds were able to make something of themselves because the Soviet system presented them with opportunity and they took the challenge. This is reflected in numerous polls today, majority of people in Russia view USSR in a very positive light, but don't think it is possible to come back to it.
Still I like this post by Rolo since he looks at a "problem" from a totally different perspective.
If people were so happy in the USSR, why did it have the world's largest prison population?
Why did the birth rate plummet?
Why was alcoholism on a steep increase?
Why did the average height of Russians drop?
Why were people eating less meat and more of that god-awful grechka?
Why were there so many environmental disasters occurring?
Are you aware of the war that was waged on the peasantry and the countryside?
I could go on.
Currently, the USA has the world's largest prison population.
The birth rate among legal citizens is plummeting.
215 people die every day from Fentanyl.
The average length of a white man's life is going down annually.
While history shows that Stalin killed 20 - 60 million and the Collective Farm System was a disaster, America is self-destructing at an unbelievable rate.
- On birthrate. USSR started with 140 million population in 2022, when it was formed, and doubled to 280 million in 1991, after 69 years of existence, despite the devastating war of 1941-1945 that took 27 millions of lives. On the other hand we have results of the decades of post Soviet life. Ukraine is a classic example. After the dissolution of USSR population there diminished by 10 million, between 1991 and 2013, from 52 million to 42 million. I specifically take the year before the rebellion and separation of Donbass and Crimea to show natural decline during overall good conditions.
- Undisputed world champion for population incarceration is USA. Even under Stalin incarceration rate in USSR was lower than in US in mid 2000s - look at the stats.
- On war against peasants. Totally the opposite is true. USSR with its system of kolkhoz and sovkhoz (collective farm and state farm) actually preserved the rural way of life and rural settlements. Yes, there was an episode of a conflict between the central powers and peasants in the early 1930s when some have resisted entering kolhoz and started hiding grain underground where it was affected by a mold that made it toxic and many died because of that. But this was short-lived. By 1934 those who wanted to join kolkhoz, joined, those who didn't were left alone. My wife's grandma has never joined kolkhoz. She kept a large plot of land given to her family by Bolsheviks after the revolution and worked it until she physically could into the 1980s. Today small villages and settlements that existed for hundreds of years in Russia are disappearing by hundreds and thousands every year. This is specifically applicable to the poorer sandier lands in Central and Northern Russia. Communal farming that existed in Russia since the earliest recorded history that later was replaced with kolkhoz, that is a form of communal farming, gave those places a reason to exist. Now with agro coporations taking over this natural way of life is destroyed. Villages die off as their remaining seniors pass away and the root system that used to feed society at large is dying off along with them.
- When did average height of Russians diminished? Going to Soviet 10 year school in the 1970s I frequently heard term "accelerarty", e.g. kids that grown larger and more developed than what was considered normal for their age. This was our generation of big kids. I'm 6'2" and was considered average height back then.
- What's wrong with grechka (buckwheat)? Don't mix your taste preferences with politics.
I can write about the other points, but I won't, since your position is pretty clear to me. As Dmitry Puchkov (Goblin) says "Antisovietchick is always a Russophobe". I do believe that you fall into this category. I don't think you have much of understanding and appreciation of the complexities and nuances of Russian history, including its Soviet period. Alas.
Idk what to tell you. Delusional commie bs is as bad as religious fundamentalism. I'll defend the idea that the USSR shouldnt have been dissolved, but true believers like yourself would be shot for being too idealistic lol.
Not understood in The West is that the slow strategy of The Russian Armed Forces has brought a unified Russian State behind the Leadership and Vlad Putin, perhaps angry that he did not move faster on The Ukraine.
The actual method to bring the Russian State behind The President
Russia cannot lose this existential battle with The West.
God Favours Russia (and China) . . .
https://les7eb.substack.com/p/ukraine-long-proxy-war-vi-god-favours
Of course God loves Russia.
Of course He does.
But a majority of Europeans , and the Wormtongue Lords of The Universe in DC hate Russia.
As it is said, Let the Lord contend with those who Contend w me.
I wish it were otherwise. But I have the popcorn ready.
You dont think what the Bible says actually happened? Didnt? Couldnt? Wouldnt? This is a thought? A feeling ? A belief?
Never mind the billions who do, that shouldn't sway you, wouldnt sway me.
Yep. It's all nonsense if untrue.
What do you think the Bible is FOR. ,?? Hmm?
I'll tell you. The Bible is the means of convincing you that Jesus is Who He says He is. That's all.
It's not commentary on politics or astral bodies or even morality. These things are derivative .
So some are unmoved.
The joke isn't valid unless you get it?
