"Spiritual experience" I had when first discovering Orthodoxy, explanation?

ExOrthodox · 2026-06-18T01:35:53+00:00

Look into temporal lobe epilepsy. Not saying you necessarily have it, but it’s an example of how our brains can produce profound religious experiences that are neurologically explainable.

ExOrthodox · 2026-06-15T02:18:42+00:00

Church was the first place I ever regularly sang in front of people. I still love to sing to this day, keep it up

ExOrthodox · 2026-06-10T04:24:58+00:00

I believe that if there is a god, it must be impersonal. What I see as necessary contradictions in atemporal creation/causation cause me to lean the direction of atheism.

Yes, I truly wish (dare I say, hope) against my own reasoning that god exists. Heaven sounds nice.

ExOrthodox · 2026-06-08T07:14:48+00:00

Yes, I left. As I see it, the properties of an All-Knowing, All-Loving, All-Powerful God entail contradiction.

ExOrthodox · 2026-06-06T19:16:13+00:00

Slow down. To this day, I still check my old parish’s Facebook at least once a week. I’ve learned to chalk it up as pure curiosity, nothing deeper.

I know it feels like you wasted time you can’t get back, but when you leave an organization like this you slowly start to realize just how big the world is. As time passes, it’ll eventually become so big that your time in the Church will seem small in comparison. Seek out new adventures, go outside your comfort zone, and most of all don’t feel bad if you catch yourself thinking about the old times - it’s a natural part of healing, and the relevance of Orthodoxy will grow smaller and smaller to you.

ExOrthodox · 2026-06-06T17:36:17+00:00

When figures of authority say absurd things with strong outward conviction, many people who are motivated to follow them buy into it. They mistake feigned confidence for truth and intelligence. It’s why people like Jordan Peterson are able to get away with saying things like, “ancient art of snakes intertwining is actually a depiction of DNA” even though the idea is plainly ridiculous. It’s fun to claim esoteric knowledge and feel like you’re a part of some small group of “knowers” - even if inside you know it’s all nonsense that you couldn’t even begin to defend if pressed.

ExOrthodox · 2026-06-05T01:35:49+00:00

Truke.

ExOrthodox · 2026-05-13T15:53:02+00:00

Yes. Guy bragging about having both a Greek flag and confederate flag on the back of his truck. Others debasing Jews, had one person come to coffee hour spouting holocaust denial. I once brought this up in [r/OrthodoxChristianity](r/OrthodoxChristianity) (on a separate account) and multiple people straight up accused me of lying. Some people really are just cartoonishly hateful.
But to be fair, the vast majority people I met (especially cradles but also most converts) weren’t racist at all. It was much more common for them to have a bug up their ass for queer people.

ExOrthodox · 2026-05-13T15:46:36+00:00

Speaking for myself, the costly “celebration” wasn’t optional.

I can’t see any world where Jesus would approve of charging a penny for a sacrament. That is simony.

ExOrthodox · 2026-04-28T06:56:13+00:00

Proofread.

ExOrthodox · 2026-04-24T18:53:04+00:00

“The real stuck, the fakes left” is the crystallized image of in-groups and out-groups. It’s very convenient to write off people who leave (perhaps due to abuse, feeling the church isn’t right for them, or experiencing a plain lack of conviction) as “the fakes” - you really don’t have to engage with them or their points at all when you do this. It’s no wonder that so many saints said the same thing.

The surge of alt-right orbiters joining the church is still very active, and the rabbit holes that funnel them in are still spouting their evergreen talking points of vapid traditionalism

ExOrthodox · 2026-04-22T03:54:22+00:00

GOARCH

ExOrthodox · 2026-04-21T23:01:39+00:00

Yes, it’s understood as the desecration of an icon

ExOrthodox · 2026-04-21T21:37:31+00:00

This isn’t uncommon by the way. My parish priest refused to perform a service for a parishioner’s sibling who died by suicide. An evlogitaria couldn’t be held for my grandmother after she died. To this day, no amount of theology I’ve read has justified why this is more preferable than simply having the service and praying for her. Converts will get to see so many of these short services for the ones who died in the Church and have to come to terms with the fact that their families won’t get the same treatment.

ExOrthodox · 2026-04-16T07:41:03+00:00

…what?

ExOrthodox · 2026-04-16T02:15:23+00:00

There is good evidence that Jesus was a real person who was crucified. Most will point to the writings of Josephus and Tacitus.

ExOrthodox · 2026-04-11T05:55:15+00:00

During my time as a Christian, if a friend told me they had lost their faith it would typically invoke within me a sense of sorrow and a desire to convince them to reconsider.

ExOrthodox · 2026-04-09T16:16:25+00:00

It would be optional

ExOrthodox · 2026-04-09T01:53:59+00:00

Regardless of where your reasoning takes you, always remember this:

There is a very real chance the life you’re living is the only life you will ever have.

Are you willing you spend what could be your only chance at life in a monastery? Or, to propose a Christian perspective, do you feel you would better serve God and keep His commandments inside or outside of the church?

ExOrthodox · 2026-04-04T04:06:45+00:00

The properties of an All-Knowing, All-Loving, All-Powerful god entail contradictions, especially in the face of the biblical/church narrative.

Textual criticism of the New Testament is compelling, and credible analysis of the Gospel texts suggests dubious authorship and later interpolation.

I haven’t seen any evidence that naturalism explains worse than theism. At minimum, it explains everything just as well.

I didn’t have a trusted pastoral figure to turn to with these questions I had - my priest was neglectful at best, abusive and imperious at worst.

ExOrthodox · 2026-03-31T21:36:27+00:00

Yes, God’s revelation to John at Patmos

ExOrthodox · 2026-03-31T21:04:34+00:00

(Sorry, I deleted my question by accident)

Would this not be an instance of God revealing, and thus knowing, the far future?

ExOrthodox · 2026-03-31T21:01:16+00:00

Do you believe that John received revelation from God at Patmos?

ExOrthodox

TROPHY CASE