DID GOD 'CHOOSE' US FOR HEAVEN OR HELL? Is our FREE WILL worth anything? On PREDESTINATION and LOVE.
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
- Human beings are not islands, cut away from one another and free from responsibility towards each other. Human beings are shaped by their free will. Within each of us there is the seed of a Saint and the seed of a sinner. We are not worthless toys in the hands of a monstrous god who 'predestined' us either to Heaven or to hell.
Human beings have free will, and their personal choices directly affect the salvation of thousands around them, and indirectly influence the fate of the entire world. This is our greatest honour and also our most deadly danger: that we are perfectly free to open ourselves to Love and we are equally free to open ourselves to hatred.
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The video 'DID GOD 'CHOOSE' US FOR HEAVEN OR HELL? Is our FREE WILL worth anything? On PREDESTINATION and LOVE' was recorded by Fr Seraphim Aldea, at Mull Monastery (The Orthodox Monastery of All Celtic Saints), on the Isle of Mull.
Well said: "We are not worthless toys in the hands of a monstrous god who 'predestined' us either to Heaven or to hell. "
Amen 🙏 💖 a few years ago as I walked in the market place I noticed many people of different cultures. Then an evil thought came to my mind:”look at all these people, they don’t know the Truth, they can’t be saved” . Then another thought screamed inside me , “God created no one for condemnation, they were made by Him, for Him and for His glory”. I cannot describe the utter joy that flooded my heart 🙏✝️❤️ after that second thought
beautiful.
I was raised a Baptist and it never quite felt right to me. Your message resonates with me. I've been on a spiritual journey for most of my life and it is so amazing to hear you speak like this.
Father, I love your wisdom. This is the best explanation of the TRINITY of God.
Your videos bring me joy and relief, God bless you father!
This is the most powerful Orthodox video that I've seen, if not ever, in a very long time.
Amen! 🙏☦️
Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy!
Through you God answered my prayers. Thank you I will save this video!
After years of seeking,
I found i was only seeking to be right,
After years of prayer and meditation,
I found i was wanting more for myself.
Now I see what the problem is,
The problem of the whole world,
It is me.
Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God,
Have mercy on me,
The sinner.
I can relate to this so much. Time to go from glory to glory. Amen.
Absolutely beautiful to hear this morning!
Beautiful message. I am learning about Orthodoxy and leaving a Calvinist church
Thank you Father for making this video. I once attended a church group when I was new to Christ and this 'choosing and exclusion' was believed. I did not like the talk or belief and never went back. It's always sat with me. I've since joined the Roman Catholic church and I strive to be the man God wants me to be and to elevate the 'hanky' around me. God is love. Thank you Father.
Thank you Fr. Seraphim, just what I needed to hear today about God's love.
Excellent rebuttal of the nonsense of Calvinistic predestination. Thankyou, Father.
I am not Calvinist, because, for obvious reasons that is a heartbreaking concept. But their beliefs are not nonsense. No ones are nonsense. Everyone has reasons behind why they believe what they do. Calvinists turn to Romans 9, among others. I was on a thread last night where Protestants and Catholics were bashing each other and name calling. 💔 How can there ever be dialogue where there is no respect? It’s everywhere, this minimizing others as having no valid thought.
Dear Rain and Kressa, I pray you know by now that I am now inclined to judge or condemn people based on their beliefs, race or anything, really. But when it comes to faith, there can only be one true faith, because faith is an expression of the revelation God gave us concerning Himself. Since God is One, His reflected image, His revelation and therefore, our faith can only be one. Dogmatic truth has nothing to do with the multiplicity of our humanity; because it expresses the One God, dogmatic truth can only be one. This is why the Church has been so forgiving and understanding with human weakness and sin (for instance, the Church accepts a second and even a third marriage), but it preferred martyrdom over corruption of faith. The Orthodox Church is literally built on the blood and bones of Martyrs for the faith (all Altars are built over their relics, and there is a piece of relic in every single Antimension - the piece of cloth on which the Divine Liturgy is celebrated). This is not because the Church is 'obsessed' with dogma, but because of a simple truth: our salvation is only possible by worshipping and following the Living God; if we allow any distortion in our dogmatic understanding of God, we are no longer worshiping the True God and we all lose our chance to be saved. Forgive me, this has turned into a much longer comments than I would have liked. But this is very important to understand. May we all be blessed.
