I think this is a pretty good heart check. Which seems like bondage to you: 1. Obeying God's commandments 2. Obeying the desires of the flesh If you can say that the second option is bondage, then that is a great sign that you have the Spirit. If you still feel the first, or if you feel the second but it seems like you're having no victories over the flesh, go to the Orthodox Church and ask when you can get chrismated to receive the seal of the Holy Spirit (a practice found in Scripture called the "annointing"). In the past I fit into the case of people who felt in bondage to sin but could not figure out how to be free of those thoughts until very recently.

The Peace we have in Christ is not an emotional peace that we give ourselves to feel comfortable about our state of salvation which we ascended to through belief in a specific set of doctrines. True Peace comes directly from the energy of God and is felt in our soul, despite the struggles we may face in the world. Some may want to cling to the former, and thereby are not understanding that they are missing out on the latter.

After chrismation, I noticed that sinning has become basically suffering for my soul even though I still do it. Not saying that wasn't at all the case before, but I have definitely noticed it becoming more amplified. Feel free to think whatever you want with this info.

Absolute win.

If marriage is maintained through good works, how many good works are enough? And how do you know you've done enough to keep the wife around? See the issue with your question? It's not about the answer. The problem is found in the question itself. This is not the mindset of someone that loves God.

There is not one single verse in all of the entire Bible that connects God's wrath to being satisfied at the cross. There are, however, numerous verses in both the old and new testament that connect it to being satisfied through a humble and repentant heart in relationship with Christ, and wrath being very present where there is an unrepentant, faithless heart that willfully makes a practice of sin. Christ did indeed defeat the first death for everyone, so that everyone was/will be resurrected from Hades, the land of the dead. How you experience that resurrection, however, is not determined by the cross, and it never was understood this way. That is why the evangelical gospel is a false modern creation that blends both deaths into one solution when they should remain as separate solutions. First death - defeated at the cross for everyone. This was the requirement of the law that says even one sin makes you guilty of the whole law, leading to death by nature. This is the free gift. Second death (wrath) - avoided, very generally speaking, through relationship with God which results in a transformation of the heart. Ironically, the common prooftext used for the evangelical gospel is actually one of several prooftexts for what I laid out here: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified (first death) by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath (second death) through Him." Romans 5:8-9 So in short: Abraham was declared righteous by faithfully following God before the cross. However, He still could not enter Paradise without Christ taking the penalty for sin, which was death. Once you see it, you can't unsee it.

A great way to tell if your ecclesiastical theology is sound or not is if you can change the word "Church" to "Supreme Court" and the word "Scripture" to "Constitution", and then test and see how your country functions.

The Orthodox Church is the pearl of great price. I have searched my whole life for this.

My family and I got chrismated into the Orthodox Church today. I could not feel more at home ❤️

This Sunday, my family and I are getting chrismated (plus baptism for kids) into the Holy Orthodox Catholic Church, and we will all be receiving the Eucharist for the very first time in our lives. The Eucharist is the normal means Christ established to unite us to Himself in the blood of the new covenant. It is the medicine of immortality. It is the very blood that was shed for us - not a new sacrifice, but always proclaiming the same sacrifice. It has real power through Christ to sanctify us and keep us in union with Him, and is *necessarily* understood to truly be the body and blood of Christ after the prayers are said over it to sanctify the bread and wine. In this way, among other ways as well, we can truly say that Christ is our sanctification. "And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing [baptism] that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh." Justin Martyr's First Apology, 150AD. "Obey the bishop and the presbytery with an undivided mind, breaking one and the same bread, which is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote to prevent us from dying, but which causes that we should live for ever in Jesus Christ." Ignatius, 110AD. "Do not err, my brethren. If any man follows him that makes a schism in the Church, he shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If any one walks according to a strange opinion, he agrees not with the passion of Christ. Take heed, then, to have but one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to show forth the unity of His blood; one altar; as there is one bishop [in each city], along with the presbytery and deacons, my fellow-servants: that so, whatsoever you do, you may do it according to the will of God." Ignatius, 110AD. "They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death in the midst of their disputes. But it were better for them to treat it with respect, that they also might rise again." Ignatius, 110AD. "Drink from it, all of you. For this is My *blood of the new covenant*, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Matthew 26:28 "Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the *blood of the covenant* by which he was sanctified **a common thing**, and insulted the Spirit of grace?" Hebrews 10:29 "Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the *blood of the everlasting covenant*, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." Hebrews 13:20. "For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water [baptism], and the blood [Eucharist]; and these three agree as one." 1 John 5:7-8

As an Orthodox convert, I cannot stomach watching Jay Dyer. It feels so dark and frustrating seeing him trample over everyone. I am not innocent of this by any means. But I don’t think that watching it happen is going to edify or help me become the person that God wants me to be. I recommend pointing new converts elsewhere.

You don't get a marriage certificate and then say that your marriage was strictly in the past. Those who think that way often end up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If you cannot easily say "Jesus died for my sins" as an Orthodox Christian without having to beat around the bush, please get off the internet right now and go ask your priest where it all went wrong.

This is the guy who started the protestant reformation and came up with the concept of Sola Scriptura btw. Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 32: Career of the Reformer II, p. 59

The bishops need to have a pan-Orthodox council to ban charging anyone for any services that involve catechumens or members of that parish, and they need to act fact.

Rome got primacy of authority because two apostles taught there and they were well grounded in the truth. Not because Matthew 16:18 promised infallibility to the seat through Peter alone. That verse was tied to the seat much, much later and relied heavily on forgeries.

The Church life *cannot* save you or defeat sin on its own. Only looking to its Head in faith can save you and defeat sin in your life. The Church life is a mere tool - almost like a prescription - that Christ gives us to help us get there. But it is of no effect unless we first cling to Him. He is the source of all healing, not any religious practices. The Church also has another very crucial role, however, because it protects sound doctrine. Without it, we are very easily led astray by the various false teachers of the world. And of course, it has the holy sacraments given to us by God, which are a fountain of Grace to those who partake. "So that you obey the bishop and the presbytery with an undivided mind, breaking one and the same bread, which is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote to prevent us from dying, but [which causes] that we should live for ever in Jesus Christ." - Ignatius of Antioch, 110AD