Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

The Holidays are here and they are a busy time for many people, including me. Since the Welcome to Winter Festival of which I blogged about on the weekend of December 10th, it seems I've had little time to write much of anything. Between baking Christmas goodies, shopping, helping out friends and neighbors, Christmas caroling, attending Christmas concerts, and everything else that comes with this time of year, I -- probably like many writers -- have just not had the "time" to write. Yes, time: it flies when you're having fun. And this busy time of year has been fun thus far, with I hope will continue for the 12 days of Christmas which begins tonight.

Christmas is a busy season, but what better way to remain busy than doing things for others? Helping out people in need; spending quality time with those who normally don't have any "time" at all, and just being -- yes, just being in the moment is what Christmas should be about. Yet, every other season of the year should be about these things too. Why aren't they? It's a question I'm going to ask myself and yes, try and improve upon from this moment forward. Will I fail? Probably, but then that is also an important aspect of Christmas -- that God comes to us in our weakness and helps us to live better and more full lives.

I hope I can continue to learn and grow during this Christmas season, and keep that feeling throughout the year.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Local winter festival kicks off season of fun!!!

Since I created this blog a few months ago I have generally written about current events in politics, religion or both; however, my personal motto means that "everything is material" and I do mean everything! While I generally find inspiration to write from the world of politics and religion, I personally find so many other things enjoyable and inspiring that to not write about them as well is to cheat myself (and others) out of the larger world which exists beyond the "forbidden" topics. And so with that said, this blog post will have nothing to do with politics or religion. As it turns out there are far "crazier" things in the world -- like winter camping!

The last couple of weeks have been extremely hectic in my neck of the woods -- which are literally the Northwoods of Northern Wisconsin. Last minute efforts have been made to prepare for the coming Winter: putting up the last cord of firewood (for next year, as it's best to be a year ahead so one will always have dry seasoned wood to burn), putting away the last of the summer tools, and of course in the Northwoods searching for that 8 point buck. Of course, I'm not a hunter myself, but hunting is as much a part of living "Up North" as wearing multiple layers of clothes is -- which we do just to go to the grocery store!

But why do we all prepare for winter in such a way? Is it to hunker down for the next 4 months never to be seen again until spring? Well, there are some who live up North who do just that, but personally I like to think most of us who choose to live here are a little more adventurous than that. In fact, many of us do all of these last minute chores in preparation for winter just so we can have more time to get out and enjoy winter. Ice fishing, skiing, snowmobiling, snow tubing, snow sledding, and good old fashioned snowball fights are just some of the winter activities many of us enjoy.

Some are even crazy enough to try their hands at winter camping. Yes, winter camping! In fact this weekend the local hardware store (which is more than a hardware store) is having their second annual Welcome to Winter Festival. Yes those are real tents, and even though our low temperature this morning was 2 below zero (-2 degrees F), believe it or not they are warm and toasty inside. Of course that's because of the wood stoves keeping things at a comfortable 65 to 70 degrees but hey, it beats camping without one. Thanks to Snowtrekker Tents, people who would have never imagined doing anything as crazy as camping in the winter have been introduced to traditional winter camping and yes, they have come to enjoy it.

Yes -- winter camping may just sound crazy to some of my readers -- but then many of us think that a low temperature of 2 below zero is "not bad." In fact, some of us are so crazy for winter that all day today the Welcome to Winter Festival kicks off the winter season with a bonfire (15 feet high), music, food, and -- at 7pm -- a fantastic fireworks display courtesy of Lottig Pyrotechnics. The fireworks holds special interest for me because I am a pyro-assistant and the official videographer for Lottig Pyrotechnics. So if you're local (which up here is anything under 60 miles away) come on out to the Solon Springs Mercantile for food, fun, and fireworks. If you're not local, then some of the links I've posted will give you a taste of what us Northerners do to welcome in "old man winter," and if you think us Northerners are crazy -- well, you may just be right, and that's just how we like it!

Moving beyond "race" -- to boldly go where no one has gone before!

