Dependence

I went to a Tuesday meeting of the Forum on Orthodox Spirituality at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity on the Upper West Side of Manhattan today. I have been going to most meetings since 2008. Father Frank Frangos, who has two Ph.D's and teaches religion a Saint John’s University in Queens,, presided. As usual, I liked or agreed with most of what he had to say, but not all. He was a bit rushed. For instance, he said that Hinduism is the oldest religion. I would not think this is true, unless he meant of the major religions: For instance, How do we know if we have record of another religion but we have not found it, or if pre-oral civilizations had their own religions?

He showed clips from Bruce Almighty. I the past, he has used The Matrix and Star Trek. He showed how Bruce's trying to play God caused chaos. I like how we must work with God, but we must to be entirely dependent on God like children. In fact, we have our will and choice, and must take risks at times; the future is uncertain. He also used DNA to show how some atheists turned to loving God after appreciating DNA, which symbolizes rules, law and order. To me, as I have written before in this blog, almost everything all the time is a yin-yang balance. Nature is not only ordered: There are earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and volcanoes, and larger animals tear apart poor little small ones. (Yes, this "must happen for order, but it can be argued God did not need to create this stuff, which can be viewed as ugly.) In DNA, there are continuous mutations that must be continually repaired by DNA enzyme. Mutations may lead to cancer, or to evolution. I thought this in the moment and then thought how this is a metaphor for having to break the rules once in a while for growth, progress, and, yes, new rules. Slavery used to be legal once, after all, and was approved of in the Bible. The point is, use religion as your roots, and look at other's ideas and yourself, and branch out.

What I liked is his emphasis on those who go to Church and go through the motions such as the Holy Sacraments, fasting, etc., yet do to know Jesus Christ, and to those who turn to religion only during tough times.

The group is a great group and if anyone wants information on visiting to a free Tuesday session, let me know.