I could never figure why protestants of the reformed line of faith can place so much from john Calvin, a man who wrote and acted alone, without a council, a group of ministers, in proclaiming what faith in christ should be and what the intentions of god are .... even after 1500 years of Christianity. Weird.
Coming from a scientific background, I cannot shake the sense that many of these schismatic distortions stem from what we would call "observer effects". That is, to God who is beyond temporality, there is no paradox between His absolute sovereignty and insight and our being saved or not in part by our own free will, but to our limited perspective there appears a temporal anomaly. By faith we can know there is no contradiction but if we fall into the inclination to control every mystery by imposing explanation (as people with my bent are so wont to do) then we can end up producing heresy.
@@oceanwave4142 God is God. And he is Sovereign. At the same time, when it comes on to Heaven our Hell, we will have to make that choice.
When I was a child there was an old woman in our church who after Mass she would tell me that she tried so hard to be a good Christian but that people would not let her. I didn't understand her then but I do now. For me, anyway, I find myself surrounded by Protestants - on TV, on the radio, in politics so in the news papers, on the internet and on and on. I am glad you spoke of this today as I also listened to your last talk about hurting a saint and started to think "but if they are meant to be saints they will be" but there was a sadness in my heart over this thought. Thank you for affirming my beliefs of my youth. For me, in the United States, I am fearful of the way we are going due to the religious right. I feel like this must have been what it was like in Germany in the 1930's. Thank you Father.
God bless you! I will pray for you such God gives you strength especially in times of need!
Thank you Father, you brought tears in my eyes. I love hearing your message. Christ Has RISEN. Pray for me
Obtain the Spirit of peace and a thousand around you will be saved. May we all chose love father. Peace be with you +++
I really don’t know how to THANK YOU 🙏🏾 WORDS are not enough Indeed Excellent teaching 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾Amen
Thank God I am out of the Calvinistic way of thinking. It’s cultish. It’s cruel. It’s deceiving. It made me loose love for God. It made me loose hope for humanity. It’s made Christianity easy. I converted recently to orthodoxy. I am a catechumen. This is the best decision I’ve ever made in my life for my eternity. May God have mercy on me and all of humanity.☦️📿
This really hits home . Growing up in a pseudo-calvinist setting, your words address the exact issues that lead me to leave.
If God hadn't brought me to Eastern Orthodoxy, I'd have become a practitioner of various magical and occult traditions. I couldn't worship a God who'd created man just for him to suffer in sin without his consent only to be thrown into Hell for having sinned, despite a lack of free will.
Thank you so much.
God bless you and grant you peace and salvation Father, along with your fellow monastics. May The Theotokos save you all by Her prayers.
The calvanist teach - i learned this while at a Baptist church - that there are the "elect" and proceed to show scriptures in fact using that very word (Isaiah65:9; Mathew24:31; Mark13:27;etc...) but, "For God so loved THE WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOEVER believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" John 3:16 it would seem there is a contradiction but God is not the author of confusion and any confusion is surely our own.
It appears to me that people...humanity doesn't really understand God's love, "For your thoughts are not My thoughts neither are your ways My ways" declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8... then there's Job of course, who are we to question... so this is probably why Jesus said to "be like little children..." just trust Him, fully, innocently, obediently, and lovingly the way a little child trusts their parents. We really shouldn't rely on our own understanding. Especially me being that i am so stiffnecked and wicked. Wonderful discussion Father, i truly enjoy these talks. Thank you. God bless you always in all ways Amen 🙏
I think you may be misunderstanding Calvinism. Paul teaches that there are those elected to salvation (as per Romans 8-9). John says those who believe shall not perish. Then in Ephesians, St. Paul says that "For by grace you have been saved athrough faith. And this is bnot your own doing; it is the gift of God," with faith the gift.
