We are created by a God Who invites us into a relationship that is personal
One of the primary differences between Islam and Christianity has to do with the basic view of the nature of God. Islam teaches total surrender to a God who demands submission. There is no invitation to enter into a relationship, freely, nor is there room for an individual to choose, or not choose to love his Creator, for the god of the Muslims is far above his creation, and there is no real possibility to have a personal relationship with this god.
By contrast, the God of Christianity is one Who invites us into a relationship that is personal, and like all relationships based on love, we are free to choose, or not, to commune with a God Who is, by His very nature, in relationship. The God worshiped in Trinity, and this image of the Trinity is the basis of the image of the Church, one of mutual love. The God we worship in Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is One God, and our response to the invitation from this One God, is to enter into communion with our nous, soul, and body (our own triune nature).
There is no force behind this invitation, for we are free to choose, or not, just as any relationship based on love requires both parties to be free to choose, or not. Our obedience is a religious act that must be free, and it must be based on love.
Our Lord Jesus Christ taught using parables, precisely because he was inviting us to freely choose to follow him, and to keep the commandments. He showed us the way to eternal life, not by giving commands as the Son of God, but as a loving teacher Whose wisdom was imparted in a way that left the choice up to us. His Apostle Peter demonstrated this same style of teaching when he told his fellow disciples that he was going fishing. Peter didn’t say they were going fishing, but only that he was going fishing, thus leaving his friends with a choice. They were free to go fishing, or not.
Muhammad, by contrast, gave his followers specific laws that must be followed, including total submission to god, and should they ever renounce Islam, they would face a penalty of death. This lack of freedom in the teachings of Muhammad has its roots in his failure to teach about the notion of person.
In Christ we have the image of the Pantocrator, a fresco that is traditionally the primary focus in the dome of an Orthodox temple. The Pantocrator is He Who holds all things in His hands, through His love and forbearance. This God of Christianity does not punish, He educates, just as Christ educated his disciples through the use of parables.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Tuesday August 11, 2015 / July 29, 2015
11th Week after Pentecost. Tone one.
Martyr Callinicus of Gangra in Asia Minor (250).
New Hieromartyrs Venerables Seraphim (Bogoslovsky) and Theognost (1921).
New Hieromartyr Anatole (1930-1935).
New Hieromartyr Alexis priest, and Martyr Pachomius (1938).
Venerables Constantine and Cosmas, abbots of Kosinsk (Pskov) (13th c.).
Virgin-martyr Seraphima (Serapia) of Antioch (2nd c.).
Martyr Theodota and her three sons, in Bithynia (304).
Martyr Michael (9th c.).
Martyr Eustathius of Mtskheta in Georgia (589) (Georgia).
St. Constantine, patriarch of Constantinople (676).
The Nativity of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from Myra in Lycia (4th c.)
Venerable Romanus, abbot of Kirzhach (1392), disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
Translation of Velikoretsky Icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from Viatka to Moscow (1555).
St. Theodosius the New, emperor (450).
St. Lupus the Confessor, bishop of Troyes (479).
Martyr Mamas in Darii.
St. Olaf, king of Norway (1030) (Celtic & British).
Martyrs Benjamin and Berius of Constantinople (Greek).
Martyr Basiliscus the Elder (Greek).
Hieromartyr Bessarion of Smolyan, Bulgaria (1670).
The Daily Scripture Readings
2 Corinthians 2:14-3:3
14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.
Christ’s Epistle
3 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? 2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
Matthew 23:23-28
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.