For centuries mankind has asked the profound question: “are we alone?” While some may see this as a religious question, most today understand it as a question pertaining to the existence of extraterrestrial life (i.e., does E.T. exist?). The question is not merely the product of the modern age, for it has been pondered by many religious thinkers and philosophers throughout the ages. What's surprising to some is that many of these ancient thinkers found no contradiction between their faith and the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.

For example, the Jewish Talmud speculates that there are as many as 18,000 worlds where some form of intelligent life may exist. Hinduism also embraces the idea of “other worlds,” and even other universes. Christianity's view is a bit more fuzzy, but a a number of recent statements made by the Vatican and it's representatives, along with 2009's week long study on astrobiology hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, seems to indicate that even conservative forms of Christianity accept, at least the possibility, of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence.

These statements by Christian leaders are quite timely given that modern astrobiology consists of very real science with very real scientific data. In our galaxy alone there are over 200 million stars and upwards of 50 billion planets, 500 million of which fall into the Goldilocks (not too hot, not to cold, but just right for life) zone in their respective solar systems. And that's just in the Milky Way galaxy. There are at least 100 billion Galaxies throughout the entire known and observable universe. The likelihood of extraterrestrial life is a very real possibility which much of Christianity is beginning to come to terms with.

Yet with mainstream Christianity's new acceptance of scientific realities, it was just a matter of time before some Christian Churches began making declarations not in favor of, but in opposition to our celestial neighbors. This week, it was reported that a Baptist Church in rural Kentucky, in a nine to six vote had banned interracial couples from Church membership and worship ministries. Of course this seems a bit premature since the last time I checked (a few hours ago) aliens hadn't visited Earth yet, but I suppose this little Church in Kentucky is simply hedging its bets. There probably are other races of beings out there in the universe (just like in Star Trek) so we best forbid these interracial couples from attending Church services and participating as active worship leaders. Such blatant racism seems counter productive to the message of Christ and may possibly lead to an intergalactic war, but I guess E.T. was a scary movie for these folks!

Oh wait, I just double checked my facts. Apparently I misunderstood this Church's intention. The Church's ban wasn't directed at “interracial” couples at all (i.e., marrying a non-human, like a Klingon or Vulcan) but at members of the same race (human beings, descendants of Adam and Eve) who just happen have a different skin color from one another and/or come from strange and far away lands – like anywhere you're not from! The ban is not an “interracial” ban, but an “intraracial” one, seeing as all human beings are made up of the same race.

Just when I thought Christianity was about to enter the 23rd century and boldly go where no one has gone before, it turns out that at least nine Christians in Kentucky want to take Christianity back to the 18th century and boldly go where humanity should never have gone in the first place – a world where we ignore the words of St. Paul who wrote that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28, KJV). Ouch! That's a pretty rough statement to hear – if you're someone who thinks banning “interracial” couples is a good way of preserving Church unity! An even more difficult verse must be Galatians 3:29: “And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise” (KJV). Got that? If you're a Christian, Paul (a Jew) says that you're actually the seed of Abraham (the father of the Jews) who – in case you didn't know -- wasn't from Kentucky, didn't have European ancestry and was actually from what is today known as modern day Iraq!

What's even more bizarre about a Church banning humans from marrying other humans based on the shade of their skin is that we're now closer to the world envisioned by Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek (often cited as the show where the first interracial kiss took place on U.S. television) than we are to the “good old days” where being dark skinned in a light skinned world would get you banned – from Church! I mean come on, banned from Church? What happened to the idea that Christ died for all (2 Corinthians 5:14)? Maybe these good folks need to go back and read all of Galatians again. Or perhaps they need to read the entire Bible which is filled with “interracial” marriages and relationships of all kinds (Song of Songs anyone?).

If and when we ever do encounter an extraterrestrial intelligence, and if and when our relations with these lifeforms grow strong enough to seriously consider true interracial marriage (marrying someone not a part of the human race), hopefully by then we will have outgrown our race's childish ethnic and religious tribalism, and realize that the human race may come in various shades, styles, and flavors but we are one species and one race: the human race, and nothing short of that realization is worthy of humanity or anything we should dare call Christian.

