Ask An Orthodox Priest #8 - "Are YOU SAVED?" & What is Hell?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2024
- Fr. Zechariah Lynch is the priest at Archangel Michael Orthodox Church in Pueblo, Colorado. Fr. Zechariah answers your questions that were submitted through TH-cam and Instagram.
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#orthodox #orthodoxchristian #orthodoxchristianity #christianity
Can a married person say at any point, with absolute certainty, that they will never end up divorced? I think the answer is clearly "no", however much we might strive for that to never happen. Well then, how can you have any peace or joy in your marriage knowing there's a possibility it might not last? You just live one day at a time pouring your love and attention into the relationship, asking forgiveness when you fail and forgiving when sinned against. I think it's the same with our Faith.
This was beautifully put. Glory to God ☦️ Bless you dear brother or sister.
Excellent way to illustrate this! It's interesting that the calvinistic OSAS crowd has to apply the retroactive "well they were never saved" to anyone who apostatizes and similarly the roman catholics have to claim "well they were never married" when proclaiming annulments.
Nice
Why should your faith be respected? Thanks for the reply.
Nothing fails like prayers in a children's hospital. Jesus, seeing the gathering crowd says, 'This is a wicked generation. It seeks signs, but none will be given but the sign of Jonah, who, being outnumbered, was sacrificed to calm the sea.' & faith is worthless as a mustard seed since mountains fail moving on command with it.
See videos:
New research expands on J Atwill's discovery that the story of Jesus is a parody of Emperor' Titus' victories.
Paul the Apostle: Liar and Conman | James Valliant, Rabbi Tovia Singer
@@California4Christ What makes you think your faith is respectable?
Men have always known God as a tool of fiction & nothing fails like prayers in a children's hospital. How is it possibly ethical to suggest the equivalent of a notion we all travel with one foot in a stranger's fantasyland, using fictional vocabulary: prophecy, prayer, etc.? Moses: World's worst navigator leads everyone following as if one travels best with one foot in The Garden of Eden.
Believers mindlessly suggest it is a good idea for us to suspend our disbelief, granting God made Mormons so Christians would know how Jews feel. Jesus Christ says faith is worthless as a mustard seed when it comes to telling mountains to move with expectations of obedience. The Christian gospels have a joke called the zombie apocalypse and they are played to embarrassment about it now. The gospels have given us the new Jews, but this one gives guidance to eat the body & drink the blood, which is abhorrent, this is what comes of putting the new wine of Christ into an old Jew wineskin. Atwill rests upon great shoulders & now we know the joke. Jesus says, think not I come with peace, but sword, & list more horrors of The Teacher. What makes you think your faith is respectable?
See videos:
New research expands on J Atwill's discovery that the story of Jesus is a parody of Emperor' Titus' victories.
Paul the Apostle: Liar and Conman | James Valliant, Rabbi Tovia Singer
“He will never require a measure of me that I do not have.”
Beautiful video ☦️
This is also from 1 Corinthians 10:13
Amin.
Our salvation only through Jesus Christ is also through our participation willingly for love ❤️ in our relationship with Christ
❤
Amen. God is on a rescue mission to save us from the hell we have chosen, not to punish us by us getting our just sentence.
This brought me to tears. My faith has been shaken ever since I discovered the Church two years ago. Hearing someone affirm the blessed hope we have as struggling Christians is just what I needed to hear today. Thank you for this content.
Christ wants us all to be saved,so even if we are still sinners and have not achieved holiness,if He finds us genuinely,honestly fighting against our sins,we are forgiven and saved through His infinite mercy. Read a little from the Psalms every day and pray to Our Lady everyday.This helps me a lot.God be with you. (This is a hymn for Holy Mary : th-cam.com/video/KlLka4XGFyY/w-d-xo.html )
We are all carrying the Cross.
I once had a priest, Fr. Michael Zaparyniuk, tell me, "If you are not struggling every day, the devil has already won, because he never stops fighting for your soul. If you can be complacent, it is because he no longer needs to fight you for it." Things were definitely "easier" in my two decades of atheist apostasy, but I wouldn't trade the rough narrow path I have now for a road paved in gold. I know too well where each one leads.
I am a protestant really searching and recently have been looking a lot into orthodoxy.
Took me months to deconstruct from Protestantism and silly presuppositions. TH-cam content creators, Kyle Orthodox and Jay Dyer helped me a lot on my journey. God bless ☦️❤️🙏
I am Orthodox and I live mentally in Heaven daily with my belief.
This video is spot on.
I’m an orthodox - born and raised, and I’m just soaking everything from the newly converted U.S. brethren because your deep understanding of faith is so inspirational. Thank you 🙏
They can never know more than our elders
@@SRBOMBONICA86what’s your point? To only listen to your elders. What do you even mean by elders?
@@SRBOMBONICA86in Christ there is no racism, especially with our living saints.
@@SRBOMBONICA86 i didn’t say that and I think these blessed fathers do not claim that they know more, but they’re in their own time elders for the parishes in the states. And we can’t we just appreciate their newly found faith without getting entitled)
@@jorgedominguez7259 elders from old Orthodox countries ,Serbia Romania Greece Russia
I find so much comfort in listening to this. I want more than anything for Jesus Christ to be in my life and to say He knows me after this life.