The myth that is reality doesnt change you?
But. .. but what if it did.
The Old Testament is a Jewish nationalist foundation myth.
If so, it's a sad and neglected myth. I exist because God willed it. You too.
One might say it was the high heels and lipstick on our grandmothers. Or, Grandad didnt pull out, but that tack is unprovable, undisproveable. Like your assertion.
The Old Testament was the Law and the Prophets, to the Hebrews. It's a history of what God did, and several broad hints as to his desires.
Modern Jews are not Hebrews. They refer to the Talmud , a compendium of rules that state what Man does, not what God does.
A very very large difference.
Jews in Roman times were. Not. Hebrews, they came out of Babylon utterly changed
Syncretic distortion gave rise to the Sanhedrin, and the Kabbala ( essentially divination, superstitious numerology)
Then the Roman's sacked Jerusalem, killed ONE MILLION Jews , so, no place left ffg o sacrifice, no Law. They long before killed all their prophets.
It's weird. You can pity them.
But fir damn sure the Hebrew Bible , if their foundation. is being wrongly employed.
This is not what grandma intended. But , here you are, spouting nonsense
😀. It IS what it IS
>The Old Testament was the Law and the Prophets, to the Hebrews. It's a history of what God did, and several broad hints as to his desires.
Made up priest mumbo-jumbo. It's a mostly fake history of a tribe of murderous thieving parasites.
>Modern Jews are not Hebrews.
Yes they are. Just because the religion grew doesn't mean that the continuity can't be established.
>they came out of Babylon utterly changed
If anything, the Iranians improved them by teaching them Zoroastrianism, which they added to their religion in a warped and distorted way.
>Then the Roman's sacked Jerusalem, killed ONE MILLION Jews , so, no place left ffg o sacrifice, no Law.
I heard it was 6 million.
It's always six million. Which sounds like a lot until you realize that 80,000,000 or so were sacrificed to the Jewish demons in WWII and the Nazis did not have the capacity to gas 6 million of anyone, particularly the slave labor that was making parts because all the good Germans were being killed on the Eastern and Western and Southern fronts. Only the Jewish-controlled media could create and maintain the myth of the "6 million Jews" over 80 years with such religious fervor. In fact, if the Nazis were serious about wiping out the Jews within their reach, the most efficient means would have been an immediate bullet to the head and bury them where they dropped instead of using valuable military transport to haul them across Europe to the supposed gassing death camps which were in reality forced labor camps with one crematorium each that could barely keep up with normal typhus deaths. There people starved to death in the last months of the war on Germany because no transportation was left to deliver food or anything else and the camps were at the bottom of the food chain.
But, you are wrong about the Bible being a "Jew" thing. The Bible is God's revelation of himself to his creature mankind. When I say God I mean Father, Son, and Holy Ghost who created the earth, the universe, living things, and mankind in six days, defining a day as one rotation of the earth before the earth was finished. Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses, the Judges of whom Samuel was last, David, Hezekiah, Josiah, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Minor Prophets, John, the Apostles, the disciples, et al., were the real thing, i.e., believers in the Redeemer, Messiah, Jesus the Son of God, very God and very man. Jesus denounced the Jews - the Pharisees, Scribes, Lawyers who were the government under the Romans, scheming, lying, envious - as children of Satan whose Talmud, their "traditions" were counter to the law of God. Jesus rubbed their noses in their hypocrisy. Also, while we are at it, do not mistake Roman Catholicism for Christianity. Salvation is a free gift for those God has chosen to spare his eternal wrath because Jesus' propitiatory sacrifice of himself has paid the infinite price for their salvation. Purgatory is a fabrication as is most of the Roman Catholic extra-biblical hype, and, I suspect, Eastern Orthodox hype as well since I see ornate costumes and cathedrals and incense censors and corporate organization claiming to act for others or whatever it means to be a "cosmopolitan".
In reality, every man is accountable to obey the law of God. Every man has direct access to God because Jesus is the intercessor for all mankind: pray to the Father in the name of the Son that the Kingdom of God be instituted on earth as it is in heaven. No, you won't get that Mercedes because that has nothing to do with furthering the Kingdom of God.
>But, you are wrong about the Bible being a "Jew" thing.
I'm not. IT was written by Jews, for Jews, about a Jewish ethnic deity.
It was written by men moved by the Holy Ghost to write what God wanted said to man. Note that God moves through men to institute the Kingdom of God on earth. That is where mankind is headed, it will be done and it is up to Christians to institute. Someday Christians are going to get the memo that Jesus meant what he said: He is not returning in bodily form until Christians institute the Kingdom of God on earth and Christians have been given the power to do this. Jesus was given all power in heaven and earth and that is available to Christians as well through prayer to the Father in the name of the Son. Note that there is no kabalistic thesis in Christianity. The costumes and hierarchy and quest for earthly power are anti-Christian.
