NationStates

Nioya wrote:How should people view premarital sex in a Christian society? I've thought about this a lot. I was reading a world building guide about Nioya and there's a part that discusses marriage and sexuality. It brought up how a politician having an affair would disqualify him from office in the US. I thought about making it more about having premarital sex in Nioya. I'm asking this as a more general question about Christian cultures and so on.

Generally speaking its considered fornication as per the Scriptures.

Pasong Tirad wrote:Some good news: Church Militant parent company agrees to pay Fr. Georges de Laire $500,000 for defaming him in 2019. Website is also shutting down by the end of April.

The Church Militant website has officially shut down, with reports indicating that it may have shut down as much as half a month ahead of its schedule April 1 closure.

Unfortunately, the people behind the website may be attempting to create a new platform for their hateful content.

Pasong Tirad wrote:

Pasong Tirad wrote:Some good news: Church Militant parent company agrees to pay Fr. Georges de Laire $500,000 for defaming him in 2019. Website is also shutting down by the end of April.

The Church Militant website has officially shut down, with reports indicating that it may have shut down as much as half a month ahead of its schedule April 1 closure.

Unfortunately, the people behind the website may be attempting to create a new platform for their hateful content.

Michael Voris, proving Haggard's Law yet again

Tarsonis wrote:

Pasong Tirad wrote:The Church Militant website has officially shut down, with reports indicating that it may have shut down as much as half a month ahead of its schedule April 1 closure.

Unfortunately, the people behind the website may be attempting to create a new platform for their hateful content.

Michael Voris, proving Haggard's Law yet again

The man who accused Pastor Haggard of engaging in sodomy with him failed to pass a lie detector test when repeating his allegations. Yet people still believe Haggard is a closeted homosexual, because they want to believe it.

-BRITAIN- wrote:

Tarsonis wrote:
Michael Voris, proving Haggard's Law yet again

The man who accused Pastor Haggard of engaging in sodomy with him failed to pass a lie detector test when repeating his allegations. Yet people still believe Haggard is a closeted homosexual, because they want to believe it.

Polygraphs are pseudoscientific bullshit

-BRITAIN- wrote:

Tarsonis wrote:
Michael Voris, proving Haggard's Law yet again

The man who accused Pastor Haggard of engaging in sodomy with him failed to pass a lie detector test when repeating his allegations. Yet people still believe Haggard is a closeted homosexual, because they want to believe it.

He... outright came out (no pun intended) and said he was bisexual.

Unogonduria wrote:Guys, if you had to be in any other Christian denomination, what would it be? I think I would be a Methodist.

While I adore the aesthetic of orthodox churches, I'd become a liberal protestant. Probably following or at least being inspired by the teachings of people like Klaas Hendrikse and Gretta Vosper.

Pope Francis' Good Friday prayer, 2019 wrote:Lord Jesus, help us to see in your Cross all the crosses of the world:
The cross of those who hunger for bread and for love;
The cross of those who are alone or abandoned even by their own children and family members;
The cross of those who thirst for justice and peace;
The cross of those who do not have the comfort of the faith;
The cross of the elderly who are bowed down under the weight of years and loneliness;
The cross of migrants who find doors closed because of fear, and hearts sealed by political calculations;
The cross of the little ones, wounded in their innocence and purity;
The cross of humanity that wanders in the darkness of uncertainty and in the darkness of the culture of the fleeting moment;
The cross of families broken by betrayal, by the seductions of the evil one or by murderous lightness and by selfishness;
The cross of consecrated persons who tirelessly seek to bring your light into the world and feel rejected, mocked and humiliated;
The cross of consecrated persons who, along the way, have forgotten their first love;
The cross of your children who, believing in you and trying to live according to your word, find themselves marginalized and discarded even by their families and their peers;
The cross of our weaknesses, our hypocrisies, our betrayals, our sins and our many broken promises;
The cross of your Church which, faithful to your Gospel, struggles to carry your love even among the baptized themselves;
The cross of the Church, your bride, who feels continually attacked from within and from without;
The cross of our common home that withers seriously before our selfish eyes that are blinded by greed and power.
Lord Jesus, rekindle in us the hope of the resurrection and of your definitive victory against all evil and all death. Amen!

Today, March 29th, is Good Friday, the commemoration of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Unogonduria wrote:Guys, if you had to be in any other Christian denomination, what would it be? I think I would be a Methodist.

Catholic.

I've heard Christians say the Holy Spirit is telling them things. How does that work/feel?

A m e n r i a wrote:I've heard Christians say the Holy Spirit is telling them things. How does that work/feel?

Difficulty to say. It's very easy to just attribute your own deduction to the Holy Spirit and convince yourself your own opinions are divinely inspired. We used to see that quite a bit in this thread.

I often encourage people to memorize Scripture, if for no other reason that it gives the Holy Spirit the words to talk to you. Many times I'll be meditating and seeking guidance, and a bit of Scripture will leap forward from the back of my mind. Holy Spirit? My Subconscious? Who can say?

Tarsonis wrote:

A m e n r i a wrote:I've heard Christians say the Holy Spirit is telling them things. How does that work/feel?

Difficulty to say. It's very easy to just attribute your own deduction to the Holy Spirit and convince yourself your own opinions are divinely inspired. We used to see that quite a bit in this thread.

