Archive for January, 2009
Ive been looking into the theology of Orthodox and find very little difference between the two except Papal Authority. Can anyone else add to this? Many thanks
The Catholic (for there are also Eastern Rites) and Orthodox Churches are very similar in their beliefs. From a Protestant or Catholic view, the Catholic Church is much more similar to the Orthodox Church than it is the Protestant churches. Pope John Paul II considered the Orthodox Church to be the "other lung" of Christianity. "Ut Unum Sint" is an encyclical letter written by JPII that explains the Catholic view of other Churches and ecclesial communities (those who do not have apostolic succession.) The Orthodox, however, consider the Catholics to be closer to Protestantism than to Orthodoxy.
Although mostly the same, there are some major differences that would be hard to overcome. The two that are pointed out most often are 1.) Papal Authority (As you already know.) and 2.) The Filioque clause
1.) The two churches are set up differently. The Catholic Church has the Pope as its head whereas the Orthodox Church is a conciliar body. Each Patriarch is in charge of his own jurisdiction. Since Rome is no longer part of the Orthodox Church, the position of "first among equals" has passed to the Patriarch of Constantinople. Orthodox believe that the Pope has over stepped his bounds in saying that he is in charge of the other bishops. Also, he is not infallible when speaking ex-cathedra as Vatican I said he was.
2.) Filioque means "and the Son." Originally, the Nicene Creed read "who proceeds from the Father." However, in order to combat the Arian heresy a priest in France inserted the words "and the Son." The Greek East did not like this, but it did not become a real issue until the pope supported the addition. Since the Creed had been made during an Ecumenical Council the East did not think that it should be changed. Orthodox believe that the Holy Spirit has his origin only in the Father. Some people say that the issue of the Filioque is just an issue of semantics, but to Orthodox Christians it is a very large part of why they are not in union with the Catholic Church.
Other differences:
* View of Ecumenical Councils
Orthodox believe that they must be accepted by the people in
order to be truly Ecumenical.
Catholics believe that the bishops meet together with the pope in
attendence and hold an ecumenical council. The people of the
church must accept what they have said because it is an
ecumenical council.
Orthodox = 7 Ecumenical Councils
Catholic = 21 Ecumenical Councils
*View on original sin
Western Christians put a lot more value on the writings of St.
Augustine than Eastern Christians do. They do not believe in
original sin, but only personal sin. People are not born sinful,
but only have the affects of sin (ie. death, sickness, pain.) For this reason, Orthodox Christians do not believe in the Immaculate Conception. They believe that Mary, or the Theotokos, never commited a sin, but since there is no original sin, the immaculate conception has no meaning, and could even be a heresy. Plus it was spoken ex-cathedra by the pope and is considered unnecessary for belief.
*priestly celibacy: The Roman rite requires that priests be celibate in all most every case (the exception being a protestant pastor, usually episcopalian, who decides to enter the priesthood.) Before an Orthodox priest is ordained he must decide whether or not he wants to get married. If he does, he needs to do it before ordination. If he doesn't he has the opportunity to become a bishop. A priest cannot remarry after ordination.
*Orthodox like mystery and think that the Catholic Church has placed far too much prominence on reason. Think St. Thomas Aquinas.
*Transubstantiation: Orthodox believe the Eucharist to be the body and blood of Christ, however it should be kept a mystery and not tried to be explained.
*Confirmation is called Chrismation in the Orthodox Church. A baby or convert receives this along with First Communion and Baptism all at the same time. Babies do not have to wait until the age of reason before they can be given communion.
*Most Orthodox Churches as well as some Eastern Rite Catholics use the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Roman Rite Catholics use the Novus Ordo or in some Traditional parishes the Tridentine Latin Mass.
*Orthodox LOVE their Icons! It makes up a large aspect of their faith because a picture is worth a thousand words and the icons not only tell but show the faith.
*Orthodox fast on Wednesdays and Fridays.
*Number of books in the Old Testament
Other ways that you can find out information:
make an appointment with a local Orthodox priest (if you have one in your area.) Read some books about the Orthodox Church. "The Orthodox Church" by Bishop Kallistos Ware gives the beliefs and history of the Orthodox Church. You might also like "The Truth: What Every Roman Catholic Should Know About the Orthodox Church."
A website that I found helpful is http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/
go to the forum and they have a section titled "Childboard: Orthodox-Catholic discussion."
Ut Unum Sint can be found at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25051995_ut-unum-sint_en.html
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January 22 2009 | Uncategorized | 16 Comments »
My Fiancee is Catholic, and I am christian, but nondominational. I have always dreamed about getting married in this specific Flower Garden, but since he is Catholic, if he dosen't get married by a Catholic priest, wouldn't that make it nonsacramental? We are trying to think of ways to get married where he does not lose his faith in the Catholic religion. So we have been wondering if it is even possible for a Catholic priest to marry us outside of a church, which would not make him lose his religion?
No, Catholics do not recognize a marriage as valid in the eyes of God unless it is held within their church walls. Other denominations however see nothing wrong with getting married outdoors since they believe that God exists everywhere, not just in a man-made building.
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January 22 2009 | Catholic | 10 Comments »
This is a great question both for Christian & Messianic believers. Many confess themselves to be Christian, while others refuse to be called Christian identifying themselves as Messianic. What is the difference? What does the word Christian mean? What does the word Messianic mean? What does history & the Holy Scripture reveal?