Calvinists like me teach God saves those He elected by regenerating them (by giving them faith), justifying them via Christ's death on the cross and sanctifying (making holy) through the Holy Spirit. We might be tempted to call this choosing "unjust" or "unloving" but in Romans 9, the Apostle Paul addresses this specifically saying
"14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion,[b] but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills."
God bless and love you sister. I hope I've made what we actually believe clear and you will be in my prayers.
@@alexbraham6259 This view, of course, is incompatible with Father Seraphim's contention that God cannot choose between giving faith, mercy, and compassion to the "elect" while hardening the hearts of the damned. God's very being is love and God cannot violate his own being, cannot disown his own nature as love which shines on the just and unjust alike. The choice to be among the saints or to turn away from God, is ours, not God's, and it is a choice that even God cannot take away from us.
@@alexbraham6259 - your comments reflect what i usually hear from protestants in various ways. The pernicious prosperity gospel talks one hears on TV reflect the passages you provide. All this does not try to account for the depth of God’s love. The God as
love is difficult to comprehend. It is not given to human understanding . The word “love” is unfortunately too tainted by how it is characterized by humans, and by Calvin, and his many followers to this day. God’s love as spoken about by Fr Seraphim is a tiny reflection of His love. Also, just for comments sake, the last part of Pharaoh’s heart harden by God should not be used in the context you placed.
Dieter Kind Faith isn’t complicated. Mysterious, yes! And rightfully so, so that none can boast.
1 Corinthians 15
Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Working in law enforcement and prisons, we have had to do things we never thought we would do, participate in things we never thought we would participate in, react in ways we never considered were in us. Fight the evil in the world and try not to get discouraged about what seems the lack of good. Is there a place for us?
Yes, my dear brother. We all start again each day. Confess and stay very close to Our Blessed Mother. She will guide you through a very difficult job. I will pray for you!❤️❤️
My dear one, if you are prevented from doing your job with compassion for your brothers and sisters, it is safer to walk away. I know this is a hard word, but I can only tell you what I know to be true. Walk away from evil, if you cannot stay pure in the midst of it. I pray for you, dear one. Be safe, be blessed.
amen@@mullmonastery
Never thought of the people of God as a dirty hanky, but it does work in these days! Thank you for the simple clear message of being human in these days. I can hardly bare the state of things. "Even so come Lord Jesus"
Father thank you for your inspiring talks. They are a great source of spiritual inspiration. I think your talks are at the heart of Celtic Christianity. I pray that some day the Churches may be one.
Спасибо, братия. Добрых молитв вам и благодати Божией
Thank you father for your explanation with handkerchief :-)
Fr Seraphim, thank you for another great teaching. I look forward to your talks often.
Yes, Father Seraphim,..as we sing with you..."for He is Good and He loves mankind.." Amen, Amen Thank you , Thank you and We Bless the LORD Jesus and Father God and Holy Spirit. Amen. May times of refreshing be to all of you there for this Holy ministry you have set your hearts to walk in , to answer the call, that we all together may apprehend that which we were apprehended for. Grace! Grace! to you and His Love forever. Amen Thank you,
We thank the LORD who is our ever present help in the time of need. ( Sing unto the Lord a new song. For He has done marvelous things. His right hand and His holy arm has gotten Him the Victory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mrs. Hutchinson (andrea)
Excelent, thank you father! ❤️🙏🏻 God bless you!
God bless you Father. I was on the edge of my seat for your every word:
“God is not free to be not Himself.”
“God’s freedom is NOT to choose to be Himself.”
“God can only be who He is and He is love.”
“He wills for us to be saved,” not that His intention is that one is saved and another condemned.
The narrow path taken to the Kingdom is “taken by violence, violence against our own fallenness, our own instinct to choose evil.”
And heed the words of St Matthew:
“Lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt.”
“If ye were of this world the world would love you, but I have chosen you out of the world; be ye therefore perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Me too!! I was on the edge of my seat! Best explanation I have heard in long time!
Amen🙏
I want to follow the orthodox faith but there is no such church where I live. What advice can you give me? This is a very powerful sermon.
where do you live? google orthodox church. its pretty good at finding it
I have commented this same thing, and have seen many others do so... the Orthodox churches are not so common as what one might think. Please join me in asking our Lord for an answer for those of us who are unreached.
