Hi, friends.
I'm a Christian who's not Coptic, but I've really enjoyed listening to Fr. Abram's messages (I just finished pt2 of "Christ the Son of God"). He is really great.
I'd like to know what you guys believe, basically, and how it's different from what I believe. If any of you would mind answering a few q's, that'd be great!!!
1. What is necessary for a person to do to go to heaven? How does he or she have a relationship with Jesus?
2. What do you consider the most important or central point of Christianity, if you were to summarize it in one sentence?
3. What do you consider different or distinctive about Coptic Orthodoxy compared with other sects (other Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, etc.)?
Thanks so much!
SAMAWAT
4.
Comments
if u dont mind me asking...but what Christian are you...
umm ...for question one..you need baptism
and for question 2...to me the most important thing about christianity is to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, withh all your Mind and with all your stregnth...
you will be suprised how many answers u can get out of that verse!!
and for question 3....is that WE HAVE AN ANSWER FOR EVERYTHING....
once again..welcome to Tasbeha.org!! ;)
First of all, welcome to the forum. God Himself more or less accomplished everything for the sake of our salvation; He became man in order that our nature may be renewed to His image and in order that we may achieve His likeness. He died on the Cross, in turn defeating death and sin, under which mankind was subdued and enslaved, and ultimately He restored harmony between heaven and earth, and poured out His Grace to all mankind. All we have to do now is receive this Grace. The Church was established by Christ to be a channel of His Grace; through the Holy Sacraments, we receive this Grace which assissts us in benefiting from the fruits of Christ's work (i.e. His Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection). Through habitual obedience and the practise of virtue (which the Church also assissts the believer to accomplish i.e. through the regulation of fasting periods etc.) we are able to preserve this Grace within us and hence progress spiritually. This spiritual progression is continuous and leads towards spiritual and moral perfection, and hence the experience of the utmost joy and peace within ourselves - our spirit is released from the cares of the world, and from the temptations of the flesh, and mystically unites with God in perfect communion. I think our member why got it right. Love is certainly the most important Christian tenet. God is said to possess many things: Justice, Righteousness, Holiness etc. however there is only one attribute that actually defines His being: Love, for as the Apostle St John states in his epistles "God is Love", and not just "God loves".
As stated above, our final salvation results in our union with God - who is perfect love. If we are to unite ourselves with perfect love, we must be able to show perfect love - an unconditional love which does not discriminate between friend and foe, family and stranger, Christian or Muslim, white or black etc. Another aspect of our salvation is becoming like God via Grace. To become like One who is perfect love, we must cultivate perfect love within ourselves.
Hence, when Christ was asked what the greatest commandment was, He answered by stating that it was to love the Lord our God with all our minds, hearts, and spirits. St Paul furthermore states that without love, a man is nothing, even if he possesses other great virtues such as perfect faith. The Coptic Orthodox Church has maintained an ubroken line of Apostolic succession since its being founded by the Apostle St Mark. From the first century, it has maintained the Apostolic faith that it has received, and has also maintained the living Tradition of the Church from Christ Himself, as experienced through the Sacramental life of the Church. The Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches, however were lead away by innovations and man's attempt to modify or replace the Living Tradition inspired by God. With respect to other Orthodox Churches, our differences with those of the Oriental Orthodox or non-Chalcedonian communion are merely cultural. Our differences with those of the Eastern Orthodox or Chalcedonian communion are as of present strictly historical, political and ecclesiastical.