The Sign of the Cross

[Isa_Almisry]

This is the key! Such a small “ritualistic sign” and it has hidden in it a simple and profound way to meditate.

As my patron, St. John of Damascus writes “a small thing is not a small thing, if it leads to something great.”

 

[Isa_Almisry]

And how many people would wonder why the circle was omitted?

xan

jonathon

The circle? is this the-sun-cult-is-the-true-basis-of-the-Catholic-Church nonsense?

If so, then it’s not that “It simply isn’t part of the teachings, beliefs, or practices of the church” you “currently attend, nor of the church” you “was raised in,” but either the church you attend or were raised in or both, is/are based on the rejection of the Apostolic Church.

 

[Isa_Almisry]

Yes the Society of Friends as a whole consider themselves Christian. However, you may find some people who do not identify themselves as “christian” but as “Quaker” or “Friend”…Historically Friends have used “Christian words” to define it’s beliefs…most Meetings of Friends United Meeting and Evangelical Friends Church consider themselves “Christian”…there are those in independent meetings and Friend’s General Conference who do not…we are united in the Light and our common worship experience, not through doctrinal statements or formulas.

I attend a Meeting where the majority identify themselves as “Christian”…but we have some Buddhists, Neo-Pagans and a Sufi Friend…Quakerism is based on an experiential understanding of the Divine…not doctrinal/dogmatical concepts that can “blur” our experience with the Living One

or lead you to Him.

 

[Publisher]

The circle? is this the-sun-cult-is-the-true-basis-of-the-Catholic-Church nonsense?

If so, then it’s not that “It simply isn’t part of the teachings, beliefs, or practices of the church” you “currently attend, nor of the church” you “was raised in,” but either the church you attend or were raised in or both, is/are based on the rejection of the Apostolic Church.

So we have been told many times…as a Friend, I seek to base my belief and life in the Light and “live in that virtue and Power of life in which the apostles lived.”

I know it is not your understanding…but I’m ok with that…we each must “walk in the Light” as we are led and called and be a “mirror” of His grace to our world.

 

[Isa_Almisry]

So we have been told many times…as a Friend, I seek to base my belief and life in the Light and “live in that virtue and Power of life in which the apostles lived.”

I know it is not your understanding…but I’m ok with that…we each must “walk in the Light” as we are led and called and be a “mirror” of His grace to our world.

Better check if the “light” at the end of the tunnel isn’t an incoming train. II Cor. 11:13-5.

 

[Publisher]

Better check if the “light” at the end of the tunnel isn’t an incoming train. II Cor. 11:13-5.

Warnings of doom and hell don’t really sway me too much, actually none at all. I am confident in the One I believe in…He alone will decide my “eternal fate”…so that puts me in the very best of Hands. Like Job I can echo…“though He slay me, still will I trust Him”.

But your “concern”, though misplaced, is appreciated.

 

[Publisher]

or lead you to Him.

If…IF the creeds do lead us to Him…wonderful…but for some of us our experience has been we substitute the “creedal formula” for a Living Experience with the Eternal. If the creeds lead you to Him…so much the better…for those of us who do not share that experience, we meet Him in the Living Silence of corporate and individual worship…

 

[Isa_Almisry]

If…IF the creeds do lead us to Him…wonderful…but for some of us our experience has been we substitute the “creedal formula” for a Living Experience with the Eternal. If the creeds lead you to Him…so much the better…for those of us who do not share that experience, we meet Him in the Living Silence of corporate and individual worship…

A study on children found out (surprise) that married parent households are best. Divorced, of course, were not so great. The great surprise was that the children of unmarried but cohabitating, long term relationship parents show the same problems as divorced parents. Vows and a marriage license don’t make a marriage, but they evidently aren’t optional either.

 

[Publisher]

A study on children found out (surprise) that married parent households are best. Divorced, of course, were not so great. The great surprise was that the children of unmarried but cohabitating, long term relationship parents show the same problems as divorced parents. Vows and a marriage license don’t make a marriage, but they evidently aren’t optional either.

I hold you in the Light.

 

[MrStain]

I was a VERY low church Lutheran (I was burning icons), and I had a similar experience venerating the shrines in Jerusalem.

I embraced Orthodoxy within a year later.

Burning icons? Literally? I thought Baptist to Catholic was a big change. It sure as heck doesn’t beat icon burner to icon venerator (sp?).

Anyways, I learned early on in my journey to Rome about the way the Orthodox hold their fingers when they make the sign of the Cross and that is still my preferred method. It really helps you remember the basics (dual nature of Christ & Trinity).