The following Youtube video is not exactly a polemical work, although other videos from this channel are. It is a musing of a woman who identifies herself as an Atheist.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbi9h24s5fQ&feature=related
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I am utilizing this video to point out an important lesson that Orthodox Christianity possesses and Western Christendom abandoned some time ago. The result of the rejection of this teaching can be seen before you, in Atheists.
Often people in our society, both of faith and of no faith, seem to think that they can understand or imagine God. Human reason cannot comprehend God. It was once said thus: "The imagination is the gateway to all spiritual delusion."
So what does this have to do with the video? Why doesn't she "get it" and what about her friends who "do get it?"
The woman speaking has started with the presupposition that one can visualize God to the extent that they can see Him in their universe. She believes that they can somehow imagine Him. She thinks that those people of faith she has encountered can "feel it."
It's no surprise that this woman can't imagine a universe with a God in it. Firstly, God is beyond "the Universe," He is not contained by any physical realm or concept, let alone our minds.
The ancient Chinese sage Lao Tzu said: "The Tao that can be named, is not the Tao." Many Christians, including the author, believe that Lao Tzu was talking about the Word of God: Jesus Christ, by having achieved the highest heights of human intuition: to conclude that there is a Truth that runs through all things, that created all things, that loves all things. The Tao (all encompassing truth, order, Primal Essence, etc.) to the Christian is Christ. Christ said: "...before Abraham was, I AM." The Tao, as described by Lao Tzu, actually fits the description of The Christ, insofar as we can bear it. But even then, we must ask: "What is the definition of Christ/God?"
In the Divine Liturgy we hear these most wise words: "God is ineffable, inconceivable, incomprehensible, ever existing, and eternally the same." If a being fits this description which we attempt to wrap our feeble minds around, that being is God. But human words and thoughts can only go so far. There is no real definition of God. The very concept of God is beyond concepts, and He is not contained within any concept we think about.
People cannot comprehend God whether they are of faith or of no faith. The existence of God is not dependent upon a believer imagining Him. It is no wonder that the lady cannot imagine God. He is her creator, the bestower of every blessing of hers; He is outside of her physical realm, yet inside of it simultaneously; she is made in His image, yet she cannot see His Essence. He is hidden from her eyes, and wants her to be able to recognize Him without seeing Him as the Truth and love Him; being the Source of all things, and the Way of all things. Those who stray from the Way are pushing against its principles, and making existence hard (Christ said, "For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Matt 11:30). He wants her to turn to Him; that she may return love for His unconditional love. This is the story of all of us, both believers and non-believers.
This woman, like the vast majority of Atheists, have been mentally fed a straw-christ. They have been taught that the angry, vengeful god of Protestant theology who demands blood atonement to appease his anger is the God of Christianity. Chances are the woman in the video has never learned of the God of Orthodoxy, the God of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, the God of the Apostles: the Holy Trinity. Whether she believes or not, she is not going to be able to comprehend God.
Or perhaps I just "...need a short, sharp kick in my delicate sensibilities" since apparently my mind is inferior to the superior mind of the 21st century thinker who posted this video and others, since I retain a belief in God. (If you've seen the other videos, you know exactly what I'm talking about.)
============================================
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbi9h24s5fQ&feature=related
============================================
I am utilizing this video to point out an important lesson that Orthodox Christianity possesses and Western Christendom abandoned some time ago. The result of the rejection of this teaching can be seen before you, in Atheists.
Often people in our society, both of faith and of no faith, seem to think that they can understand or imagine God. Human reason cannot comprehend God. It was once said thus: "The imagination is the gateway to all spiritual delusion."
So what does this have to do with the video? Why doesn't she "get it" and what about her friends who "do get it?"
The woman speaking has started with the presupposition that one can visualize God to the extent that they can see Him in their universe. She believes that they can somehow imagine Him. She thinks that those people of faith she has encountered can "feel it."
It's no surprise that this woman can't imagine a universe with a God in it. Firstly, God is beyond "the Universe," He is not contained by any physical realm or concept, let alone our minds.
The ancient Chinese sage Lao Tzu said: "The Tao that can be named, is not the Tao." Many Christians, including the author, believe that Lao Tzu was talking about the Word of God: Jesus Christ, by having achieved the highest heights of human intuition: to conclude that there is a Truth that runs through all things, that created all things, that loves all things. The Tao (all encompassing truth, order, Primal Essence, etc.) to the Christian is Christ. Christ said: "...before Abraham was, I AM." The Tao, as described by Lao Tzu, actually fits the description of The Christ, insofar as we can bear it. But even then, we must ask: "What is the definition of Christ/God?"
In the Divine Liturgy we hear these most wise words: "God is ineffable, inconceivable, incomprehensible, ever existing, and eternally the same." If a being fits this description which we attempt to wrap our feeble minds around, that being is God. But human words and thoughts can only go so far. There is no real definition of God. The very concept of God is beyond concepts, and He is not contained within any concept we think about.
People cannot comprehend God whether they are of faith or of no faith. The existence of God is not dependent upon a believer imagining Him. It is no wonder that the lady cannot imagine God. He is her creator, the bestower of every blessing of hers; He is outside of her physical realm, yet inside of it simultaneously; she is made in His image, yet she cannot see His Essence. He is hidden from her eyes, and wants her to be able to recognize Him without seeing Him as the Truth and love Him; being the Source of all things, and the Way of all things. Those who stray from the Way are pushing against its principles, and making existence hard (Christ said, "For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Matt 11:30). He wants her to turn to Him; that she may return love for His unconditional love. This is the story of all of us, both believers and non-believers.
This woman, like the vast majority of Atheists, have been mentally fed a straw-christ. They have been taught that the angry, vengeful god of Protestant theology who demands blood atonement to appease his anger is the God of Christianity. Chances are the woman in the video has never learned of the God of Orthodoxy, the God of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, the God of the Apostles: the Holy Trinity. Whether she believes or not, she is not going to be able to comprehend God.
Or perhaps I just "...need a short, sharp kick in my delicate sensibilities" since apparently my mind is inferior to the superior mind of the 21st century thinker who posted this video and others, since I retain a belief in God. (If you've seen the other videos, you know exactly what I'm talking about.)
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