Frederica Mathewes-Green
Frederica Mathewes-Green
Frederica Mathewes-Greenis an Eastern Orthodox author and speaker on the subjects of religion and abortion...
ProfessionAuthor
alienation bad damaged fearful god rap sheet
What's wrong with us isn't a rap sheet of bad deeds, but a damaged heart, a soul-sickness, that plunges us into fearful self-protection, alienation from God and others.
graduated tourist traveling
After I graduated from college, while traveling around Europe, hitchhiking, doing the tourist thing, I went into a church in Dublin.
christmas easter holy jolly plans somehow week
Somehow we just don't make the same boisterous fun of Holy Week that we do of Christmas. No one plans to have a holly, jolly Easter.
adorable good segregated subculture women
A segregated spiritual subculture does women no good, even if it does have adorable butterflies in the logo.
brings erase functions god misguided offense powerful presence trying
The Bible, that powerful book, has many effects: it comforts, counsels, instructs, and brings us into the presence of God. But trying to erase offense as one of its functions is a fundamentally misguided task.
death evil leads realm sickness sin temptation toward ultimately
Temptation coaxes us toward sin, and sin leads to sickness and death, and ultimately confinement in the realm of the evil one.
battered christians god stories vindictive
It is tragic that some Christians have been so battered with stories of a prideful, vindictive God that they have fled from Jesus' fold.
catholic faith home raised roman
I was raised in a nominal Roman Catholic home, but without any really strong faith there.
church gospel last minute walk
My mother was an unbeliever - and still is. My father was a nominal Catholic. We would go in to church at the last minute before the gospel reading, take Communion, and walk right out again.
cumulative jesus official people teaching time understanding
The Church's teaching isn't an official statement, but the cumulative understanding of all the people who have loved and experienced Jesus through time.
alert god lure main might scare scared stepping undermine wants
The devil's main purpose is not to scare us, in a horror-movie way; when we're scared of him, we're alert to him, and that might undermine his plans. Instead, he wants to quietly, subtly lure us into stepping away from God.
board bodies clergy governing hierarchy orthodox power various worldwide
The Orthodox hierarchy doesn't have the kind of power that high-ranking clergy do in other churches. There isn't even a worldwide governing board to hold all the various Orthodox bodies together.