Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, thanks for tuning in today. I have the
Speaker 1: opportunity to answer some questions that have been posed by
Speaker 1: our listeners and sent into patristic nectar. So here we go.
Speaker 1: Welcome to our Q and A. This question is about
Speaker 1: how to do violence against the passions? Give me your blessing, Father.
Speaker 1: I want to root out as much sin out of
Speaker 1: my heart and mind as possible on this side of
Speaker 1: the grave. But i''m sure as to how to accomplish this.
Speaker 1: How do I do violence against the old man and
Speaker 1: tank the kingdom of heaven by force? Please please help me,
Speaker 1: and thank you very much. That's from David Austin. Great question, David,
Speaker 1: fantastic question. And this is what I would say. I
Speaker 1: want you to think with me about your spiritual acquisition
Speaker 1: with the image of the rabbit and the what is it,
Speaker 1: the rabbit and the hair, the tortoise and the hair.
Speaker 1: I want you to think with me about the relationship
Speaker 1: with the tortoise and the hair with regards to spiritus.
Speaker 1: Many people, when they are inspired by a word from
Speaker 1: Jesus or they come to church and they see so
Speaker 1: much beauty, they want to gather it as quickly as possible.
Speaker 1: It's a very natural feeling. But you want your Christian
Speaker 1: life to be a matter of conviction, a matter of principle.
Speaker 1: When you feel like it, you run to the top
Speaker 1: of the mountain. And then when you don't feel like it,
Speaker 1: you don't do anything, and you end up just rolling
Speaker 1: back down to the place where you started. You actually
Speaker 1: made no progress at all. The important thing is consistency.
Speaker 1: I would say start where you are. For instance, learn
Speaker 1: to keep a basic prayer discipline, what we call a
Speaker 1: canona or a prayer rule. Make the agreement with your
Speaker 1: father confessor, make your agreement with your pastor. Let him
Speaker 1: look at it and say, this has seem reasonable to you.
Speaker 1: And you want to make your prayer discipline something that
Speaker 1: you can actually accomplish. It's something that you do on
Speaker 1: your best days, something that you do on your worst days,
Speaker 1: so that no matter what, you build the habit, the
Speaker 1: perpetual practice of praying. This is the way you want
Speaker 1: to start. You want to lay a good foundation. If
Speaker 1: you're going to build a big house, you have to
Speaker 1: have a solid floor. If you're going to be a
Speaker 1: big tree with a lot of fruits, you have to
Speaker 1: have roots that are sunk into the ground. So start
Speaker 1: where you are, build a discipline that you'll never break.
Speaker 1: Tell yourself, I'm going to put prayer, my prayer rule
Speaker 1: in the same category I put other things in my
Speaker 1: life that are non negotiables, like eating something, brushing your teeth,
Speaker 1: putting on your clothes. That all takes time, and it
Speaker 1: all takes effort, but people don't think about it because
Speaker 1: for them it's non negotiable. Put your prayer rule in
Speaker 1: that category. Put going to church on Sunday morning on time,
Speaker 1: and going to the great feasts in that category. Where
Speaker 1: you don't feel like you've done a great thing, like
Speaker 1: you're somehow some special Christian. No, you're just doing the basics.
Speaker 1: You're just doing what is it essential? And then once
Speaker 1: you have those basics, then you can make more progress.
Speaker 1: You can develop your alms tradition in your own life.
Speaker 1: Who are you going to serve? How can you use
Speaker 1: your gifts to build people up? These are the steps
Speaker 1: if you take them, to draw near to God, to
Speaker 1: learn to pray, to learn to fast, to learn to give.
Speaker 1: These are the fundamental disciplines prayer, fasting, and alms giving
Speaker 1: that Jesus put right smack in the middle of the
Speaker 1: sermon on the mountain for a reason. They're basic to
Speaker 1: be for any Christian to make progress, and if you
Speaker 1: practice them sustained practice over time, you're going to find
Speaker 1: yourself making tremendous progress and you'll have victory over your passions.
