Dear friends,
After some rather involved work by our webmaster Herb (thanks!!) the Christian Vignette project is ready to go. To see how we have organized the thing, please see this announcement by Herb: https://10.16.86.131/release-of-christian-vignette-project/
I would like to stress out that this is still somewhat of a “Beta” version, so there might be bugs and things to fix. If you encounter problems, please email Herb at saker-webmaster@yandex.com. Please do not, repeat, NOT email me with technical issues, complaints, problems with the forms, etc.
If you have ideas/suggestions/corrections etc. on SUBSTANCE then, and only then, please email me at signup4christianvignette@gmail.com.
Finally, I want to stress that you have to give me some positive reason to accept your request to join. Many of you I know personally, so that it easy, but if I do not, please indicate the following:
- Reason for interest in this project
- What you hope to gain from it
- Your current level of knowledge on religious matters (formal or informal instruction)
- How much, if anything, do you think you know about Christianity, especially the early, original, one
- Your faith, if any, or that you are an agnostic or even a militant atheist (both are welcome). If you consider yourself a Christian, please indicate from which denomination. If you are lapsed Christian (also welcome!) then please indicate why you lapsed and from which denomination.
- A few words about yourself
Let me clarify here that there are no “correct” or “incorrect” answer where. What I am looking for is a (truly!) diverse group of people, with an open mind and true desire to discuss these issues with similarly minded people.
Okay, here we go!
First, please go to this page:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSckNkK8DCmUUN5G5QwTZwmW5089TMj0oCIxOCu-PQ0NJx0FZA/viewform
and please fill the form.
About once a day I will review the requests and decide on a case by case basis. You will first get an email informing you of my decision and, if that decision is positive, you will get another email with your login credentials.
Important: if I decline your petition, that is not permanent. Maybe you did you give me the info needed for me to approve, or maybe we will have too many applicants, or even computer issues. So, please
Remember that we are still testing, so if there is a technical problem, please email Herb. If you think that I was wrong in declining your petition, please email me at signup4christianvignette@gmail.com !
I expect the composition of our group to change a lot, especially initially, so if you get a “no” and you think that this is wrong, email me. I won’t promise to reverse my decision, at least immediately, but with the inevitable “ejection” of assorted trolls and smart-asses, place will get free for more people to sign in. So if you are really motivated, than you might spend some time on “standby” before getting accepted.
Finally, I apologize in advance for all the bugs, “features” and mistakes I will make. I am totally overworked and I can easily forget something. So I ask for your understanding, patience and support :-)
Now, go ahead and sign up!
Hugs and cheers
Andrei
PS: for context see these:
https://10.16.86.131/i-just-had-what-might-be-a-good-idea-you-tell-me/
https://10.16.86.131/a-few-quick-thoughts-about-the-vignette-ideas/
https://10.16.86.131/release-of-christian-vignette-project/
Not interested in joining at this time, but I expect that I will find it interesting to read and learn from.
…wait!…did you say whether non-members can access the vignette in read-only mode, or not at all.
read only
the vignettes will be public
and unmoderated (except by me)
and only registered used will be able to post
but everybody will have read access
HTH
cheers
The Saker
When you say only registered members will be able to post, do you mean “post comments regarding things you have written”, or “post articles of their own writing”?
Only I will chose the topic of the Vignette (albeit I accept requests at signup4christianvignette@gmail.com !) and will be the only one posting texts (though I don’t think that will happen a lot as I want to keep these VIGNETTES as SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE).
What I *might* (conditional!) do is ask a fellow Orthodox Christian for his/her input and suggestions)
However, those who signed up and were accepted will be 100% free to post whatever they want, as long as I don’t get fed up and show somebody the door (for whatever reason).
Sorry, I hope that this clarifies the issue!
Kind regards
The Saker
I’m not an “Orthodox” Christian, only a Christian…the kind you read about in the Bible. So, most likely my comments would not always support yours. I’m not sure you would want me to sign up.
“The kind if Christian you read about in the Bible” sounds like you would not profit from participating.
So I recommend you abstain.
Kind regards
The Saker
Will I be able to make comments regarding this section in the Moveable Feast Cafe?
Smells like a cookout.
I wasn’t sure if I was being thick and missed the part that said it will be readable by the public.
Was half expecting no answer, half expecting an annoyed answer.
Hope all is well, thanks.
———–
“Anglo-Saxon”, Episcopalian, Green Party (US) voter
posting since 2008
God is Love
Individual Responsibility
Brotherhood
What more does the world need? If the world fully implemented those three, globally, it would be transformed.
Se eu não me escrever poderei ler?
———
Google-translation from mod.
“If I do not write to me, can I read it?”
Sim, se você não se inscrever ou postar, você será capaz de ler tudo o que todos nós estaremos escrevendo
The Saker
Done.
Auslander
I haven’t a clue what this Christian vignette project is all about. At first, I thought that it was an opportunity for all the Christians to discuss the relevance of Christianity to the modern age. But then I noticed that you said you didn’t need to be a Christian or even religious to sign up. So what’s it all about?
I haven’t a clue what this Christian vignette project is all about. At first, I thought that it was an opportunity for all the Christians to discuss the relevance of Christianity to the modern age. But then I noticed that you said you didn’t need to be a Christian or even religious to sign up. So what’s it all about?