1 Corinthians 1:18
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are SAVED it is the power of God.
You know the apostles used the Septuagint and not the Masoretic text, right?
This channel is fantastic and I find myself looking forward to every video, may God bless you all and keep up the good work!!
Thank YOU for supporting us! Glory to Jesus Christ always ☦
@@RootsofOrthodoxy it is my absolute pleasure! Thank you for your time and effort with these amazing videos and bringing the beautiful world of Orthodoxy to all! may God bless you and remain with you always
I didn’t hear one thing from him that conflicts what I’ve been taught in my Protestant church. I hear from people (mostly on the internet) talking about how different Protestants are from others, but it is really good to see how much agreement there is, especially on crucial things.
He says one thing around 7:23 ("and THAT's what's saving me") that could yet very well conflict with protestant sola fide, if it really means that we are kept within our saved state by our conduct. But it's a fine line between continuous repentance aka drawing close to Christ and abiding in Christ... And covenantal nomism aka entering salvation by grace, keeping it by works. Would have been interesting at that point of the Interview to pin the soterology down somewhat further and bring in what scripture teaches... Not only for the audience, but maybe even for the priest's own clarity in this issue.
Crucial like sacraments and apostolic succession?
@@AJ0223 crucial as in salvation not coming from works but from faith in Christ and accepting Him as lord over your life, that if you have Christ in you, you should have evidence of it in your life. The number of sacraments and whether or not your church has an unbroken chain going all the way back to the apostles is not anywhere close to as crucial, while those can be important.
@@KaoXoniI must have missed that part when I listened the first time, that is an important point. John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” I don’t see how this meshes with keeping your salvation based on what you do. Obviously though if Christ is in you, it will be evident based on your words and deeds.
Another great "episode" from this channel, BUT the best part always seems to be at the end, and I pray and hope that it doesn't get buried or lost for others. The discussion on the "burning" passion and no way to quench that burning in the afterlife really resonated with me. I've never quite heard it put in that context, but it seems to make so many things click into place. Thank you so very very much.
Really succinctly put indeed
This. I've been desperately losing to the passions recently but this really put the fear of hell back in me.
When you go to court and stand before the judge, you DO NOT look at the judge and tell him how innocent you are. He is the judge, and HE, will make that judgement. Not you.
Where do you live, North Korea? Of course, in a court setting, you defend yourself, especially if you're innocent. As there will be NO CONDEMNATION of those who are in Christ, all our sins have been out on Him so we could walk free if we embrace His sacrifice. That's it. No works, no "progressive sanctification", just the simple glorious fact of Christ's death and resurrection that HAS (past tense!) made us Saints and HAS (past tense!) made us accepted in the Beloved.
The only verses in scripture that addresses what is to come at the end. And no matter what contortions we may try and reinterpret it with, it unequivocally is talking about works. On the assumption that "did" is the past tense of "to do"
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
This channel has been a great blessing. Glory to God for all things ☦️ Christ is Risen.
Thank you Father! Glory to God!❤
I got that sense of holiness from the priest.
1 Timothy 2:5 - 6
For there is one God, and ONE MEDIATOR between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
We know this what’s your point?
I love this guy.. Just wanna hug him!! 🥺
Really love the way you asked those two questions. Grateful to the priest for his honesty. Not to say his answer was lacking in anyway, but would love to hear more priests angles on this. Orthodox theology is eternally rich!
Thank you, Fr. Zechariah, for answering this question. Thanks to Roots of Orthodoxy for finally bringing up this question and getting it answered. I posted this question in the comment section of your very first video, and finally got an answer; it was worth the wait. I will be sending this to all my Protestant friends who've been asking me this question. :) I pray God bless your ministry!
very insightful point about burning in your passions with no way to satisfy them
When I have been asked, are you saved? 😅 I had the same exact first response.
Thank you for the examination of this question. ☦️☦️☦️
Father Zach and Father Josiah are my heroes
We can know because He said so.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
How do you know you’re interpreting this verse correctly? You believe in sola scriptura correct?
Why should your faith be respected? Thanks for the reply.
Nothing fails like prayers in a children's hospital. Jesus, seeing the gathering crowd says, 'This is a wicked generation. It seeks signs, but none will be given but the sign of Jonah, who, being outnumbered, was sacrificed to calm the sea.' & faith is worthless as a mustard seed since mountains fail moving on command with it.
See videos:
New research expands on J Atwill's discovery that the story of Jesus is a parody of Emperor' Titus' victories.
Paul the Apostle: Liar and Conman | James Valliant, Rabbi Tovia Singer
Yes, but only god knows your heart and will judge if you truly heard his word.
@@Floyd033people are capable of reading
@@Floyd033Well, that verse isn’t difficult to interpret.
Thank you for the enqouraging words. I'm striving with whatever means I feel cabable with towards Christ. If nothing else, at the very last moment, I know I tried to get closer to him.
I love how he explains salvation.
Such a fine message. Our blessed Orthodox wisdom... so much TRUTH...the body of Christ☦️
As an outsider/goat, I feel that orthodoxy has a lot of truth to it. It's a lot closer to God than most other traditional western practices. Really enjoying your content!