Speaker 1: This mother wants to know how to talk to her
Speaker 1: children who are fifteen and twelve about sex. It's a
Speaker 1: great question, dear Father Josiah. I am writing to you
Speaker 1: because I need your kind advice and support on two
Speaker 1: aspects of my life. How I should speak to my
Speaker 1: boys fifteen and twelve about sexual life without scarring them
Speaker 1: or to put a mark on their heart like a prohibition,
Speaker 1: and how to discuss with them about chastity. And second
Speaker 1: is that I like I live with guilt that I
Speaker 1: no longer want to pro create, and I know that
Speaker 1: is against God's will. How can I ease my guilt?
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, and God help us well. I
Speaker 1: ask my blessing on you, sweetheart. Thank you for sending
Speaker 1: these questions in and I'm so glad you're asking the
Speaker 1: question about how to properly teach your own children, who
Speaker 1: are definitely at an age where they need to hear
Speaker 1: from you about this. Fifteen and twelve about sex. I'm
Speaker 1: glad you're asking it because a lot of parents abandoned
Speaker 1: their duty to this because it's uncomfortable. Sometimes it's uncomfortable
Speaker 1: because the parents are ignorant. Sometimes it's uncomfortable because the
Speaker 1: parents have not been good examples, and sometimes they just
Speaker 1: feel very nervous to raise the question. But this is
Speaker 1: one of the most important areas of parenting. So I'm
Speaker 1: glad you're thinking about this, and you most definitely should
Speaker 1: talk to your children about it. If you don't, I
Speaker 1: promise you your children will get their education from the
Speaker 1: secular society. And the secular society, forgive me, is clueless
Speaker 1: about sexuality and the purpose of sexuality. Our secular culture
Speaker 1: and especially our secular schools, could not tell up from
Speaker 1: down when it comes to sexuality at all. In fact,
Speaker 1: they will teach your children to abandon their Christian faith.
Speaker 1: If there's one area that has hurt our Christian children
Speaker 1: more than anything in the secular schools, it's this. It's
Speaker 1: being exposed to the most grotesque forms of sexual perversion
Speaker 1: and being told that it's normal. This is calling good
Speaker 1: evil and evil good. So to speak with your children,
Speaker 1: I would say the most important thing is for parents
Speaker 1: to model mature Christian sexuality in their own relationship with
Speaker 1: their spouse. So for your children to be able to
Speaker 1: see that you love one another, and that you appreciate
Speaker 1: one another, you respect one another, you hold one another,
Speaker 1: you kiss one another, that you're not ashamed of your bed,
Speaker 1: which has God's blessing on it. We say in the
Speaker 1: wedding service, Jesus put his blessing upon marriage and the
Speaker 1: marriage bed. There is nothing shameful about the marriage bed.
Speaker 1: People can become shameful, but there is nothing shameful about marriage.
Speaker 1: In fact, Saint Paul says, let marriage be held in
Speaker 1: honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled.
Speaker 1: This is Hebrews thirteen, Verses four and five very important
Speaker 1: texts to share with your children. Sexuality is something intimate,
Speaker 1: so it's not something that you treat casually or bring
Speaker 1: your children into the intimacies of your own marital union
Speaker 1: with your spouse. But to talk to them about the
Speaker 1: glory of being one, about caring for one one another,
Speaker 1: and also having children, the glory of actually having them,
Speaker 1: for them to see that they mean more to you
Speaker 1: than any possessions you have in your life or any job.
Speaker 1: But they these children who are God's gifts to you.
Speaker 1: This is very important for them. And then to talk
Speaker 1: with them about their their interest in the opposite sex,
Speaker 1: and to sit with them and ask them, what are
Speaker 1: you looking for in a partner? What would who would
Speaker 1: you like to marry? And what are the important qualities?