Online church
Where do you live ? You can look up Orthodox Churches on the internet
Dear one, at times, one needs to make great effort to follow Christ. For us, this effort involves travel time, expenses and tiredness; for those who lived before us (and some who live today in some parts of the world), this effort implies the risk to lose their jobs, their freedom or even their lives. I am not saying this with ease, dear one; I also have to 'invest' this effort - my spiritual father lives at the other end of the continent and it takes me two days of travel to get to see him and make my confession. But I know that each step I take is blessed by God and that I have my guardian angel leading my way. I pray you have the same blessing, dear one.
Father, please pray for my nephew Andrew. He is going through something difficult and in need of God’s grace and comfort. God bless you!
I hope you're okay, wherever you are. May you stay safe and strong out there. May you take care of yourself, and others, as much as you can. I pray whatever happens to you, may you fight the Good Fight and keep the Faith. God Bless you. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have Mercy upon us, sinners.
Thank you Father for the clear, unique explanations ,for your care towards us. Dear Lord may bless you and your brothers
Excellent Thank you!
I saw in the dream that my heart is shut like a golden chest towards God.Help me Lord for lam a grave sinner.
Father we thank you for your beautiful words it gives me a better understanding of our Christian faith and this strengthens me to be a better person.
May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Have Mercy on us Amen
Praise be to God for your inspiring preaching. Your use of the hankerchief in how we affect others around us and their spiritual state, was so simple and yet incredibly apparent! We can take so much from your teaching.
This reminds me to keep confessing that I still have an ego, and to pray for anyone I may have affected in a negative way, and to confess to my spiritual Father and from my heart to God.
The lives of the saints give us hope:
Moses the prophet killed an Egyptian; Saint Mary of Egypt led many astray; Saint Moses the Ethiopian was a gang leader; Saint Paul was murdering Christians; The Thief on the cross. All these ordinary and seemingly terrible people had one thing in common. They met the Living Christ and were transformed into living saints. His love and mercy endureth forever, amen.
Thank you, Father! This was much needed for me.
Such a wonderful example that with your handkerchief! And so nice and relieving that you always speak under the presence of an icon.
I came across your teachings today and I was one of these “saved” that believed in predestination. I see that I have been deceived in the vanity of my own mind into hideousness. I have felt dead for the last 3 years and now I know why. I had a beautiful conversion when I first came to Christ over 20 years ago but the teaching of grace with limits has opened the doors for me to be devoured because I was not vigilant in my walk of love. Please pray for for me, any advice Sir would help tremendously. God bless you. 🙏🏽
Your blessing, Father! I Thank God and you for the handkerchief explanation as I'm still in awe thinking what an amazing God we have! This makes total sense to me, and I'll keep this as present as I can in my mind. Everything we all do matters!
Thank you so much for this message. Bless you and bless this channel so it can reach many more of us.
Amen amen amen God bless for all
Is there hope for us who have had an illumination of conscience and realize the harm that we have done to others? It's almost unbearable to think how I have harmed others and caused others to fall...may God have mercy.
There is hope!!
Fr Seraphim I love your videos, honesty and humility. Every time you seem to speak a ‘word in due season.’
Please just know that your ministry here is doing a good work in many of us, thank you so much from a very grateful sinner, trying to journey home 🙏🏻🙂😇 x
Amen ✝️❤️🙏😇
I had a dream that a fiery beast was chasing me. My heart is hard. Please pray for me.
I have had such dreams. One in particular scared me so badly that I still recall it years later.
There was an elderly priest that I met at an Orthodox Church. We had a wonderful conversation following the liturgy. He gave me his card.
Following that horrible dream (vision?), I called him. I was afraid that my regular priest would think that I was crazy. To my astonishment Fr Rademer listened calmly and attentively. He told me that such demon attacks are quite common and especially during the Lentin season.
Try watching Fr Seraphim’s recent video regarding evil attacks during prayer. Your not crazy.
May you be blessed. ☦️
Bless you too, for your kind words and Truth, . It is so needed in this time to hear Truth,. Thank You Lord,. for our Salvation,.amen
So excited!!! I look forward to your videos ❤️ They are the best part of my day (besides my prayer time!)