Yes Virginia . . . there are Orthodox Traditionalists

Since The Crazy Side of Orthodoxy has been released I've heard from many people both praising and criticizing the book. Some “get it” while others do not. I've heard most of the typical “defenses” of the type of Orthodox Traditionalism which I address in the book (note: I'm not talking about ALL Traditionalists, and 4 out of 17 of the chapters should make this quite clear). Most of the “defenses” of the Canons of the Church I fully anticipated. I have heard, and even used most of the standard “defenses” of the “Canons are holy” party line long before writing The Crazy Side of Orthodoxy. I had a pretty good feel for how people would “object” to the book and it turns out, that for the most part, I was right. For those who've read the book, you can actually see this demonstrated very clearly when certain Traditionalists “defend” the Canons in exactly the manner in which I claimed they would – which is the perfect demonstration that they've not even read the thing!

However, one of the defenses of Canon law and Traditionalism which I admit I was unprepared for was the surprising claim that Orthodox Traditionalists (of the type I address) don't even exist! That's right. My points would be okay, except for the fact that the radical and fringe Traditionalists (who believe Canon law is divine and/or should be enforced in the modern world) aren't a part of modern day reality. In other words, I'm just making all of this up! (Funny that my publisher didn't think that.)

The claim that “Traditionalists don't exist” actually comes in two versions. The first comes from very genuine Orthodox Christians who honestly have never met any Traditionalists, nor have they read any of their books, websites, and thankfully don't know anyone who has been abused by Traditionalism. Generally these Orthodox Christians live in the largest and most multicultural parts of the country. Places like San Fransisco, Boston, and Atlanta are – as they should be – places of sanity where the people I'm referring to seem so outlandish that my arguments appear to be all for nothing. People tend to think that there may be 5 guys living somewhere in Arkansas who believe this stuff, but that doesn't make them a “movement” which must be “addressed.” If I had this view, I would agree too! And I respect this view and those who hold it because these types of responses to the book are always cordial and genuine. The reader just cannot understand why I'm making an issue out of nothing.

Again, I understand this view but let us for a moment assume that the Traditionalism I'm referring to doesn't exist. As a lover of history, I still find the fact that such people once existed in the Church – even if it was over 1000 years ago – an intriguing and fascinating issue. Isn't it worth knowing how the Church once viewed women? Slavery? The importance of the pecking order within the hierarchy? To me, even if Orthodox Traditionalism didn't exist today, these Canons are still a fascinating and sometimes disturbing part of our Church history which is worth exploring and beginning a conversation about.

And  these views were still held by the compilers of The Rudder, which was first published just over 200 years ago. In Eastern Orthodox time, that's like last weekend! it's not like these beliefs died out in the 8th century. If they died out, they only did so very recently (post Enlightenment). It may very well be true that if you're living in NYC you probably have never encountered the people I'm referring to in the book. Yet they do exist. They are not 5 guys in Nebraska, nor are they limited to a couple of practical jokers posting on blogs. Nor are they confined to the so called Ephraimite Monasteries which have become such a troublesome issue within the heartland of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese (though that's probably where the heart of the problem lies at the moment). I know people on the East Coast who have no clue as to what this troublesome issue even is, yet it exists (see: http://gotruthreform.org/) and it is in part a product of the type of “Traditionalism” and view of the Canons which my book addresses. Traditionalists are not limited to Greek Churches, nor are they limited to America. In fact, I have personally corresponded with someone from England who has also had her own problems with Traditionalists for a number of years. (And no, please don't email me and ask me to give you her name, address and telephone number, if she wants a date -- she'll email you herself!)

These Traditionalists do exist – and ironically the second version of the “Traditionalists don't exist” argument comes not from the good people at great Churches like St. Sophia Cathedral in LA, or St. Mary's in the Twin Cities (if all Churches were like that, I wouldn't even have written a book) but from the Traditionalists themselves. I've gotten emails telling me that no such fanatics exist -- or so they tell me right before they explain that I'm committing blasphemy, cursing God, and that I'm going to hell! After all, what's fanatical about condemning someone (me) to hell for criticizing something I'm told doesn't even exist? That's perfectly sane! I've also been told that the Canons are but man made tools -- but questioning them is blasphemous! Makes perfect sense, right?

