|
Online Church - For or Against
| |
| MissJane | Date: Wednesday, 06.10.2010, 15:37 | Message # 31 |
 Union organizer
Group: Friends
Messages: 193
Status: Offline
| Quote (Luck) I'm not sure that God "lives" in the Internet. By the way, are you sure that God in fact LIVES? For some people He died long ago. Actually I can't understand why we cannot bring God to the Internet. If the Cyberspace is offencing for God to live in because it is a rubbish heap of stupid ideas, rough people and filthy images, then isn't our life as dirty as the Internet? Then why did we bring God to our life?
Another thing is whether we believe in God or not. Sometimes people seem to believe in church and the rituals that take place in it. How often I hear: "you need to go to church, you need to receive the Sacrament, you haven't been to church so long, this is bad". As for me personally, I don't need a church to speak to God, I don't need it to feel that I'm loved by Him and protected. But at times I feel I need to pray with other people, I need to listen to the priest.
On-line church could give just the same opportunities as a real church does. By the way, if a person goes to church to light a candle or to gaze at the icons, why can't it be done in the Internet?
We don't insult God by praying to Him on-line, we insult Him when doing harm to people. Just think how often you say to yourself: "Oh, she/he is so stupid! Oh, how can this shallow person be so arrogant? Oh, how could he speak to me like that - I am a person!" And now compare it with the imaginary harm of the on-line church.
We'd better think about our attitude to the Internet itself. "You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth". So is it still true nowadays?
|
| |
| |
| lovefootball) | Date: Wednesday, 06.10.2010, 20:40 | Message # 32 |
 Dean
Group: Users
Messages: 662
Status: Offline
| Teacher, why do you think it's strange? Isn't it natural to go to church when we are guided by wish or impulse?
Seagull, I agree with you, real church may be a kind of shelter.
|
| |
| |
| Former-Teacher | Date: Thursday, 07.10.2010, 09:02 | Message # 33 |
 Dean
Group: Admins
Messages: 504
Status: Offline
| It's simple. Going to church is not about waiting for a wish or an impulse. There is nothing bad in it, though. Going to church just as believing in God is hard spiritial work. It is permanent. When you go to church, it is not because there is a wish or an impulse; it's because your spiritual system 'understands' that it needs another form of communication and practising your spiritual needs. When we say that church is a kind of shelter, you should understand what you mean. Symbolically, church is an earthly body of Christ. You go to church - you go to see and talk to HIM. It's the only material evidence of the power of Christ on earth.
|
| |
| |
| Ayayulia | Date: Friday, 08.10.2010, 11:46 | Message # 34 |
 Union organizer
Group: Friends
Messages: 126
Status: Offline
| Sometimes on-line church is very useful. When you go to our Ryazan church for the first time you are not aware of the rules there, but you are really eager to go there, something calls you. But sometimes you may meet such old ladies who rebuke you: “Your skirt is too short, you cross yourself in the wrong way” and so on. And sometimes it discourages you from going there for the second time. I think it is easier to start with on-line church.
|
| |
| |
| Nekavaen | Date: Saturday, 09.10.2010, 22:21 | Message # 35 |
 Head teacher
Group: Users
Messages: 340
Status: Offline
| I see the problem of nasty old women who discuss the behaviour of young parishioners is mentioned again...
It is not human to be without shame and without desire. (Ursula K. Le Guin)
|
| |
| |
| Teacher | Date: Sunday, 10.10.2010, 00:31 | Message # 36 |
 Head teacher
Group: Admins
Messages: 375
Status: Offline
| Nekavaen, I think "the problem of nasty old women" is just a pretext.
In Vino Veritas...
|
| |
| |
| Nekavaen | Date: Sunday, 10.10.2010, 10:45 | Message # 37 |
|
Head teacher
Group: Users
Messages: 340
Status: Offline
| I see. And I'm ready to support Ayayulia's idea. Online church can be used for educational purposes. Those people who don't possess enough knowledge for going to real churches can start with virtual ones.
It is not human to be without shame and without desire. (Ursula K. Le Guin)
|
| |
| |
| lovefootball) | Date: Sunday, 10.10.2010, 18:04 | Message # 38 |
|
Dean
Group: Users
Messages: 662
Status: Offline
| If they start with it, they may get a false impression of the real church.
|
| |
| |
| Nekavaen | Date: Monday, 11.10.2010, 00:48 | Message # 39 |
|
Head teacher
Group: Users
Messages: 340
Status: Offline
| Maybe. But it really depends on people, I think. Some of us can read the Bible itself and understand the message that lies beneath the pages of this great book in a wrong way.
It is not human to be without shame and without desire. (Ursula K. Le Guin)
|
| |
| |
| Teacher | Date: Monday, 11.10.2010, 10:37 | Message # 40 |
|
Head teacher
Group: Admins
Messages: 375
Status: Offline
| I think the best way to get knowledge about any religion is to face its exponent and to talk to him. For example, when I got to know that this semester we have an opportunity to visit an optional course of theology, I understood that this is the best way for me. Precedently, I wanted to learn more about our Orthodox Church. I even wanted to read the Bible. But now I see that this optional course is better.
In Vino Veritas...
|
| |
| |
| lovefootball) | Date: Monday, 11.10.2010, 17:55 | Message # 41 |
|
Dean
Group: Users
Messages: 662
Status: Offline
| And is it really useful? Does it enrich your knowledge?
|
| |
| |
| Teacher | Date: Tuesday, 12.10.2010, 01:42 | Message # 42 |
|
Head teacher
Group: Admins
Messages: 375
Status: Offline
| lovefootball), it enriches my knowledge. It's useful for me, because it's very interesting. And the form of learning is not compulsive.
In Vino Veritas...
|
| |
| |
| Former-Teacher | Date: Tuesday, 12.10.2010, 11:10 | Message # 43 |
|
Dean
Group: Admins
Messages: 504
Status: Offline
| Quote (Nekavaen) Maybe. But it really depends on people, I think. Some of us can read the Bible itself and understand the message that lies beneath the pages of this great book in a wrong way.
You are right. Reading the Bible is hard work. It requires clear sharp wit and a blessing to understand the scripture. Reading the Bible should be slow and interpretative. It is full of images and metaphores that can be foreign to an unprepared mind. In an Online Church there is also a chance to ask and answer questions about the Biblical message.
|
| |
| |
| Asya | Date: Tuesday, 12.10.2010, 11:25 | Message # 44 |
 Union committee president
Group: Moders
Messages: 298
Status: Offline
| Quote (lovefootball)) If they start with it, they may get a false impression of the real church.
I know Teacher will argue with me again. But I agree with you. On-line church and real church are 2 very different sides of one medal.
I am ready to understand the idea of on-line church. And I'm not completely against it. But it's impossible for me now to accept it. Name me whatever you want but I can't support the idea that on-line church is just another form of church. Let's compare theatre and Internet then?! Earlier people used to go to the theatre to get entertained, and now they use the Internet for the same purpose. It doesn't mean the Internet is better than theatre. But still there are theatre goers and the ones that use the Internet not for entertainment, but for work. Every innovation has its advocates, but at the same time it has its opponents. It's natural. And every point of view is right as long as it doesn't do any harm to others.
|
| |
| |
| lovefootball) | Date: Tuesday, 12.10.2010, 18:15 | Message # 45 |
|
Dean
Group: Users
Messages: 662
Status: Offline
| Agree completely.We shouldn't mix a certain number of things.
|
| |
| |
|
