It's said Jesus' sacrificed himself to save us...

[Awoon]

From "The Fundamental Teachings of the Eastern Orthodox Church" by Rev. George Mastrantonis

The Church of the faithful embodies the "Conscience of the Church" in its pronouncements and missions. Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of the Church, is "the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty" (Rev. 1:8), Who has erected, established, and bequeathed to the Church the divine Grace which is the almighty power. Therefore, the Militant Church on earth is a part of the Kingdom of Heaven, for the King is ever present to lead and sanctify the members of His own Mystical Body. He is "Jesus Christ, Who is the faithful witness, and the first-begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood" (Rev. 1:5).
​

[emphasis mine]
Sounds like Eastern Orthodox Christians believe in a sacrifice as well.

So to whom were you referring?

Looks like they do. Too bad none of yous are saved from anything. Stand on the freeway and see who saves you when an 18 wheeler is ten feet away from you at 65 mph. Come back and tell us about it, OK?

 

[atpollard]

Looks like they do. Too bad none of yous are saved from anything. Stand on the freeway and see who saves you when an 18 wheeler is ten feet away from you at 65 mph. Come back and tell us about it, OK?

To what end?
You still wouldn't believe me.

 

[Awoon]

To what end?
You still wouldn't believe me.

Beliefs aren't necessary. Show me the proof in the pudding. Been waiting 60 yrs. So I dumped the beliefs.

 

[atpollard]

Beliefs aren't necessary. Show me the proof in the pudding. Been waiting 60 yrs. So I dumped the beliefs.

Proof of what?
You asked me to stand in the highway and tell you about it.
Surely if I were to stand in a highway and and angel swoops from the sky in armor like lightning and a flaming sword to save me from a truck and I came here and posted about what that happened ... what would that post prove?

What are you looking for proof of?

 

[Awoon]

Proof of what?
You asked me to stand in the highway and tell you about it.
Surely if I were to stand in a highway and and angel swoops from the sky in armor like lightning and a flaming sword to save me from a truck and I came here and posted about what that happened ... what would that post prove?

What are you looking for proof of?

You see you have no proof. It would be all over the news because you could repeat it over and over again.

 

[JoStories]

You see you have no proof. It would be all over the news because you could repeat it over and over again.

It's belief awoon. That is the nature of this. I found enough proof to convince me that there is God out there. Do you want to find that for yourself or are you content where you are?

 

[Awoon]

It's belief awoon. That is the nature of this. I found enough proof to convince me that there is God out there. Do you want to find that for yourself or are you content where you are?

The only God is me. No out there proof needed.

 

[sojourner]

Beliefs aren't necessary. Show me the proof in the pudding. Been waiting 60 yrs. So I dumped the beliefs.

If you're looking for proof within spiritual endeavors, you're looking for the wrong thing. Proof is in the purview of science, not faith.

 

[sojourner]

Christian religion wants people to be Christ- like, but on the other hand they make sure you know Christ had an advantage because he was God and you aint. It doesn't make sense and its just a money making Guilt Trip.

What sort of "advantage" are you talking about?

 

[Awoon]

What sort of "advantage" are you talking about?

I made it clear.

 

[Awoon]

If you're looking for proof within spiritual endeavors, you're looking for the wrong thing. Proof is in the purview of science, not faith.

Not looking for anything. Been there done that and dumped Christianity.

 

[sojourner]

Well, I guess it bothers me when people are travelling down a road that I believe leads to disaster.

This strikes me as one who has control issues.

If I am a Christian, and I read in the Bible that those who do not worship God in the way he tells us to, will not inherit his kingdom, I am faced with a dilemma. There I am sitting on my front porch reading my Bible, cars whizzing by, knowing full well that the bridge is out just around a blind corner. Should I just sit there reading my Bible feeling sorry for them, or should I be down on that road waving my arms like a mad person?

Or, maybe someone told you they thought they heard the bridge was out, so you go down there, waving your arms like a mad person, stopping cars, backing up traffic and creating gridlock, when, in fact, the bridge is Just. Fine.

If I am commanded by Jesus to point people in the right direction and I don't do it, God will hold me accountable.

I don't think you're "commanded by Jesus to point people in the right direction." Matthew states that Jesus tells his followers to go to the Pagans and make them part of the family. But it says nothing about some amorphous "right direction."

God's instruction to his prophet Ezekiel is interesting....