That last part resonates with me the most. The narrow gate, purifying fire - just let go of your sin. You can't pass holding for your sins. Let go, come clean, it all good with God.
I wouldn’t dare to say that I am saved.☦️I don’t know exactly in 100% my real situation. And when I think I m good everything becomes bad: sins, problems..
So real bro, it just builds ur pride just a bit and ur pride too man. What do u understand based on salvation in this video?🤷🏾♂️☦️
That might be God trying to humble you, speaking from my experience. It’s not by our righteousness that we are saved, but his, so we can’t have confidence in our righteousness saying, “oh I’m doing well today.” Instead we should say, “Thank you lord for allowing your righteousness to dwell in and shine through me.” Because he took the punishment of our disobedience. His blood was spilled so ours wouldn’t be on the day of judgement, and because we have faith in that, and because we are born again by that faith, and since the spirit thought it fitting to dwell in and instruct us, we can be certain that we are his forever, rightful heirs to the kingdom
Thank you so much for this channel.
Very helpful responses. Thank you for sharing.
Glory to God!!!! Ty for sharing
Excellent response
Sincerely good explanations and discussion.
Thank you
Thank you for this video, Fr.Zechariah explained it so well.
This is such an amazing explanation. His way of explaining how those burnings could continue into the next world… I’ve been really struggling to accept this idea but now it makes sense. Lord have mercy. Thank you Fr. Zechariah!!
I’ve really looked into the Orthodoxy. Because I’m Protestant. After listening. It’s just a different way of describing living a Christian life while walking with Jesus daily. We profess and ask Yeshua for salvation. Then Yeshua walks with us on our journey through life to make us Christ like. It’s a journey. But either way it’s about asking for the precious gift of salvation. And in that choice we crucify our flesh daily so we can cling to the hope and promise of salvation. The answer is Yeshua! A relationship and surrender to Christ alone! He is our assurance and our salvation! That’s why the most important thing is living and walking with Yeshua every moment! He will guide and convict us! Hell is real. But God is greater than all! Salvation is through the blood of Yeshua alone! ❤
It’s not a “different way” it’s the only way to explain Christianity. As St.Athanasius said in the 4th century (an important church father at the nicene council) “Orthodoxy is what Christ taught, the apostles preached, the fathers kept” God bless you and I hope God brings you home to the church he established which is the Orthodox Church!
I think the difference is your mindset is that you have the power to crucify your flesh through choice. Your crucifixion and humiliation in him are outside of yourself and your control. I see your message and connection. May the Lord have mercy on us all. Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners. All sinners.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Hope and also trust
A confident hope, a blessed hope and 1 John 5:13 one can know in Christ that they possess eternal life. Christ be our sure hope to the end. Amen.❤
Great talk!
Astounding rubbish !
Gal 3:13 "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us." Roman joke after the temple fell. Romans created Jesus Christ & left us the evidence to prove it is Roman parody, clearly, so anyone can understand.
A still tongue makes a happy life. Questions: a burden to others, a prison for oneself. It is not what goes into a man that condemns him, but what come out. These speak with the vocabulary of fiction as if we did not know Moses was the world's worst navigator. That's what happens when you follow someone with one foot in The Garden of Eden. We are told it is polite to pray, ignoring nothing fails like prayer in a children's hospital, & have faith, as if having it, you could get mountains to follow orders. Men have always known God is a tool of fiction.
Question.
Chosen, or exploited?
What makes you think your faith is respectable?
Men have always known God as a tool of fiction & nothing fails like prayers in a children's hospital. How is it possibly ethical to suggest the equivalent of a notion we all travel with one foot in a stranger's fantasyland, using fictional vocabulary: prophecy, prayer, etc.? Moses: World's worst navigator leads everyone following as if one travels best with one foot in The Garden of Eden.
Believers mindlessly suggest it is a good idea for us to suspend our disbelief, granting God made Mormons so Christians would know how Jews feel. Jesus Christ says faith is worthless as a mustard seed when it comes to telling mountains to move with expectations of obedience. The Christian gospels have a joke called the zombie apocalypse and they are played to embarrassment about it now. The gospels have given us the new Jews, but this one gives guidance to eat the body & drink the blood, which is abhorrent, this is what comes of putting the new wine of Christ into an old Jew wineskin. Atwill rests upon great shoulders & now we know the joke. Jesus says, think not I come with peace, but sword, & lists more horrors of The Teacher. What makes you think your faith is respectable?
See videos:
New research expands on J Atwill's discovery that the story of Jesus is a parody of Emperor' Titus' victories.
Paul the Apostle: Liar and Conman | James Valliant, Rabbi Tovia Singer
Psalm 22:16 Dead Sea Scrolls and some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Septuagint and Syriac; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text me, / like a lion
This verse, which is Psalm 22:17 in the Hebrew verse numbering, reads in most versions of the Masoretic Text as: כארי ידי ורגלי, which may be read literally as "like a lion my hands and my feet".
Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce[b] my hands and my feet.
@@Stupidityindex why even watch the video? Start your own church since you know it all. Have a nice day.
@@tonybaloney5877 The video is rubbish. You don't put the new wine of Christ in an old wineskin. I'm here for the comments. If Christians did not have a fake, made-up, religion, then:
Why are the Jews unconvinced?
