Anastasios the temp mod is being pressed in to service again

[尼古拉前执事]

Dear in Christ,

We have been getting a LOT of spam lately, so we have brought our regular temporary mod, Anastasios back on for a while in hopes that 10 eyes can catch this stuff faster than 8 eyes.

[Justin Kissel]

Birds of a feather...

[Anastasios]

Justin, Justin...

Deacon Nikolai asked me to help out for a week or two to cut down on spam. Since he helps me in other areas and is my friend I agreed to help him even though I don't always agree with everything on this site or with him, and he is aware of that.

As for your various lashings out, well, I stand by what I wrote to you on my site. Your attempt to point out the facts was, well, inconsistent with reality and based on internetism and not hard research. I have never stated my Church is perfect but however what you said was not true.

As for my parodying you some two years ago (before I was even baptized Orthodox and before I really was even interested in the Old Calendar Church) with a blog in a rather tongue-in-cheek manner, also poking a bit of fun at our friend here Deacon Nikolai in the process, it's not something I would do again and you are right I am kind of gossipy. I never really did take too many pains to hide my activity and took it down after I made my point, which in my mind was more a satire on a train of thought than mocking you per se. I still believe that you are prone to follow the whims of whatever you happen to be reading at any given time and wish you would go back to school and get a solid education to put this passion of yours to good use, because in the end I believe you are smarter than I and that you could be an asset to society.

I've always had mixed feelings towards you Justin. Sometimes I really found you to be frustrating and annoying and sometimes I did genuinely like you. I'm only saying all this in public since you decided to bring the discussion here. So while you may think I was two faced the reality was that I have always had mixed feelings where you are concerned and my attempt at satire (it wasn't really that good in retrospect anyway) resulted from one of those periods of frustration. You probably feel the same way about me or at least did.

I followed the facts wherever the lead and that's why I am an Old Calendarist. I used to really dislike the GOC and I had to submit my intellect to it. So there you go. Now I found peace.

Anastasios

[ioannis]

First, I'm willing to follow the trail of facts to their conclusion, even if it clashes with almost everything I want to be true...

It doesn't seem to me you have followed anything, but rather out of failure (your own admission), have chosen to give up and "try" a new direction.

But the real problem for me Justin is that you have not been consistent for any length of time, and so far you have waffled between many opposing directions in your life; so because of this you only proven that you know how to follow the flavor of the day. In five years Justin come back to this board, and if you can say that being an atheist sexual deviate is where the "facts" should be leading everyone, because that's what you still believe, then you can at least be talking with the authority of some consistency, whatever that's worth.

In the meantime, I will be praying for you Justin. Experience has cast in me an unshakable belief that even now, we decide to live our lives in the shadows of heaven or hell.

[George Australia]

Guys...what is this? A competition to see who can say the most hurtful thing?
Real friends don't bail on each other, no matter what. No matter how annoying or frustrating they can be. They may need to take some time out from each other, but they don't say things to hurt, demean, and worst of all, feign brotherly love only to later tear strips off one another and drive daggers of indifference into each other's hearts. And notice I said "indifference", because that (and not hatred) is the opposite of the Love Christ calls us to.
I hope that when I'm in a state of spiritual confusion, or perhaps have my breakdown, that my friends don't bail on me. I hope they behave like Christians (even if they aren't).
And Ioannis, Justin is not an atheist, but if he becomes one, I am sure Christ will have mercy on him taking into consideration the confusion and scandal caused by what His alleged followers say and do in His Name.
And before anyone starts talking about plucking out eyes and cutting off hands because it is better to enter the Kingdom of Heaven without them, let me remind you that Our Lord said to do this if they cause us to sin- not just because they annoy us or anger us or frustrate us, particularly if this is because we have scandalized them. Let's not forget that the same Lord also said that if we cause one of His little ones to lose Faith in Him, it would be better to tie a millstone around our neck and throw ourselves into the sea.
May I suggest a review: http://euphrosynoscafe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3906
And, on a final note; I think it is commendable that we pray for one another, however, we should pray as Christ taught us to pray:
"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."(Matthew 6:6)
When we start saying "I will be praying for you" in the same way that the Pharisee prayed announcing to God his spiritual and moral superiority to the Publican, we can expect no other reward than what the Pharisee received.

[ioannis]

George, he has said himself publicly that he is an aethist, and a few other things. So I am not making reference to this as an "insult", but as an important factor in his life. Are you saying then that this has changed?

If I ever say Christ would not have mercy on him, or that his eyes should be plucked out and his hands cut off, or that he annoys, angers, or frustrates me, please be very direct and don't just falsely imply that I said these things.

[George Australia]

George, he has said himself publicly that he is an aethist, and a few other things. So I am not making reference to this as an "insult", but as an important factor in his life.

Could you show me where Justin said he was an atheist which you consider to be such an important factor in his life? Please look up the difference between "atheist" and "agnostic".

Are you saying then that this has changed?

No, I am saying that you don't listen to others.

If I ever say Christ would not have mercy on him,

Good Heavens, I would never suggest that you would say that Christ would have mercy on anyone!

or that his eyes should be plucked out and his hands cut off,

Too subtle? It was actually a reference to the Orthodox Patristic exegesis of the Gospel passage, Matthew 5:29-30, that if a close friend causes us to sin, we should remove them from our lives. I'm sure that you have friends too, but this wasn't directed at you, it was directed to Anastasios.

or that he annoys, angers, or frustrates me, please be very direct and don't just falsely imply that I said these things.

Again, too subtle? Or are you just one of those people who believe everything is about them? Perhaps if you learned to actually listen to others, you would have picked this up:

I've always had mixed feelings towards you Justin. Sometimes I really found you to be frustrating and annoying