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Ortho-What?


Yvonne

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Orthodoxy - right belief

Orrthopraxy - right practice.

 

I like it when people accuse me of being unorthodox. That means my Christianity isn't bound up in 2000 years of change from the original followers of Jesus. It means I'm open-minded and think for myself. I have to admit to being a little bit proud of that. :huh:

 

On the other hand, orthopraxy (would i say I'm orthoprax?) seems to made sense. If I practiced what the early Christians practices, I would be for non-violence and practice it, I would be for radical inclusiveness and practice it, I would be egalitarian (or, I suppose, some people might call it socialism, but socialism has political connotations. When the early Christians did was put into practice what Jesus taught.)

 

I think Christianity got hijacked early on. We went from being loving and non-violent to... well...right belief.

 

What do you think?

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If I practiced what the early Christians practices, I would be for non-violence and practice it, I would be for radical inclusiveness and practice it, I would be egalitarian (or, I suppose, some people might call it socialism, but socialism has political connotations. When the early Christians did was put into practice what Jesus taught.)

 

FWIW, Rodney Stark, in his excellent book, The Rise of Christianity, argues that the growth of Christianity in the Roman empire was, to a great extent, the result of a tight-knit community assisting each other. As frequent plagues spread through Greco-Roman cities (Christianity was an urban religion), Christians out survived Pagans through nursing, feeding and assisting each other. As a result, Christianity grew relative to adherents of pagan religion.

 

Although Jesus was not an economist or politician, I am convinced that he would have embraced socialism. I am personally not a pure socialist, but I do favor a more 'socialistic nanny state.' I can't imagine that Jesus would approve of Ayn-Rand individualism (the latest rage on the right) in which one is only their own keeper.

 

George

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FWIW, Rodney Stark, in his excellent book, The Rise of Christianity, argues that the growth of Christianity in the Roman empire was, to a great extent, the result of a tight-knit community assisting each other. As frequent plagues spread through Greco-Roman cities (Christianity was an urban religion), Christians out survived Pagans through nursing, feeding and assisting each other. As a result, Christianity grew relative to adherents of pagan religion.

 

Exactly, they cared for one another, acting the way Jesus taught them to act. In "The Underground Church", Robin Meyer accuses Constantine of hijacking the church, and claims Constantine's reign was the worst thing to happen to Christianity. I'm pretty sure I can agree with that. When Christianity went from being this tight-knit non-violent, egalitarian community to a state religion (more or less), and bishops obtained more and more power and wealth, and "right belief" was paramount, we lost something - a lot of somethings.

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The word "right" pretty much always scares me. What's "right" for one is not automatically "right" for another. What does it mean to raise your kids "right"? What does it mean if you're living your life the "right" way? It depends on who you are, what you come from, what kind of way you look at the world, and so on.

 

I think one of my biggest issues with "the church" (yeah, yeah I know) is that by claiming to have the "right" ideas and the "right" way of doing things, they create an us vs. them mentality. It's very exclusive, and doesn't allow for questions, changing with the times, or different perspectives.

 

Eventually, we all must do what we think is right. How you decide that is individual, I guess, or at least it will vary.

 

Yvonne, that didn't answer your question at all. I'm a total highjacker, sorry about that! I've been working since early this morning and I guess my brain is working overdrive.

 

To answer-ish your question: I think it's better to do the right thing than sit around and yap about it.

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I'm "ortho-dontic" - I like clean teeth.

 

Raven, I couldn't agree with you more.

 

As a child raised to believe that Jesus was all about love, forgiveness and kindness, the current "keepers of the faith" exhibit little of this.

 

I no longer associate myself with a "Christian" worldview because of this. I guess you could say that I am post-orthodox.

 

NORM

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