Unseen Pathways

@GLConcreteCo @monahven Sleep well man! Nice to chat!

@UnseenPathways @monahven Good night ha

The issue is that most Protestants don’t have a culture of veneration/reverence/honor. So when they see this, they feel disgusted.

@GLConcreteCo @monahven 100%. If only Jesus had a group of friends who started a Church lol We weren’t meant to DIY our beliefs every generation.

@UnseenPathways @monahven hahaha, or I assume you are a man, men need strong friends in the faith to constantly help one another so that we're not tossed by every wave of doctrine Eph 4:14

@GLConcreteCo @monahven Sure but why would I want to assemble a hodgepodge of beliefs when Christ established a visible Church. I had a lot of theological anxiety wondering if I had the right beliefs as a Prot. In Orthodoxy, my mind is at peace. It’s been settled for 2000 years.

@UnseenPathways @monahven Naturally. You will stand in front of God, not you behind anyone else. So stand in front of God confident and own your relationship with God and heard His Word.

@GLConcreteCo @monahven Of course. But the thing I’ve realized on this app this week is how easy it is to be deceived. Two people can read the same verse and come to wildly different conclusions. That’s why we need a divine Church established by Christ to clarify doctrine 🙃

@UnseenPathways @monahven intellect to study, think, ponder, wonder, and read, read, read. Its possible. Our God is not some hidden mystery, He wants to be known by all!

@GLConcreteCo @monahven Okay and the Church continued into the coming centuries. Clarifying the Canon of Scripture, the Trinity, and the 2 natures of Christ. But again, you would reject the Church’s canon and the Church’s doctrine of the Trinity (if you accept the Filioque). So Prots pick and choose

@UnseenPathways @monahven First I take zero offense, I didn't create this situation LOL. I'd simply just argue there were no doctrinal statements pre-95 as they were really all as close, but not all as there are examples in Acts of ones who weren't but mostly close to total agreemnt church in og form

@GLConcreteCo @monahven But I’m not the Church. I’m not the pillar and ground of Truth. That’s the divine institution of the Church, the body of Christ. For sure. There was a deep holiness that has guided the martyrs and saints of the Orthodox Church for 2000 years. I haven’t arrived to that lol

@UnseenPathways @monahven Its a really good question, at what point is it yourself, your own mind, or is it the Holy Spirit? Right now us talking is it us, or is it the Holy Spirit. I don't think we pray enough to understand that depth that the 1st century did. We're just two believers talking.

@GLConcreteCo @monahven What is this baggage you allude to in Orthodoxy? And your church wasn’t considered in 95 AD. It wouldn’t exist for at least 1500 years depending on which branch of Prot you are. No offense but I know it probably sounds offensive.

@UnseenPathways @monahven and take a step back, has the gates of hell won? Is the church still here? No and yes. Is He building it, yes, but it comes with much baggage from all sides

@GLConcreteCo @monahven Yes but you’re saying they added unbiblical things after 95 AD? Or did they continue in the Spirit? The Orthodoxy don’t claim every Orthodox is perfect but that the Spirit will preserve the Truth in the Church, which I believe He has

@UnseenPathways @monahven Its fine, I encourage push back, but the Holy Spirit doesn't leave you out of the equation as we see with each author's nuance and personality coming out. You are indwelt but you not a robot, all being the same robotic believers, you are you with God, a born person.

@ThomasG130 @Tsar_Martyr Yeah. Both sides of my family are all Appalachian. I border the mountains and live in the low country, but I know that world well 🫡

I live in West Virginia. We have literal snake handler churches here. I'm not surprised by anything. We have people who larp as Jews but are Christian and don't celebrate Christmas, and various other sects. Most people 40 and under seem to be AFR (American Folk Religion) AKA "spiritual but not religious" or New Age.

OrthoTwitter, what did we learn?

@LowStudies @Tsar_Martyr With the apocrypha. 🫡🫡

@UnseenPathways @Tsar_Martyr KJV all the way... Church was started in 1611.

@GLConcreteCo @monahven I’d push back. Why couldn’t the Holy Spirit maintain the faith of the first century? Especially when Christ promised the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church and considering the apostles had disciples. They didn’t know how to hold the faith? Idk about your view.

@UnseenPathways @monahven It is accurate; God wants a personal relationship with YOU and every belieer. The church was sub 95 AD, when John wrote the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Beyond 95 AD its man influence and many many layers were added. Acts of the Apostles, or really Acts of the Holy Spirit contains

@ThomasG130 @Tsar_Martyr Yes. I’m realizing that this week. I just never thought people would knowingly admit this.

@UnseenPathways @Tsar_Martyr The idea is an imported and distorted Islamic idea. In Islam God's thoughts are considered eternal and they see the Quran as the thoughts of God. Some fringe Christian sects see the Bible as a divine download written by God's stenographers similar to Mohamed and the Quaran.

@LowStudies @Tsar_Martyr Bro wild. Truly. I have never heard that in my life. I’m still tripping about it.

@UnseenPathways @Tsar_Martyr Jesus is the Bible, tho.

@GLConcreteCo @monahven That’s not accurate. Christ established a Church, the visible bride of the visible Christ. I don’t read the Bible and come to a novel conclusion apart from the Church. That’s how you arrive at thousands of denominations. Especially when Christ prayed for unity in John 17!

@UnseenPathways @monahven you can't read the Scripture for yourself? again, this is where I side with Protestantism at its heart, God never ever places a "mediator" between you and Him. How will you ever know the Truth? Read Scripture and talk to God my brother.

@ThomasG130 @Tsar_Martyr That’s a good sperg. I just am over here still shocked people think the Bible is God. I have never heard that till this week.

@UnseenPathways @Tsar_Martyr I'm speging out on deconstructing Reformed Theology and Sola Scriptura. The apophatic Theology of Orthodoxy insulates it from deconstruction. I just ordered "On the Absence and Unknowability of God: Heidegger and the Areopagite" by Christos Yannaras at 33 cents a page.

@GunzaGoGo45 Bro what? Thats what the Orthodox feel when they do it. The saints are family. This is how you honor family. Not through “celebrations of life” but actually honoring them. Bowing and kissing to show honor is very eastern but it used to be western too before we got weird.

@UnseenPathways False simplification It would seem you would be better than that

@GunzaGoGo45 Bro I don’t need to be commanded to kiss my grandmother good bye in her casket. It’s a natural response. The Ancient Israelites processed through the desert with the bones of Joseph. This is normal behavior. Disrespecting the dead and not caring for their bodies is modern.

@UnseenPathways Where did christ commanded Kissing finger pictures, bones of saints and fighting over water that has been dripped over body parts You do you We will all be accountable for our actions

@GunzaGoGo45 Dang bro. Who knew respecting the dead and honoring their bodies was pagan? I see clearly in Scripture that we’re supposed to honor the dead. The Israelites carried the bones of Joseph through the desert. Enjoy your Gnosticism though!

@UnseenPathways Yeah We don't have a culture of paganism That would be correct Actual protestants, our scripture based and not man based That's the rub Journey well

@Orthodox_Alfred That’s awesome!!

@UnseenPathways My reformed brother in law just read the didache and now reading St Clement

As the Protestants on this app rage against the Church this week, I got a text from my Reformed buddy in Virginia this morning that he’s started reading St. Seraphim. Glory to God!