what do you think about orthodoxs?have you ever been to an orthodox church?
349249
They have changed very little since the first century.  Their services are still based upon services left by James or Mark and both of those services are used upon occaision.  Their hymns tend to come from the first century so don't expect any "Amazing Grace," type hymns.  If you want to see that "old time religion," attend either an Orthodox or Catholic service.  You will see what original Christianity looked like.
982017
There are no Orthodox synagogues in my city, I live in the Virginia Beach area.\n\nI am going to send you your information now okay...
618622
You don't say! I'm greek too and I totally agree with you. But in our country there is a huge misconception of the church's role throughout history. It is thought to be one of the nation's "saviours" during the "Greek Independence". Of course that never happened, but it's a big discussion...I'll just confine myself to say that greek state and church MUST be separated, but I'm afraid that this won't ever happen...The Church is a very strong lobby and even worse it has an intimate relationship with the present government. State and Church share the same interests...Τόσο απλά.
448709
I haven't gone to church for about 8 yrs.\nI stopped going and I am not planning on going back.\nBut, me and that spirit in the sky are on good terms... we have an understanding. \nlol\n:)
262255
To start, I don't know, but did a little research on the net and found:\n\nhttp://www.holycrossonline.org/byzantine-chant\nhttp://www.monachos.net/liturgics/chant_history.shtml\nhttp://www.transfigcathedral.org/faith/corner/chant.pdf\nhttp://www.geocities.com/takistan/\n\nI have only been to one Orthodox Catholic service in my life and love the music and chanting.  It made the whole experience seem more - Holy.
487114
People don't believe in God because they haven't experienced God in their lives. Once you pray and make Jesus Christ Lord and Savior of your life and you grow in your relationship with Him, then you will truly experience God in your life. Trust me, I have. If Orthodox are Christians, then their relationship with God is real. All true believers who are Christians know in their heart that Jesus Christ is real and He is not fake. Christianity is not a religion but a relationship. All of the other religions I will agree are fake.
337518
My rebellious story......I was Catholic for about 35 years and had trouble in believing that an all loving god would condemn people to hell for what he determined to be indiscretions.  \nShoot...I love to master bate, have pre marital sex with men and women and sometimes a freak fest or two with a couple of friends of mine.  So I guess I was going down to the fiery brimstone pit.\nThe clincher for me was that I was signing up my kids for another year of CCD classes and they told me I had to pay $150 for the classes (which is about double what it should be) because I didn't use the "envelope system" every week, even though I was a registered member of the church and would throw in $1 or two when I would have it.\nI took the CCD applications and ripped them up into tiny pieces and threw one right at the lady and the other one I threw up in the air so it landed in a million pieces all over the floor.\nI've been a practicing eclectic witch, but lately I've been leaning more towards Hinduism and spirituality with a little bit of quantum physics
154998
What exactly do you mean by "orthodox"?\n\nAs to a child's place in the church, Deuteronomy  31:12 says - "Congregate the people, the men and the women AND THE LITTLE ONES and your alien resident who is within your gates, in order that they may LISTEN and in order that they may LEARN, as they must fear Jehovah God and take care to carry out all his words. "\n\nSo, according to the Bible, children should be with their parents while attending congregation meetings.  They should all be learning together, unlike many churches where the children are removed and taught separately.\n\nFor additional scriptures about a child's place see the following:\n* Deteronomy 6:6,7\n* Exodus 20:12\n* Colossians 3:20\n* Ephesians 6:1-4\n* 2 Timothy 3:15\n* Proverbs 22:6\n* Deteronomy 8:3\n* 1 Timothy 5:8\n* Proverbs 20:7\n* Proverbs 8:33\n* Hebrews 12:4-11\n* Proverbs 22:11\n* Proverbs 29:15\n* 1 Corinthians 15:33\n\nand many more.  When you search the Bible, you will find out how God feels about children in the church.
1116785
I'm high church  Anglican (Episcopalian)   and my partner is Wiccan (he's a witch).  He goes to mass with me and I go to circle with him.  We do each others pot lucks and the members of his circle commonly call me the Episcopal observer.  We celebrate Christmas/Yule and we have a great life.  I certainly don't believe that any faith has a cornerstone on truth -- all the religious texts claim they do, but that's bull to start with.  It works fine.  I suppose if one of us was a bigot or a religious zealot it wouldn't, but we hold our faiths as helps and supports and communities; not as  absolute beliefs -- I think science has gotten us a bit beyond that, period.\n\nReynolds Jones\nhttp://www.rebuff.org\nbelieveinyou24@yahoo.com
180479
*Chuckling for I wait an hour after everyone else has drunk their's to drink mine* But if you are asking does the church with its history of bloodshed and crusades scare me today?\n\nThe answer is an emphatic, hell yeah!\n\nFrom their insane desire to destroy all other faiths to the hijacking of politics, they worry me greatly as would any rational free thinker...