All I can say is, Jesus never said that , in fact, he parablyzed, hinted, ran from place to place to the avoid being fingered as Israel's King
He is. But he had stuff to do before they caught and killed him.
Jesus wasnt running for n as yor of Jerusalem or founding father status.
Why do you think so
I think that you're dodging the main point that was made lol
I offer the following not as a theological discourse, but only as one possible conclusion based on research that most people are not terribly aware of:
In "modern" Earth times, we start with the Vedas. They are from off planet. They are not a very serious rendition of a belief system. More like fairy tales for children. But that got the ball rolling as far as "our Father in Heaven," spaceships and spiritual powers were concerned.
Meanwhile, over in Egypt and the Mideast, the Old Empire was establishing their own version of a religious belief system. Only one God allowed here. But lots of "angels."
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah has been researched by remote viewers. They found a story of some citizens heckling a couple of off-world emissaries. They were quite justified; those cities were being treated like shit. But "God" decided to show them; he ordered the cities leveled, and they were, except for one Old Empire operative left alive to tell the story. "The wrath of God?" Sorry. It was just a couple of pissed off "angels."
The same researcher investigated the "death" of Christ. He found an imposter on the cross, and the real dude sneaking away to make arrangements for his "ascension." Ever hear of an abductee pulled up into the spaceship by a ray of light? Same idea. It must have been VERY impressive. There's no doubt that Jesus was a cool and wise dude. But no way was he going to die on Earth! ETs don't do that if they can help it. Earth is a spiritual prison. Visitors don't want to get trapped here.
I think you're selling the vedas short.
A lot of esoteric wisdom hidden away in fairy tales.
If so, they were sold short to me by someone who has studied them; I haven't.
Utter and complete bullshit and nothing new I might add. These detractors of the reality of Creation have been debunked over and over and over throughout the history of the Christian church. Extra-terrestrials are a self-defeating joke. Where did they originate if the creation account is to be abandoned? Evolution is not an explanation of anything, particularly origins. That speculation rebranded as a theory explains nothing, is consistently falsified by the reality of microbiology and astrophysics and is nothing more than the religion of secular humanists who want to believe a legal fiction called "government" is god simply because a collective can overpower a productive individual and either rob him or kill him at random.
>These detractors of the reality of Creation have been debunked over and over and over throughout the history of the Christian church
Lol no they haven't. A child could realize that the church narrative makes no sense.
https://tinyurl.com/3tev6dpn
Creation.com, ICR.org, etc.
Well, I personally am sorry that you are so fervent in rejecting the reality of ET and the discovery of an "immortal spiritual being" as the basic carrier of personality and experience.
The only true creative force in this universe is a nothingness that can be named Spirit. Spirit has existed in a divided form consisting of innumerable separate beings for trillions of years. Those beings are the source of all creation that we see feel and experience today. They created the stars, the planets, and biology. They created all the religions, all the cultures that we know of as well as thousands we are yet unaware of.
Do I think our knowledge of the long and convoluted history of Spirit is accurate and complete? No. But neither does the basic concept contain any inherent contradictions, as do all the "scientific" theories that do not postulate a non-physical cause for physicality. Can this "complete bullshit" theory honor elements of monotheistic theologies or the earlier polytheistic theologies? Yes, within reason. Is this "complete bullshit" theory easy to accept by anyone living on Earth today? No! And so the truth, as always, struggles for recognition like an earthquake victim trapped under tons of rubble.
I advise you to be tolerant and willing to look. This idea has proven workable and is being supported by the work of several researchers. It might not be perfect, but it is better than what we had.
God did bless America, but the blessing was also a curse. The prosperity led to depravity and abandonment of God. It is now the Great Babylon.
God wants us to become better people. It is hard to do in good times. When people struggle and sacrifice, they experience growth and transformation. Trials and suffering do not represent the lack of God's blessings, but often God's support of us. He can change everything for our good through Him, even when He isn't the source of our trials.
God had to suffer.
Therefore, so do you.
That's it.
That's all.
Why?
Because Love would have it so.
Because God wants us to be at our best.
Because if that's not fair, nothing's fair.
Because flatworms dont grow in spirit w suffering( that we know of) but you and I do.
Because growth in grace hurts like fuck.
Love Stinks.
Not sure what any of this means. Platitudes don't work on everyone.
God invented sex. Fuck doesn't hurt in my experience. In fact, sexual intercourse is the highlight of the day for the married man.