There is no point in preaching to the quire. You are among your kind, trying to maintain a delusion.
The faithful have no standing, they talk among themselves. My sheep hear My voice.
Gal 3:13 "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us." Roman joke after the temple fell. Romans created Jesus Christ & left us the evidence to prove it is Roman parody, clearly, so anyone can understand.
A still tongue makes a happy life. Questions: a burden to others, a prison for oneself. It is not what goes into a man that condemns him, but what come out. These speak with the vocabulary of fiction as if we did not know Moses was the world's worst navigator. That's what happens when you follow someone with one foot in The Garden of Eden. We are told it is polite to pray, ignoring nothing fails like prayer in a children's hospital, & have faith, as if having it, you could get mountains to follow orders. Men have always known God is a tool of fiction.
Question.
Chosen, or exploited?
What makes you think your faith is respectable?
Men have always known God as a tool of fiction & nothing fails like prayers in a children's hospital. How is it possibly ethical to suggest the equivalent of a notion we all travel with one foot in a stranger's fantasyland, using fictional vocabulary: prophecy, prayer, etc.? Moses: World's worst navigator leads everyone following as if one travels best with one foot in The Garden of Eden.
Believers mindlessly suggest it is a good idea for us to suspend our disbelief, granting God made Mormons so Christians would know how Jews feel. Jesus Christ says faith is worthless as a mustard seed when it comes to telling mountains to move with expectations of obedience. The Christian gospels have a joke called the zombie apocalypse and they are played to embarrassment about it now. The gospels have given us the new Jews, but this one gives guidance to eat the body & drink the blood, which is abhorrent, this is what comes of putting the new wine of Christ into an old Jew wineskin. Atwill rests upon great shoulders & now we know the joke. Jesus says, think not I come with peace, but sword, & lists more horrors of The Teacher. What makes you think your faith is respectable?
See videos:
New research expands on J Atwill's discovery that the story of Jesus is a parody of Emperor' Titus' victories.
Paul the Apostle: Liar and Conman | James Valliant, Rabbi Tovia Singer
Psalm 22:16 Dead Sea Scrolls and some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Septuagint and Syriac; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text me, / like a lion
This verse, which is Psalm 22:17 in the Hebrew verse numbering, reads in most versions of the Masoretic Text as: כארי ידי ורגלי, which may be read literally as "like a lion my hands and my feet".
Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce[b] my hands and my feet.
@@Stupidityindex well enjoy the comments then! Yay!
@@tonybaloney5877 I'm just here for the gold, vestments & high ceilings, not that I could afford to heat something of that size, which I'm sure is empty most of the time.
❤✌⛪🙏☦GOD BE WITH US IN OUR FIGHT AGAINST EVIL ☦🙏🕊🌟💪
Work out your salvation in fear and trembling....Phil 2:12...Viva Cristo Rey! from a Catholic friend...
"Kingdom of God is within you."
And so is "Hell".
When your mind burns in rage, hatred, jealousy, that's when you are in Hell; that's when you yourself become a demon.
And when the fires of hatred, greed, ignorance stop burning in your mind, when the mind is flooded with equanimity, love towards oneself and the world, kindness, gentleness, that's when you are in Heaven; that's when you yourself become Godlike.
I agree on this.
Alleluia
“Are you saved?”
“That’s a good question.”
Well said. Argument over.
Ephesians 1:7
In whom we have redemption through HIS BLOOD, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
1 John 3:21 - Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
John 5:24
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on HIM that sent ME, hath everlasting life, and SHALL NOT come into condemnation; but IS PASSED from death unto life.
..amen, amen..
I've come to see Hell as a "place" where forgiveness does not exist. If we turn from Christ, that's what we have.
My whole life I felt like there was no way out. No escape from all the bad things I had done. I was pathetic. I was horrible. And so was everyone else.
That mentality leads to despair and suffering, and hatred of the self, of others and even God himself.
Once I realized that God could actually love me despite my sins, that I could repent and work on putting things right in the Creator's eyes, my suffering and hatred began to abate.
But imagine what I described being ETERNAL. A world where there is no way out. You pay for every mistake. Over and over and over. You even pay for others mistakes. So you try to punish others to escape your own torture. But it's just a cycle that repeats itself and somehow grows worse and worse...forever.
Without this idea of redemption, we are screwed. Even if there is no Heaven or Hell beyond...we can actually create places like this on Earth, and have many times.
So I'll go with Christ. I'll put my faith in Him if it means we can all avoid that Hell, and build something worthwhile for us all.
I understand your struggle and feelings. You described how I've felt too. It's a desperate place to be. Hugs friend.
@@sarahrodriguez4040 Thanks. Getting better everyday I think. I have Him to thank for it. Trying to get better at saying that. I hope you're in the same boat.
Me too:)
Regarding peace of mind and salvation, I like Paul's attitude in Phil 3, and also 4. He seems confident in his relationship with the Lord, but neither does he presume upon the grace of God.
☦️🕊🔥📿🙏
You know that you are saved if you have an extremely deep love in GOD - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A REAL LOVE!
But how to distinguish between real love for God and a false idea that you have this love? Real love is humble, without a speck of pride. But pride can be extremely subtle, you may not notice it.
