IGNORANCE, WEAKNESS AND DEATH

IGNORANCE, WEAKNESS AND DEATH

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KNOWLEDGE, STRENGTH AND LIFE

      The human race of our time is not the human race as it was established by God. Sin and disobedience became the cause of many differences. Jesus Christ the Son of God came into the world and did away with universal ignorance, and performed wonders. He came to save us through His victory on the Cross; He made it possible for us to pass through the door of death which Christ had changed by His life giving death, into the door of eternal life. 

     Man, who is born in absolute ignorance, gradually learns but seeks to know much more until if possible, he will know everything there is to know. This appears to many to be an almost infinite desire. Man’s desire is not limited to knowing everything but also to have the ability to do everything also to not die but to live for ever without any fear of death. This desire in men appears in the lives of nations as well, for no nation is content under the conditions they live in. Nations of men detest ignorance, weakness and shortness of lives. They desire to be able to strengthen themselves and change things, hopefully for the better.  Men generally are not content in the state in which they find themselves so they must struggle to move from ignorance to knowledge, from weakness to strength and from mortality to immortality. The desire for immortality is strongly felt in those who are sober and who reflect on themselves, as they examine their desires.

     These innermost desire are naturally present in the souls of men and nations causing them to constantly seek knowledge in order to overcome ignorance and weakness, striving to improve health in order to extend live spans even to acqure eternal life.  An uneducated person is powerless and unable to do much of anything. At times such a person becomes dissatisfied with his weakness and seeks to rid himself of his ignorance, so he struggles to acquire knowledge and with it accompanying strength, the desire to  live for ever and becomes even stronger.  

    God formed man capable of acquiring and accumulating knowledge and wisdom, repelled by ignorance and he is strongly attracted to the acquisition of knowledge. But man is not satisfied with any kind of this or that knowledge, but he seeks to know and understand what is true and authentic which alone can satisfy his desire.  Man lives but the life he lives is far removed from his desires. Also man would not be satisfied if he reached 100 and his life span was doubled to 200 years, because the desire within him is to live for ever and never die, for men consider death as extremely undesirable. 

      Man longs for life and desires to not die but to stay alive, even to eternity. His ignorance and desire for knowledge is the first phenomenon that is his inability to know everything, and the desire for all power and freedom of action is the second phenomenon, and the desire for eternal life is the third phenomenon. These are the three desires found in men: the desire to know everything, to do everything, and to live forever. 

     Man is afflicted with unhappiness as a result of the three, ignorance, lack of power, and a painful life that ends with death. A limited accumulation of much knowledge will not satisfy the infinite desire to know and understand everything, nor would anyone be satisfied with a great amount of particular field of knowledge, for his desires are so much greater.

FAITH HOPE AND LOVE

FAITH HOPE AND LOVE

     The smallest amount of faith begets some hope and love, so that when we increase our faith and trust in the Lord, great hope and love will follow which enlightens, delights and sanctifies the soul. When we initially believe in God faith gradually increases, and from this faith in God who is good and the Lover of man, hope and love is constantly aroused. 

     The realizing of what the goal of our life is and the realization of the extreme mercy and compassion of God causes our love for  Him to increase even more. Faith, hope and love, these three virtues have the true God as their main objective, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Hope in God arouses thanksgiving for hope is filled with God’s promise for that which we desire most of all, which is to live a beautiful life and never die but to pass from this life to everlasting life! This is the reality of everything that Christ accomplished for our sake. For He fulfilled all of our desires and hopes. 

     “And we testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God enters the soul and dwells within him and he dwells in God. And we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God and God in him”                                                                           (1 John 4:15-16).

     Faith has a beginning and an ultimate objective or goal, which is the salvation of our souls. Jesus Christ came into the world to work for the salvation of our souls. The fruit of faith is also the salvation of our souls. We must keep our attention on our objective throughout our lives in this world for we are in a constant state of danger, which is in front and behind us, to the left and to the right, everywhere temptation are established to trap us. The evil one never gives up and is well experienced in his work/ That is why we cannot give up working toward our goal which is the salvation of our souls. Increasing our faith and dedication to the truths of God will provide a good defense. But humility is a wonderful shield which not only protects us but also brings us closer to God who will protect us. 

MYSTERY OF MARRIAGE

MYSTERY OF MARRIAGE

     Marriage is one of seven mysteries of the Church and it is notable that only in the holy Orthodox Church are marriage ceremonies truly holy and heavenly, for they are especially blessed by God.     The Lord originally instituted holy marriage when He blessed Adam and Eve, not only did He bless the first marriage, He blesses each individual marriage in His holy Church, where the man an woman are sealed by the Priest in the name of our Lord.  Marriage is a mystery where a man or woman leave their beloved father and mother, and unite with someone outside of their immediate family, then having their own children form a completely new family.  Some choose to follow the path of virginity, which can also be a blessed state and remaining unmarried but they must serve God alone, and these choices are some of the many wonderful blessings with which grants to those who so desire. 

     Those who encourage or take part in same sex intercourse mis-naming it as being “marriage,” have placed themselves under a curse by calling fornication marriage for they insult God’s divinely formed institution of marriage which joins  one man and one woman. Marriage is a mystery of love and life wherein a man and woman are blessed by God in the Church to live a happy life, and to give birth to children who are provided as fulfillment of marital blessings by God. 

     Christ calls himself the Bridegroom and the Church who is His Bride. Marriage to a spouse is a type of marriage and though it is delightful, marriage to Christ is a much more important and higher bond and fulfillment of love. The Lord our God who formed us and blessed us with free will, made it so that we could love and be loved, not only with and by our parents but also with a special bond of love for our chosen spouse with whom God has blessed us that we may live our lives together forever.  However God loved us first and we learned about love out of His love for us, which also  trains us to love good and hate evil. 

     In His wisdom He created us male and female with the ability to unite and become one flesh in love and marriage and consequently to bring new infantile life into the world. Loving their children and receiving their love in return instills much happiness in family lives for many years. With the grace given by God to the father and mother, who love God first and above all, then by living a good life keeping His commandments, they teach their children to behave the same way and together they all live pious lives, being loved by God and loving Him in return. Children are taught and reminded about death, both its beautiful and ugly aspects, the latter being for the wicked which is the coming fearful judgment.