That is one reason I never tell anyone I do not like to "get f_cked" and particularly do not say "f_ck Biden". Rather, may his balls get shot off.
Choose Love
I'm perfectly willing to choose love, but not because God tells me to!
https://youtu.be/E0LAs7X5ybE
Because no man could bear the infinite and eternal punishment due to those who disobey God. Only God himself, in the person of Jesus, very God and very man, tempted in every way as man yet without sin, i.e., disobeying God the Father in any way, can bear the punishment due sinners. Jesus was literally born to save God's elect from the eternal burning wrath of God the Father who maintains perfect justice. There is one punishment in varying degrees for unredeemed sinners, eternal burning agony, consider it to be like having an indestructible yet complete sentient body in solitary confinement within a blast furnace.
BS. Jesus suffered the infinite wrath of eternal punishment precisely because his followers could not ever be paroled from that punishment. The suffering is because Adam, living in a paradise with a perfect woman, deliberately disobeyed God and in the process of thinking to become God himself, caused a genetic change in all his progeny which introduced death and decay into the Creation. That is slated to end on Judgment Day which comes AFTER Christians do their homework and fulfill the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 to make disciples of the nations and teach them to obey the law of God. I do not see any "civil government" in that picture. I see ever man acknowledging that God is sovereign and God's law alone is perfect for mankind. God's law is that given in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy minus the sacrificial, ceremonial, and dietary parts since the advent of Jesus, Lamb of God, Messiah, very God and very man. Yes, queers are to be stoned the moment they go public with their demon possession. The moment they go public they are demanding that (1) everyone else accept their perversion as "normal" and (2) they be allowed to prey on the children of everyone else.
Satan is real and God releases Satan onto apostate people. Disobey God and get the "government" you deserve in this fallen world. Obey God and eventually end the worldwide death and destruction. Yes, MOSSAD and the CIA and practically every government institution in the USA are Satan's disciples. I would say ditto for those demons who call themselves "government" in Europe as well.
Harsh , but I like it well enough.
Fir those who have had more women than you've had grilled cheese sandwiches, I recoil from attacking ordinary decent homosexuals. Speaking for a friend....
The culture poisoners however.....
What I didnt say to our threadhost is , we condemn ourselves with our words.
The sin is what comes out of the mouth, not that which goes in. Jesus said it better.
But I say , the old remedy for heresy was expulsion but for blasphemy , death.
No I think God said this... heresy
God is a shittalking poopyhead... blasphemy.
It takes no courage to utter blasphemy now.
In this western enlightenment paradise.
Salman Rushdie had it coming , still does
In fact , we all have it coming ( pace Clint Eastwood)
You me everyone.
But when I hear blasphemy spoken , I know, when that person dies, angels sing in chorus and kittens are born. Cuz justice is done. Ha ha. Maybe.
Not being an ayatollah , I'm happy to wait. I've read the Koran and wasnt moved but 5am call to Muslim prayer in Berhlehem was so beautiful I cried. I cant be Muslim but theres ssd something of God there.
Screw you Rushdie. However long it takes.
It takes no courage to bait Christian's.
Without bravery, how smart can one be?
Answer , it wont matter.
Maybe we are just thrashing around as our host chums the water.
Maybe hes justifying his death.
We shall never know.
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”
― Epicurus
Rollos reasoning recapitulate the antipathy between Greeks and Jews. They sure didnt like each other. Pogroms and massacres first from one , then the other.
Greeks believed Gods were capricious. cruel, petty , and with all the faults of men.
Energetic placation and sacrifice as an insurance policy, transactional negotiation with maniacs, then, get on w life. The greatest flowering of humanism, of the arts and the mind, we are still behind them in this.
Hebrews not so. Believing God spoke to them, and them alone , they were too tough a nut to crack. Hellenizing psuedoJews ? Herod Antipas, Herof the Great, may have ruled Judah
May have ruled Judah but in camouflage. The Macabees were the Trumpian MAGAreaction to Helenized Israel.
Fanatics. Populists, die hard types.
The Romans who took over both groups sunborned Greek worship as a skin suit, in the name of ORDER, then , fed up w Jewish recalcitrance, sacked Israel , tore down the temple , killed. 1 million Jews and not one Christian zdx( at that time , killing Christian's came later)
The Alpocalypse was the prophecy foretelling the sack of Jerusalem. Believing it, Christian's fled, and the Faith was then grafted in wherever they fled to. There is no Apocalypse coming for us, it came , and is done. No rapture.
The writing style of the 4 gospels changes utterly , with John.
Why ?
