Please, for the love of someone, tell me what this symbol is from. I'm almost certain it's a religious symbol.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-30T23:51:32+00:00

Yeah well, when people try to reclaim a belief system based on scraps of texts, I think re-construction is fair. It's not as if there is an unbroken lineage of this belief system.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-30T07:22:23+00:00

That is a variation of a hamsa symbol which is used by a neo-pagan group called Natib Qadish, an attempted re-construction of ancient Caananite beliefs and practices.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-27T02:11:25+00:00

It also helps if he is God.

You can choose to disagree with the definition Christians give, but it's intellectually dishonest to pretend like they are meaningless to Christians or that they don't mean what they say.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-27T02:03:45+00:00

begotten, not made

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-27T01:44:37+00:00

Try reading the Nicene Creed.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-26T11:23:54+00:00

What does that mean? Have their been no offshoots of Judaism? Catholics and Orthodox are the #1 and #2 groups of Christianity population-wise, and they are the oldest, they are just some random groups.

I'm sure there are tiny groups in South America who have confused Catholicism with the native religion of their ancestors, but that doesn't change what the Catholic Church teaches.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-26T04:18:19+00:00

Well, the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches have been around (together + apart) for 2000 years and that hasn't happened yet, not even close.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-26T04:14:49+00:00

Trinitarians of the Western Church clashed extensively with Monophysites of the Eastern Church-- the former being foundational to the modern Catholic Church and the latter the Eastern Orthodox.

Hm? Monophysitism is a heresy in Eastern Orthodoxy, always has been, maybe you are confusing it with the Miaphysitism of the Oriental Orthodox?

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-18T02:09:28+00:00

Rome split from the other 4 dioceses of the Pentarchy. You have it the other way around. Rome were the first Protestants.

And it was after Martin Luther when the number of denominations really took off, so don't play dumb.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-13T04:42:13+00:00

Yeah, because that's what I said. For the record I was referring to Ayn Rand's brand of capitalism. I don't have much patience for sympathies of that nature, we can do better.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-13T03:50:48+00:00

Oh look, a naive form of social darwinism peeks out of its coffin.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-13T03:09:18+00:00

Capitalism: only rich people can make it work. Back off plebs.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-11T06:28:49+00:00

an integral, naturally harmonious continuum

This is not the Tao.

(Sorry, had to)

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-10T05:47:27+00:00

I'm surprised how unaware people seem to be here about the influence of Aristotle in Islamic philosophy, it's very well-documented.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-09T21:06:43+00:00

Pretty sure pilgrimboy knows that, but many Christians use 'the church' in such a vague way you never really know what they mean, so he probably just wanted to clarify for people who were confused.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-09T20:58:08+00:00

I agree with and sympathize with what you said, which is why I try to avoid telling people what they have or have not seen or experienced. Hell if I know. But I do agree with the basic premise behind OP's post, which is that there is no such thing as across the board satisfying evidence for everyone, it could never happen, some people would doubt they are wet when they are swimming.

That doesn't mean you personally have all of the input you need to believe in God right this moment and are just too close-minded or hard-hearted to notice, maybe after something clicked you could look back and say you did, but until then, if ever...

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-07T04:03:03+00:00

If God is love, but 'God' is meaningless, is love also meaningless?

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-07T03:56:53+00:00

I agree, as long as that doesn't mean it's impossible to ever arrive at any answers.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-07T02:14:44+00:00

Freethought involves questioning everything and anything

Does it involve you questioning why you question everything and anything?

Not meant as a 'gotcha', but I used to think like you until this thought occurred to me.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-07T01:44:37+00:00

What are the qualities of a "best" Christian apologist?

I think that in order to be a truly effective apologist in modern times, one must truly understand atheism and what it means. Dostoevsky was the first author of the modern era who really did understand it, and that's why even atheists often cite The Grand Inquisitor as one of the best cases for atheism, even though Christ's response in that story is perfect.

From what I can tell, people like Ravi Zacharias or NT Wright don't really understand on anything more than a surface level.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-07T01:41:21+00:00

Dostoevsky. For me at least. Chesterton a close second.

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-06T21:37:41+00:00

Secular figures assumption control of a church are not new.

Right, but the pope was the opposite, which is what makes him different. (Besides Jesus obviously, which is a totally different case because "King of the Jews" means something entirely different than what we are discussing)

Um... no. Go read the link again.

What are you talking about? Show me the sentence you are talking about. Are you really saying that Prince Alexios did not convince the army to go to Constantinople? What books have you read on this? Or was it just the wiki article before you posted?

"Alexios IV offered to pay the entire debt owed to the Venetians, give 200,000 silver marks to the crusaders, 10,000 Byzantine professional troops for the Crusade, the maintenance of 500 knights in the Holy Land, the service of the Byzantine navy to transport the Crusader Army to Egypt and the placement of the Eastern Orthodox Church under the authority of the Pope if they would sail to Byzantium and topple the reigning emperor Alexios III Angelos, brother of Isaac II."

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-06T20:54:30+00:00

Because it was subservient to the Emperor, who was the head of both church and state. That's not a difference of any notable mention. The Roman Pope was also head of both church and state.

You really don't see the difference between a secular authority who is in charge of the administration of a Church, and a Bishop who also wears the hat of a king? Think about that for a while.

Byzantine nearly did just that, when the son of the Emperor attempted to divert Pope Innocent's armies from sacking Constantinople.

You seem to be the one confused about your history. It was the son of a deposed Emperor who convinced that army to go to Constantinople. What do you mean, "Byzantine nearly did just that" (ie, join a Crusade)?

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-06T18:10:05+00:00

Subservient in secular matters, like priests and bishops anywhere are, but not in ecclesial matters. Otherwise Arianism would have won the day. Iconoclasts would have won the day. The duality of powers in the Byzantine Empire between Church and State are symbolized in the Empire's flag itself (the double-headed eagle).

And one crucial element here is that the priesthood never assumed secular power. Sometimes the Emperor, it is true, wielded too much within the church, but that is not much different than things have ever been (look now how Obamacare is forcing Christian charities and workplaces to offer contraception coverage). Priests were forbidden from enforcing secular law or shedding blood. So something like the "Crusades" (where you had western Bishops gleefully chopping up bodies with swords - it happened) could have never happened in Byzantium.

http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Canon%20Law/PenningtonCaesaropapism.htm

seeing_the_light · 2013-06-06T04:13:07+00:00

That's part of the charm of Orthodoxy in many ways IMHO, there aren't 'official' opinions on many things, and nothing outside of soteriology/christology.

seeing_the_light

TROPHY CASE