No Longer Sola

Yesterday was a bit of an introduction post to today. Often times Lutheran pastors like Will Weedon and others, have alleged that Orthodox prayers to the Theotokos are idolatrous. I shared a small part of my journey with you, and today I wanted to post a series from the priest who served as our spiritual father and guide as we made our way to the Church. His name is Father Gregory, and he is an Orthodox priest in the Antiochian Archdiocese. Fr Gregory was a pastor and semi

This is part of our No Longer Sola Series. This series details my investigation of Orthodoxy and comparison to the doctrine of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod as they understand it from the Book of Concord. This post is but one on a journey that lead me to conclude that Lutheranism, for all it's strengthens, is not the fullness of the Church. Readers are invited to check out the other posts in this series (found at the link above) for a fuller view of the journey. The mo

Christine received the Holy Mystery of Baptism on May 22, 2018. "In Your Name, O Lord God of Truth, and in the Name of Your Only-Begotten Son, and of Your Holy Spirit, I lay my hand upon Your servant Christine, who has been accounted worthy to flee unto Your Holy Name and to be sheltered under the shadow of Your wings." "God, the Holy, the Fearful, and the Glorious, Who concerning all His works and strength is incomprehensible and unsearchable, Who Himself has ordained for yo

Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. - Psalm 68:5-6 There is shame attached to being poor and having no family. Even those who choose to help are often judged, persecuted or ostracized for being "irresponsible" or having "misplaced" generosity. God's Word and His saints have always been examples t

Every Spring when I see the Dandelions pop up I'm reminded about my dear Grandmother who passed away in 2012, but I can still hear her voice and I remember her smile. She would always send me things, one of them was this poem on Dandelions. As a kid I pulled maybe millions of dandelions and I thought of them as a terrible weed to be exterminated. My Grandma thought they had an unfounded bad reputation. For that Godly woman they reminded her of the resurrection of Christ. H

This is part of our No Longer Sola Series. If we desire to feel the warmth of the sun, we must make the physical effort to walk outdoors and expose our skin to its rays, perhaps shedding some of our clothing. After being tanned by the sun's rays, we would claim not that our tan came about as the result of our own power, but rather that we desired it and put ourselves in a position to receive it. And if there are clouds covering the sun, we do not say, "The sun is angry with m

What an interesting week! Besides some of the fascinating things I discovered there are also a few kiddo pictures at the end. Enjoy and happy Friday! World News - I bet the Police were smiling a little bit at the scene of this accident for a change as a semi truck carrying 12 tons of liquid chocolate spilled on a Polish Highway. St. Spyridon By far the most fascinating thing I learned this week is that about the relics of St. Spyridon who also happens to be the patron saint

This is part of our No Longer Sola Series. A stumbling block for me on the road to Orthodoxy was miracles. You can’t investigate Orthodoxy seriously without encountering the lives of the saints; they’re everywhere, and most of them involve miracles. There is even a designated title for those saints who are given the gift of performing miracles. They are called “wonderworkers”. While I certainly never took issue with Biblical miracles I was always a skeptic about miracles ha

Today's post is a public service announcement. Over the last several days I have been googling like crazy and have not found one person who has written about what happened to me on the Ketogenic Diet. I had been planning to write a post on how incredible I felt, my philosophy about Keto and why I think it's a good medicinal approach for healing severely damaged metabolic systems. And maybe there will be time for that eventually. But right now I need to talk about something

May the 4th be with you. Today I wanted to (mostly) take a break from theology and talk about different topics of interest to me. The main thing I wanted to share, however, is related to health care because it was something I didn’t know before. Amelia and I are starting the Keto Diet based on her doctor’s recommendation and have been doing a lot of reading about it. I’m already starting to feel a little better! (Amelia says she'll post more about it soon.) One thing that