I often encourage people to memorize Scripture, if for no other reason that it gives the Holy Spirit the words to talk to you. Many times I'll be meditating and seeking guidance, and a bit of Scripture will leap forward from the back of my mind. Holy Spirit? My Subconscious? Who can say?

I see. Have you ever gotten an answer that wasn't a direct quote from the Bible?

I have a question, Is Tsar Nicholas a saint in every Orthodox Church, or just the Russian Orthodox Church?

A m e n r i a wrote:

Tarsonis wrote:
Difficulty to say. It's very easy to just attribute your own deduction to the Holy Spirit and convince yourself your own opinions are divinely inspired. We used to see that quite a bit in this thread.

I often encourage people to memorize Scripture, if for no other reason that it gives the Holy Spirit the words to talk to you. Many times I'll be meditating and seeking guidance, and a bit of Scripture will leap forward from the back of my mind. Holy Spirit? My Subconscious? Who can say?

I see. Have you ever gotten an answer that wasn't a direct quote from the Bible?

Undoutedly yes, but who can decide what is and is not a unique insight from the Spirit? If it's anything I notice, it'll be a conviction to do what's right in a given situation, to act charitably, avoid lust, engage with the sacraments, avoid vulgar attitudes, to prayer earnestly, etc, etc. Who is to say some of these things weren't my mind or some were the Holy spirit? In the Christian mind some if not all of this grace was the Holy Spirit acting on us and these would be answers (in moral correction, praxis, theology) outside of a Bible quote.

Lower Nubia wrote:I have a question, Is Tsar Nicholas a saint in every Orthodox Church, or just the Russian Orthodox Church?

That's not an simple question to answer since sainthood doesn't require a formal canonisation process in Orthodoxy. There can be a canonisation process, but there doesn't need to be.

It's further complicated by the fact that the canonisation process for the Romanovs was originally advanced by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia [ROCOR] in the 1980s. At the time, ROCOR was officially considered schismatic by the rest of Orthodoxy, though their schism was often treated with sympathy since they broke away from Moscow during the Revolution in an attempt to keep the parishes outside Russia free from interference from Moscow when the national government was actively hostile to religion. Even now, with the schism healed and ROCOR considered an autonomous branch of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Romanovs have a different status within ROCOR (martyrs) and the main Moscow Patriarchate (passion bearers).

The short version is that since Nicholas II is officially recognised as a saint by a canonical branch of the Orthodox Church in good standing (acknowledging current jurisdictional tensions within Orthodoxy) then his status as a saint is recognised as valid. However, this places no obligation on other Orthodox Christians from other traditions to automatically include Nicholas in their own commemorations, though some certainly choose to do so. It's a matter of choice. Here's an example from a Greek church in the UK (though note that the church is named after the more usual Saint Nicholas rather than the Tsar!), and here's the OCA's entry on the Tsar as saint.

Lower Nubia wrote:

A m e n r i a wrote:
I see. Have you ever gotten an answer that wasn't a direct quote from the Bible?

Undoutedly yes, but who can decide what is and is not a unique insight from the Spirit? If it's anything I notice, it'll be a conviction to do what's right in a given situation, to act charitably, avoid lust, engage with the sacraments, avoid vulgar attitudes, to prayer earnestly, etc, etc. Who is to say some of these things weren't my mind or some were the Holy spirit? In the Christian mind some if not all of this grace was the Holy Spirit acting on us and these would be answers (in moral correction, praxis, theology) outside of a Bible quote.

That makes sense. Another commonality between our religions. Thanks gents.

When I went into the other room, I saw a croissant. I immediately felt that I wanted to eat it, since you know, it's Great Lent and I'm trying to fast, but then I remembered about how satan tempts with something of the sort of "don't worry, it is not that bad!" and thought of the serpent in the garden of Eden. Thank God I managed to resist eating that.

Unogonduria wrote:When I went into the other room, I saw a croissant. I immediately felt that I wanted to eat it, since you know, it's Great Lent and I'm trying to fast, but then I remembered about how satan tempts with something of the sort of "don't worry, it is not that bad!" and thought of the serpent in the garden of Eden. Thank God I managed to resist eating that.

I know exactly how you feel.

Time for my favorite buddy cop duo, Flavius and Lucius

A m e n r i a wrote:

Unogonduria wrote:When I went into the other room, I saw a croissant. I immediately felt that I wanted to eat it, since you know, it's Great Lent and I'm trying to fast, but then I remembered about how satan tempts with something of the sort of "don't worry, it is not that bad!" and thought of the serpent in the garden of Eden. Thank God I managed to resist eating that.

I know exactly how you feel.

Thank you.

For the Catholics: Since I will be going away on a trip without my computer, I'm highly doubtful I will be able to say this tomorrow. And for this reason, Happy (Early) Easter to my Catholics! May you [all] be Blessed!

I hope everyone has a pleasant vigil tonight that celebrates it, and a glorious Easter in the morning!

Christus resurrexit sicut dixit, Alleluia, Alleluia!

A happy Easter to Western Christendom!

New Visayan Islands wrote:Christus resurrexit sicut dixit, Alleluia, Alleluia!

A happy Easter to Western Christendom!

A voice from the future!

Unogonduria wrote:For the Catholics: Since I will be going away on a trip without my computer, I'm highly doubtful I will be able to say this tomorrow. And for this reason, Happy (Early) Easter to my Catholics! May you [all] be Blessed!

Feels unnecessarily petty to only wish Happy Easter to Catholics