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| | And here, at last, is the Toe himself:
Hi guys, thanks a lot for your replies. ALthough i usually try to stray
from emails addressed to more than one person, i felt that my response
would be pretty similar to both of you, so i hope you don't mind.
To give some more background as to my original question of why i wanted
to find out what led you to the orthodox church. Over the past 4 years,
since rift, i've continued to attend protestant churches, and many
different ones. I can say, by the grace of God, that i have stayed close to
the Lord through my college life, at Bible college. And yet I've i've
heard of so many people, from rift, or in Bible school with me, that go
through a time of either 'putting xtianity in the closet' or a blatant
leaving of the faith, just a struggle.
Therefore, when i here of people who are making a steps forward in the
xtian journey, I get excited. That is the first reason why i asked, i
think it is wonderful that believers can share their spiritual journeys,
as they help both people to reflect and analyze their lives and see
many different things. We have so much to learn from each other about God.
To see how God has brought people to essentially the same place, the
cross, but in infinitely different ways is truly a testimony to the power
of God and his infinite wisdom, love, and creativity. He works with us
all on an individual basis. So to sum it up simply, i enjoy hearing of
people's stories (especially when they are people i know on a good
level) and how God has worked in their lives.
The other reason for my asking, is that I've thought a lot in this last
year about the concept of denominations. We've all heard of the
churches that say, "We are the only true church." Churches, "bickering and
arguing over who killed who." (okay, i threw in a movie line. I'll give
the answer at the bottom of the email. It's a classic.) Back to my train
of though. They make the statements that they are the only true church.
A bunch of bog in my mind. Churches have gotten in the battle for
people's mind. They want their churches to be full, b/c if they are, that
means they are successful. Along with north american theory of success
and meaning of it. It's garbage, and bog. However, to try and get back
to my point (I wandered kidogo), I came to the conclusion last year and
am still pressing it into my mind, that God doesn't want just the
Orthodox church, or the Pentecostal church, or the Baptist church, or the
Mennonite Brethren church.
Bear with me, i'm not so tech with words, so this may be a conch nini
to follow:
What is the chief end of man? To bring glory to God. What is the chief
goal of God? To bring glory to God. How does He do that? Through his
creation. Through the people he created.
So how do we bring glory to God, is it not through our worship of/to
Him, and our allegiance to him? And the beauty of it all, is that he
created all of us unique. We're all different. That's where i believe the
greatness of denominations comes into play. God wants us to worship Him
the way our bodies have been made to, by him. From what i heard from
both of you jamaas emails, is that somethign about the Orthodox church,
although not apparant at first, was something your body (body, soul,
mind, spirit) yearned for. It was a way that God became real. You also
found a church that met your needs. God reaches us in different ways, and
different denominational churches have their unique way of bringing
people together to worship God. Whether you are Baptist, Orthodox,
Mennonite, etc., we all worship the same God. That's where i've come to, and
i can finally, listen to fellow believer's stories, of joining a
church, and be thankful for how God has led them.
They key part of the church, is that it is the body of CHrist. Not just
the ORthodox, Pentecostal, etc., but all of them, as long as they do
hold to the central teachings of Christ. I won't get into those things,
but i think you understand where i'm goign, and where i've gone in this
email. I find encouragement in the fact that you have found God in a
fresh and life changing way and making this step of commitment. And i am
can honestly say that although we attend a different church, you are my
brothers in Christ! It's phenomenal. It really is.
Well, i'm not the writers you are, so this is probably dot, just like
my writing back at rift, but i hope you hear what i'm saying. I affirm
you guys in what your doing and how God is leading you on in your
journey.
Another question I guess, how does the Orthodox church see different
denominations? How do you see different denominations? I think probably
the best way to approach this woudl be if instead of just writing to me,
to both people, so you guys don't have to double up on stuff. I hope
you guys don't mind getting into this kind of dialogue.
Well, if you have more questions for me, or anything, drop a line. I
really thank you guys for takign the time to write.
Teaching is hilarious. Different every day. So days it's utter bog, and
i get home saying, "i wish I was done" and other days, i'm like,
"saaaaa."
As for language learning, (buddha was asking) i went hard core to learn
at first, but it takes sooo much time. I then had to figure out what
thigns i woudl assist me most when my contract finishes. I feel that i
will only be here this year, and so that made me question learnign
korean. It's ruthless hard, and right now, i can read it, and even that is a
struggle at times. I've decided to dedicate my time to other things,
mainly, discipline in my prayer life, adn other practical thigns,
memorization of scripture, and even practice guitar. One of the minor things
i've picked up is juggling, so i can now juggle and ride a unicycle. Oh
wazi.
It's kinda bog that i'm not learnign the language, and i do feel bad,
but i think that it just isn't worth it, b/c i won't use it again,
unless i'd go teach at rift, where chinkies are overrunnign the place. Well,
i'd better get going. Take care chaps.
Tavos
The movie is Monty Python and the Holy Grail if it had slipped your
mind. | | | Posted 4/10/2003 3:22 PM - 1 view - 0 comments
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