Journey Into Divine Intimacy

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one. He will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.  What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (Romans 3:28 - 4:3) When we read these verses, it is important to pay attention to the dispute that Paul actually was addressing in his day. He was not addressing the ills of Roman Catholic "works salvation". When you read this passage, if you immediately start using these verses to support Luther's arguments, you are reading into the passage ...

New Direction I have been struggling to provide content for this blog for two reasons: 1) I do not particularly care to write and 2) the series that I started is no longer compelling. Originally, I was going to explain point by point the reasons that I chose to be received into the Eastern Orthodox Church, but that is increasingly remote for me since I made that decision 1.5 years ago; that die has been cast. It is hard for me to be passionate about yesterday's battles when today has its own. So in order to for me to be motivated to write, I am going to change my direction to discuss the issues with which I am currently dealing. And to start off, I want to first address a friend's very candid question: Wouldn't taking monastic vows be scary? Vow-Taking in the Covenant Community In short, absolutely! I mean just look at these verses: If you make a vow to Yahweh your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for Yahweh your God will surely require it of you, and you...