Father Seraphim- I've always felt this responsibility to my brothers and sisters who aren't saved (and ,of course, those who are)but could not give words to what I felt is my vocation. You do so for me beautifully. God bless and keep you💒
Amen. Father your video was truly a part of God's providence for me. Thank you and God bless you.
Amen Amen Amen 🙏
Praise be to God! I must confess that indeed your teachings have stirred something special within my soul so much so that I am now consumed by it. I find it delightfully fulfilling in my quest for a purposeful propagation of my faith in Christ Jesus! I thank you for the spiritual enrichment, and pray that you will keep filling us up with the truth of the spirit of God our maker!
amen thank you..
Profound homily! Amen! Amen! Amen!
I agree Amen❤
Such a good video! Definitely the fruit of prayer.
Blessings ❤️🙏🏼😇☦️
Finally a wonderful explanation
I was Calvinist for years. It caused many distorted views of God, sin, love, my ability and responsibilities to do good and lots of other things.
When I realized I had a very distorted (Calvinistic) view of God and that God actually LOVED me - and indeed LOVES everyone - it shook me to the core; obviously in a good way but in a very humbling way. A glimpse of God's Love, of God, was all it took to shake me from my heretical Calvinist beliefs and start me on the road to His Church.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son is one of the best examples of God's Love and one of the most clear showings that God doesn't deal with people as the Calvinist doctrines claim. I share the following humbly and only to shine light on the Truth that God is Love. I do not share it to put evil thoughts or ideas in anyone's head but in hopes that if anyone does hold those misguided thoughts of God they can then read the TRUE Parable and see the vast difference and walk into the Light of God's Love for them! Please forgive me if this is forward or presumptuous in any way.
This is the parable of the prodigal son from a Calvinist point of view...
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Then He said: “A certain man, who was worthy of all praise and glory and always just in all his dealings as not to lessen his glory, had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
But if only he would have had the ability to come to himself he might have. He was, however, incapable of this on his own. Then a comforter came to him from his father and he said, ‘How many of your father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and you perish with hunger! Arise and go to your father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” And the comforter picked him up and made him willing to go back.
But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and pointed to him and said to his servants, “Look, my son is returning home for my glory because I sent for him and brought him back!” And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
But the father said to his son, “Who will pay the debt you owe me or rescue you from my wrath against you? Here is your brother, I will make him pay the debt so that you may be forgiven because I am just and my wrath must be satisfied that I may be glorified.”
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Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!
How should we pray for you Fr. Seraphim? Is there a particular way that people who aren't clergy or in your Orthodox church should say our prayers for you? Thank you in Jesus Christ's Spirit.
"we are not separate dots on this hanky..." This made me chuckle (in a good way!) 😊. Bless you Father 🙏 Greetings from Melbourne, Australia.
Amen.
Father bless you for your wonderful work. Your videos are such a sense of encouragement for me. Messages truly inspired by God. Your surroundings are just beautiful. Wishing you, your Brothers, and everyone, a wonderful Christmas. Jesus is born.
Beautiful guidance Fr. Thank you so much. Imelda
thank you
I have chosen to separate myself from communion because of my sins. Unfortunately, I stopped believing God would help me to overcome my sins, to find the solution for the situation I have been closed in for years. If He doesn’t help me, who else can help me? No one. This is why I stopped receiving communion. My choice until something will change for better.
Shalom one is bot supposed to torment oneself WE ARE LOVE AND TRUTH Shalom
Thank you for helping me. Amen. Lord Jesus Christ, son of God the Father with the Holy Spirit have mercy on me a sinner. AMEN.
Thank you Father for Sharing this video and thank you for your time pray for us pray for the Hollywood
I should like to say thank you so much Father. pray for me
Is that way the tree of good and evil was in the garden God held nothing back from us in His Love He told us not to touch or eat but we listen to another and sinned and now we do eat of the fruit daily.
truth; honesty is important, rather than hidden truths confusing our children / enabling seems to be many peoples manner in behaviors today - those leading are often somewhere far to the 'left' with no consideration of the 'Pollen Path - knowing the only choice has always been 'Life - Respecting all life' ... God have mercy on us all to find our 'Soul's Journey' - allowing God the Spiritual directive through what is a fallen world/humanity is extremely corrupted again, and may never find the rescue - the Rescue is the only way that finds others' Recovery / Healing in and through 'Jesus' ... this is possible knowing that we must all 'die symbolically on the cross with our Lord Jesus ... God is Love ...