"17 “Son of man, a watchman is what I have made you to the house of Israel, and you must hear from my mouth speech and you must warn them from me. 18 When I say to someone wicked, ‘You will positively die,' and you do not actually warn him and speak in order to warn the wicked one from his wicked way to preserve him alive, he being wicked, in his error he will die, but his blood I shall ask back from your own hand.19 But as for you, in case you have warned someone wicked and he does not actually turn back from his wickedness and from his wicked way, he himself for his error will die; but as for you, you will have delivered your own soul. 20 And when someone righteous turns back from his righteousness and actually does injustice and I must put a stumbling block before him, he himself will die because you did not warn him. For his sin he will die, and his righteous acts that he did will not be remembered, but his blood I shall ask back from your own hand. 21 And as for you, in case you have warned someone righteous that the righteous one should not sin, and he himself does not actually sin, he will without fail keep on living because he had been warned, and you yourself will have delivered your own soul.”

Interesting that you think you're a called prophet, on the order of Ezekiel. Strikes me as sort of the same thing as a messiah complex.

As Christians, we have responsibilities.....not to force people to believe or to coerce them, but simply to warn them. If they accept the warning and act on it, all well and good but if they choose not to, we have nevertheless done our job.
Jesus likened it to the days of Noah and said that people would not take any more notice of us than they did of him. (Matt 24:14, 36-39)

If I sat back and just let people travel down that road to disaster....what would God think of me? What would I think of myself?

One person's "road to disaster" is another person's "road to freedom." History has proved that over and over again.

 

[sojourner]

Not looking for anything. Been there done that and dumped Christianity.

Done what? Looked for the wrong things in the wrong places? No wonder you gave up.

 

[sojourner]

So where's the sacrifice?

Have you ever endured crucifixion? When you have, come on back and we'll revisit sacrifice.

 

[sojourner]

I made it clear.

Well, apparently you didn't, or I wouldn't have asked.

 

[Awoon]

Done what? Looked for the wrong things in the wrong places? No wonder you gave up.

I can read the book see the results and listen to the lip service. Christians never follow the simple religion OF Jesus but are always telling the world the dogmatic theological Religion About Jesus that they created. Jesus followed Judaism not any Christianity.

 

[Vishvavajra]

It is well attested to on many Internet resources. Flimsy you say? It's just a co-incidence that a pagan fertility goddess who just happened to be named Oestre, (pronounced Easter) whose festival was held at the time of the Spring equinox, and who just happened to have the fertility emblems of rabbits and eggs.....? Flimsy? I'd say it was a no brainer.

I'm thinking we need to have a serious talk about sources and standards of evidence. What you call "Internet resources" are not sources or evidence of anything. Anybody can say whatever they want and publish it on the Internet. There is no requirement of citations, no peer review. A lot of it is just people mindlessly repeating what they think they've heard. It's a game of telephone. It's also what you're doing here.

Yes, there are plenty of spurious claims on websites about the goddess Eostre having some connection to rabbits and eggs. No, there isn't a shred of evidence to back it up. The one and only source we have for the existence of Eostre as a goddess is Bede, who doesn't mention any of those things. Unsurprising, as in fact it would be centuries before they developed in the Christian tradition, so there was no connection yet to make. It's like how some people try to claim that Christmas trees were a pagan practice, even though the practice originated in the modern era of a thoroughly Christian Germany. None of this stuff can be demonstrated to predate Christianity.

Well, I think we all know what human traditions lead to...
...
Command of God....or traditions of men?

There is no non-human tradition. Even your religious traditions are of human origin. You may kid yourself otherwise, but they evolved out of things that humans have been doing for many thousands of years. Decrying cultural traditions you don't adhere to as "human traditions" is an absurd rubric that amounts to nothing more than a value-judgement.

Since our Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath, (we only have to look at our calendar and see which day is the seventh) why do you think Christendom changed its "sabbath" to Sunday?....the very day the Romans dedicated to the sun.

Perhaps you missed the fact that Sunday is the day Jesus is said to have risen from the dead. The association of the day with the sun was never a big deal in Rome and never even caught on in the Greek East, which is where the earliest Christian traditions first took shape. Again, you're making unfounded assumptions based on present realities, without actually going through the trouble to educate yourself on how things came to be this way. Or more likely, you're just mindlessly parroting what others have told you. Either way, you're not being intellectually honest here.

Nobody's forcing you to celebrate Easter or to go to church on Sunday. You can do whatever you want. And so can Christians, who have been doing these things for nearly two millennia now and have perfectly legitimate reasons for doing so.

 

[sojourner]

Looks like they do. Too bad none of yous are saved from anything. Stand on the freeway and see who saves you when an 18 wheeler is ten feet away from you at 65 mph. Come back and tell us about it, OK?

What does getting hit by speeding traffic have to do with salvation???

 

[sojourner]

I can read the book see the results and listen to the lip service. Christians never follow the simple religion OF Jesus but are always telling the world the dogmatic theological Religion About Jesus that they created. Jesus followed Judaism not any Christianity.

...aaaand what, exactly, would that "simple religion" be?

 

[Awoon]

I'm content in my life. You must prove you aren't. Why.