Speaker 1: And help them think about this and ask them what
Speaker 1: do you know about sexuality? And what do you think
Speaker 1: is the purpose of God giving you these desires? And
Speaker 1: how do you determine between a good desire and a
Speaker 1: bad desire? All of these are natural questions that if
Speaker 1: you open a line of communication, you'll be able to
Speaker 1: have very fruitful discussions with your sons about this, and
Speaker 1: then they won't be surprised about what they see or
Speaker 1: the temptations that they're confronted with, and they'll know, through
Speaker 1: your good counsel, how to manage those temptations. And if
Speaker 1: they don't know, because you've opened the line of communication,
Speaker 1: they will come to you and ask you, and you
Speaker 1: can also go to them and ask them. You don't
Speaker 1: have to be an expert suitor. God will help you
Speaker 1: make all of your concerns known to Him and concerning
Speaker 1: your question, dear about your sense of guilt because you
Speaker 1: don't want to have any more children. From one perspective,
Speaker 1: it's very understandable, because having a child is a great feat,
Speaker 1: and raising a child is a great feat and often
Speaker 1: an exhausting feet. Sometimes when we're thinking about the burdens involved,
Speaker 1: we step away from an enthusiastic attitude. But I would
Speaker 1: say this anything anytime you find your heart, when we
Speaker 1: find our heart out of a chord with the scriptures,
Speaker 1: out of a chord with the mind of God, we
Speaker 1: should ask the Lord to alter our hearts and think
Speaker 1: of those beautiful psalms like someone twenty seven and someone
Speaker 1: twenty eight, or if you read the septuagen one twenty
Speaker 1: six and one twenty seven. Children are a gift of
Speaker 1: the Lord. The fruit of the of the womb is
Speaker 1: a reward like arrows in the hand of a warrior.
Speaker 1: So are the children of one's youth. How blessed is
Speaker 1: the man whose quiver is full of them. God's given
Speaker 1: you to beautiful children. That's nice, but all you have
Speaker 1: done is reproduced yourself. You actually haven't even done that.
Speaker 1: Because the ab you have to have two point one
Speaker 1: children just to keep the population alive and the first
Speaker 1: words that ever I went into the human ear from God,
Speaker 1: whorre be fruitful and multiplied, filled the earth, rule it,
Speaker 1: and subdue it. Nothing's more glorious than a child who
Speaker 1: wants to go into battle with two arrows in your
Speaker 1: quiver if you could have three, or four or five.
Speaker 1: So even though you're a little scared, make your cross
Speaker 1: and be open to life. Watch what God will do
Speaker 1: for you. This new question is about a man who
Speaker 1: finds himself having a hard time stopping his sins. Hey,
Speaker 1: Father Josiah, God bless you well. Thanks a lot, and
Speaker 1: God bless you. I felt compelled to send you a
Speaker 1: question after watching some of your great responses to difficult matters.
Speaker 1: A little backstory. I've been an atheist most of my life,
Speaker 1: even though I was baptized as an infant. Now I'm
Speaker 1: twenty two and I live in Norway, and i became
Speaker 1: a Christian about seven or eight months ago. Good for you,
Speaker 1: Good for you, serve Christ. You will never regret it.
Speaker 1: And I'm currently going to Katechisis in the Catholic Church.
Speaker 1: I was deeply enveloped in sin of all kinds, drug addiction,
Speaker 1: full of hate and anger and very sexually immoral acts,
Speaker 1: both with others and myself. I'm sorry with you, Brother, God,
Speaker 1: bless your humility to tell me this. I praise God
Speaker 1: for pulling me out of this darkness I was in
Speaker 1: and calling me to repentance. I never wish to go
Speaker 1: back to a life without him. Sadly, I still struggle
Speaker 1: a lot with pornography and masturbation. I have a tendency
Speaker 1: to start hating myself for desecrating the Temple of the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit in this way. But I thank the Lord
Speaker 1: for pulling me out of my despair, Considering I'm not
Speaker 1: a fully converted Catholic yet, I can't go to confession,
Speaker 1: but I go to church. I read the Bible, I
Speaker 1: study the Catechisis. But I feel years of weight of
Speaker 1: the sins of neglecting God and my horrible sexual immorality.