Thank you Father Seraphim for these words and thoughts of yours. When you said that 'we are one' created by God's imagine it came into my mind the Genesis, when God created man after His image. This is so deeply that we cannot really understand fully the meaning of this. But one side of it, and a very important one, is that as God is One, so we (human being) all need to be /remain one in order to still hold onto us, the image of God given to us. Everytime we say/look/think/act by starting with 'me/we' and 'you' (we christians, we orthodox, and you muslims, you atheists...) the separation is already there and the image of God is less and less in us. Of course, we are all diferent, but I must fight with myself every second to remain one with my brother, my neighbour, my fellow workers, and so forth. And, what is the image of The One, if not Love, as God is Love Himself. That's why, love is The Way. If we love each other, we all remain one with God. Saint Apostel John was saying towards the end of his earthly life, '... just love each other, dear brothers, and this is enough!...'. Forgive me Father if I said something that is not entirely true or misleading. God bless you all!!!
Father? What if we as a parent fail and don't raise our children in the way they should go? And what if we cause those children to fall.😢
Amen
Thank you father this video should be required teaching in all Catholic schools. And in ALL schools for that matter. Am I my brother's keeper asked Cain. Oh dear, Cain, old son, looks we are. That raises the stakes somewhat. My local church was burned down recently by a person who suffered sexual abuse from one of its priests back in the seventies. My sympathy lies with this person. Can this person be blamed for turning away from God as a bad joke or does he still need to make his peace with God, if not the priest. This is a hard road for this victim of clerical abuse.
Recently a local priest in my town was convicted of child abuse and sent to prison. A news reporter asked a local Catholic `on the street' if she still wanted to remain a Catholic and she said yes. The news reporter asked her why. She said, `because I worship God not a priest'. Great answer under trying circumstances and I'm so grateful to her for it - this is a good influence she has had in my life even though she doesn't know it. It might have been a more difficult answer if she'd suffered the abuse first-hand though. And all this vindicates your message today that we do influence each other whether we like it or not.
The freedom to look towards God or turn our backs to Him is the most difficult part of being a Christian. People largely are all for a God who is love...until they condemn their neighbor and demand a God who (they feel) should enact the justice they desire. In other words; they demand God TAKE AWAY the freedom to chose from that person.
Aside from that occurrence breaking the whole universe, it’s massively uncomfortable for people to sit with.
It requires a personal responsibility that is painful to actuate. I know it is painful for me. God bless you, Father
Father I have a question.. I lost a debate last night with someone who was judging a certain group by saying "They deserve to go to hell" I tried telling him that God is merciful and how that person had no right to judge. Then I said that no one deserves to go to hell and in his anger he warned me to never to reply to him again. Was I right? I know this might be looking for admiration or to feed my ego but it isn't It's just I want to know did I do the right thing trying to defend Gods love and mercy against someone who thinks no one deserves any mercy or prayers.
John chapter 8: The Pharisees test Jesus if he'll judge a woman who had been unfaithful to her husband, and by Moses' law should be stoned. In response Jesus replied "You who is free of sin shall throw the first rock". One by one they left, first the older ones left. Left was the woman whom Jesus asked if anyone had judged her. She said no, to which Jesus responded, "And I won't judge you. Go now and don't sin anymore."
For some the heavenly gates are closed as we haven't come to love God, we have no other place to go then. There is theology about Limbo for them, but through Jesus you can get salvation. That is why he commanded us to convert our fellow humans. It is difficult, but as long as you seek forgiveness from God and love God, you'll be saved.