Because post-sack , John was free to speak , the other 3 were at risk of sudden death by enraged Jews, so , were circumspect.
Indirect. Just the facts maam.
Prosaic details , like what yr flirty grandma was wearing when she caught Grandads eye.
But Gods hand guided All these ancient people, AND your hottie grandma
Is this what the priests say? The Rus were slaughtered to speed up the 2nd coming? I've never heard such an interpretation.
In the 1850s onward. Russia became nihilistic and began modernizing. The intelligentsia gave up their intellect and substituted it with rationalism - as Tolstoy well described. The country turned its back on God. If you know your Bible, then you know this is the one thing God can't forgive (because a person who does not believe Rolo Slavski exists cannot be forgiven by Rolo Slavski.)
And has Russia returned to God? Not really. America largely abandoned Him in the 1960s and that's when things began to sour for the American empire and its people.
What is the mystery here? You seem to be saying "Give me stuff! Give me dominion!' But every religion in the planet says 'chastise yourself first, or karma will do it for you.'
>Is this what the priests say? The Rus were slaughtered to speed up the 2nd coming? I've never heard such an interpretation.
Why doubt me? Look it up yourself. Thats the official church interpretation.
If it is official it should be easy to come across; but when I search, this is not the case. Perhaps it is veiled in Russian and clothed in cyrillic - so I cannot easily bring it up. Is there some sermon or pronouncement from Kirill I could run through an auto-translator? Could you name the year this became the position of the church and when they started promulgating this idea?
You will have to forgive me a little, for when I find people hostile to the church they often interpret things briskly and passionately and with little charity - and that often translates into a complete misunderstanding or rewording of what priests have actually said. So, in my experience, there is plenty of cause for doubting you. Not out of some deliberate deceit, but out of ferver for your claim.
What I do know is this: suffering in both the Catholic and Orthodox orders are invariably depicted as chastisement or means of refinement. I have never seen it used with the idea of hastening some end via mass Blood Sacrifice. How could it? A pillar of the church is that Christ's sacrifice was sufficient. It's why there is no animal sacrifices in Christianity. The only sect I am aware of today that thinks of expediting the Second Coming are the Evangelicals you mentioned; for they have notions that letting the Jews populate Israel and build a temple there is necessary to bring this about - but this you already know.
>f it is official it should be easy to come across; but when I search, this is not the case.
Ask your priest.
The only other explanation is that Russians deserved it for being sinful. Which I believe you cited earlier. That's masochistic cuck-thinking thats unfalsifiable for one and secondly makes no sense. God didn't punish the Protestant Americans, did he?
Wherever did you get the idea that God isn't punishing Protestants? Do you believe the War among the States and all the gratuitous wars since are not punishment for abandonment of God, for believing our prosperity was the work of our own hands, for creating levers of power and then allowing demons to grab those levers? Sure both good and evil people can plant, but God gives the soil, the weather, and the increase. God created Satan for the express purpose of punishing apostate people. Whether Satan is pissed because he is asexual or for whatever reason he hates mankind, the fact remains Satan is God's punisher. The travail of Job was to perfect Job's faith and the faith of his exceptionally good friends, not to suggest that God arbitrarily kills and brings misery to his chosen people.
> not to suggest that God arbitrarily kills and brings misery to his chosen people.
Yahweh does indeed seem to materially reward his chosen people. He wages war on all the other peoples of the world though.
You lose sight of the fact that we inherit Adam's rebellious nature. No one is innocent, not even in the womb. "Conceived in iniquity" is how David described himself and mankind after the fall. We all deserve eternal punishment for our cosmic treason.
The Orthodox Church teaches that the reason the godless Bolsheviks took over was the people had forgotten about God and their faith was weak. That said, those who refused to submit to the worship of godlessness and were martyred are the Church's crowns. Constantinople fell for the same reason, materialistic considerations for earthly gains, and weak Faith. This brought the rise of Islam.
The reason America does so well is because it precisely does not worship God, but a protestant conception of Him that actually worships Satan, ie Israel, and enjoys earthly benefits for doing so. Orthodox play the long game. Americans the short.
5D chess.
Just correcting your "Well, let me share with you how the pros in the Russian Orthodox Church explain the unfortunate history of Russia in the 20th century. Apparently, God needed more martyrs in heaven, which is why he allowed the Bolshevik plague to descend upon Russia." That's not the explanation of the ROC so your essay starts out on a false premise. If Faith is weak, it creates a vacuum and other things fill it. Whether I believe this or not is irrelevant, it's what the Church says, and not what you said it says. Of course, the Church always welcomes martyrs, just, not lately, if the churchmen's reaction to a supposed plague is any indication.