A Few Videos//Documentaries About Monasticism, Eastern & Western Christianity

Michael Cremo: "Forbidden Archaeology"

I love this guy!! I have the two most important books he wrote: "Forbidden Archeology" & "Human Devolution." He's a Hare Krishna, initiated by Swami Prabhupada in the mid 1970's. Cool. Vedic literature points to humans being on earth for millions of years! WOW!!

"A Comparison of Eastern Orthodoxy & Evangelicalism"

Borrowed from here with permission [link]

Introduction

Evangelicals claim their ancestry from the Apostles and the Early Church, although "early" is usually defined narrowly as the Church of the 1st century.  In reality Evangelicalism stems largely from the Protestant Reformation.  It is a river with many tributaries, including Lutheranism, Calvinism, Presbyterianism, the Baptists, Methodism, the Moravians, the Holiness Movement, Plymouth Brethren, Pentecostalism and the Independents, including the modern House Church Movement, to name some of the more prominent.  In addition most of the post-Reformation Churches have developed Evangelical parties within them, alongside liberals and, in the case of Anglicans, Anglo-Catholics.

Comparisons

What do all these Evangelicals have in common?  Most of them believe:

1. Salvation or Justification by faith alone, not by works.
2. That sound teaching is based on the Bible, Old and New Testament, some would say "sola Scriptura" – Scripture only.
3. That to be saved one needs a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This is often described as being "born again."That the Church means any gathering of Christians –
4.  and there is no such thing as the "true" or the "perfect Church". It is often said – "if there is a perfect Church, don’t join it, you will spoil it." Any gathering of two or more believing Christians is a Church.

Let us look at these from an Orthodox perspective:

1. St Paul never wrote that Justification is by faith alone. The Orthodox certainly believe in Justification by Faith, but also in works as the fruit and evidence of that Justification. The Orthodox see Salvation as a much broader concept; it includes what the Orthodox call "Theosis", which is the working out of holiness in the life of the believer. Yes, the believer is saved; but also "being saved."
2. The Bible never tells us that it is the basis of the truth. In fact St Paul tells us that it is "the church of the living God" which is the "bulwark of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15). Scripture does not interpret itself; it needs to be interpreted. If one only looks at the thousands of different interpretations Evangelicals have made – leading to hundreds of different denominations. The Orthodox believe that the Church not the individual has the overall sense and meaning of the Scriptures as being the community that brought the Scriptures together under God's guidance and inspiration.
3. The Orthodox agree in part that a personal relationship with Christ is necessary and to be born again, but do not leave it there. The Orthodox Church believes there is a corporate dimension to salvation. Salvation is in the Church, as Noah’s was in the ark.
4. Perhaps the greatest weakness in Evangelicalism is its doctrine of the Church. It is interesting that the Orthodox teaching on this was never a source of dispute until the Reformation. There was disagreement on the issue of the nature of Christ and the Trinity; but in the early centuries the Church stood united in its clear understanding of itself.

Recent Comings Together

Until recently there has been very little contact between Evangelicals and Orthodox, but it is much more common today. One important overlap is with Methodism, and there is a Methodist / Orthodox Society in the United States, and a number of books have been written about this.

John Wesley’s time at Oxford in the 18th Century coincided with a revival of the study of the Church Fathers. When this happens there is nearly always a re-discovery of Orthodoxy. There are some who have concluded that Wesley based his distinctive teaching, which was called "Entire Sanctification", on the Greek Fathers. In the Orthodox Church this is called "Theosis" and is at the heart of its mystical tradition. Others have challenged these conclusions. Certainly Wesley’s ministry was condemned by some of his contemporary Evangelicals, and a man called Walker banned him from preaching in Truro in Cornwall.

What has been lacking in the distant past, has been more than made up for in recent times.

In 1995 the World Council of Churches organised an Orthodox-Evangelical Consultation in Alexandria, Egypt. The published report was titled Proclaiming Christ Today. A little earlier Evangelicals and Orthodox shared together in Cyprus. Their report published in 1992 was called Turning Over a New Leaf: Protestant Missions and the Orthodox Churches of the Middle East.