@@tp_tays Thanks it's just I tried but a wise woman told me that we chosen hell already because of our sins on earrh. Ierland once a devoted country is now a haven for sinners of all kinds and very few people still keep God in their hearts. My problem I have now is that Satan is taking away the Shame from these people and replace it with pride. They think the evil they do is alright because they'll like "God will forgive me anyway"
Again, dearest Father, you are touching the deepest of my heart with this topic! It came EXACTLY after a week of thinking EXACTLY about this! I benefit so much of your inspired words on the nature of God' Love, of love and our failure and the damage we can bring to others by our corrupted nature and twisted "love"! It is not a small thing. It is fundamental. And how to repent? where to start? a constant cry... Which, however, should be accompanied by hope in God! Do you recommend just prayer for others? I think this entreat would help us through the Help of God to identify instances where our positioning is ... twisted. Please continue to address every topic you feel like addressing. To me, they came exactly as an answer! Thank you!!! Your precious blessing!
Hello father Seraphim. I have been watching your videos for some time now, and I wanted to say that I love them dearly! ❤
I am a protestant non denominational Christian, but this year I have become very drawn to the Orthodox faith, it has awaken in me a longing of participation in the Christian story (reality).
I want to approach it, but as far as I know, all our churches in sweden are still closed.
Do you have any advice for me father?
I pray for your safety and send you all thoughts of love! ❤
This year is thought to be the 1500th anniversary of the birth of Saint Columba. My parish, St Columba's Long Tower Derry is holding a special year of commemoration. But with the Covid, I don't know how it will go.
Interesting
What a beautiful location
Nk you
Thank you Father. I agree and understand. How can we reconcile some of the old testament accounts such us Pharaoh in Egypt and what God said about him, thee purpose he was created for. Or Judas when Jesus says he would have better not been born? I don't understand. Thank you.
Father, so many have not heard the Orthodox teaching, so please don't stop sharing it!! As someone from the "west", who spent most of my life as Roman Catholic and Protestant, I can tell You I didn't know what Orthodoxy was for 47 years. I'm now a catechumen, but it was those like You sharing and teaching that exposed me to Orthodoxy.
Please don't stop sharing God's Love with those who have never heard anything but heresy and false teaching!!
You are right! The Lord Jesus Christ shed His precious blood and died on the cross for the sins of all people, so
that by trust in Him as Saviour and Lord through His finished work, all might be saved (Book Of Isaiah, 53: 1-12;
Gospel Of John, 3: 16-21; Epistle 1 Of Paul To Timothy, 1: 12-17; Epistle 1 Of John, 1: 1-10 & 2: 1-2) and possess
willingly the moral and ethical sense which goes hand in hand (Epistle 1 Of John, 2: 3-29)!
Amen. Appreciate your earnest heartfelt talks. I like to call myself (partly in jest and in partly seriously) a hopeful free will universalist ... meaning I hope all will be reconciled to God. God’s yes is bigger than our no is it not? ...but our free will also allows for us still to reject him. Perhaps this is contradictory but it seems to resolve things for me. What are peoples thought’s?
Pray for me Father 🙏
🙏
Thank you so much for this very important message, presented with so much love. God is love, and to suggest that there are limitations to this love defies logic and is patently false. The idea that someone could be happy in heaven while others cry out from the fires of hell, merely demonstrates the inadequacy of our love. It is because of our failure to love, that we are unable to accept God’s love. It is not God, but we ourselves, who choose hell by rejecting God’s love. Heaven cannot exist while there is hell; division cannot persist when God is one. The existence of hell alongside heaven would be to circumscribe the power of God’s love. Run as far and as fast as you can from the pernicious doctrine of predestination. It really is spiritual abuse.
Thank you father, I wish you could visit our church in Kitchener, Ont. I am Ethiopian orthodox Christian and thirsty with such teachings. Please pray for Ethiopia we are in war & the country is falling apart many people dying specially kids & elderly people. Our faith is challenged. The desert fathers in Ethiopia knew this was coming and they told everyone to pray & repent but nobody pay attention to them. May God forgive our sins & our weakness. 😢🙏
War, ANY war, dear Amy is the bloody proof of our fallen state from grace. May God take pity upon your nation and all other parts of the world where people are murdered in the name of the idols we worship: power, wealth, nationalism and so on. NOTHING is more valuable than the Image of God imprinted on the person in front of us. Have courage, dear one. Hold on to your peace and faith.