My intention is not to refute “the Canons” per se but a very specific misunderstanding of them: that being that they cannot change and that God had something to do with writing them. This makes people uncomfortable but it is what it is and I stand by my arguments, and more importantly I stand by the fact that there ARE Traditionalists who do claim that Canon law is on par with Scripture – in fact it is part of “Sacred Tradition,” (see: which for my non-Orthodox readers means it came from God the Holy Spirit). These are not the claims of a couple of people posting on the internet which we can write off because – well, it's the internet. Yes, apparently some people still think the internet is still an obscure upstart fad and not the modern world's fastest and most efficient method of communication.(Welcome to the 21st century!)

So finally, what is my proof for the existence of a “problem”?  Well, other than my book's Bibliography and the fact that the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew felt the need to actually release an encyclical addressing it in 2010 I've selected just a few websites to post here. A few of these appear in my Bibliography, most do not. These only scratch the surface of the Traditionalist world -- which as I explain in the book is NOT all bad -- but it does have a more disturbing form which, not only exists, but does hurt the Orthodox Church today in many different ways.

http://www.hotca.org/

http://www.ctosonline.org/

http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/modernism.pdf

 http://gotruthreform.org/

http://gotruthreform.org/patriarchal-encyclical/

http://traditionalorthodoxy.blogspot.com/

http://www.pokrov.org/resource.asp?ds=Article&id=128&sSrch=Paul%20Cromidas&sType=Articles

http://www.rickross.com/groups/ephraim.html

http://members.cox.net/orthodoxheritage/index.htm

A couple of more scholarly works on THE RUDDER:

http://works.bepress.com/william_chriss/4/

http://works.bepress.com/william_chriss/5/

The Crazy Side of Orthodoxy is now available on Kindle!

I just received word from my publisher that The Crazy Side of Orthodoxy is now available for purchase on Kindle. So for all those who were asking and waiting for a Kindle Edition, it's been made available a lot sooner than the publisher anticipated.

Please stop speaking for God!

It's funny how Christians – and devout believers of many religions – proclaim that God is an indescribable mystery, beyond comprehension, ineffable and beyond human understanding, while in the same breath feel the need (as well as qualified) to tell you exactly what “God says,” thinks and wants – about you! This certitude is especially ironic within Christianity because whenever a particular doctrine is called into question, for example the Trinity, apologists will proceed to tell you to not take things so literally. They'll claim that if there is a God, He would be a contradiction wrapped up in an enigma. Well the doctrine of Trinity is certainly that.

I actually have no problem with saying that God must be so “other” that He/She/It may very well be best described with language that would look and sound like the doctrine of the Trinity. To me, it makes sense that any God who was really God (and not merely an alien intelligence pretending to be God like in Stargate SG-1) would be utterly confusing. 3 equals one, and one equals three. Makes sense? Of course it doesn't make sense. But if God exists, it makes sense that God wouldn't make sense. Got it? Well, I kind of do.

What I don't get is how Christians can go from the “God is a mystery and beyond human understanding” to the very explicit proclamations directed at other people -- usually in judgment against them -- all in the name of God.

How many Christians rail against other Christians? You're not a Trinitarian? Whoops! Well, guess where you're headed? You don't “believe” in the infallibility of the Pope of Rome? Uh uh – you better pack some dry ice in a very large cooler. You believe that Christianity isn't perfect (based on multitudes of evidence) well, God says otherwise. Exactly how do these people know the mind of an “ineffable” God? Oh yes, they have God's personal cell phone number! I'm sorry. I only have the 800 number which everyone else on earth has access to. Somehow though, a select few have some secret knowledge which qualifies them to speak not only their opinions, but exactly what God thinks. But don't forget, God is a mystery!

