Don’t Feed Yourself to the Water Dragons
Let’s not feed ourselves to the water dragons. Let’s enter with Jesus into the waters to crush the heads of the dragons who lurk there.
Author: Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
The Very Rev. Archpriest Andrew Stephen Damick is pastor of St. Paul Orthodox Church of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, author of Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy, Bearing God and An Introduction to God. He is also host of the Amon Sûl, Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy and Roads from Emmaus podcasts on Ancient Faith Radio, co-host of The Areopagus podcast, and he is a frequent speaker at lectures and retreats both in parishes and in other settings. You can follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
16 Realistic Observations about Orthodoxy Online
Since I’ve been online for over 25 years now, and around Orthodoxy online for more than 22 of them, I thought I would mention some things I’ve noticed over the years.
Moral Revisionism is Irrational and Anti-Christian
If we are to believe the moral revisionists, it’s possible that what brings you death today might instead bring you life tomorrow. This is nonsense, and this is anti-Christian nonsense.
Moral Revisionism is Just Bad Protestantism
The claim that dogma is absolute but morality can be revised is a repackaging of a sixteenth-century Protestant dilemma, conditioned by a seventeenth-century German Protestant movement.
Morality is the Original Dogma
When you see people claiming that dogma is non-negotiable but morality can be revised, you can remind them that the original dogma was about morality and also about idolatry. And since those two things are always linked in Scripture, you can also use your discernment to figure out what they’re worshiping instead of the one true God.
Exorcism is Central to the Gospel
This world has many dimensions that we do not see. And they would be frightening if the Lord opened our eyes fully to their reality.
The Reintegration of the Christian
We are fragmented. We are compartmentalized. If we will seek to reintegrate our lives by prayer being in everything and by everything being in prayer, then I believe that we will find new joy, a new song, new vitality in each of our lives and in our common life both as a parish and as the whole Orthodox Church.
What Would Happen If God Just Showed Up?
Imagine God jumped onto the world stage in an obvious manner. By what measure would we know beyond a doubt that that is God? How do we know that most people wouldn’t think we were being visited by an alien from another world? What about a mass hallucination? What about a massive government conspiracy? How would we know what God would look like such that we could be sure it was really Him? That presupposes some prior knowledge of what to look for when God shows up. If God showed up, would we even know or believe it was really Him?