@@mullmonastery Than you father, your encouraging words are healing to my soul. I thank God for connecting you to the world through this media. 🙏. I will send my donation sometime this week & if you can pls send me the donation link. Pray for my boys to be good Christian, 20 & 21yr old in university now. Thank you again ❤️
Father, BTW I found the link for donation on your CZcams channel & I contributed very small amount but I do more another time when possible. Very blessed to have 🙏
The hanky will remain in my heart forever--the wisdom of the fishermen and not that of the philosophers!
Father, my idea of heaven is somewhere where I can have my family around me..where i can have an allotment with nice people to share my joy in growing things..and a local low church where I can worship my God. What do you think?
Question from a Protestant:
Is it possible that God chooses who is saved, but we also have free will simultaneously?
On the surface, those two thoughts seem like a contradiction, but I believe it’s the only possibility. Truly, the way we live our lives has an affect on our brothers and sisters around us, and their salvation. Truly, the kingdom of heaven is taken with violence, and we must strive to enter the narrow gate. Yet also, God is over all things. What can we do when Paul writes:
“He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Ephesians 1:4-5)
Or when Peter writes:
“Unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.” (1 Peter 2:7-8)
And Romans 9:22-24. And many scriptures with the same thought.
Yet I also believe God loves everyone. And truly it is God’s will that all would repent.
But we find ourselves with the contradiction, that God is sovereign, yet we have freedom of choice. “How can these things be?” you ask. The beauty of God is found in the places we understand least. God is three, yet He is one. God is merciful, yet He is just. Jesus is God, yet He is man. God controls everything, yet we make our own choices.
I made a lot of statements, but I meant this to be a question, and I sincerely would appreciate an answer.
Great sermon.
Question: is the Greek Orthodox and Catholic Church one? If not why not? Did the Holy Spirit separate them or did man? They are obviously not ONE. Which ONE is the true Church?
Doamne ajuta ! Parinte drag, daca vrem mantuirea, daca tanjim dupa salvare, liberul arbitru se anuleaza, alegerea este iluzorie din start ? Practic noi asta trebuie sa realizam ?
Cat despre constiinta comuna, nu cred ca mai sunt multi dispusi sa iubeasca asa, nu ne mai purtam poverile unii la altii.
I was an Evangelical and once fell into the teachings of Calvinism. I came to believe that God was the only real persons. Only those with free will are persons and as such I believed that no other persons existed beyond the Holy Trinity. Since there were no other persons to love, love as I understood it was also a lie. Love and hate were assigned functions, both willed by God for His own Glory (or entertainment). I fell into what I now call "Theo-deterministic Nihilism". By the grace of God I was referred to Dr. Leighton Flowers who dismantled John Piper, John McArthur, Charles Spurgeon, R.C. Sproul, James White and other leading Calvinists. He was the first to inform me of Augustine of Hippo's Manichean influence and the poison of Gnosticism. From there Dr. Michael S. Heiser taught me that places and things could indeed be Holy or malevolent and that the veil between this world and the next is thinner than many Evangelicals would like to think. If we can be assaulted by demons and powers in the physical world than surely God must also be able to save mankind in a superior manner? I then realized the truth of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and that Holy Icons are more than painted wood.
Hello dear father! May I ask you samting about death?. How can I get rid by fear of dead? I feel go in hell.
Fear God not death... your in your own he’ll forgive you ask him over over live repentance and peace...it’s hard daily struggle 🙏🏼😇❤️☦️
Dear Anca, you need to speak to your spiritual father. You need someone who knows you from confession to help you discern if this is a temptation from which you need to walk away, or if this is a gift, a cross which you need to carry for your salvation. Both are possible, but what saves some people crushes others. Only your spiritual father will be able to help you discern this. In the meantime, hold on to this word: as long as you do not let go of Christ, He will not let go of you. Often, long after we let go of Him, He still holds on to us. Hold on to Him, and He will not let go of you.
@@mullmonastery Very good answer, as I deleted mine! I learned a lot from what you said! Thank you💗😇💗
Thanks a lot,my dear father!
@@mullmonastery thanks a lot,my deat father!