206529
The answer is yes and no.  For starters, except in the United States, the liturgies have always been in the vernacular.  Only Eastern Catholics have the Eastern liturgies in English.  Even there, there are minor differences.\n\nNonetheless, like the Latins, Eastern Christians have highly uniform services.  As the Byzantine service is really the service of James shortened to 1-2 hours, it is fairly uniform.  Since it appears that you are not Orthodox, I would suggest an Eastern Catholic service if you live near one so you can hear it in English. \n\nSome Orthodox, like the Copts use a different service and scripture readings as theirs is from the service by Mark.  So it would also depend upon the jurisdiction.\n\nThe Orthodox are a single church with multiple juridictions.
628323
When out of town for work I went to an African American church in Virginia with a friend.  I was the only Caucasian in the place.  It was a great time.  I felt more at home than in the church I normally attended because it was much freer and much less stuffy.\n\nI no longer attend traditional church, but think it would be a great idea.  If people would step out of their comfort zones and love like Jesus did... the world would be a far better place.
339578
Yes, you are orthodox, they follow the Gregorian calandar rather than the Roman calandar adopted by the catholic church, so happy Easter!!! (no she ain't on crack all you h8rs out thurr!!!)
1072366
Hi Tumirahdea,\nI met the ZagrosShahfaran once, a few weekends ago. I was walking to the corner market for a loaf of bread when I had to pass by a neighborhood church. I was somewhat acquainted with the structure as it was always mentioned in the newspaper's community section. Known as "The loft," folks would gather there on Thursday evenings for poetry readings.\nHowever, this day happened to be a Saturday afternoon and a pair of gentlemen greeted me as I walked by. They invited me inside to sample an hour of their presentation. Ok, I went inside and found myself to be a prospective new recruit for their brand of religion.\n\nMost of the pews were filled with hooded monks chanting a haunting rhythm. There were others who like me, were wearing their regular denims. The service began like most others that church-goers would be familiar with. A grand master of ceremonies led the group through some songs and gave a sermon. Near the end of the hour it was time for their ritual of "laying on of the hands." Some of the parishioners would come forward and ask for prayers for their ailments or for a sick grand mum who fell down in the tub. All the hooded dudes whose faces could not readily be seen would all place a hand on the person and their combined energies were presumed to have a strength and expedite a solution to the problem.\n\nOK now, there was another new guy in the pews who was watching eagerly. I recognized ZagrosShahfaran from a wanted poster viewed earlier at the post office. When he saw a chance, he approached the ring of conspirators and described how he was always moving around and never able to settle down. The hooded goons closed in upon him, all to make a physical connection. The master of ceremonies began a prayer, a dogmatic mix of logic and pure hocus-pocus. I immediately saw the effects of the procedure as the tension went out of ZagrosShahfaran's body. When the beseeching was near an end, the master asked, "Are the brothers ready?"\n\nA suspenseful few moments passed until he almost shouted, "NOW!"\n\nOn that cue, the brothers began to pummel their hapless victim. Continually delivering blows over head and to the solar plexus until ZagrosShahfaran was down on the floor getting stomped. After another minute, the grand Pooh-Bah decided the treatment administered was sufficient to induce a relaxing calm that would assuage the nervousness of ZagrosShahfaran for a long, long time.\n\nI can't say for certain if ZagrosShahfaran got the comeuppance he deserved as I had a loaf of bread to buy and some other errands to do that day. I hope for you Tumirahdea, that you do find a sense of closure to this difficult episode of life.\n\n-Bryce
849729
Read this site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Orthodox\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthodox\n\nThen read this: http://www.notreligion.com
882014
Orthodox Jews consider it an abomination, although there are gay Orthodox Jews.  I wouldn't recommend converting to that "denomination."  I think they're accepted in Conservative Judaism, but not sure how welcome they are.  They are welcomed in Reform Judaism and serve as rabbis and cantors.\n\nYou might like to try this quiz:\nhttp://www.beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html\n.\n.
630644
I like Pentecostal Churches. I don't know much about their doctrins tho. I've was born and brought up in a non-pentecostal denomination, but for the past few years, I've been attending a pentecostal denomination. What I have personally observed is that the pentecostals are more deeply rooted in the word of God than the non-pentecostals. \n\nSecondly, the pentecostals give importance to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which the latters dont.\n\nThirdly, the pentecostals give importance to the Gifts of the Holy Spirit a lot, which again one would not find in a non-pentecostal church.\n\nLastly, I personally feel the pentecostals give importance to the Gospel on the whole unlike the non-pentecostals who do not give importance to the most important things such as the baptism of the Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, etc.\n\nBut sadly, the pentecostals loose balance occassionaly. The pentecostals are one extreme and the non-pentecostals are the other extreme. We gotta be wise and strike a godly balance between both.