The most popular approach Ezekiel’s temple throughout Church history has been to spiritualize the text and make the temple represent the Church. The cause of this approach is an early influence of Origen from the Alexandrian school of thought. While the Second Council of Constantinople properly declared Origen a heretic, the Church failed to address his approach to Scriptures, such that elements of his hermeneutics would remain for centuries to come. Pavel Ivanovich Savvaitov, a 19th century professor at Vologda Spiritual Seminary, critiques Origen’s hermeneutic circle:[Read More]
history
Tsar Ivan the Not-So-Much-More-Terrible-Than-The-Rest-Of-Us
Tsar Ivan the Terrible was known for his paranoia and terrible fits of rage. Anyone who angered Ivan the Terrible to the slightest degree faced instant execution. He was constantly throwing violent tantrums, and during one outburst, Ivan even beat his own son and heir to death. Standing up to the tsar in those times was an unthinkable act, but one day a so called “Fool for Christ” named Basil did just that. It was spring in Russia, a time when followers of Russian Orthodoxy fast for Lent. Basil approached Ivan the Terrible and offered him a slab of raw meat, insisting that there was no point in fasting, since the tsar had committed too many murders to be able to cover his sin with the act of fasting. Ivan realized that Basil was right, and deeply respected him for standing up to him. In fact, when Basil died, Ivan the Terrible himself acted as a pallbearer at the funeral and named the most famous cathedral in Russia after him.[Read More]
Tolstoy and Faith
Lev Tolstoy is regarded as one of the best novelists ever. He was born in 1828, raised in the Russian Orthodox Church, and excommunicated in 1901. Surely there have been others who abandoned Orthodox thinking to a degree much worse than Tolstoy, but usually such people disappear into ambiguity without their thoughts being recorded. Tolstoy, on the other hand, left behind some of the world’s most epic works along with diaries and even posthumous publications that tell us where things went wrong.
[Read More]
Three reasons why you do not want Jeremiah 29:11 to be about you
Have you ever seen a conversation like this take place between two believers?
Believer 1: How is life going, Believer 2?
Believer 2: Oh, life is terrible! My dog left me and I stepped on a LEGO. Things will never get better. Blah blah blah.
Believer 1: Oh no. Be encouraged! The Bible says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Believer 2: Oh, wow! You’re right! Everything is just swell. I think I’ll ride off into the sunset now.
Believer 1 has just quoted Jer 29:11. If we look at the context of this passage, I think we’ll find that he has actually misused this particular verse (though, I’m sure his intentions were good).
Now, Jer 29:11 is a source of encouragement for many believers and I don’t want to rob anyone of encouragement. So, I have compiled a list of three reasons why we should rejoice that this passage is not about us. If Jer 29:11 was indeed about us, then:
[Read More]
Hanukkah, Jesus, and Potato Pancakes
Hanukkah had begun in Jerusalem. It was winter and Jesus was walking around in the temple at Solomon’s Porch, so the Jews surrounded Him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us bluntly.”
Jesus answered them, “I told you and you don’t believe. The work that I do in the name of My Father testifies on my behalf, but you don’t believe, since you are not from My sheep, as I’ve told you. My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me and I give them everlasting life and they will never ever perish and nobody will pry them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all and nobody can pry them from the hand of My Father; My Father and I are one.” (John 10:22-30)
The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force
“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.”
-Yoda
In the Star Wars franchise, “The Force” is a metaphysical energy source that flows in all and through all. There is a dark side and a light side and characters can manipulate the force to do the bidding of whichever side they align with. The Force is impersonal, that is, it does not have a will, intellect, or emotions.
It’s no secret that The Force was not George Lucas’ creation, but spurred from the New Age Movement of the 1960s-70s, which was actually rooted in ancient philosophies and religions that were around before the Bible was completed. The early Church had to deal with proto-New Age heresies that developed when people combined Paganism with Christianity. The early councils gave us some great creeds (and a cool story about the infamous Santa punch), but unfortunately, some modern forms of these ancient heresies are still attacking the doctrine of the Holy Spirit today.
[Read More]