Salvation is JESUS CHRIST! .... We experience salvation (past, present,future) through the means of grace and grace-evidenced lifestyle of repentance - through sanctifying grace.
I have concluded I am worthy of hell, might as well enjoy the little time I have left with christ.
That almost sounds like what Christ's neighbour on the other cross realized. Grace to you ❤
This guy looks like Saint Sophronys little brother
"and her gates will never be shut".... the voice will call from within "come all who are thirsty". Everyone will receive their own Damascus road experience, in this life or the next.
In all my TH-cam experience those pesky ads have never disturbed me more than when watching videos from this channel.
I try to see them as a stark reminder to pay close attention lol i rewind to just before he's interrupted by the ad and i just listen even harder
SEALED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT STAMPED AND READY TO GO NOT EMPTY JESUS IN ME. ASSURANCE GOD WITH US NOT AFRAID TO DIE I GOT JESUS IN ME..
The faithful can have assurance of heaven if they adhere to Christ's warnings in Matthew 15:18-20, Revelation 21:8 and 22:15 and the apostle Paul's in Ephesians 5:3-7, Colossians 3:5-6, Galatians 5:19-21, and I Corinthians 6:9-11.
Romans 3:24-26
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through FAITH IN HIS BLOOD, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
For me it's endless salvation to keep rules keep COMMANDMENTS of the LORD JESUS CHRIST✝️🙏 LISTEN
☦️☦️☦️
Do not forget Matthew 7:21-23.
We will get to heaven one day and be surprised who is there! I’ve heard that all my life. God bless our orthodox brothers and sisters. Jesus is LORD!
We may also be surprised who Isn't there as well....
Can you speak about how God speak to us
Through bible
every one that have neardeath experience knows that light is aproaching or you talk with light beings even accidents you see your self almost departing from you body everything turning to bright and warm it is real phenomen even its not yet salvation
My brothers and sisters. I just propose a question.. when will the church start taking NDE's seriously? The data, and research on them has grown exponentially.
Can you speak about how God speak to us
Νοbody knows about their afterlife except the minority of saint's and talking about saints I remember Saint Paisios used to say I want all of us go to paradise or all to hell.
I’m a Christian from a Protestant background who’s looking into both Catholicism and orthodoxy. My biggest question surrounds extra ecclesiam nulla sallus. The thing I fail to understand about this is how my salvation can be based on my intellectual ability to separate right from wrong when it comes to theology and therefore choose the right church between the two I formerly mentioned. Any explanations surrounding this would be greatly appreciated. God bless!
I'm a Roman Rite Catholic, five years in. Grew up Methodist. Although I have no regrets, I love what the Orthodox Church has. I think we focus on our differences and it exaggerates them, sometimes online it's for clicks which is gross and sad. The theological issues from my POV are mostly based on terminology and emphasis. I've never come across a passage from scripture, a homily, or writing which made me say, damn, I'm switching.
I think the normative means of reaching for/ preparing for salvation are found in the valid sacraments. The rest of it- the thing I worry about- is the state of my soul.
You can't be perfect, just like Father says here. Can you deal with all the bs to be in communion with the Pope? I think it's worth it and I think after Trump, Francis gets the most abuse from the press in the world, so there's a lot of noise which I am still learning to tune out.
I think it's less time to join and I'm sure there are more options for Catholic parishes for you. I went to confession on my lunch break today. I'm 5 minutes away from 3-5 parishes, can go to mass every day and have a TLM service less than 10 minutes away but I live in a city. Which is why my kids go to the Catholic School. There's a local Catholic radio station I listen to all day. All of those wonderful blessings won't get me to heaven if I'm not ready and of course, without God's grace.
Have you visited parishes? That's what I would recommend. RCIA starts in the fall. God bless you.
The soteriology of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church are totally different
@@sphodgeswhat’s the difference
@@exposingtruth600hi. I by no means would dare to tackle the answer to your question, but there are important differences. (Which i say with sadness.)
By all means, keep watching these and the excellent Orthodox sites available. I HOPE you contact an Orthodox church and talk to the priest and hear first hand... and attend some services.
It is ultimately the services that draw us to the Orthodox Church.
☦📿💝📿☦
1 John 5:11-13
11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Amén
"Kingdom of God is within you."
And do is "Hell".
When your mind burns in rage, hatred, jealousy, that's when you are in Hell; that's when you yourself become a demon.
And when the fires of hatred, greed, ignorance stop burning in your mind, when the mind is flooded with equanimity, love towards oneself and the world, kindness, gentleness, that's when you are in Heaven; that's when you yourself become Godlike.
Grew up catholic, believed in Jesus, knew the stories, was very skeptical, very secular country and surroundings, higher education, never understood the gospel, really. So I fell away at age 18 and got saved at 48.
I'm searching for a spiritual family or home since then. I looked into orthodoxy and it attracts me with much wisdom and sound, grounded teachings and a spirituality I don't see in the protestant branches. But also a lot of what I very much deem unbiblical, even idolatery or wichcraft, just like the catholics. Even though I like rituals, incense etc. - I think it's smoke and mirrors and not important or even misleading. It went wrong and became pagan and anti-semitic with Constantin.
But the concept of theosis to me is much more "logical" or "natural" then "being saved" especially "once saved, always save".
