The majority of people need religion because they have nothing except God. The minority needs religion because they have everything except God.
It’s s quote but I don’t know the author. If anybody remembers, do let us know.
In the meantime, we are off to church. Haven’t missed a single weekend this year because we keep lucking into empty spots on the roster.
I am happy for you that you are able to go. The truth is that many people are not coming back to their churches, so it is not difficult to attend the services since even with the restrictions, the capacity at least where I live is not full. The part that is the most puzzling (and actually the most scary) to me about the current crisis is the ease with which we have shut down our temples and dispensed with Sunday obligation. It has been almost a year now.
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“the ease with which we have shut down our temples and dispensed with Sunday obligation. It has been almost a year now.”
You have made a very profound point worthy of response, random reader.
In church, many Orthodox use the NKJV translation of the Lord’s Prayer which ends with “Deliver us from the Evil One.” I very much favour this translation because it reminds us that evil isn’t just random but follows a conscious direction with a wicked plan to separate humankind from their loving God.
It seems to me that the Evil One and his earthly enablers can only be gleeful at how COVID has been leveraged to create “a new normal” based in the modern age heresy that humankind can perfect itself through reason. In this way, “Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness…”
As in previous dark periods of human history, we must “stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
GSW is back!!! What a great gift. So happy to see you here, my friend.
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Dear Clarissa – I replied to your v. kind topic post last week via email to clarissasblog at hotmail dot com – perhaps it went in that account’s junk folder?? My warmest regards, I just could not help myself from replying to random reader’s comment here as it seems to me that the current crisis is much deeper than it manifests itself on the level of public policy.
“the current crisis is much deeper than it manifests itself on the level of public policy.”
There is a war in the heavenly realm and many are distracted by this political moment. But there are some–call them a remnant–who are aware of our need of the gospel of peace and are actively praying for God’s kingdom to come and stop the tyranny of the evil one forever. And in the mean time, we are telling anyone who will listen that we are sinners in the bullseye of God’s wrath and without the cleansing blood of Jesus, we are doomed to eternal separation from Him. I was reminding myself this morning that the stories are true. The bible is not just a stodgy old book written by “dead guys”. It is eye witness testimony to the creation of everything by God and the redeeming work done by His son, Jesus.
So, in response to the anonymous quote above, I agree with neither assertion. I need God because I need his love, forgiveness and holiness. He is supremely beautiful to me in a way that words will never adequately express. But to steal words from a poet, I am like a deer panting for streams of water. And my soul is satisfied in Him.
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Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t look at those emails every day. Or every week.
I’ll go check it out. Thanks!
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Thank you for bringing that up GSW, I was not aware of that particular translation. There is indeed more going on that meets the eye. The situation in the Catholic Church, for example, is very unsettling. There is a lot of division, with bishops and cardinals arguing with each other. All that is combined with complacency and not enough guidance. There is a big crisis inside the church that is an integral part of these events. The current president, who claims to be a devout Catholic, is not making things any easier for the Catholic Church. I pray that other Churches, especially our Orthodox brothers and sisters are in a better shape.
A conservative literary critic and college professor
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