Messianic means there is a belief that the Messiah will come soon. Jews, Christians and Moslems may be messianic since all three have the same scriptures in the Old Testament. The difference is that Christians believe that the Messiah has already been here in the form of Jesus Christ and that the next time he comes is actually his second coming to Earth. The other two believe that the Messiah has not yet come and will come in the future.
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January 22 2009 | Christian | 1 Comment »
For some reason my battery icon disappeared. I've tried right clicking and went to customize icons and resetting the default buttons, but nothing worked. It's kinda frustrating not knowing how much battery life I have left.
Try clicking the Start button and then type power. Power management should be an option. Click on it and edit the current power scheme to show the battery icon.
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January 22 2009 | Icon | 2 Comments »
I'm thinking that at least one way to produce these is with RHI (range height indicator) where the azimuth angle is held constant while the radar beam elevation angle is varied. Returns can then be mapped on a vertical plane. Is this correct? Are there other technologies to produce BR cross section images with as well?
Holding the azimuth angle constant while changing the beam elevation is what we use to do with the old 57S, 74C, and the 100S weather radars to display a cross section on the RHI scope. The two major limitations with this old method. One was that you can not take out the some of the false echoes from bad returns. Two, you were limited to the one angle of azimuth (the slice angle when connect the beam from the radar to the storm cell).
With the current computer program, all you need to do is draw a line through the displayed cell on the monitor at any angle or anyway you want to slice the storm and then run the program to produce the graphic. You can even do a velocity vertical cross section too. It is that simple. You can even animated it by running a program to take a slice every certain amount of time (but must be greater than 6 minutes apart per graphic due to the time limitations needed to collect the radar multiple sweap data needed for each set of data). Cross sections are plotted in the vertical plane. There are many ways the computer can do to display all the data…just too many to list for this answer.
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January 22 2009 | Cross | 1 Comment »
I want to learn the bible. I often see people using a reference guide and bible as well. If I want to pray for confusion, how do i know what book in the bible to reference?
It will help you to have a basic reference library for Bible study. Some good books to start with are a Strong’s Concordance, Nave’s Topical Bible, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary series, The Word Bible Handbook (or the Eerdman’s Bible Handbook), The New Bible Dictionary, The New Dictionary of Theology, and the New Bible Atlas. Your library will grow over time but the above recommendations will get you started
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January 20 2009 | Bible | 5 Comments »
I warn everyone who hears these prophetic words in this book; if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book and if anyone takes away from the words in this prophetic book, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city described in this book
This passage is at the end of Revelation. What significance does it have and does any of this significance relate to the Protestant version of the Bible?
Just more phony Bologna
you mean the same unbiblical "apocrypha that was found with the Dead Sea Scrolls and all 73 books of the bible
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January 20 2009 | Protestant | 18 Comments »
Can any Jews tell me in regards to an Orthodox Jewish wedding or Chassidic/Hasidic wedding where either the bride or groom wasn't born Jewish but converted to Judaism, is there anything different about it? Does the convert's non-Jewish family usually attend? Is there anything specifically different about it compared to a wedding where both bride and groom were born Jewish?
There is no difference to the actual wedding. Non-Jewish family can attend as guests, but they cannto participate int he ceremony in any way. Thus the people holding the chuppah up all have to be Jews, any person standing under the chuppah has to be Jewish, and any designated witnesses- for either the signing of the Ketubah (marriage document) or to the giving of the ring have to be Jewish.
A note on the ketubah- it is not signed by the bride and groom- only by the witnesses. The civil legal document is signed seperately, the ketubah does not carry legal force in the civil realm, only the religious realm.
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January 20 2009 | Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
I am well aware that there is no problem what-so-ever with a Catholic priest drinking wine for his own enjoyment, but how about other kinds of alcoholic beverages such as gin, brandy, whiskey, rum, etc? Does the Roman Catholic Church have any sanctions concerning certain kinds of liquors?
Thank you.
deardogm is correct – there is no general prohibition on the type of liquor Roman Catholic priests may drink.
True history: German monks were "rationed" (if I remember correctly) 1/4 barrel of beer per day. A certain abbot, concerned with the unseemly degree of levity that beer engendered in the monks in his care, sent a barrel of beer to Rome and a letter explaining his concern and asking the Vatican officials for an evaluation. The worthies of Rome, wine drinkers, found the stuff extremely unpleasant. They returned a letter congratulating the abbot on the devoutness of monks willing to drink the (to them) vile stuff. The beer-loathing Romans concluded that drinking beer was an act of religious self-repudiation, like wearing a hair shirt or other self-inflicted torture!
(I sure wish I could remember my source for that excellent snippet!)
Jim, http://www.bible-reviews.com
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January 20 2009 | Catholic | 7 Comments »
I just saw a young lady from Millersville College in Pennsylvania say she is voting for Senator McCain because she is a christian conservative and Senator McCain’s views in this area are closer to hers than Obama’s.
So again I ask, what is a christian conservative?
I don’t know and I don’t care, But if any one wants to infuse their religion in politics than I want to stand far away from them. and that’s what you get voting for McCain and Wacky Palin
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January 20 2009 | Christian | 11 Comments »
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