I was struggling with "being saved" and "becoming more like Christ" for quite some time. I asked God "What is it?!" And I think I got an answer. It's both.
Yes, when I die I will be save, but I will only die when I'm ready.
And though, in a certain sense, hell is separation (a casting out of Paradise), in truth, there is no separation, for all of this (both heaven and hell) is encompassed within God who is the all-consuming fire, of which within the darkest of places, Christ (who has descended to the deepest of hells on behalf of all humanity) embraces those who are utterly lost, no matter how resistant of their “free will” they are to His love.
The Orthodox Church doesn't teach universalism.
What is that image of hell? People sitting at a table with a feast laid out before them, but they can't eat any of it because the utensils are too long to get it to their mouths. And no one thinks to feed the other.
I am new to Orthodoxy, I was chrismated about a year ago. Coming out of protestant background, I’m still learning, my daughter went to her first youth camp she had fun but what she found strange is they played gangster, rap for their gatherings and the music had profanity in it also for their dances. I don’t agree with this kind of music I know it’s not of God. I don’t know what to think. Maybe you can help me to understand. Is this a mistake or something I should be concerned about? Protestant youth camps did not do such things.
Lol, you think a central tenet of the 2000 year old orthodox church is playing Gangster rap?
Are you trolling?
@@D4NK1 How old are you? Do your parents know your on the web? These conversations are for adults.
As far trolling I don’t understand kid language I’m an adult
@@believer8793 I have been an Orthodox Christian for 33 years and have never seen nor heard anyone say they have seen what you have described.
You're implying that this is something that is a part of the religion that people should be concerned about.
It would be one thing if you said , I sent my daughter to an orthodox youth camp and it was badly organised. Or if you felt that some aspect of the liturgy was incorrect, But the implication of your comment is that gangster rap is a part of the religion "this music is not of god, should I be concerned?"
If what you said happened, assuming your not just trolling, you don't need to be a theologian to realize that it's a personal decision of the camp organizer to choose that music
@@D4NK1 You don’t wanna know the Truth? You want me to lie? Do you not read your Bible? I spoke to a priest and he believed me. Wake up and understand the times…. Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God,[a] which he bought with his own blood.[b] 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. I hope you don’t have children. If your child tells you something is going on with them at church you sound like you would not believe them. You lack discernment and discretion
@@D4NK1 Also if you find this does go on your world will crumble. Then what? You live in fantasy world guy. Consider I’m telling the truth… I would NEVER imply something that your assuming. Do you listen to this kind of music? If you do then your the kind of person who shows up there. I seen your page. Hypocrite, you listen to this kind of music. You said,” I been Orthodox 33 yrs and I’ve never seen or heard this.” Liar you listen to this kind of music…
Listen to scripture over a slick answer.
Does God judge its self? If God is the greatest transgressor of its own law, does God then set aside a hell for its self to reform its self in an attempt to force its self to repent?
If to those that are given much, much more is expected, than what is expected of God?
Is God accountable for its own actions? Does God recieve punishment for the suffering and cruelty it heeps on to man?
If God judges man, but it's thoughts are much higher than man, how can it escape its own judgement?
Is it not law that how one judges others is the same measure they will be judged, what judgement then does God have of its self?
How can these things be reconciled, without total forgiveness wouldn't God also be condemned to a hell?
And if hell is severe for men, how much more severe would a hell be appointed to God?
Why is such a morale edict optimum to begin with? If you love others, why is seeking for their control and forced compliance through operand conditioning ethical or moral or correct or optimum?
If this is perfect judgement, then how then does God escape this parigdim without also falling into hell?
Thanks for any answers in this regard.
As a protestant do i stand lost before God?
Not if you are doing your utmost within a reasonable amount. You can't overtax yourself. The Holy Spirit reveals to you what you should be doing.
"When anyone blames the imperfections and faults of your works, humbly acknowledge
the justice of such censure, and say: "Yes, it is true, I am sinful, most sinful, I do not do my
work with due care and willingness. Pray for me brother "-(saying thus to him who blames
you)-"that the Lord may teach and help me, by His grace, to fulfil the duties of my calling
and the work of serving others with due care and willingness." Should anyone find fault
with your abilities, say: "I do not give myself such and not other abilities, they are the gift
of God; therefore to find fault with my abilities is the same as to find fault with the Creator,
Who gave them." - My Life in Christ; Saint John of Krondstant
@@despairknotthis was what ate up Martin Luther: when does one know when they’ve done their utmost?
Father Zachariah said it at the beginning. Faith and hope. We place our faith and hope in Jesus. There is no guaranty because tomorrow is another day when we can and will be subject to temptation and sin. It's a struggle. We'll never have done our "utmost".@@tjkhan4541
@@tjkhan4541 This is my understanding, as a protestant, based on scripture. "The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9
"9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:9-12
Even Jeremiah, and the great apostle Paul, here fully admit they did not fully know themselves as there is only One who fully knows them.
We are like icebergs, we as the observer only see what is above the surface. God sees everything, the unknown is greater than the known.
So we are only responsible for what we do know, which isn't terribly much compared to the unknown.
But, there is great comfort in God fully knowing us, because that means his forgiveness is far more important than those who only know partially and offer forgiveness ourselves included. There is a tendency, I believe, to mold God in our own image of our own lack of forgiveness rather than his unfathomable mercies.
