tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7687886961771238263.post8760945319846516231..comments2023-12-28T14:51:34.281-05:00Comments on Notes on Arab Orthodoxy: an-Nahar on Lebanese Christian Parties' Silence about the Russian InterventionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7687886961771238263.post-7658920709706310632015-10-15T15:53:33.795-04:002015-10-15T15:53:33.795-04:00How exactly will they 'live a good life' w...How exactly will they 'live a good life' when they are dead? How will they help 'the world to live a good life' when they are dead?<br /><br />Do you not see that Christians are the church? <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7687886961771238263.post-72846630865319287222015-10-15T05:04:09.551-04:002015-10-15T05:04:09.551-04:00What is the mission of the church? It is to help t...What is the mission of the church? It is to help the world live a good life. It's mission is not to keep people alive, but to help them live a good life. What is meant by good life here is certainly not material life (e.g. having a nice house, eating good food, money in the bank, etc.). Rather, good life means a Christian life--i.e. a life that follows the example of Jesus Christ who is the embodiment of human perfection. So the purpose of the church is to help us (all of us) live a life following the example of Jesus. Notice here that being Christian, in this sense, is not a matter of belonging to an ethnic group, but rather striving to live according to the example of Christ. What follows is that to live a good (i.e. Christian) life includes dying a good death, which is what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus did not fight those who crucified him. He did not attempt to kill them in order to save his life because it is not this life, in this world, that is the ultimate purpose of living. It is the next one. Here we see a potential contradiction between the task of living a good life and simply living, or staying alive. So if the church is to privilege the task of keeping alive a certain ethnic group called "the Christians" over helping the world live a Christian life, it would be abandoning its mission. If the church makes the task of protecting the lives of Christians its ultimate purpose it would risk corrupting Christianity as a whole. It is one thing to fail to live up to the example of Jesus, but to turn this failure into a virtue is a totally different matter.Georgiosnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7687886961771238263.post-40901235212420174272015-10-14T17:25:23.652-04:002015-10-14T17:25:23.652-04:00Georgios,
In what way does the Church abandon its...Georgios,<br /><br />In what way does the Church abandon its mission by protecting Christians?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7687886961771238263.post-44311282299214362422015-10-14T09:06:36.827-04:002015-10-14T09:06:36.827-04:00Most political analysts tend to look at the situat...Most political analysts tend to look at the situation and weigh on it from a secular perspective and hence totally miss what Christianity is about, what the church is and what it exists for. It is true, as the author says, that "both Catholic and Orthodox, which have not been pleased--so as not to say disapproving--of the behavior of the 'Syrian Opposition.'" This however does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that "churches cannot stand with those who kill their members and threaten their very existence and so they are in favor of every effort that will lead to the return of order and remove the threat to Christians". Churches, or rather the Church, exists primarily to safeguard Christianity, not a discreet social group or nation called Christians. The purpose of the church is to determine what it means to be a true Christian and how and to help individual Christians live up to their potential as Christians. The prime purpose of the church is to uphold Christian virtues. Only secondarily does the church attend to the material lives and other earthy needs of Christians. It does so as part and parcel of upholding Christian virtues. But if the church is to abandon its mission and become the protector of Christians at the expense of Christianity, it is no longer a Church. What use is it to save the earthly lives of a group called "the Christians" if the church is to destroy Christianity and Christian virtue in the process? Did Jesus not say "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God"? The so-called Christian political parties are silent about Russian intervention, not out of Christian virtue, but human cowardice. They want see what serves their interests better. Churches have already condemned it (http://www.christiantoday.com/article/syria.world.council.of.churches.calls.for.end.to.foreign.interventions/67452.htm). They cannot remain silent when Christianity is at stake. In the mean time secular politicians remain silent because they care for their lives more that they care for their faith.<br />Georgiosnoreply@blogger.com