Well, it sure ain’t gonna be anything even remotely resembling “Christians discussing the relevance of Christianity to the modern age”.
Please read these for some context:
/i-just-had-what-might-be-a-good-idea-you-tell-me/
/a-few-quick-thoughts-about-the-vignette-ideas/
/release-of-christian-vignette-project/
Cheers
I will read with interest.
I realise my answer to this
>How much, if anything, do you think you know about Christianity, especially the early, original, one.
Is nothing zero zip.
So I am interested to read and learn.
Because whatever I was subjected to in childhood regarding “religion”, I rejected by my early 20s.
Late in life, to foster “beliefs”, but am now intrigued to read what you write Saker.
Thanks
then please fill out the sign up form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSckNkK8DCmUUN5G5QwTZwmW5089TMj0oCIxOCu-PQ0NJx0FZA/viewform
thank you!
I will be writing of our Church, St. Nikolas, and describing it’s physical history, which is not long considering how Christianity has been on this island for a thousand years, plus why St. Nikolas was built, by whom, and how it functions today. I will also mention how deeply Church is involved in our little village on North Side and why.
Auslander
Wait my good friend, I am the one setting the topic, remember?
cheers
Deal.
“I expect the composition of our group to change a lot, especially initially, so if you get a “no” and you think that this is wrong, email me. I won’t promise to reverse my decision, at least immediately, but with the inevitable “ejection” of assorted trolls and smart-asses, place will get free for more people to sign in. So if you are really motivated, than you might spend some time on “standby” before getting accepted.
Finally, I apologize in advance for all the bugs, “features” and mistakes I will make. I am totally overworked and I can easily forget something.”
Sounds a bit, shaky Saker. Good luck to your “group”, I will read the vignette with great interest…..
I am not sure which part is shaky (my evil censorship or always possible IT bugs), but thanks for your good wishes ;-)
You are welcome for the good wishes.
I did not mean censorship in particular, or IT bugs as being the shaky factor, but meant more the insecurity created by the number of possible reasons for the comings and goings of members.
I’m in agreement with Pope Francis, “far to many people suffer from spiritual Alzheimer’s.” I find that a very inclusive statement. Whither it’s the ritual one seeks; community, or the lone soul on a mountain top seeking divine connectivity.
Normally I try to stay clear of religious conversation, past bigoted/sectarian religious experience aside, but from reading what’s been posted here on Orthodoxy, well, there’s always room for better understanding.
Good luck with the pproject, I hope part of your ‘busy’ is disconnected time, spent with your family. That’s what really counts in this world, fleeting as life is.
Cheers M
Thank you!
just sent the form, no matter what happens im looking forward to read the vignettes and learn.
If a loving earthly father already wills for his children that they be at least as happy as he is, not less happy, shall God our Father Who is and has infinitely great pure altruistic Love not also will that for His children?
And if God wills it, can He than not accomplish it?
And how else can God accomplish that also His children be just as perfectly happy as He is other than by now appearing in this world as each one of us?
Even though for God to experience being but human is the crucifixion until He comes to His Life also in our souls appearing as us humans?
So here He is, reading this now in His human appearance. That also this soul may have the happiness of God Himself.
Much divine Love indeed.
But for as long as God believes He is but a this human appearance He will not accept such a lofty Self-recognition. Because He subconsciously remembers God is infinitely great in courageous, creative, wise, pure altruistic Love. Yet precisely because of that He is willing to experience being but “this body of death” as Paul called it. Without really being that, as Jesus our example was not the cross.
As a reminder of how divine consciousness develops also in us, God in “the appearance of the sinful flesh”, as it is written:
“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”
~Luke 2:52
If a loving human father already wills that his children be at least as happy as he is, and surely not less than he is, shall our infinitely loving Father God not will for us that we be as happy as He is?
Does God the Father love us His divine children less than an earthly father does his?
(And is a human father’s love for his children not inspired by God’s love to start with?)
And if our divine Father wills for us that we be as happy as He is, can He Who is all powerful then not also accomplish it for us?
And how else can God accomplish for us that also we enjoy His perfect happiness other than by taking on Himself our human appearance, even the appearance in the sinful flesh, and experience everything we experience, as each and every one of us? So that also we can know and enjoy that God is our true Being. That by giving Himself to us, He gave us His Self?
For God to experience being but human instead of God is like being nailed to what St. Paul called “this body of death.”
~Romans 7:24
https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/rom7.pdf
Later St. Paul no longer identified with who he seemed to be as a human, writing:
“I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
~Galathians 2:20
https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/gal2.pdf
So it was the Son of God who in St. Paul had the loving faith that He was indeed God the Son in human appearance.
As for our example of how the spiritual development takes place in us this is written:
“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”
~Luke 2:52
https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/luk2.pdf
So here we have God Who is increasing in wisdom, stature, and favor with Himself as God and as a human.
May God the Father have divine His Life, Love, and Happiness also in you who are reading this now, Son of God in human appearance.
“What He was, He laid aside; what He was not, He assumed.
He takes upon Himself the poverty of my flesh so that I may receive the riches of His divinity.”
~(St.) Gregory of Nazianzus