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
God's power is unfathomable, unreachable. I believe so too is his mercy, unfathomable and unreachable. It must be, he saw us at our worst, and died for us anyway! For proof, this forgiveness extended to even the Jews who murdered Christ! Which he knew would happen beforehand, to make his mercies even more unreachable, he reached out to them offering an olive branch AFTER they reached out and killed him. As shown in the book Acts chapter 2 below:
"And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’[c]
22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,[d] put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 25 David said about him:
“‘I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest in hope,
27 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
you will not let your holy one see decay.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.’[e]
29 “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
35 until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.”’[f]
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
So I say we need to let God be God, "For it is good that the heart be established by grace." Hebrews 13:9
None of us can speak for God, but we can view who He is. He is far more merciful than any of us. He is far more loving than any of us.
I’ll paint an example that I hope helps. Christ commands us in John 3 to be baptised (born again) so as to be saved. However the thief on the cross is an exception. He wasn’t baptised, He didn’t partake of the Eucharist. Yet Christ saved Him none the less. Ultimately it comes down to God judging us by what has been revealed to us. I’ll be judged very differently from someone who never even heard the gospel because they live on a remote island with no access to Christianity. I hope this helps. God bless you, may He guide you to the fullness of the faith found in His Church. Lord have mercy.
Wonder what this guy thinks of the Orthobros who think Orthodoxy is primarily about lifting weights and winning debates online
You mean the smallest subsection of a group?
If those folks are in a Parish then a good Priest, if they are being open with him, will correct them. I see it in action at my own Parish.
If they aren't in a Parish then they should be.
Informative video. Free google book recommendation: The Divine Secret of Nothing by Vincent Morales
So the Orthodox believe that God is self-sufficient, so he has no need to create us and nothing external to himself that forces him to create us.
The Orthodox also believe that God is omniscient, so before he even creates us he knows exactly what we will do with our free will and that some or possibly even most will be destined to eternal suffering because of their God-foreseen rebellion against God.
If he then creates creatures who he knows will be destined for endless misery and suffering then he is a cruel monster and the creator of eternal evil. If he were truly omnibenevolent, as the Orthodox maintain, he would have abstained from creating even one such eternally-doomed creature that he neither needed to create nor was forced to create.
You can't make your case any better by saying that he desires all to be saved through Christ either. If Christ doesn't succeed in saving all despite God's desire that all be saved then not only is God cruel for creating souls destined for eternal damnation, he's also an inept loser who can't get what he desires. The best he can manage to deal with evil is to eternally sequester it.
This is supposed to be gospel (i.e. good news)?
It sounds like rather bad news to me. God is either a cruel monster or an ineffectual father or both.
The ugliness and moral absurdity of this view of God and reality can't be magically swept away with appeals to "mystery" either. It's too nasty and squalid a mystery to merit contemplation.
..... or this is just how it is and we all have to live with it
@@AJ0223 If you take that view then you're living in the greatest horror story ever told.
I'll stick with the doctrine of Apokatastisis, which says that we're all living in the greatest love story ever told.
@@LoLoCoSt224 both can be true
@@AJ0223 Well, in terms of our experience, yes. But any hell, whether on this side of the grave or the other, must be temporary and ultimately serve the purpose of restoration, otherwise you make God the author of eternal suffering and misery.
If that's where you're at then I think you have a pretty low view of God. Using human "free will" to get God off the hook for the endless suffering of souls in hell is a pretty weak proposition. It also raises man above God and makes man's will supreme over God's will, which is again a very low view of God.
@LoLoCoSt224 yes but people DO choose hell. Anyway I have no interest in arguing with you. God bless you.
Jesus was a successful savior. He died for the sins of the whole world 2000 years ago for everyone. Believers have an early salvation. Unbelievers don’t have life in the age to come but in the new heaven new earth age everyone is made in immortal. Every knee bows and every tongue,acclaims that Jesus is Lord.. at that point, there are no unbelievers. Death is abolished, all the works of the devil are destroyed. God is completely completely completely victorious. All things on heaven and earth are reconciled through the blood of his cross. At the consummation of all things, God will be all in all.❤
Fr Zechariah, are you born again?
That's insulting question ,he is not a cultist ,he belongs to the ONLY TRUTH Orthodox Christianity
@@SRBOMBONICA86 nice try, who asked you?
@@johnalexis8284 I am Orthodox,you don't need to ask me
@@johnalexis8284 if you ask that question to the Pharisee of the parable with the tax collector ,what answer would you had from the Pharisee
@@SRBOMBONICA86 do you not understand the question? Does Lynch understand?
The 144,000 are those who have awoken the Soul. It is a clear cut event in the individuals life where the ego, the inner expressed consciousness, dies. And that's known by the individual absolutely, even if it's confusing to them. They will also have a mark on their forehead, seen from the inside.
quran sura fatir 35:36
As for the disbelievers, they will have the Fire of Hell,
where they will not be ˹allowed to be˺ finished by death, nor will its torment be lightened for them.
This is how We reward every ˹stubborn˺ disbeliever.
Matthew 7:21
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 4:10
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written:
‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’[a]”
Hell is the grave
Scripture says different in the original language text.
