tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7687886961771238263.post7647328320380088986..comments2023-12-28T14:51:34.281-05:00Comments on Notes on Arab Orthodoxy: Fr. Touma Bitar: The ImpasseUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7687886961771238263.post-13530785630381600052011-02-16T18:42:10.251-05:002011-02-16T18:42:10.251-05:00Yes, indeed, humbling words of great depth and imp...Yes, indeed, humbling words of great depth and implication. Glory to God for such clear articulation amidst times of such great confusion!<br /><br />With all humility, may I suggest "Anonymous" question how "wealth" is defined by our current free market system? I've a hunch that it lacks even the means to measure it - true and authentic wealth, that is. <br /><br />Western delusion seems to have extended far beyond the religious realms of Protestant/Catholic with which we Orthodox are quite familiar. The delusion of cheap food impoverishes our overfeed bodies of both essential nutrition and the true wealth yielded from a sense of place and connection to the land. Though weighty, this is merely one example. <br /><br />May God grace us with the breadth and depth of understanding to realize the many far-reaching implications of the fall, and the wisdom, courage, and guidance to rightly direct our steps towards "right relation."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7687886961771238263.post-60633454852430354842011-02-14T12:18:01.511-05:002011-02-14T12:18:01.511-05:00Sober words indeed. But I have to question the “en...Sober words indeed. But I have to question the “end of the world tone.” Is humanity really any more greedy and acquisitive now as compared to ages past? Was the gap between rich and poor truly less in the height of say, the Orthodox Roman Empire? No doubt we who are blessed to be part of the affluent minority are reluctant to see things as pessimistically as those who are in the poorer majority, but at the same time the opposite bias must be acknowledged by those who do not share in that affluence!<br />The world is a mess; the world has been and always will be a mess until our Lord comes in glory. Should we not read history and know that there have been many points in time where there was much more reason to be so pessimistic? Simply go back about 100 years to the incredible loss of life resulting from the First World War and the flu pandemic. The flu alone killed 50 million people in a three year period<br /><br />Calls for repentance are always in order. The repentance of Nineveh is good medicine for mankind, in the first, second and third worlds. Do the wealthy have a greater responsibility for minimizing the mess? Yes indeed they do, and the Church must never stop reminder them (us) of that. But one of great blind spots exhibited by many critics (whether religious or secular) of profit driven economies is that such economies are the best way to both grow wealth and distribute that wealth through the creation of jobs. Does that happen without the political will to restrain the worst aspects of such systems? No, it does not, but when dear Fr. Touma or someone else finds a better engine of economic growth, I am ready to listen.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7687886961771238263.post-78355250127534960932011-02-12T22:45:43.195-05:002011-02-12T22:45:43.195-05:00This is some pretty sobering language from Fr. Tou...This is some pretty sobering language from Fr. Touma. The question for us, of course, becomes--what shall we do with it? He suggests the repentance of Nineveh, and I suspect he is right. Thanks for sharing this.Terry (John)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07523479530843509695noreply@blogger.com