Speaker 1: Especially weang on my heart. I want to cry, but
Speaker 1: I just can't. I get angry and frustrated, and I
Speaker 1: start to doubt if I'm truly sorry. I get depressed
Speaker 1: because my heart feels empty. I'm terrified of having convinced
Speaker 1: myself of loving the Lord, lying to myself, and especially
Speaker 1: lying to the Lord about truly wishing repents, but my
Speaker 1: heart not truly being in it. All I want is
Speaker 1: from my love for the Lord to be genuine and wholehearted. Wow,
Speaker 1: what a thing to say. What a thing to say.
Speaker 1: You're experiencing the horror. You're experiencing the horror of inner division.
Speaker 1: My dear brother, you find that in your heart you
Speaker 1: love God. But you also discover, in Saint Paul's words,
Speaker 1: that within you there's another law at work in your members,
Speaker 1: waging war against you, causing you to cry out, wretched
Speaker 1: man that I am, who will deliver me from this death.
Speaker 1: That's the end of Romans seven. And then the next
Speaker 1: verse in Romans eight one says that there is therefore
Speaker 1: now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1: This is the guidance that Paul provides for people. Don't
Speaker 1: be discouraged because the war is great. And whenever you
Speaker 1: see yourself feeling down on yourself or tempted to be angry,
Speaker 1: don't allow yourself to go there. You said a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1: You said, I want to cry, but I can't ask
Speaker 1: God to give you tears. God hears the cry of
Speaker 1: the broken hearted, and he will give you tears, and
Speaker 1: those tears will put out the flames of lust in
Speaker 1: your life. Keep fighting until you're free. Don't give up
Speaker 1: until you have the victory. You're a young man, Saint Paul,
Speaker 1: I'm a saint John Rather. In his first epistle, he says,
Speaker 1: I write to you young men, because you're strong and
Speaker 1: you've overcome the evil one. Those words are for you.
Speaker 1: You're young, You're strong. Fight until you're free. Engage in
Speaker 1: the battle until you win, and be satisfied with nothing less.
Speaker 1: Don't reconcile with any sin in your life, and instead
Speaker 1: of anger, cry be sad, because blessed are those who mourn,
Speaker 1: for they will be comforted. God be with you. This
Speaker 1: next question is about a jaded lover who wonders what
Speaker 1: to do. I have recently met a very kind and
Speaker 1: godly woman who expresses interest in me. However, due to
Speaker 1: multiple bad experiences of betrayal in the past, I have
Speaker 1: become jaded and fearful of romantically entangling myself ever again,
Speaker 1: what advice would you have for overcoming this maladaptive defense mechanism?
Speaker 1: Thank you for your time. Glory be to God in
Speaker 1: all things. This is from Samuel Grubbs Well my dear brother,
Speaker 1: I think I would first recommend that you watch a
Speaker 1: video that I posted some years ago called the twelve
Speaker 1: Rules for Courtship. I think it's important for you to
Speaker 1: get your mind clear about how to court a woman.
Speaker 1: This will provide a new path for you such that
Speaker 1: you'll guard your heart and it won't be such a
Speaker 1: bloody experience. You should know that, no matter what, trying
Speaker 1: to fashion a relationship is always going to be a
Speaker 1: sensitive matter. This is why the late and great Elder Emilianos,
Speaker 1: the abbot of siemon Opit from monastery on man Athos,
Speaker 1: used to give this counsel to people that even when
Speaker 1: you have a sense and it's clearly blessed for you
Speaker 1: to begin a relationship, put both of your hands on
Speaker 1: your heart and hold on. It's very important to do that.