Simul justus et peccator
If Christians are truly of God, why are the Jews not buying it & The Beatles more popular than Jesus?
You don't put the new wine of Christ in an old wineskin. I'm here for the comments. If Christians did not have a fake, made-up, religion, then:
Why are the Jews unconvinced?
There is no point in preaching to the quire. You are among your kind, trying to maintain a delusion.
The faithful have no standing, they talk among themselves. My sheep hear My voice.
Gal 3:13 "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us." Roman joke after the temple fell. Romans created Jesus Christ & left us the evidence to prove it is Roman parody, clearly, so anyone can understand.
A still tongue makes a happy life. Questions: a burden to others, a prison for oneself. It is not what goes into a man that condemns him, but what come out. These speak with the vocabulary of fiction as if we did not know Moses was the world's worst navigator. That's what happens when you follow someone with one foot in The Garden of Eden. We are told it is polite to pray, ignoring nothing fails like prayer in a children's hospital, & have faith, as if having it, you could get mountains to follow orders. Men have always known God is a tool of fiction.
Question.
Chosen, or exploited?
What makes you think your faith is respectable?
Men have always known God as a tool of fiction & nothing fails like prayers in a children's hospital. How is it possibly ethical to suggest the equivalent of a notion we all travel with one foot in a stranger's fantasyland, using fictional vocabulary: prophecy, prayer, etc.? Moses: World's worst navigator leads everyone following as if one travels best with one foot in The Garden of Eden.
Believers mindlessly suggest it is a good idea for us to suspend our disbelief, granting God made Mormons so Christians would know how Jews feel. Jesus Christ says faith is worthless as a mustard seed when it comes to telling mountains to move with expectations of obedience. The Christian gospels have a joke called the zombie apocalypse and they are played to embarrassment about it now. The gospels have given us the new Jews, but this one gives guidance to eat the body & drink the blood, which is abhorrent, this is what comes of putting the new wine of Christ into an old Jew wineskin. Atwill rests upon great shoulders & now we know the joke. Jesus says, think not I come with peace, but sword, & lists more horrors of The Teacher. What makes you think your faith is respectable?
See videos:
New research expands on J Atwill's discovery that the story of Jesus is a parody of Emperor' Titus' victories.
Paul the Apostle: Liar and Conman | James Valliant, Rabbi Tovia Singer
Psalm 22:16 Dead Sea Scrolls and some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Septuagint and Syriac; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text me, / like a lion
This verse, which is Psalm 22:17 in the Hebrew verse numbering, reads in most versions of the Masoretic Text as: כארי ידי ורגלי, which may be read literally as "like a lion my hands and my feet".
Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce[b] my hands and my feet.
I am not an Orthobro. Hell is not now, now is Sheol. The Cavernous Earth Beneath our Feet and the Watery abyss. Not Hell, Holding cells. Wide open now.
Hell is the future all is metaphor, all is litteral, all is parable.
Hell is a super massive black hole, of some description.
Listen.
"A lake of fire, which burns forever but emits no light, and cannot be quenched, nor can you escape."
Black- Hole. Or maybe three in a fixed orbit so we can pin the Devils arms and legs down. (IM SO BAD).
This satisfies all physical and spiritual requirements.
Except, it also asks something?
"How long is an eternity in a black hole?"
So, we avoid it because as the catholics will now point out,
"SO HOLD ON, is punishment truly eternal for the simply deluded?!"
I won't touch that one with a nine foot pole.
But with a one inch pole I will say?
"Infinities, come in sizes. God is, beyond infinite. Implying, what? The size of an eternity is not fixed."
👁👁 If you quote me, I'll feign ingidnations.
I thought this was all great, except it was kind of unnecessary to say that "there's a spiritual experience that protestantism doesn't have". I understand you're lumping all protestant denominations into one, but the different denominations that call themselves Protestants are all so wildly different in how they practice and what their personal experience is and the kind of people that fill their churches, how they worship together etc. I mean I come from a small country protestant church and if we have nothing else, when we worship, we have our own spiritual experience! There are lots of things we do, learn and observe but the fellowship with the holy spirit is always our first priority in our own lives as well as when we come together. But that's just me. I'm fortunate to have a church full of people around me who are on fire for Jesus every day.
Fr Zechariah is from a Protestant background and has strong roots there. There is another video in this series where (i think its the one about tarot, crystals, and new age practices) he alludes to the experience of the human soul. Prelest is real bro.
Orthodox never talk about regeneration by means of holy Spirit
The Bible does:
Titus 3:5 KJV
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
1 John 5:11-13 "11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life."
There is no hope in the way you are saying. It is confidence. We are saved by God, not by our good works or lack of sin.
You don't have heaven or hell in your heart.. heaven and hell are real places. Don't deny what is clear teaching. Everything was created by God, even hell.
I see it as a getting a ticket. But if you are responsible you will get in bus, train, plain, boat, show, etc. But there is possibility to not get on the plane... You have to put that event at the center. Everything that compromise that is distraction, ( ...earth is like a soil story) . It's simple actually. You choose Christ every day. Every day.
Hell is seperation from god.
Very Vague ?. What of the resserection of the dead and judgement at the end of time.
You think You KNOW there is a Hell but not knowing how it is??
Apokatastasis Baby!