The most dramatic example of this new coming together was the conversion of two thousand Evangelicals from the American Bible belt to the Antiochian Orthodox Church in the 80s. Some of their stories have been published in a book called Coming Home, edited by their leader, once a leader in the Campus Crusade for Christ movement, now a Priest in the Orthodox Church – Father Peter Gillquist.

Bibliography  

Turning over a New Leaf; Protestant Missions and the Orthodox Churches of the Middle East: (Interserve and Middle East Media – 1992)

John Wesley and Christian Antiquity: Ted A Campbell  (Kingswood Books 1991)

Coming Home: Why Protestant Clergy are becoming Orthodox: edited by Peter Gillquist  (Conciliar Press, 1992)

Orthodox and Wesleyan Spirituality: edited by S T Kimbrough  (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2002)

Three Views of Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism  (Zondervan, 2004)

Evangelicalism and the Orthodox Church  (Acute 2001)

Proclaiming Christ Today: Orthodox Evangelical Consultation 1995   (WCC and Syndesmos 1996)

Beyond Salvation – Eastern Orthodoxy and Classical Pentecostalism on Becoming like Christ: Edmund J. Rybarczyk (Paternoster 2004)

Internet Resources  

Evangelicals Becoming Orthodox

(1)  "From First Baptist to the First Century - a Spiritual Journey" by Clark Carlton

(2)  "From Evangelical to Orthodox" by Fr. Gregory Rogers

Evangelical - Orthodox Dialogue

(1)  "Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism:  The Status of an Emerging Global Dialogue" by  Bradley Nassif, Ph.D.

(2)  "The Many and the One: The Interface Between Orthodox and Evangelical Protestant Hermeneutics" by Grant R. Osborne

Orthodox Theology Contrasted

(1)  "What Christ Accomplished on the Cross" by Heiromonk Damascene

(2)  "Miles from the Truth" by Fr. John Whiteford and Patrick Barnes

(3)  "Salvation by Christ" by Carmen Fragapane

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AZURE RAY "November" *A Must Listen!* [Audio Only]

Makes me happy & sad at the same time. Oh a gift from God, this is! ♥ 
 

RANCID "Roots Radical"

One of the best songs ever from one of the greatest bands to ever come out of the USA!! Cheers for RANCID!!!

WHATEVER IT TAKES "The Great Escape" [Audio Only]

I've never heard of nor heard of these guys, WHATEVER IT TAKES. Stumbled across them on YouTube. I like what I'm hearing so far.
I'll up some more songs in this post shortly. I'm really trying to consolidate posts, as like-with-like. mass//retaliation is getting to "weedy" if you know what I mean. So have a listen & see what you think.

Excerpt from Wounded By Love: On Dispositions of the Heart [Eastern Orthodox Book]

"Wounded By Love" is an interesting book.  Kind of a hard read for some
reason.  I've read through it at least twice, and skipped around a half dozen
other times.  It's a great looking book, and sturdily bound.  I'm sure the
difficulty in digesting the book is due to my shortcomings, not the authors.

Excerpt from Wounded By Love: On Dispositions of the Heart [External Link]

Great Video! "Saint Paisios Athnonite: The Signalman of God"

This is sweet! Over three hours long and with easily readable English subtitles!

AGAINST ME! "Reinventing Axl Rose" [ FULL ALBUM ]

Such an amazing album. Picks me up & puts me in a good mood everytime. These guys played at my record store, State Control Records back in 2002. There were over 100 people crammed into a TINY fucking space & we thought the floor was actually gonna collapse! They were still mostly acoustic then, and it seemed like every kid in the place knew every lyric to every song! The gang was louder than the band!! So much fuckin fun! I miss this style they were doing. They kind of suck now. Look 'em & you be the judge.
 

Many Books from My Library--Including Recently Received-- that I am Currently Reading [I Read About Ten Books at a Time!]

