How the eastern orthodox attracts its men

[johngalt1]

http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/42390.htm

[Just Some Dude]

Was kind of hoping to watch a debate (not flame war) ensue on this subject.

[One Bad Pig]

I do enjoy the challenge or Orthodoxy. I'm much, much better at praying regularly since I converted.

There is some really good music in the West that I still miss to some extent, but I don't miss the feminine/emotional penchant or the rampant commercialism, forgettable music and generally shallow lyrics of modern worship.

[Jedidiah]

Maybe it is just Alaska (Where men are men and women win the Iditarod.) but save the Liberal Lutheran church I fell into when first saved, I have not been in one of those feminized churches you are talking about, Johngalt1. My pastors have been hunters and fishermen, the leadership has been all men (well except for ministries to women). Perhaps here in the last frontier things are just different.

[Cow Poke]

Maybe it is just Alaska (Where men are men and women win the Iditarod.) but save the Liberal Lutheran church I fell into when first saved, I have not been in one of those feminized churches you are talking about, Johngalt1. My pastors have been hunters and fishermen, the leadership has been all men (well except for ministries to women). Perhaps here in the last frontier things are just different.

Likewise in Texas -- sure, there are plenty of "praise and worship" churches where, in my opinion, it's all about "themes" and "feelings". But we still sing "the Banner of the Cross" and challenge our men to be Christian Soldiers.

[Carrikature]

Likewise in Texas -- sure, there are plenty of "praise and worship" churches where, in my opinion, it's all about "themes" and "feelings". But we still sing "the Banner of the Cross" and challenge our men to be Christian Soldiers.

You can find those churches, but I think they're fast becoming the minority.

[Jedidiah]

That is why this country is so liberal today. Too little Christ and too much feel good stuff.

[Quantum Weirdness]

"Guys either want to be challenged to fight for a glorious and honorable cause, and get filthy dirty in the process, or to loaf in our recliners with plenty of beer, pizza, and football. But most churches want us to behave like orderly gentlemen, keeping our hands and mouths nice and clean."

What's wrong with being an orderly Gentleman? I agree with the rest of stuff though.

[Cow Poke]

[Paprika]

I think the article tends to set up a false antithesis between the 'feminine' and the 'masculine' while conflating the emotional with the feminine- all of course viewed from a highly Americancentric perspective.

Some of us take the intellectual route.

[Cow Poke]

I think the article tends to set up a false antithesis between the 'feminine' and the 'masculine' while conflating the emotional with the feminine- all of course viewed from a highly Americancentric perspective.



Some of us take the intellectual route.

Discipleship is all about "action verbs", like....
James 1:[22]*But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

[Paprika]

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

[Cow Poke]

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

Ah, Scripture wars!

1 Chron 26:[18]*At Parbar westward, four at the causeway, and two at Parbar.


Take THAT!

[Paprika]

With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children...

[One Bad Pig]

I think the article tends to set up a false antithesis between the 'feminine' and the 'masculine' while conflating the emotional with the feminine- all of course viewed from a highly Americancentric perspective.

I don't see the difference between East and West as "masculine v. feminine" so much as "balanced v. feminized". I don't see the article as conflating the emotional with the feminine; I see it as one more reason that guys are relatively less comfortable with Western churches that emphasize emotion. There is emotion in the East; it's just not a major component.

Some of us take the intellectual route.

Me, more or less. I wasn't unhappy with my Baptist church (aside from a gradual move from hymns to worship music); it was reading about Orthodoxy that drew me to it.