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Post by seraphim on Dec 9, 2008 16:14:21 GMT -5
St. Seraphim of Sarov said, "The purpose of the Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit."
St. Isaac the Syrian said, "This life was given to us for repentance, do not waste it in vain pursuits."
This is the mark of Christianity--however much a man toils, and however many righteousnesses he performs, to feel that he has done nothing, and in fasting to say, "This is not fasting," and in praying, "This is not prayer," and in perseverance at prayer, "I have shown no perseverance; I am only just beginning to practice and to take pains"; and even if he is righteous before God, he should say, "I am not righteous, not I; I do not take pains, but only make a beginning every day."
St. Macarius the Great
Abba James:
He said, 'We do not only need words, for at the present time there are many words among men; but we need works, for this is what is required - not words that do not bear fruit.'
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Post by pixydust on Feb 21, 2009 17:11:01 GMT -5
This was in answer to the vamp thread in Homeworlds. Mongoose commented about violence and Jesus as a pacifist: I don't believe that Jesus was a pascifist. If he was why did he go out and construct a whip specificly to beat the traders from the Temple? God gets angry (righteous anger). He strikes people dead (the couple that lied about how much they made on their house sale). We have to remember that Jesus is the son of the God of the Old Testimant as well as the New. Christians tend to foget the God of the Old Testiment cause He's not as nice. But He's as real today as He was then. I'm only saying this because I'm a girl with a fire in her gut. And I married a man who is a cop--a warrior at heart. He would be in Iraq kicking big butt if I'd let him go. Some men are born to fight. Some aren't. But IMO, a soldier isn't any less of a man of God than the preist. King David was a man after God's own heart. And he was by no means a sidelines guy when it came to battle. If I lived in Roman times and they stuck me in as a gladiator I wouldn't have fought for the pleasure of sinnful men. But if a man comes into my house and tries to hurt me, I'm blowing his brains out. No one touches my family. Maybe that's wrong, I don't know.
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