Dear Stephanos what I said was in NO way directed at you.
I am just frustrated with the whole situation. It seems that most people, even here in the USA are closing their eyes to the EVIL that is Islam.
I was just expressing my feelings and thoughts on the subject.
It is the opposite, I appreciate you making this post. Things like this need to be heard by all.
Sorry if what I said came across the wrong way
It seems to be everywhere.
Movies portray Christians as evil and Muslims as good, schools ban the Nativity Scene at the same time allowing the display of the Muslim Crescent, Children are made to learn about the 'wonderful' arabic culture in social studies while at the same time the Pledge of Allegiance is banned. The news drill into our heads that it is OUR fault Islam hates us, it is OUR fault they kill us, it is OUR fault they take hostages and kill civilians.
What they do not show and tell is the fact that ISLAM has been doing all of the above since the day their so called Prophet lured His followers into his Satanic cult with promises of Booty, 72 Virgins, Drunken Orgies in Heaven and other such garbage.
Enough is Enough.
Last edited by Subdeacon Borislav; 04/18/0701:05 PM.
I personally, knowing and working with many Middle Eastern muslims, do not believe that Islam is evil.
There are people within Islam who are using the religion to pursue their own ends. We see this happening in all religions, the powerful use the texts to sway the weak and uneducated.
One thing that hurts Islam is the fact that many of its adherents in the Middle East are poor and uneducated and very willing to follow a charismatic leader to their own deaths.
Well, if the above posts are any indication of Christian unity in the face of anti-Christian persecutors - we're in a HECK of a lot of trouble guys!!
In the time of the Old Believers, the Cross that they were asked not to display was the three-Bar Cross since the Tsar wanted to thoroughly Westernize Russia. There is more than one historical account of Christians destroying the crosses of other Christians because they represented opposing perspectives etc. (e.g. the "Huguenot Cross"). But today, the three Bar Cross is accepted by all East Slavic Orthodox Christians and others as a normative Orthodox Cross.
St Avvakum the Old Believer was certainly zealous for the old Rites - as to whether he blessed his followers to burn themselves - some of them did that without any prompting on his part and in a number of instances, the Old Believers were burned as part of their punishment for disobedience against the state. At this point, it serves no purpose to villify the Old Believers or their Saints - the ROCOR Old Believers even have an icon of St Avvakum in their Church in Erie and he may be recognized a Saint by the Moscow Patriarchate.
With respect to making war, Orthodox Christians are just as guilty as the Papacy in that respect. The difference being is that the Papacy made war against those it regarded as heretics and schismatics. Orthodox Christians made war against other Orthodox Christians (as one Holy Fool for Christ's Sake did, offering a Tsar a piece of raw meat after a battle, and having it declined by the Tsar who said, "I don't eat meat during Lent" to which the response came, "Then why do you drink the blood of Christians?"
My point is that the Cross knows no Church boundaries. We all have it and now there are those who don't want us to have it.
We should join together to ensure that we indeed do have it, now and always.
Also, the promise of all the paradise and virgins coming with death is nothing new. We have reports from the writings of Marco Polo about the Old Man in the Mountains (Hasan-e Sabah) who trained assassins. It is told that he took boys and drugged them and gave them lives of pleasure, then took it all away, and told them the would regain it all in heaven. So they would sacrifice themselves to get it all back.
THE PROMISE OF VIRIGINS FOR KILLING INFIDELS IS RIGHT IN THE QURAN -their perfect book dictated by God.
It can hardly be compared to some obscure writings from the time of Marco Polo.
If you read the Quran and the Hadiths it is absolutely clear that real ISLAM is the faith practiced by modern day Muslim Extremists. Peaceful Muslims have very little apology in the Quran.
The sooner we realize that Islam is NOT the religion of peace" the more brothers and sisters we will be able to save from a horrible doom at the hands of these "peaceful" people
Last edited by Subdeacon Borislav; 04/18/0701:36 PM.
Well, if the above posts are any indication of Christian unity in the face of anti-Christian persecutors - we're in a HECK of a lot of trouble guys!!
This is the most sensible and intelligent response I see to a simple news article posting on persecutions of Christians in Iraq by Muslims that digressed into "old believers" and other old history not related to present events. Amazing!!!
If you go back and read all the posts, it was Father Serge who changed the topic to Old Believers and took a shot at Russian Orthodoxy.
As an Orthodox Christian I can not stand by idly as my Orthodox Brothers are being compared to Islamic Terrorists.
And if you are referring to the Old History of ISLAM, than it has everything to do with what is going on today, because the modern day terrorists are driven by the same religion as their predecessors thousands of years ago.
Hey they haven't changed all that much, swords changed to guns, horses to cars, but the ideology is the same.
Last edited by Subdeacon Borislav; 04/18/0702:11 PM.
I guess I do lean more heavily to the right than most.....
And yes, we need to be united against Islam, you're absolutely correct!
I tend to get really emotional when it comes to Islam.
As it pertains to Father Serge, I think he is a very knowledgeable priest and nice person.
Problem is He seems to blame all the problems in the world on the Russian Orthodox Church.
I was speaking to one of the more prominent Priest Monks in our Church and he expressed His concern that our people (Ukrainians both Orthodox and Catholic) blame everything on Moscow instead of trying to find solutions to our problems. I have to agree with him 100%.
Last edited by Subdeacon Borislav; 04/18/0703:46 PM.
One thing that hurts Islam is the fact that many of its adherents in the Middle East are poor and uneducated and very willing to follow a charismatic leader to their own deaths.
Dear Domilsean,
That is the problem with all cults. The people are submissive and obey their leaders blindly. That's what makes Islam so dangerous. It also makes them unproductive, and keeps them in poverty, which in itself makes me wonder if that too was something taken from the West or the Roman Empire. We know historically, that in Europe the landowners had always been the aristocracy. Other labor was looked down on and many business transactions were even considered sinful
In Islam, the Muslims are supposed to be the rulers over all, and the menial tasks, such as running the government, or business',was always left to those that were not Muslims, (at least among the Ottomans),or so I believe. The Arab nations have no business class.
Of course, it might not have come from the West, but rather might have been something going back to the dominant Persians, etc. Whatever! It does keep them from progressing in any way other than conquering others.
One thing that hurts Islam is the fact that many of its adherents in the Middle East are poor and uneducated and very willing to follow a charismatic leader to their own deaths.
Look at the map. Look at the poorest countries in the world, look at the countries who are at war with their neighbors, look at the countries where there is constant civil war. You will find one constant. Almost all of them have large Islamic populations.
I submit that it is their religion that is keeping them poor and at war.
Last edited by Subdeacon Borislav; 04/18/0703:58 PM.
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