Speaker 1: Protecting yourself with this protective mechanism of withdrawal won't help
Speaker 1: you at all, So just abandon it. Abandon that temptation
Speaker 1: to withdraw. Withdrawing within yourself is no solution. It's better
Speaker 1: for you instead to put your whole focus on giving
Speaker 1: your heart to God, preparing yourself to be the man
Speaker 1: that a woman will need, the woman that God's chosen
Speaker 1: for you and put your faith in God. This next
Speaker 1: question is about the Book of Romans. Does the Book
Speaker 1: of Romans fit Lutheranism better than Orthodoxy? Hello, Patristic Nector.
Speaker 1: It has been truly a blessing in my life, and
Speaker 1: I appreciate what you all do. I have purchased a
Speaker 1: copy of your book, Rock and Sand. I hope it's
Speaker 1: helpful to you, especially the two chapters on Lutheranism, and
Speaker 1: was very much edified by it. I grew up Baptist,
Speaker 1: but when I attended college for my undergraduate I was
Speaker 1: exposed to different Protestant denominations. Long story short, I have
Speaker 1: been questioning if the faith that I knew growing up
Speaker 1: is the true faith that Christ established. I currently am
Speaker 1: taking some seminary courses through my local church. While going
Speaker 1: through Romans in our New Testament class. I can't help
Speaker 1: but think that our reading of Romans fits too conveniently
Speaker 1: with Luther and his Solas. This makes me wonder what
Speaker 1: would an Orthodox reading of Romans emphasize? Any pointers to
Speaker 1: ways that I can further research this. Please pray for
Speaker 1: me as I look into orthodoxy. This is from Dalton
Speaker 1: p Well, my dear brother. I do have examples that
Speaker 1: you should look into. The most important would be for
Speaker 1: you to read Saint John Chrysostom's commentary on Romans. In
Speaker 1: my opinion, it is the best commentary in the history
Speaker 1: of the Church on that epistle, and I think you'll
Speaker 1: find there that the faith that he articulates is a
Speaker 1: faith that had been expressed from the time of the
Speaker 1: Apostles until the fourth century, and it's kept today. The
Speaker 1: problem with the solas is that they're made up. They're
Speaker 1: made up. This next question is about being offended. Thank
Speaker 1: you for your blessed work. I have a question regarding
Speaker 1: the spiritual life. I'm struggling with taking offense. For example,
Speaker 1: if someone often unintentionally is rude or says or does
Speaker 1: something to me which I then take in the wrong way,
Speaker 1: I find myself inadvertently offended. I forgive these people and
Speaker 1: pray that God shows me humility because I know this
Speaker 1: is my own pride at play. Good discernment. Yet a
Speaker 1: sense of injury and slight remains. How can I concretely
Speaker 1: combat these feelings? Thank you for your time. Many greetings
Speaker 1: from Germany in Christ Boniface are What a great name
Speaker 1: you have. Boniface thank you for your question too, and
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you already know half of the answer.
Speaker 1: You've already identified that your offense comes from pride. That
Speaker 1: should tell you most of what you need to know.
Speaker 1: If you're feeling offended, it's because you think you're somebody.
Speaker 1: And if you were more focused upon your own sins
Speaker 1: and the offense that your daily life brings to God
Speaker 1: and to others, your energy could be directed on correcting
Speaker 1: yourself to be a blessing to everyone instead of expecting
Speaker 1: everyone to be a blessing to you, which is what
Speaker 1: they offended man expects. The person who's offended is walking
Speaker 1: around expecting to be treated. Well, where do we get
Speaker 1: that idea? As Christians? Then we pick up a cross.
Speaker 1: It may be you can't even be saved unless you
Speaker 1: have a lot of offense in your life. Certainly, if
Speaker 1: everyone was nice to us, this would be the quickest
Speaker 1: road to hell possible. So change your mind, my dear brother,
Speaker 1: about offense. Trust the providence of God. Trust that he
Speaker 1: brings just the right amount of offense into your life
Speaker 1: every day so that you can cover it over with love.