"Joseph Barnabas: His Life & Legacy" 

"Decoding the Heavens"
 by Jo Marchant




"Cocaine Kids"
 by Terry Williams



"Direct Action"
 by David Graber



"Death Dealer: Rudolf Hoss Autobiography"
 by Rudolf Hoss




"Marcus Aurelius"
 by FrankMcLynn



"You Don't Have to Fuck People Over to Survive"
 by Seth Tobocman


"The House of Rothschild: 1849 -
 by Niall Ferguson



"Synchronicity"
 by A. Combs & M. Holland



"Rommel's North Africa Campaign: Sept. 1940 - Nov. 1942"
 by Jack Greene & Alessandro Massignani



"Reborn in the West: The Reincarnation Masters"
  by Vicki Mackenzie



"The Many Faces of Christ: The Thousand Year Story of the Survival & Influence of the Lost Gospels"
 by Philip Jenkins



"God's Breath: Sacred Scriptures of the World"
 by J. Miller & A. Kenedi

"Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of
Jewish Violence"
 by Elliot Horowitz

"Riding With the Lion: In Search of Mystical Christianity"
 by Kyriacos C. Markides

"Goering: Hitler's Iron Knight"
 by Richard Overy

"Holocaust™ Revisionism: The Arguments"
 by Juergen Graf & Bruno Montoriol

"The Zionist Factor: The Jewish Impact on Twentieth
Century History"
 by Ivor Benson

"Holocaust High Priest: Elie Wiesel,  Night, The Memory
Cult, And The Rise of Revisionism"
 by Warren B. Routledge

"Listen to the Desert: Secrets of Spiritual Maturity from
the Desert Fathers & Mothers"
 by G. Mayers

"Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God"
 by James Finley

"The Price of Whiteness: Jews Race, and American Identity"
 by E.L. Goldstein

"Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict"
  by Ara Norenzayan

"Hitler, Germans, and the "Jewish Question""
  by Sarah Gordon

"One Nation Under Zion: Zionist Influence on America"
 by Peter Christian

"The Devil and the Jews: The Medieval Conception of the Jew and Its
Relation to Modern Anti-Semitism"
 by Joshua Trachtenberg

"The Desert Fathers"
 trans by Helen Waddell

"The Young Hitler I Knew: The Definitive Look at the Artist Who Became
a Monster"
 by August Kubizek

"Inside the Concentration Camps"
 by Maja Suderland

"Nazi Germany"
 by Alan F.Wilt

"Prayers From the East: Traditions of Eastern Christianity"
 ed. by Richard Marsh

"Becoming Eichmann: Rethinking the Life, Crimes, & Trial of a "Desk Murderer"
 by David Cesarani

"Auschwitz: The Final Count"
 by Vivian Bird

"My Life in Christ"
 by St John of Kronstadt

"The SS: Alibi of a Nation, 1922 - 1945"
 by Gerald Reitlinger

"A Short History of the Balfour Declaration"
 by The Barnes Review Journal

"Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini: Totalitarianism in the 
Twentieth Century"
 by B.F. Pauly

"Gobekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods, the Temple of the 
Watchers & the Discovery of Eden"
 by Andrew Collins

"The Last Jews in Berlin"
 by Leonard Gross

"How to Pray Always"
 by Raoul Plus, S.J.

"Awareness: The Perils & Opportunities of Reality"
 by Anthony De Mello, S.J.

"Germany's Underground: The Anti-Nazi Resistance"
 by Allen Welsh Dulles

"Joseph P. Farrell, Genes, Giants, Monsters & Men" [Audio Interview pt. #1....Part #2 to Follow Soon]

Very, very cool. I have a couple of J.P. Farrell's books. A very intelligent man, and his books are exciting.  I must admit, they're to be read sans distractions; i.e. no music, no conversation, no TV (as if I ever watch TV anyhow), etc.  It's too easy to lose focus & Farrell's books call for total and immersed concentration.  Happy reading, and 'ya'll come back now, ya hear!'

(Video) “We Are on Earth in Order to be Useful” Lesvos Village Priest’s Story of Helping Thousands of Refugees

(Video) “We Are on Earth in Order to be Useful” Lesvos Village Priest’s Story of Helping Thousands of Refugees [External Link]