Yes, I'm aware that we have the Bible. But as anyone who has their brain switched to the on position will tell you, the Bible isn't quite as conclusive as many Christians would have us believe. Does God think it's okay to stone disobedient children (Deuteronomy 21:18-19) or not? How about the prohibition against allowing “witches” and those who practice sorcery to live (Deuteronomy 22:18)? Does God still think we should be killing Harry Potter and Gandalf?

Yes, I'm aware of all of the “arguments” used to defend this verse. One of these defenses tries to say that sorcery in the ancient world was “really” the practice of mixing dangerous potions (which were essentially drugs). In the modern context it might be a prohibition against Meth labs. A good prohibition if not for the KILLING part. Another defense – probably more accurate – is that in the ancient world “witches” were believed to have powers to mix potions which would actually curse people. Yeah. We surely can't have that. Oh wait – that's right, we don't have it because there are no such things as magical curses! Did God not know that there are no such thing as magical curses? Of course GOD knew, but the men who wrote the Bible didn't. Admitting this doesn't mean the Bible is worthless. nor does it mean we should stop drawing inferences from the Bible. Logical inferences are a necessity of life, the key word being logical.

I don't want Christians to stop searching for truth, the Bible history, or being Christians. Christians do need to stop "speaking for God" though. Christians should stop telling others that God hates them (like the Westboro Baptists nuts do at military funerals), and they should stop using the Bible to defend their own personal prejudices, like many do with homosexuality. Christians should be able to voice their opinions -- this is a free country, and I believe God doesn't want us to suppress out minds. However when Christians begin speaking in absolutes red flags go up. And the truth is, that even if Pat Robertson, John Hagee or Harold Camping really did know exactly what God thinks, the rest of us have no access to the same information which they do. The best the rest of us less enlightened people could ever do would be to take what these men of certitude have to say on "faith." Well forgive me, but I will not have "faith" in other men, the Bible, or even the Church. I have faith in God -- and if that's not enough, then so be it!

OCAnews.org shuts down!

While this won't mean a whole lot to my non-Orthodox readers and followers, I still must write about it. The website Orthodox Christians for Accountability (OCAnews.org) as of November 9, 2011 has shut down. Why is this a big deal you ask? Well, because was one of the very few Orthodox websites that did exactly what it set out to do -- be a catalyst for change within the Eastern Orthodox Church.

For those unfamiliar, if you think the Roman Catholic Church is slow to change, wait until you become familiar with Orthodoxy. Practically nothing has changed in over 1000 years. It's adherence to tradition is in many ways good, but in other ways quite bad. The Church's structure is top down and the average pew potato has very little power to invoke change or to call the Church to accountability when and if it needs it.  OCAnews.org quite successfully did just that. Not just once, but on numerous occasions. It was a bastion of dialogue, debate, as well the one place where Orthodox Christians  could consistently get their news from. News that ranged from financial scandals involving Church leaders of the OCA (Orthodox Church in America) (http://www.ocanews.org/chronology.html) to sexual misconduct allegations which lead to the dismissal of still other Church leaders, as well as still other scandals involving the Antiochian Archdiocese of America (http://www.orthodoxattorneys.org/resources.html) not to mention all of the "small" scandals and controversies involving power plays, politics, and Bishops jockeying to be the next "top man."

CNN and Fox News never picked up any of these stories which surely would have taken up weeks of prime time television had they taken place in the Roman Catholic or Southern Baptists Church. There are blessings to being a small religious minority in this country, and there are also curses. The curse is that no matter how corrupt any particular Church member or leader becomes, there is little we can do because we're not "big enough" to garner a slot on Anderson Cooper or the CBS Evening News. In other words, no one cares because we're irrelevant to society, which should say a lot about the state of our Church.

The founder of OCAnews.org Mark Stokoe was a tireless worker and for 6 years he dedicated himself and a huge part of his life to devoted service to his Church, his faith, and his belief that accountability is not something we should just hope for in the next life, but something which is our duty to struggle and fight for in this life!

Thanks you Mark! I hope others will take up the mantle which you started and continue to call the Church to accountability and honesty.

The final news posting can be found here.