Speaker 1: Because if you cover over others offenses, God will cover
Speaker 1: over yours. This next question is on female vanity and
Speaker 1: only fans ooof Hello Father. I saw your video regarding
Speaker 1: the illness of vanity for men, and it helped me
Speaker 1: a lot. It would be a blessing if you made
Speaker 1: one about the specific struggles of vanity for women and
Speaker 1: how to overcome them. I agree with you on that.
Speaker 1: My physical appearance has been an idol of mind for years,
Speaker 1: and I'm tired of it interfering with my relationship with God.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate your videos. They have been a useful
Speaker 1: tool in my spiritual journey. Thank you and God bless
Speaker 1: you Father. Well. Certainly, feminine vanity is a traditional female vice,
Speaker 1: something that is addressed by Saint Paul and Saint Peter
Speaker 1: in the New Testament, where both warn women from paying
Speaker 1: too much attention to their appearance and wearing fancy chains
Speaker 1: and jewels and cosmetics. Simplicity, beauty, these things are wonderful,
Speaker 1: but the idea of vanity, this is a great vice.
Speaker 1: So you're very wise, Dear Sea, You're very wise to
Speaker 1: run from this instead pursue simplicity and the beauty of
Speaker 1: the inner person. This is Saint Peter's advice. The beauty
Speaker 1: of the heart is what all women should seek to cultivate.
Speaker 1: Of course, we should take care of ourselves and you
Speaker 1: should always want to not be offensive to anyone in
Speaker 1: any way, and to please your husband and etc. But
Speaker 1: be very very careful with vanity. Unfortunately, in our digital age,
Speaker 1: the exterior, especially for women, has become the dominant force.
Speaker 1: This is what's behind so much of the social media crazes.
Speaker 1: Women even developing psychological conditions because they're constantly thinking about
Speaker 1: what other people are thinking about them, how they look,
Speaker 1: how they compare with other women, and what men think.
Speaker 1: It's very shallow. This is a very shallow way of interaction.
Speaker 1: So I would say, don't put a lot of pictures
Speaker 1: of yourself on the internet. Stay very far away from
Speaker 1: the immorality of and pornography of only fans. Those are
Speaker 1: for women who don't fear God. And we want all
Speaker 1: of the women who are involved in this to walk
Speaker 1: away from it and return to a beautiful life of modesty,
Speaker 1: because if they carry themselves with modesty, then they can
Speaker 1: have the great gift of a husband who will appreciate
Speaker 1: their modesty. No man wants to marry a woman who
Speaker 1: displays her sexuality to everyone. She doesn't need a million
Speaker 1: husbands touching her with their eyes. She needs one man
Speaker 1: who will embrace her with his whole heart. And you're
Speaker 1: never going to get it if you sell yourself cheap
Speaker 1: like that. Oklahoma Orthodoxy, I'm just getting into Orthodoxy. I
Speaker 1: live in Oklahoma and was wondering if there was a
Speaker 1: church here in the state that you could recommend that
Speaker 1: is true to our Father. This is from thy Well,
Speaker 1: certainly I can. My dear brother, there is a friend
Speaker 1: of mine. His name is Father John Salem, and he's
Speaker 1: the pastor of a fantastic church called Holy Prophet Elijah
Speaker 1: Church in Oklahoma City. I would encourage you to contact
Speaker 1: Father John. Father John's sister used to be a parishioner
Speaker 1: here in my parish many moons ago. In fact, she
Speaker 1: was the babysitter for some of my oldest children, who
Speaker 1: are now grown and have their own families. She is
Speaker 1: now a nun, in fact, an abbess nun a Holy
Speaker 1: Assumption monastery in Calastoga, California. So that family that's called
Speaker 1: good stock, and I would recommend you go see Father John.
Speaker 1: How to pursue Orthodoxy when involved in ministry in a
Speaker 1: non orthodox church. Oh This is a good question. I'm
Speaker 1: part of a Pentecostal church and I have been baptized
Speaker 1: for two and a half years now. I have no
Speaker 1: family that is Christian. I went through things that no
Speaker 1: kid should go through. Who I'm sorry, and it led
Speaker 1: to a dark path until I had a spiritual encounter
Speaker 1: with Jesus. He gave me that love that couldn't have
Speaker 1: been received anywhere else in this world until this day.
Speaker 1: And I've still never felt his presence like that before.
Speaker 1: I just started studying church history for about two months now. Well,
Speaker 1: you better put your seatbelt on, my dear brother, if
Speaker 1: you started studying church history, you know, the church didn't
Speaker 1: start yesterday, and it didn't start in nineteen oh one.
Speaker 1: When the Pentecostal movement started. It started from our Lord
Speaker 1: in the early first century, and he said I will
Speaker 1: build my church and the gates of Hell will not
Speaker 1: prevail against her. You want to make sure that you
Speaker 1: are in the church that Jesus built, not a contemporary creation.
Speaker 1: He continues, I've been struggling so much with confusion and
Speaker 1: doubt and even God. The Pentecostal church I'm at right
Speaker 1: now has been like a second family to me. I've
Speaker 1: come to have a personal relationship with many of these people,
Speaker 1: and I've served this church trying my best to honor
Speaker 1: God and serve God the way he did, the way
Speaker 1: that he wants us to. My pastor sees something in
Speaker 1: me that I don't see in myself. He's offered to
Speaker 1: pay for me to go to Bible College because he
Speaker 1: wants me to become a minister. I've become a youth
Speaker 1: leader and now a teacher for the junior kids. How
Speaker 1: can I leave this behind? Not to mention, I also
Speaker 1: have a girlfriend who I've met here, and we've been
Speaker 1: together now for ten months, and we've developed such a
Speaker 1: close relationship with each other. How can I just throw
Speaker 1: it all the way? Wouldn't God want me to put
Speaker 1: my desires on a leash instead of hurting others? Why
Speaker 1: is there such a tug on my heart for the
Speaker 1: Orthodox Church? Well, my dear brother, what you're talking about
Speaker 1: is truth. What you're talking about is Orthodoxy versus heresy.
Speaker 1: When you're talking about such important matters, this is not
Speaker 1: a matter of your personal desires. You never put the
Speaker 1: quest for truth on hold. Christ is the truth, and
Speaker 1: the Church, Saint Paul says, is the pillar and the
Speaker 1: ground of the truth. If you're never going to compromise
Speaker 1: seeking the truth, that means you can never stop following Christ,
Speaker 1: nor can you stop serving his church, because the Church
Speaker 1: is the pillar in the ground of the truth, that
Speaker 1: if you find the Church, you find the truth sitting
Speaker 1: upon it. We're also warned in the scriptures and by
Speaker 1: Jesus himself many places to beware of false teaching, to
Speaker 1: hold to that tradition which was imparted to you and
Speaker 1: pass down from the Apostles until this day. That, my dear,
Speaker 1: is what you have to hold on. So I would
Speaker 1: encourage you be humble, treat everyone who has invested in
Speaker 1: you with great love and respect, share your questions with them,
Speaker 1: and get to the bottom of it. Sir, you've already
Speaker 1: tasted some of holy Orthodoxy. Keep going, bring your girlfriend
Speaker 1: with you. Patiently ask the important questions so that you
Speaker 1: can plant yourself not in something that's well intentioned but
Speaker 1: a human creation, but something that is made by Christ,
Speaker 1: built upon the Apostles, and has an indestructible reality, And
Speaker 1: that is the one Holy Catholic in Epistol, the Church. Well,
Speaker 1: dear ones, thanks so much for watching and participating in
Speaker 1: this Q and A, I really appreciate your questions, and
Speaker 1: I hope that something of what I've said has been
Speaker 1: a little bit of help to you your prayers. Hey everyone,
Speaker 1: I hope you've downloaded the Patristic Nectar app on your phone.
Speaker 1: It is a treasure trove of soul nourishing content, and
Speaker 1: I hope you'll consider becoming a regular donor to Patristic
Speaker 1: Nectar today